Alpha Markus
Chapter 57

Celeste P.O.V.

I woke up from a dreamless sleep to replace the bed empty. I frowned. I didn’t like waking up alone anymore. I need my morning dose of Markus’ scent. Kara was already asking me to go look for him. I grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom. I showered, changed and put my hair in a braid. I was about to go look for Markus, when I heard him calling me from our personal office. He had opened the door while I was showering.

“Good Morning,” I said, noticing Gillian and Danny in the chairs across the desk. A blush rose to my cheeks as I slowed my walk. I had intended to jump him the moment I’d seen the smile on his face widen as he looked at me.

“Good Morning Luna,” Gillian said, trying to cover a laugh with a cough as I walked towards Markus’ desk.

“Don’t let him shame you, Luna. Nothing wrong with a little morning nookie. I had mine with Maya already. He will understand when he replaces his mate,” Danny said, and I was sure I resembled a tomato more than a person right now and turned to just walk away when I felt Markus’ arms around me and he dragged me back and onto his lap. I squeaked in surprise.

“How you two haven’t gotten punched in the face before is beyond me,” Markus sighed as he put his face in my neck.

“What’s going on?” I asked, desperate to change the subject but sneaking my own inhale of Markus’ scent into my body.

Gillian’s eyes lit up at this. “Well, we were discussing the vision you told us about yesterday.”

“Ruby?” I asked, a pang of pain shooting through my heart. Gillian looked crestfallen at that.

“Oh no. I’m sorry Luna, I forgot you had one yesterday about Ruby. I was talking about the one you spoke to us about last night before bedtime.”

I scrunched my nose, trying to remember ‘Mexico’ Markus mind linked. “Oh right, did you download the app I suggested?”

He smiled “I did, especially after I got a file from Evergreen this morning.”

“We trust this Evergreen?” I asked.

Danny laughed. “Even if we didn’t, he would know. Evergreen is a genius level security specialist and hacks networks for a hobby, but he is also my cousin. My mother’s sister mated outside the pack, and we visited him and him us, often. He joined the pack only a couple of years ago after he became an employee for Markus’ security firm and has done our electronic security measures every time we have asked him. He’s never here as he likes to take an active part in implementing all of the security measures we sell to clients.”

“Ah” ‘I should replace out more about what you do for business’, I mind linked Markus.

‘All in good time love. We can’t push everything at you at once,’ he said as he hugged me.

“What did the file say?” I brought us back to the topic at hand.

“He traced your bloodline back to Mexico City then traced it forward through both the male and female side. Most of your particular b***d line has almost died off, but there’s a few people in a small pack outside of Mexico City that are part of your same bloodline, albeit through the male side. He believes we may replace more information there, as the knowledge would still be passed on in the event that a female was born with an ability. He is waiting for our go ahead to try to make contact and arrange a visit.” Gillian said.

“That’s amazing. I like him already. Can you forward me the file? I’d like to compare it to the tree we found in the PO Box.”

“Tree? What tree?” Danny asked.

“s**t, I’d forgotten about that,” Markus said and got up to go grab them.

As we were waiting for Markus to come back. We heard rapping on the bedroom room door and then a very loud. “LUNA WAKE UP, WE HAVE TO FIND YOU A DRESS.” I quickly put my finger to my lips to Danny and Gillian who were about to start laughing and hid in the little closet in the office. I heard Markus’ muffled voice as the door opened. I heard Kelly speaking with Markus and then I heard her voice in the office. “Where did she go?” she said.

“I think she went that way.” I heard Gillian say.

“No, No, she went out the window when she heard your voice,” Danny corrected. I was trying not to giggle in the closet as Kelly growled at the boys.

“Tuli….” Markus’ voice called before the door opened to reveal a frustrated Kelly.

She grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the closet. “I have never in my life met two women that didn’t like to go shopping. You are truly monsters.”

I was dragged to the door and as I passed Markus, he dipped quickly to give me a good bye k**s. “Betrayed by my own mate. Don’t think this breach of trust will go unpunished,” I warned, and held two fingers in front of my eyes before I flipped them to point to his. He just chuckled and shook his head.

Before she could drag me down the hallway, I stood my ground. “Wait, Kelly”

“Luna, we’re going to be late,” she said, “I already spent 10mins corralling Maya,” she said, gesturing towards the elevator where Maya was waiting with her arms crossed over her chest.

“But I have my dress,” I told her.

“What? How? Did you actually go shopping by yourself?” She demanded, slightly hurt.

“No, of course not. I found my dress at the safety deposit box my mother left me,” I said, and we made our way to the bedroom door.

I motioned for her and Maya to follow me. We entered the bedroom and I went to the closet. I brought out the dress and unfolded it. The letter came out of it and I quickly grabbed it and put it on my dresser. I held up the dress for their approval.

“It’s beautiful Celeste!” Maya gushed.

“It is and it’s perfect for the theme you picked. Put it on. We need to make sure we don’t have to adjust it today,” she said.

I went back into the closet to change. I put it on and saw myself in the mirror on the back of the door. The dress was perfect. It fit perfectly, and it gave me such a longing for my parents.

‘Everything OK, Tuli?’ Markus asked, concern in his voice, ‘I can feel your sadness.’

‘I’m OK. Just trying on the dress and I suddenly missed my parents,’ I said.

‘You want me to come in there and chase them out?’ He said.

‘No, I’m OK. This is just the first thing I’ve gotten of my mother’s,’ I responded.

‘I love you.’

‘I love you more,’ I said as I came out the door to show Kelly.

“Whoa, you look seriously hot and elegant,” Kelly said as she circled me, “And it looks like it was made for you. Fits like a glove!”

“It’s perfect,” Maya squealed.

The door to the office opened as Gillian and Danny stepped inside. They looked at me with their jaws dropped, but then Markus could be heard trying to push them and Kelly squeaked before pushing me into the closet. “Don’t see her Alpha! It’s tradition,” she said as she locked me in.

“f**k tradition,” Markus grumbled and then, “Alright, alright. I’m going. It’s not like I didn’t already see the dress at the bank.”

“Not the same. You can see her in the dress tomorrow during the ceremony,” Kelly said, and then I heard the door slam. “Luna, please change. We still need to replace Maya’s and my dress. We have a full schedule today and mom wants you out of the house as they start putting up decorations.”

I g*****d and I heard the guys laugh in the office. I had forgotten about their dresses. Well, at least I didn’t have to try 100 dresses on. I could just watch and judge. I dressed in my usual jeans and t-shirt and headed out the door. Danny and Markus opened the door and gave Maya and me a k**s before going back into the office as we left. Kelly sighed as she waited by the elevator, “You are lucky ladies to have found your mate so quick. I’m almost 21 and still got zilch.”

“I’m sure the wait will be worth it,” Maya said, “I can’t imagine life without Danny.”

I nodded in understanding. Life without Markus seemed so far in the past already.

All three of us sighed and then started giggling at the mirrored emotions. We headed to the mall. Zack, Brent, George, and Gabriel were coming with us as guards. I had complained about the amount of attention 3 girls with 4 giant body guards would attract at a mall with humans in it, but after Ruby, neither Markus or Danny would let us out of their sight without a warrior and even Gillian argued with Kelly about heading out with fewer guards. It was sweet that they worried about us, but who would try anything at the mall?

We went to three stores before Kelly found a dress for Maya. It was simply beautiful. It was a fiery yellow A-Line Off-the-Shoulder Sweep Train Chiffon Evening Dress with some intricate sequin design on the bodice with a slit going down the right leg. Danny was going to have trouble keeping his hands off her for the whole ceremony.

Two stores later, we found Kelly’s dress. It was a forest green one-shoulder mermaid dress with a diamond cut out at one side. It was elegant and sexy. Something that always seemed to describe the way she was.

Once we had found the dresses, we went to the food court to get some food. I was standing in line with Gabriel near the Chinese line up when I felt it. The hair was standing on end at the back of my neck. I supressed a shiver and looked around, trying to replace the source of discomfort, but I saw nothing. Kara was pacing in my head, also feeling anxious. We received our food and went to sit with Kelly, Maya, Zack, Brent and George. We were sitting there eating and talking comfortably when I felt it again. That feeling of being watched. It made my skin crawl. I looked around again and thought I saw a familiar face in the crowd but it was gone so quick, that I thought I must be imagining it. Yet Kara seemed tense. She didn’t want to be here anymore.

“Luna, are you OK?” Zack asked, looking around.

“I just felt like someone was watching us. I’m probably imagining it,” I said.

“Is that what you felt earlier when we were waiting for our food?” Gabriel said, standing up and looking around. Their food forgotten, the boys all stood around us.

“You noticed that?” I asked and when he nodded I sighed, “I am probably just imagining things. With what happened to Ruby. I’m sorry to alarm you all.”

“We will wait for you to finish eating and then we will head home,” Brent said.

“I am not really hungry anymore. Plus dinner is in a couple of hours. We should get home,” I said.

“Yes, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Plus, we need to fit in these dresses tomorrow anyway,” Kelly said, getting up and dumping the food in the trash. We all got up and dumped our trash in the bin, then started to make our way out of the food court when I caught a familiar scent. Familiar, but not enough for me to recognize it. It was too muddled from the food court that I didn’t have a chance to really process what it was.

The moment we got back home, Mrs Quinn pushed us into the conference room for last minute decisions and then forbade us to go to the back. She was quite adamant on it, and even made Markus place a guard at the back-door entrance. I thought it was a bit extreme, but Markus asked me to play along. There had not been Luna since his mother passed when he was 5 and the entire pack was over the moon.

I went upstairs to get ready for dinner. Markus said there would be several Alphas and guests arriving for tomorrow that had had to travel long distances. They would be staying for a few days for the ceremony. Tomorrow morning, the council would arrive. With the help of Kelly, I had chosen a few outfits for each day. This whole event would be a full formal wear event. I was working on my make-up when Markus mind linked me. ‘First guest is at the gate. Could you please come down to greet them with me love?’

‘On my way,’ I said, finishing putting on the lipstick and looking at myself in the mirror.

Ready Kara?- I asked.

My eyes flipped to black for a moment as she said – Born ready baby. It’s show time.