Her Forever
Chapter 67

Seth

I was sitting in my office speaking with Ethan and Marco. Marco was to continue to be my beta while Sadie and I lived here until she was ready to take on her role as queen of the Moon Kingdom. Ethan was being promoted to be the new Gamma since Nathan would soon leave with Diana so she could take her place as the new queen of Vamparia.

There was one position that needed to be filled then. It was the new Delta that would help with scheduling of training and conferences. Deltas were more like glorified secretaries, yet still granted with enormous amounts of strength from the goddess once appointed. For several hours, we looked through the names and photographs of everyone in our pack and surrounding packs.

One name outshined them all. His name was Porter and was a promising young werewolf. He had no mate, so there was no issue with him moving to our pack. In fact, he may replace his mate here, which would make it even better.

“Pros and cons of this Porter fellow?” I asked Marco.

“Just pros really, no ties to a mate and no known enemies. He seems pretty straightforward on paper. Nothing appears strange in the background check.” Marco continued to thumb through the paperwork. Usually, I would pick someone that I personally knew, but since we had arrived back, my father said it would be best to pick someone from a neighboring pack to strengthen alliances.

“References, check out,” Ethan spoke quickly. “I can have him come in for an interview following the arrival of King Orion.” s**t, King Orion. His presence only meant trouble. With the hand off of Alpha and Luna titles, it makes me wonder if he was staying for the ceremony. Politically, it would look good for King Orion to show interest in an Alpha/Luna Ceremony since he never leaves the confinements of his palace. Many would believe he would want to strengthen the alliance between us, but I knew better.

Faes are tricky creatures. They never do what they say, or they twist their words like a tangled mess of fishing pole lines to get what they want. I didn’t trust any fae and King Orion was the worst of them all.

“Thanks Ethan, have him come in the day after tomorrow. Tell him to pack for a week so he can be present for the ceremony if he accepts.” Ethan nodded and left my office for his.

During the entire meeting, I had felt flustered and angered at the same time. It came in waves, first sadness, frustration and then straight up anger. I have never felt all these feelings at once and I realized it was Sadie. Sadie had always had a calm nature about her and never been upset or frustrated. We paired each other so well and she was always honest with me as I was with her. Well, except the whole protecting her thing. I didn’t want to worry her just yet. It was my job as a mate to keep her safe and secure and her mental health was important to me, too. She had been through so much I wanted her to be at peace just for a bit. I didn’t mind the extra pressure on me.

Feeling a sharp stab to my chest, I rubbed it. Sadness and rage wrapped up into me and it wasn’t mine. Sadie. She was angry. “Anything wrong, Seth?” Marco looked up from his files at the other end of my desk.

“Sadie, she’s, she’s…” I couldn’t replace the words. “Angry.” Marco stood up from his chair and threw the files down.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s go replace her! I’ve never seen her mad. It must be bad.” Marco and I rushed through the door and I let the bond carry me to where she could be. The kitchen had the strongest smell, but it led me outside to the garden. She had just left and headed off into the forest. We had discussed her not going anywhere without a guard, and she deliberately left and disregarded my request. I could smell no warrior with her. Her rage had started to dwindle, but mine was just beginning.

In a huff we both sprinted across the forest to the training fields. There was a large crowd gathered around instead of smaller groups’ training. Marco and I looked at each other in confusion as we trudged up and part of the crowd parted as many cheered. They were chanting “Little Fox,” over and over.

One of my strongest warriors besides my beta and gamma were in the ring, circling Sadie. She followed him with her eyes and a snarl was on her face. Her defense position was perfect and the flashes of light in her eyes let me know she was going off of her wolf’s instincts.

“Stop this at once!” I roared and everyone paused, too afraid to move. I entered the circle and looked at Sadie. My alpha tone doesn’t work on her and she stared me down as everyone bowed their heads. “What are you doing? What is the meaning of this?” I said with anger. I had never spoken to her this way before and she didn’t back down or flinch.

“Step aside. I’m training,” Sadie’s voice held fury towards me and my wolf whimpered. Looking at her in confusion, I toned my voice softer.

“Baby, what are you doing out here? You should be inside?” I tried to take her hand, but she stepped back.

“Showing you my place, a warrior, not your trophy mate,” she seethed. “Step out of the ring!” Caspian lowered his head to his mate, and I backed away, I was not about to make her more angry in front of my men. Many men would replace this repulsive for their mate to tell them what to do, but she was the future Luna and damn queen. She technically held higher authority than I did. Stepping out, Sadie turned to Baskil. “Begin,” she whispered.

Again, they circled each other. Baskil was at least two times the height of Sadie; she was at a total disadvantage. Her wolf was also small, and Baskil had been training with me most of my life. I knew how strong he was, and his technical fighting skills were impeccable. “Do not go easy on me, warrior.” Sadie spoke with a deeper voice radiating her Luna and queen authority. I hardly recognized it, it must have been Gaia.

Baskil nodded and changed into his wolf quickly as Sadie did the same, both ripping their clothes to shreds. Baskil was a large blue grey wolf with some of the longest teeth I had ever seen. He could pass for an alpha if he really wanted the position, but instead stayed and helped train the pack. Sadie’s small red wolf snarled at Baskil, ready to pounce, but she was waiting for his move. Everyone thought of this as an unfair advantage, but still looked on.

Baskil quickly lunged forward and Sadie darted away faster than werewolf speed. Many didn’t even see her dart to the right and land right on the back of Baskil. Her tiny jaw latched on to the side of his neck, ripping a hunk of meat from his neck. Baskil wailed in pain and reared his front paws into the air like a wounded stallion.

Sadie jumped off, spitting out a piece of his neck and crouching low to the ground. Her fox-like reflexes and cat-like movements made her look like a different species entirely. Her eyes never left Baskil as he healed quickly. She was letting him heal to prolong the fight. Baskil, with his mind on Sadie being stronger and quicker than he, used some of his battle tactics to get to her. I wanted to tell him to go easy, but Sadie forbade it.

After a few more minutes of circling, Sadie became impatient and acted. Her jump was high, higher than Baskil could jump, and she landed behind him with the grace of a swan. Many gasped. Baskil turned quickly and bit her back hind quarter. Sadie didn’t flinch and while his teeth squeezed her leg, she turned her head and slithered her head underneath his neck. The one weakness of any wolf in battle. Not once did Sadie howl in pain and her leg was turned in an odd position. It was broken, yet she held on for dear life. The type of hold that was on her should have made her black out.

Baskil flinched and let go. Sadie did not and started rolling her body like an alligator going into a death roll. She growled a warning as Baskil tried to fight back, only tightening her grip on his trachea. A whimper left Baskil’s throat, letting her know of his submission. Baskil laid down and bared his neck while Sadie let go gently.

Baskil was a bloody mess and was slowly healing. Sadie’s leg was healing as well, but at a much faster pace because of her bloodline. She didn’t wince as she walked towards me. Her wolf’s head came up to my waist, showing how small she actually was. Her bones broke and she stood up tall, naked in front of the entire pack. I hastily pulled off my shirt and put it on her. No one could see what was mine. I didn’t care if it was normal for us to see us naked.

Sadie’s eyes squinted as she looked at me. Rage was still in the air towards me and I did not know what I had done. I tried to reach for her hand, but she stepped back again. Giving the best puppy dog eyes I had, she weakened her stare a bit and her eyes were glassy. Turning carefully, her back towards me, she looked at the crowd that was in complete shock.

“Let this be a lesson for all of you. Just because of a person’s size or demeanor should not determine their ability to fight. I may have had no training and I may be the smallest grown werewolf to date, but that does not make me WEAK,” she spoke powerfully. “I am your future Queen and will not be doubted for any sort of shortcoming. I will fight whoever questions me of my abilities.” The crowd stood and looked at her in awe. The power she held was stifling. She had never let it show before and now, when she radiated her power, omegas dropped to their knees.

The pups smiled at her, and she smiled back. Even though she was being serious and scary to the adults, she still wouldn’t let Luna and queen authority show through to them. She loved the children, and she loved our people and even with several elders that questioned her, this proved who she was. In fact, it proved to me I had doubted her. She was strong enough; she was capable of enough. I shouldn’t have expected any less from my mate. Then it hit me.

She knew.

Sadie turned around to look at me. “You didn’t trust in me either.” She linked me. “You kept things from me. Mates don’t do that.” A tear fell down her cheek, and she turned back into her glorious wolf and ran through the forests.

Running my hand through my thick hair, I clenched my chest. She was sad and devastated. I had absolutely f****d up.