The Alpha & Beta's Regret
The Alpha & Beta’s Regret – Chapter 70

Rafe POV

He was in Luci’s room staring at the wall, debating with himself as to whether or not he should put up last nights revelation, about he and Jack and Luci. Had been debating with himself over it for a whole day now. He didn’t think that Jack had recalled that part of their life yet.

Knew that it was going to devastate Jack completely, he already knew that he and his wolf Flare had loved Luci, still did. He looked at those words written in Jack’s own hand, and sighed heavily to himself. Now knew that he himself had also once loved Luci. Had in fact wanted her for himself. To be not only his Mate and Luna, but Jacks’ Mate. He’d wanted her to be theirs, not just his.

He could feel Solar laying inside his mine, all quiet right this minute, and when he thought about it his own wolf had been quiet since dinner yesterday and his recalled memory. Realised that his wolf had watched Luci today as well as him, they had a Mate. Solar did mate his Wolfen Mate, though only after a pack run where the entire pack could see them together.

Stood and thought about that, ‘Solar, why only on a pack run and never any other time?’ he asked.

‘To show the pack strength and leadership.’ Came the reply.

It was an odd expression, he didn’t state he loved his Wolfen Mate, which most would ‘Luci, Kali?’ Rafe asked the very question he’d been actively avoiding all night long, couldn’t ignore it much longer, even he wanted answers.

‘Confused!’ Solar huffed at him.

‘Flare is not.’ Rafe pushed a little.

Got nothing from Solar at all, his big black head was just resting on his paws inside Rafe’s mind, looking at the words on the wall before them himself.

‘Solar, you would have let me Claim, Mark and Mate Luci?’

‘Yes.’ Came his wolfs reply ‘You loved her, she was fun. Not our Mate.’

‘I know.’ Rafe sighed, ‘would have been chosen, but you would have been okay with that.’

‘Yes.’ Was all he got in return.

He focused back on the wall before him, wanted to write ‘I loved Luci’ up there under his name, but chose not to. Jack, if he came in here tonight at 9pm and saw those three words, would be all over him about rejecting Melissa and Maria and claiming Luci.

It was not going to be that simple, Melissa did her Luna duties, the pack did like her, respected their Luna and got along with her. She also got along with them, was a comfort to them at times, when she was here. Like all Luna’s were supposed to be.

Rafe wondered about that, stood there and thought a lot about that in fact. Melissa had never endeared herself to his unit, was standoffish to not just Jack, but also Allen and Ian. But she was good with the rest of the pack, had endeared herself to everyone else. It was he thought now, odd behaviour of a Luna. She didn’t have anything to do with Allen’s Mate’s. Well, he could put that down to them not really interacting with the pack for the most part. They were happy out there in the woods, they never offered to hang out with the Luna or the Beta’s Mate, as would be the standard custom within a pack.

Though to hear Addi, tell him that it had been Hannah who was the one out in the woods with Luci, had likely been out there teaching her how to use her witch bloodline. That was completely new behaviour for Hannah.

Jack had also not been wrong ‘leave the triune alone.’ It was pretty clear to Rafe that his witches wanted Luci left to her own devices. They had never gone into Luci’s room, looked at it but had never come in here. He also knew that Hannah and her sisters had put some sort of restriction on Luci’s room itself.

A magical spell or charm perhaps, that actively stopped both Melissa and Maria going into Luci’s room, and not just via the door either. The balcony door as well. He also knew they could not get past. This barrier also stopped anything of Melissa or Maria’s being placed inside the room, no one could take anything into it for either of those women.

He walked away from the wall and into the bedroom, over to the balcony doors, pushed out onto the balcony itself. The doors weren’t even locked. Looked at it, the next balcony over was only a short one meter away, an easy step for a wolf hell a human could make that with little effort.

Stood out there and recalled the day Melissa and Maria had tried to gain access to Luci’s room from the balcony. They hadn’t even been able to open the doors from the outside. She’d then barged into his office and yelled at him about not being allowed in that room, stated she couldn’t even access it from the balcony.

He remembered asking her “Why do you need to?”

“It’s my packhouse, I can go into every room I want to. Or should be allowed to. Are you hiding that she-wolf in there and that’s why I’m not allowed in there?” she’d accused him.

Melissa knew that he was not, knew that Luci had gone into the lake and not come out. She’d even seen Addison collect all of Luci’s things and take them away, she knew that room was empty. Her jealousy was irrational.

To which he had told her as much, though he recalled that only made her even more angry with him. She’d not like him speaking back to her. Although he only ever spoke about Luci, he now realised if Melissa brought her up, she was kind of just non-existent to him unless his own Mate raised her name. Wondered if that was part of whatever they had done to them. Erased her, so to speak.

Rafe headed back inside and went off to replace Gloria. He wanted to know what it was those two wanted in this room. Gloria was the omega in charge of keeping the rooms on the Alpha floor neat and tidy, head of her own team. Each floor had its own cleaning team, so the workload was never too much.

She was working down the hall cleaning an Elders’ room, not that they were here at present. They were off living in the city working from there. His father’s uncle, an Alpha-blooded male that was now an Elder keeping track of their shares in the stock market, was considered the CEO of their brokerage firm in the human world.

Gloria smiled up at him when he addressed her, “What can I do for you, Alpha?”

“Luci’s room?”

“I haven’t got to it yet, only clean the empty rooms twice a week. It’s on the list for tomorrow. This is my last room today. Did you want me to prepare it for Luci and the boys?”

“No.” he shook his head “Actually, don’t go in there. Jack and I are using it for a private matter, issues that need our undivided and distraction-free attention.”

“Alright.” She nodded.

“Gloria, I’d like to know what it was that Melissa used to try and have you take into Luci’s room all those years ago, do you recall at all?” he asked her. He didn’t recall, probably wasn’t likely to if she didn’t want him too.

“Oh, um. It was years ago, Alpha. If I recall correctly, she stopped trying after about a year or so, let me think about it a moment.” She frowned in thought.

Rafe stood and watched her think back it was a long time ago and it was a long shot that she would recall, but it couldn’t hurt to ask. She was quiet for several minutes. “Oh, I got it.” she suddenly smiled at him. “It was just a small aroma sachet is all. They’re in all the rooms bar Allen and Ian’s. I don’t think they liked it or refused perhaps.”

“All the rooms have them?” That was a curiosity, likely not in Allen’s room due to his Mate’s being witches. As for Ian’s room, that was a question worth exploring. But again, those witches did like him for some weird reason. Could be just that, he supposed.

“Yes,” Gloria nodded up at him, “This one has one, hangs in the walk-in I believe that’s where they all go, so used to seeing them I just forgot they were there. It’s a small silk bag filled with aromatic flower petals. It’s quite pretty.”

“Does my room have one?” he asked, he didn’t recall seeing one in there.

“Yes, several actually. In all the walk-in’s including the empty rooms for your heirs.” She nodded.

“Jacks?” he queried.

She nodded again. “Do you want to see it?”

“Please.” Rafe asked, and watched her go and then come back, she was holding a simple white pouch, with a white ribbon that tied it shut and allowed it to be hung. It was only about two inches square, with no discerning features at all. Very non-descript and forgettable.

She held it out to him but he shook his head ‘no’, had no idea if that was what Jack had been looking for in his suite or not, “That is all the Luna wanted to put in Luci’s room?”

“Yes. But I couldn’t.” he watched Gloria look down at it “It was really weird, I recall even the Luna was annoyed about it.”

“Odd.”

“Yes, it kind of just jumped out of my hand every time. It tried to walk in with it several times. I put it in my cleaning basket, and it just appeared to jump out of that as well, it never made it past the door.”

“The balcony, I recall Melissa trying to access Luci’s room from the balcony as well.”

“No it wouldn’t pass through that either. She did have me catch it from balcony to balcony.” Saw Gloria chuckle “She was really insistent that one went into every room, especially Luci’s room. Something about putting her personal touch in every room even though you wouldn’t let her in there.”

“It’s Luci’s room. Always was, till Jack and I found her or what happened to her, we wanted it to stay as Luci’s room. That was all, Melissa didn’t understand. Didn’t like it.”

“Hmm, well it’s like Luci’s room has a barrier of some kind that sachet just bounced right off it, kind of like the room was rejecting it.”

“Hannah put a barrier around Luci’s room for Jack and I when Melissa threatened to gut it.”

Gloria stared up at him for a moment. “Well, that would explain it.” she nodded. “I did suspect as much.”

“Did you say that to the Luna?” he questioned.

“Yes, not to happy about it, if I recalled stalked off in a bit of a temper.”

“Never was happy about not being able to go in Luci’s room.” Rafe nodded. “Thank you for your help, Gloria, could you please let the others know Luci’s room is currently off limits.”

“Yes, Alpha.” She nodded “What do you want me to do with this?”

Rafe looked at the small pouch, “Nothing right this minute.” He stated and headed for his own room. Strolled on in there and checked his walk-in. There were not one but two in there, and they were larger, triple the size of the one he’d just seen. Checked all the other rooms and yes, they were in there as well. He didn’t touch any of them, didn’t think it was wise at this point.

Left his suite and walked into Jack’s, not only were their two in his walk-in and all the bedrooms. There was a large sack on the floor that was neatly folded over and had about two thirds of it used, but he thought it was filled with the same, was made of the same material. It was likely what they used to fill those pouches with on a regular basis.

That one bag could well be the very reason this room was so toxic to the pair of them. Either that or it could be that Jacks and Flare’s feelings for Luci outweighed what those two had done to them. Likely they were still hurting both he and Jack with it. A snarl ripped out of him at his own thought, and he chastised himself internally for thinking that Maria had done something to them.

Stepped away from the walk-in and left the suite, returned to Luci’s room and sighed. Whatever was in that bag he was sure was affecting him. Being that close to such a large amount of it, had affected him more than it did in the other rooms. He’d just rounded on himself for thinking not so nice thoughts about Melissa and her sister.

He picked up the marker from the coffee table and wrote on the wall. Aroma sachets in all the rooms, not in Luci’s room, Melissa can’t get one in here. Hannah’s barrier to keep her and Maria out also stops anything of Melissa or Maria’s coming into the room.

Then wrote, Large bag in the Beta Suite – affected my thoughts and made me mad at myself for thinking Melissa and Maria wanted to do something to Jack and I, then after a moments thought, wrote for thinking Jack and Flare love Luci???

Another piece of the puzzle was put in place, wondered what would happen if he had Gloria them all from the packhouse. Search them all out on all floors and remove them. He wondered just how many of them were in the packhouse itself. Did it include his parent’s suite, the old Alpha unit’s suite, all the elders’ rooms? If so, what would that achieve?

Gloria and her team only worked up here on the Alpha floor, were they only up here? Or throughout the entire packhouse itself.

He was going to have to wait and see, he wondered if all those pouches got refilled when Melissa and Maria came home? Wrote that on the wall. He wanted to know himself now if they did that personally or had someone else do it. He wrote that on the wall as well, just in case he bloody forgot everything the minute she walked into the packhouse.

Melissa always came home and hugged him, kissed him wanted to go right to their suite. Sighed heavily to himself, he’d always wanted to as well. Practically craved her the moment she was kissing him, he’d just presumed it was because she’d been away from him for a week, had missed her…but now? He didn’t think that was it.

Was likely her way of surrounding him in whatever it was she used to keep that hold over him.

Stood back and stared at the wall, stared at Jack and Flare loved Luci??? That was more than bothering him. He recalled now how Jack had been all over him the moment he’d finally agreed to choose Luci…