The Alpha's Vessel [The Alpha's #2]
Chapter Forty-One

THEA PETROVNA

“What’s so important that you felt the need to mind link me this late at night?” Orpheus grumbled as his eyes travelled around the room until coming to a rest in the large digital clock on the desk. “Or rather, this early in the morning.”

“Sorry, Alpha.” Clayton pursed his lips and nodded his head in respect.

Not bothering to hold back a growl, Orpheus making it known that he was on the last of his patience now. The fact that they had been in a rather intimate situation when the Beta wolf had chosen to mind link him had put him in a mood but secretly, Thea couldn’t be more grateful.

By this point, she just didn’t trust herself being around Orpheus alone. It appeared that every time, she basically just threw herself at him.

“I wanted to talk to you as soon as you got back.” Clayton stated with a firm look on his face, glancing over his Alpha’s shoulder to lock eyes with her. “In fact, I think we should call a pack meeting right now.”

“A pack meeting?” Orpheus glowered at him, not the least bit impressed. “Do you know what time it is?”

Clayton gulped but nodded his head, lowering his gaze as the Alpha wolf glowered dangerously at him.

“I didn’t expect you to get back so late.” The Beta wolf admitted very honestly.

“Well, do you have something to say to me now or can it wait till the morning?” Orpheus snapped back at his second in command, not the least bit bothered about being nice or sweet, or even holding back his frustration.

The whole time, Thea held her breath as she continued to watch the exchange between the Alpha and Beta wolf, afraid of when the former would turn around and ask her what Clayton was talking about. Even though she knew exactly what was coming, or at least part of it, it was so much worse having to hear it be said out loud.

Not to mention the fact that Beta Clayton looked like he had a flair for being overdramatic.

“I know this may be hard for you to hear, but Luna Thea has betrayed you and committed treason.” Clayton sneered as he glanced at her from over her mate’s shoulder once again.

“Betrayal and treason?” Orpheus questioned in a low hum and with a cocked brow, narrowing his eyes as he stared back at Clayton, surprised with this sudden accusation against his mate. “You’re going to have to explain what you’re talking about as this is all very serious. This is your Luna that you’re talking about.”

“Yes.” Clayton gulped and nodded. “There’s actually a few things that I feel like needs mentioning here.”

“A few things?” Thea frowned as she moved out from behind Orpheus, sensing that she would need to fight off these claims head on if she wanted to stand a chance of making it out alive of this conversation. “I’d like to hear what you have to say about me, but I replace it interesting that you felt the need to talk to Orpheus about me behind my back instead of talking to me head on.”

Rolling his eyes, Clayton huffed and turned his head to face the Alpha, not deeming her words worthy of a response. However, what a mistake that was.

“Don’t you fucking treat her like that!” Orpheus roared loudly, not the least but concerned that he had probably woken up everyone asleep in the packhouse. “She is your Luna and you’re expected to treat her the same you treat me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Alpha. Sorry, Alpha!” Clayton nodded his head meekly as he apologised, even going as far as to turn his head and bear his neck in submission at the Alpha tone that was used on him.

Despite having received an apology already, Orpheus was still seething and when the look on his face quickly turned murderous and he took a step toward his Beta, Thea was quick to act. She didn’t quite know what she was thinking and didn’t put much thought in it either, but wished she had as when she reached out and placed a cautious hand on his back in hopes of calming him down, his body stilled and he spared her a glance over his shoulder. Much to his surprise, his eyes were back to their normal obsidian black; a soft expression on his face.

Unable to handle the intensity of his gaze, she returned her hand by her side and took a step back.

“Now tell me of this betrayal and treason.” Orpheus stated simply as he crossed his arms over his chest.

After having witnessed such an intimate moment, Clayton had to blink and clear his throat before he could continue.

“Yesterday, I came to check in on Luna and Malik like you asked and I found her in your office.” The wolf stated with all of his chest, even going as far as to send her a pointed look, making it no secret so as to who he was talking about.

“Okay.” Orpheus hummed quietly. “And?”

“And?” Clayton questioned in surprise. “You don’t understand what I’m saying here?”

“No.” He shook his head. “You’re not making any sense at all.”

“Luna Thea is a spy!” Clayton finally declared, raising his hand to point a finger at her but he was quick to drop it when Orpheus growled threateningly at him.

“How exactly is she a spy? Because you saw her in my office?”

“Yes.” He nodded his head, almost as if he believed for it to be as simple as that.

“Well, congratulations but I see her in my office all the time.” Orpheus replied dryly as he rolled his eyes.

At his response, Thea couldn’t help but snort at the conversation that the both of them were having. When they both turned to look at her in question, she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Just because you saw my mate in my office doesn’t mean that she’s a spy.” Orpheus growled. “If that’s what you called me over to tell me, then I’m going to fuck you up.”

Clayton couldn’t help but gulp and take a step back.

“That’s not the only evidence that I have.” The Beta wolf shook his head. “But before we move on, I want to tell you that she wasn’t just in your office. I saw her going through your drawers. I’m not sure what she was looking for, but she was definitely going through your drawers!”

Thea’s eyes widened as Clayton turned to look at her.

She knew for a fact that he was lying. Even though she had actually been going through his drawers, she knew that the Beta was lying because the second the door opened, she was already halfway over to the sofa. There was absolutely no way that he had seen her standing behind the desk so now, she knew that Clayton had a personal agenda against her.

“I left my laptop in your office.” Thea stated quietly as she turned her head to look at her mate, uncaring of the other wolf as his opinion of her didn’t matter. “I needed to get some work done so I went in your office to get it, and that’s when Clayton walked in. If I had realised that me being in there alone was going to be such a problem, I would have personally called and asked him to retrieve it for me.”

Orpheus pursed his lips as he stared back at her.

“Is that good enough for you?” Orpheus sneered as he lifted his head to glance up at his Beta. “She was getting her laptop. That’s not enough for you to accuse her of being a spy so what else have you got?”

“Retrieving her laptop is clearly just a cover up-” Clayton began but was quick to shut his mouth and move on when his Alpha growled at him. “Did you hear about elder Malachi being imprisoned and overthrown by the rest of the council? Elder Maverick is now the head of the council and Malachi is going to be put on trial to decide how they’re going to punish him.”

“What?” Orpheus blinked back in response, having not seen that coming.

Even Thea lifted her head in surprise, having not expected such news.

Malachi had been found out? The council had overthrown him and now he was going to be put on trial? Even though Thea believed that he absolutely deserved all of this, she was just surprised that he had been found out. While she had mentioned it to Anastasia, she had just assumed that like everything else, nothing would come of it but now, seeing results, she couldn’t help but hope that things were finally starting to work out in their favour.

Justice was finally beginning to be served, starting with small portions.

“Malachi has been found out for his involvement in operation…E.” Clayton stated though the last part came out as a question.

“She knows everything so there’s no need to talk about it in code.” Orpheus rolled his eyes. “But I can’t believe this.”

Taking advantage of just how stumped his Alpha wolf, Clayton made sure to lay down the foundation for even more allegations and accusations toward Thea who was pretending to be shocked and appalled the whole time.

“I don’t know how exactly but I just know that Luna Thea is behind this as well.”

Thea snorted again and rolled his eyes. Once again, she was behind Malachi getting found out but she knew that Clayton was just throwing words around and he simply couldn’t prove anything.

“Can you prove it?” Orpheus raised a questioning brow and crossed his arms over his chest. “Because all of this is very serious and if you can’t prove any of this to be true, you’re going to look like a total fuck up!”

“I can’t technically prove anything.” Clayton cleared his throat, staring between the Alpha and Luna duo with wide, fearful eyes. “But I just know.”

“And I know that you’re completely talking out of your ass right now so if I were you, I would shut up before I do something to you will regret.”

Finally making the first smart decision of the night, the Beta wolf kept his mouth and could only gulp in response, genuinely afraid that the Alpha wolf see through in following his threat, just as he had seen him to numerous times in the past.

When Orpheus turned around to face her and she saw the blood red of his eyes, she couldn’t help but gulp and take a step back in fear that he was going to try something on her right now, regardless if the smug Beta was watching or not.

Almost as if he wasn’t able to see the exchange between his mate and his Beta, he grabbed her wrist and proceeded to tug her out of the packhouse.

“Orpheus?” She dared to call out to him in a quiet voice, but he merely growled lowly in response. Taking that as he cue to keep her mouth shut, Thea gulped and allowed him to drag her around though was surprised when he came to a stop at the top of the stairs in his house, finally letting her go.

After a few moments of watching her, he reached out for her again but this time, she couldn’t hold herself back from flinching in fear that he was about to strike her after having learnt everything from Clayton despite her insistence that everything he said it was a lie.

If he was surprised or bothered by her reaction, he didn’t show it and instead, Orpheus took a step closer to her with a soft look in his eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Orpheus apologised in a quiet, sincere voice.

“What?” Thea couldn’t help but ask after a few moments of awed silence, surprised that he hadn’t thrown her across the hallway by now for all of the allegations and claims that had been laid out against her.

Except, they couldn’t be allegations as most of it – not including those parts that were clearly exaggerated – was not far off from the truth.

“I’m sorry for all that accusations that Beta Clayton tried to pin on you.” He pursed his lips. “I have no idea where it came from or what he’s thinking, but he’s clearly not thinking straight.” He sighed and raised his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this from him.” Thea replied in a small voice, looking to buy herself some sympathy points by appearing as small and innocent as possible. “I’ve only spoke to him a few times and all the times; he’s been nothing short of rude and hostile.”

“He takes some time to warm up to new people.” Orpheus stated, trying to excuse his Beta. “But his behaviour is still non-excusable. He needs to understand that he can’t treat people like this. Especially not my mate and his Luna.”

Thea tried not to cringe at the use of her title even though she wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

“Maybe he’ll warm up to me?”

Orpheus merely hummed in response, watching her carefully, studying her reaction as he cocked his head to the side; almost as if he was trying to see what part of her his Beta disliked and was failing to get onboard with.

“Tell me this, Thea, my little light.” He murmured under his breath with a sultry look in his face, reaching a hand out to brush away an offending blonde curl away from her face. “Can I trust you?”

“Yes.” Thea lied smoothly without a hint of hesitation in her voice. “You can trust me, but you know that already.” She stated with a cocked brow, daring him to deny otherwise.

“I do.” He nodded firmly, a determined look on his face. “I do know that already.”

“What are we going to do about Beta Clayton?” Thea asked quietly, feigning a concerned expression to mask her face. “I don’t know how he’s managed to get all of this into his head, and I wouldn’t want him to spread these rumours around the pack. Especially since they’re not true.”

“I don’t know where he’s got these crazy ideas from either but I’ll have a word with him.” Orpheus nodded his head in understanding, a sorrowful look on his face. “I just want you to know that I trust you completely.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“I’m not finished yet.” He chuckled, shaking his head lightly. “Like I was saying, I want you to know that I trust you completely because I really do. After everything that I’ve done to you, you’ve stayed loyal and kept by my side even though I didn’t deserve it. You’ve done so much for me and you don’t deserve any of this from Clayton, so I’m not really sure where all of this has come from but that’s beside the point now.”

“To be completely honest, I don’t know why you don’t hate me already. If I were you and you were me, I would come to hate me for everything so I don’t quite understand why you’re not.” He hummed quietly, his voice trailing off. “But perhaps, that’s just the mate bond coming into play. Regardless, I’m so grateful for both you and the bond, especially when I don’t deserve neither.”

Not really knowing what to say – especially since nearly everything that Clayton had said about her couldn’t be further from the truth – Thea merely nodded her head before turning around and heading into Malik’s room where she had been sleeping previously.

Just for good measure, she slid the lock into place.

To keep him or keep herself in? She had absolutely no idea and honestly, was afraid to replace out.

-

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Layla Knight

19.12.2020