The Forbidden Mate
Chapter One – The Aftermath

Katy

It has been two weeks since the rogue attack that killed my mum and dad. Their loss still feels raw, and I am struggling to cope with my grief and looking after Emma.

She is distraught at the loss of our parents. Finding it difficult to comprehend that they are really gone, and she will never see them again. How could she, part of me can’t believe it either.

Every morning when I get up and walk into the kitchen, I half expect to see my mum there making breakfast, with my dad helping. The pair of them laughing and joking with each other. Instead, there is just an empty room.

The attack itself has left Emma traumatised. She is having nightmares, reliving the horrors that were committed by the rogues during the assault. I try to comfort her, provide her with some reassurance that she is safe, but I know I am failing.

I have suddenly been thrust into the role of sole parent to a traumatised six-year-old and I am at a loss to know what to do.

The bright bubbly girl that I knew has vanished. In her place is a silent shell who jumps at the slightest noise, and clings to me, afraid to let me out of her sight.

I haven’t returned to work yet. The Omegas who were injured or have lost family during the attack have been given leave to recuperate and grieve. As over half the pack servants have been affected there had been push back from other pack members, but Alex had insisted that we should be given the time to heal, and his father had let him have his way.

The way that Alex had looked after all of us, visiting the families, listening to their stories, comforting them in their grief, had deepened the love that I feel for him.

He hasn’t just spent his time hunting the rogues who managed to escape, he has made efforts to ensure that every Omega is cared for. He has been working long hours to ensure that all orphaned children are provided with homes, and that those who are too injured to work receive financial support from the pack.

And every night, after dark, he visits me. He slips into the house, up to my room and into my bed. Each night he holds me in his arms and makes love to me. Our passion only seems to increase as we get to know each other better, equally desperate in our need for one another, our bodies moving in harmony together.

I spent my days longing for the sun to set so that we can be together again.

When we are exhausted and our bodies are finally satiated, we talk. He listens supportively as I confess how I struggle with trying to take care of Emma. He tells me about his search for the surviving rogues and the steps he is taking to provide relief to the survivors of the attack.

We talk about our future together; we both want to be open about our relationship. To not have to hide the fact that we are mates. We try to think of ways that we could tell the rest of the pack about us.

So far, these conversations had been fruitless. We are unable to think of a solution that doesn’t end with his father and the other high-ranking wolves trying to break us apart. With me being attacked for being an Omega not worthy of an Alpha wolf like him. There doesn’t seem to be a way that the pack will accept that we are together, but we both knew that the longer our relationship continues in secret the more likely it is that we will be found out.

Alex

It has been a long day and it isn’t over yet. I have been meeting with our pack Omega’s representatives to discuss long term plans to help the children orphaned by the Rogue attack, and to provide long term care for those with serious injuries who have been left permanently disabled. The stories are heart-breaking, and I am determined that the pack will do what needs to be done to support these wolves.

My father has left dealing with the aftermath of the attack to me and has taken little interest in the plight of the Omegas. I am disappointed at his callousness but not surprised.

We have managed to permanently house most of the children with other families, a few of the older children will become independent sooner than they normally would but the Omega representatives will provide them with on-going support.

I have met with the pack accountant, Brian Manders, to arrange payments to the foster families and the disabled. This had been tougher than I had expected. Brian had been reluctant to release the money required and has tried to challenge every payment I want to make to the victims of the attack.

I hadn’t had many dealing with him before, I have always spent most of my time with the pack warriors and trackers, but I know he takes his role as guardian of the pack finances seriously.

We are the richest pack, our neutrality during the war meant that we did not incur the costs that other packs did, and we were able to keep running our businesses throughout. We steadily made money while other packs lost everything.

My father however is reluctant to spend the money that we have accumulated, particularly on Omegas who he barely classes as pack members. Brian is doing his best to administer the pack finances in line with his wishes. I have had to fight him every step of the way, but I am slowly getting the money required to provide support to the victims of the attack.

I am angry that I have had to waste my time like this. It shouldn’t be this hard. What I really want to do is to be out there with the warriors chasing down the Rogues that got away, avenging our pack and meting out justice to those who caused so much damage. I need to replace out why we were attacked and make sure that this can never happen again, but I can’t abandon our pack members. Without my intervention they would get nothing.

Fortunately, the last meeting of the day is one that I will enjoy. It is with Euan who will provide me with an update on the progress he has made so far in hunting the rogues.

………………………

Euan knocks on the door to my office before entering. He looks exhausted, I know he has been working day and night leading patrols, gathering information and trying to track down the rogues that attacked us. I am envious of him at least he is actively doing something.

I know though that what I am doing to help the victims of the attack is more important. It is something that only I can do, and Euan is more than capable of tackling the rogues.

“What have you to report”? I ask him.

“We haven’t made much progress since my last update. We tracked the fleeing rogues to a town about fifty miles from here but then the trail went cold. It is a human town but not that far from the Black Moon Pack borders.

I have spoken to some rogues that I have been cultivating as informers, but they know nothing. They weren’t approached to join the attack and don’t know anyone who was. It is like they came out of nowhere.

There is still no concrete evidence to say that the Black Moon pack were behind this, but the coincidences keep mounting up” he tells me.

“It just reinforces what we already thought” I say “that this wasn’t a standard rogue attack, and the Black Moon pack have the most to gain from organising it.”

I have contacted Commander Joseph, but I am still waiting for a response. With his spies in the Black Moon Pack, he should stand a better chance of replaceing out if they were behind it and what their motive was.”

“Good. Do you need me for anything else?” He asks.

“No, get a good rest, and we can talk about what to do next when we have more information.”

“I will do. How is Katy?” he asks.

“She is still grieving for her parents and trying to comfort her little sister which has been tough, but the time we spend together is amazing. I am struggling with my wolf not to mark her. He wants her by our side always. If I was to lose control though, it would all be out in the open and she would be in danger.

We can’t continue like this. It is too risky, we are bound to get caught, but I can’t think of a way to safely make her mine” I tell him.

“I have been thinking about your options as well, but I can’t see any easy way to get the pack to accept her as your mate. I think your only hope is to tell your grandfather and ask him to support you. He is still respected by the pack, and he may be able to stand up to your father and persuade everyone that Katy should be your Luna.” Euan says

“If he supports us. I am not sure that he will. Even if he accepts Katy as my mate, he may disapprove of her because she will be a major distraction from my mission to avenge the royal family” I say soberly.

“I think though that you are going to have to take the risk” Euan tell me.

He is probably right, but I am going to try and delay speaking to him about Katy for as long as possible. If I can uncover who is behind the rogue attack and why, expose the traitors in the pack then he may look more positively on my mate and not see her as a distraction.