The Game Of Quadruplet Mates
Chapter 15

"We'll leave when you're ready." The Alpha says to me as he stands from his seat after Jeremy leaves the room. "Take all the time that you need."

It felt strange to leave... to leave and not come home to what has always been home. Our lands are far from anything everyone else has to offer, but it was still ours. Wretched and miserable as it was, it really is home. And it's all I've ever known. What about my father? Am I ever going to see him again?

What about-?

"Uhm, Alpha." I mumbled quietly, feeling nervous about what I was about to bring up.

He began to unbutton his shirt. "Ajax."

"Alpha." I still say, replaceing myself a little too distracted with his fingers. It felt strangely intimate to call him by his name, a man I barely know, a man I have seen only been called by his mighty title.

And yet... "We are mated, my dear June. It's time you started calling me by my name."

"But no one calls you by your name." I insisted, looking away... or at least I try to. With his shirt completely unbuttoned, I was able to see tight muscular skin.

"No one is allowed to but you; my mate." The Alpha says, not moving an inch, but staring at me with a gaze that set my insides ablaze. I couldn't handle it.

I swallowed, my eyes glancing at his chest. "Ajax."

He smiled, pleased. "Very good. What is it?"

"There's, the, uh, the matter of my father." I bring up, shy and uneasy.

"What about him?" He asked, taking his shirt off and leaning against the hallway that led to the bathroom.

It was getting harder to concentrate on the conversation at hand.

His body is tanned bronze, chiseled and perfectly toned. Outsizing most werewolves, he was a mountain of roiling muscles. He looked like he could take on the world. Strong and sure. Confident in his strength. This man has obviously seen some hard work, his body a testament to that.

Stringing words together that didn't sound at all like I was asking him something was difficult. It was more difficult that he was half naked. "He's old and-"

"I know." Ajax says, taking me by surprise.

My lips parted. "You know?"

"I do and he's well taken care of." He says almost dismissively like he's already thought of all of this. "It's the first thing I did when I claimed you. A large portion has already been sent to him. Along with the best pack doctors and supplies he could ever want. You may visit him whenever you want or he may live in our pack. Your choice."

Stunned, I could only gape. "You did all that?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I?" He says, confused at my questioning.

"You were only required to give a little. If that." And it's true. Some don't give any at all. Pete wouldn't have given anything.

Ajax shrugs as if giving a large sum of his wealth and resources didn't bother him. "He's your father and I understand you love him a great deal."

"I do. I love him very much." I said without missing a beat.

He smiled like he already knew I would say that. "I wasn't about to let anything happen to him. Your loved ones are my loved ones... my priority from now on."

"Thank you." Helping my father and wanting him to retire is exactly what I wanted for him. What I didn't expect was for it to happen so easily.

"Don't thank me, June. You're my mate," He emphasizes with such a possessive tone that makes me blush. "I'm going to take care of you. You won't have to work a day in your life if you choose to."

Again I have to ask, is this the monster I've heard so much about?

"I'll be in the shower. You can finish eating." Ajax turns around, giving me a full view of his back. Hard with muscle and sculpted to perfection, the lines on his back are profound, a body of a warrior built for battle. The skin, though perfectly bronze, had multiple permanent looking scars that appeared gruesome and dangerous. Yet there's also his sloping shoulders, broad and powerful physique. A backside never looked so good... Blushing, I looked down at my plate. "Y-yes. Okay."

I tried not to watch him walk away but it was difficult, so, I took a little peak and was awed at the way the muscles on his back flexed.

Suddenly, Ajax looks over his shoulder, catching me in the act of ogling him, and he smiles. Not a smirk. But a small smile.

It lights a fire inside me, my heart leaping out of my throat. I hurriedly looked away.

With all my willpower, I forced myself to focus on finishing my food but nerves just kept getting the best of me. I was nervous about a number of things... about my future in the nameless pack, about my mate who everyone calls a monster- but he has treated me better than I could have ever imagined, and then there's also living in close proximity with Jeremy of all people and everything else.

I'm worried about everything. All of it.

I did not prepare myself to leave. I prepared myself to go back, to go home and work until I die but not this. Not to be a mate of a powerful Alpha that everyone fears. And not to be living Goddess knows where. They mentioned a plane but everyone that came to the games was in a car.

How far away are they?

When can I see my father?

I suppose I should be grateful. My father is safe and provided for. That's all I ever wanted.

Who cares what happens to me? As long as he's okay.

By the time I finished my food, I had consumed an entire bottle of champagne on my own and I could feel my bladder protest from all the alcohol that slushed around. The need to pee pushes me up from my seat and pace around Ajax's room.

He was still inside the shower. I could hear it running.

I crossed my legs, unable to hold it any longer.

It was out of the question to creep inside the bathroom to use his toilet while he's inside, so without another option, I left the room, walked out to the empty hallway and tried to replace an empty room that I could use.

As I made it to the end of the hall, I found that it wasn't as empty as I thought.

Cora stood there, the sharp eyes of a predator on me.

Was she waiting for me?

How long has she waited?

"June, was it?" She says in a bored tone, looking me up and down. Cora had a way of making anyone feel inferior with just one look.

I dipped my head slightly in respect. "Yes, Alpha."

She turned her nose up and suddenly looked twice as tall as she was. "Tell him no."

It took me a second to reply. "What?"

Her eyes narrowed as she sighed like I was a waste of her time. "Must I spell out everything? Tell the Alpha that you will be rejecting him."

Completely caught off guard by her words, I started to shake my head. "But-"

She didn't let me finish, her words just as sharp as the glare she was giving me. "I've prepared a car for you, to take you back to where you came from. Wherever that dump may be. The car is full of money that was only ever possible in your dreams. But now it's yours. Just leave him. Leave the Alpha of the nameless pack. The wealth I've given you will feed your family and your pack for generations to come."

She was paying me off.

Giving me money to run and never come back.

She wanted me gone.

"I understand you come from poverty or whatever it is. I mean look at you. It's pathetic. This money will change your life and others like you. Take it and leave him." She didn't bother covering her foul expression. She didn't have to. I am, in her eyes, beneath her and thus require no pleasantries.

In all ways, Cora is right.

Whatever money she left in that car would probably change all of our lives in the farm pack... forever.

It would benefit not just my father but all of us.

But it felt dirty.

And then what about Ajax? Ajax who went out of his way to choose me as his mate? Would I really leave him for money?

Would I leave him at all?

My hand traced the healed cut on my finger, the mark that made me his. It was sensitive and fresh.

And there.

"You will never be a Luna," Cora says, as though she read my thoughts. "You simply don't have the breeding for it. Alphas need Alphas. You'll drag him down just like you do your entire pack. The nameless pack isn't rich like us, but they're strong and you are nothing to them. You will be nothing your whole life. You are nothing forever. Not to mention, your looks. You're not pretty. You're ugly and malnourished. There's nothing to see. Nothing to gain from you. No pack would want a weak, ugly Luna."

Her words hurt because of how honest they were.

She wasn't trying to mean, or maybe she's always mean. But the fact is, she's merely pointing out the obvious.

I know nothing about being Luna.

I don't even know what they do.

Girls that have a possibility of being chosen as Luna have years of training, of learning, of socializing. I didn't have that.

Still.

Ajax chose me for whatever reason and to leave him for money is just... it feels terrible and should never be considered.

I bowed my head low to show my appreciation. "Thank you for the offer, Alpha Cora, but I've already bound myself to him and it wouldn't be right to go back on my word."

The sneer on her face was enough to make me take a step back. "How noble, but it's well beyond your means to be such, don't you think? Surely survival is what you would choose? Pathetic little thing like you. What if I gave you Konstantin? Or is it Jeremy that you want?"

The mention of Jeremy makes me flush and she sees this.

"So it is Jeremy." She mused, laughing mockingly. "My, my. You wanted the Beta but got the Alpha. His Beta too."

I don't answer. It's best not to engage in these things.

There was no winning with her.

"He likes you, you know," Cora continued, her viper's tongue whipping out. "My cousin doesn't like everyone but he takes a particular liking to you. I can buy you two an island where you can live out your best days if that's what you want. I'm sure he'll come." "Thank you again for the offer, Alpha Cora." I said, bowing once more before turning back to Ajax's room. My feet couldn't move quicker.

"You're going to regret this." She shouts back at me. "You're going to beg me to take you one day. You can't possibly fathom a life with him. He's still a monster. Don't forget that."

Her venomous words spread through my mind like poison.

"The Alpha only chose you to get back at me! He doesn't love you. He doesn't even see you but a way to anger me!" Cora's voice shrills through the empty halls. "And Konstantin only chose you to prove that he can mate with anyone and still produce a good bloodline. You were a fucking toy to him. You're a fucking toy to everyone!"