Chapter 45: Chapter 45

“I can’t do this,” Amir groans as he stands up from picking up a stick for the umpteenth time this morning.

Millan frowns. In all honesty, after a week in his own training when he was younger, he was able to resist Alpha Commands better.

There must be something he isn’t explaining correctly. At Amir’s disappointed stance however, Millan forces his frown to smooth over.

“What are you talking about? You almost resisted it just now!” Millan tries to encourage Amir to no apparent effect.

“’Almost’ being the key word here.” Amir throws the stick to the floor in annoyance.

While Millan searches for another word of encouragement or some other technique Amir could use, Dax stands up, yawning loudly.

“Sun’s almost up, we should probably call it a day anyway, right?”

Amir sighs, “Dax is right. Andy and Jace think I’m still mad at them because I’m always gone in the morning. I should make them breakfast before they wake to apologize.”

Millan nods in agreement and Dax takes his leave, no doubt to go back to sleep. Amir and Millan, as per usual, walk side by side towards the main house.

In truth, Weston has been suspicious too for the past few days.

Millan has blamed his early morning ventures on insomnia, but he has a feeling Weston isn’t buying any of it. And he can see and feel his worry growing.

“Maybe we should come clean and tell them what we’re up to.” Millan suggests.

Amir, seeming like he’s thought about the same thing, nods, “Yeah, I don’t like hiding things from my brothers. Max is getting suspicious too. Maybe they won’t react as badly as we think.”

“Yeah.” Millan answers, not as convinced as Amir.

He really isn’t sure how Weston is going to react with Millan teaching other omegas of his pack to disobey Alpha Commands. He’s certainly not going to get any bonus points for asking Dax to help.

“Did you ever find out what Max was hiding?” Millan asks, remembering how Amir asked him out again over a can of beer the other day because he was pissed that Max was hiding something from him.

It would’ve been fine if Amir hadn’t noticed and not good with reading people. Unfortunately, Amir knows when someone is lying and he hates being out of the loop, so he ended up walking out on Max, much like how he walked out from Andy and Jace.

Millan thinks that Amir’s other talent is walking out, actually.

“Yeah. I’m an idiot and I should have trusted him. But he doesn’t know that I know, so…”

“Well, what is it?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Amir smirks and Millan narrows his eyes at him suspiciously.

But he is glad that the couple is back on good terms.

“Are you excited for tonight?” Amir asks, grin wide.

Millan thinks Andy might be more excited than him.

“Yeah.” Millan nods and smiles, trying to hide how nervous he actually is.

Amir frowns, smile faltering.

“What’s bothering you then?”

Millan side eyes Amir, a little spooked at his perceptiveness.

“I don’t know, I have this feeling that something is going to go wrong…” Millan shrugs as if this nagging feeling hasn’t kept him up all night. “It’s stupid, I know.”

“It’s not stupid, Mill.”

Millan looks up from the floor and looks at Amir, surprised.

“You probably just feel like it’s too good to be true. You haven’t had the best of luck the last few years. But really, tonight is just a formality. You’re already a pretty important part of the pack, you know?”

Millan snorts and goes back to looking at his feet as they walk. Millan is far from an important part of the pack. He’s more like a freeloader than anything else.

“I’m serious.” Amir continues, “People have already started to think of you as the Alpha’s Mate.”

Millan chokes on nothing and coughs, face hot with embarrassment.

“We’re not even mated yet!”

Amir laughs heartily and shakes his head.

“Mill! Your souls are tied together! I’d say that tromps any mating rituals, don’t you think?”

Millan frowns again, regaining some semblance of composure and giving Amir’s statement a serious thought. Millan finds that he disagrees whole heartedly with that.

While a soul bond is the result of a biological phenomenon, a mating ritual is a choice two werewolves are making.

Millan has been through enough to know that people leave and biology doesn’t do a damn thing to stop it. Millan doesn’t see how a soul bond is any different from this supposed unconditional love between a parent and a child.

If anything, his family is proof that biology isn’t enough.

A soul bond isn’t enough.

Being with someone, wanting to stay and build a home, that’s a choice. That means something.

It’s not that he doesn’t believe Weston wants to mate with him, because he does. But so many things can go wrong before that and he wants to be careful not to get his hopes up too much, in fear of going through another heartbreak.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Millan says to reassure Amir.

Of course, Amir doesn’t buy it one bit, but he doesn’t push it.

*****

Colton is not having a good time.

At all.

He wakes up way too early. Before sunrise. A pounding headache and a stabbing pain in his right side, all courtesy of Alpha Weston Blayne.

The night prior, he’d had to endure the stupidity and incompetence of this doctor, a WOMAN, of course.

She’d told him with all the assurance in the world that his wounds were mostly superficial and he could walk out anytime. The bitch had the audacity of telling him and every nurse around that his injuries weren’t so bad while he was literally crying in pain on the hospital bed.

Honestly. The nerve.

Deciding he doesn’t want to stay in this horrid place any longer, he stands up- with difficulty, might he add, his ribs being shackled to pieces by his own Alpha for no good reason at all.

While making his way to the door, he can picture that whiny omega rogue all giddy that his unmated alpha defended his honor when that little fucker didn’t have any honor to save in the first place!

Those two make for a real disgusting pair if you ask him.

For once, a Rogue has no place staying in any pack territory, especially not in Headquarters and especially not in the Head Alpha’s bed. As far as Colton is concerned, Alpha Weston is a traitor to his own pack for accepting this disgusting excuse of an omega.

Filled with anger, he lets his inflamed thoughts guide his steps and ends up in the main house, not knowing full well what he intends to do yet.

He knows where the Head Alpha sleeps, everybody does. No one is allowed to be in there unless it is an emergency, but his feet bring him to his door and he cracks it open.

The traitor in command is still sleeping, but Colton is surprised not to see the little freak to his side.

Maybe Alpha Weston isn’t as much of a lunatic as he thought. Then he thinks maybe the omega is sleeping in another room.

Alone. Vulnerable.

A smug smile takes over Colton’s lips.

It’s too easy.

He could slip into the omega’s room, Alpha Command him to leave and never come back.

If he’s lucky, Weston might follow him like a lost puppy. He’d get rid of both of them all at once.

Colton has to hold off a laugh and try his hardest to remain silent. Colton opens the door to the next room slowly. Although the bed is made and empty, the rogue omega’s scent lingers.

Colton is pretty sure the omega slept in there at some point. As he enters the room further, the open closet catches his eye.

There, on the floor, a discarded bag surrounded by Millan's scent.

Interesting.

When Colton opens the bag and slowly recognizes some of the items, Colton laughs as quietly as possible.

This is too easy. Way too easy.

Tonight, everything will be all right again.

*****

To say that Millan is nervous would be an understatement.

He was agitated the whole day and every time he would cross paths with Colton, the Alpha would give him glances that’s full of disdain and mockery.

But the most unnerving is the way the alpha’s eyes would smirk as if he knows something about him.

Millan ignored it and just went with his day as he would normally do. And now that the night has arrived, he was a ball of anxiousness.

The clear sky allows for the full moon to brighten the clearance in the forest where it seems like every pack member is standing in wolf form, heads bowed towards their Alpha.

Weston is in human form, standing in front of the Council Members and the rest of the pack, all forming a guard of honor for Millan to walk through.

Unfortunately for Millan, the ceremony accepting a new member in the pack and the ritual to exile one are almost identical.

Every time he blinks, he sees his father standing in Weston’s place, waiting to rip his heart out.

He tries to push those images aside as he walks slowly towards his Fated Mate.

His soul mate, not his father. The Blayne Pack, not the Caelan Pack, Millan keeps reminding himself.

Weston smiles at him warmly, no doubt sensing Millan's stress and the omega decides to focus on that instead. He studies Weston’s dimples and the reflection of the moon light in his gold eyes.

It works well and he’s only a couple meters away from Weston when he hears someone running behind him followed by a loud growl.

“Stop!”

All of the werewolves’ heads snap up and instant confusion agitate the crowd as Colton runs past Millan, stops next to Weston and faces the pack.

Millan's heart drops when he notices what is Colton holding in his hands.

His backpack.

His backpack which contains his things.

Things that he needs to survive.

Things that he stole.