Chapter 9
Sebastian Kade had assumed the responsibilities of the Supreme Alpha from a very young age, after his parents were assassinated right before his eyes. But one couldn’t rule without a Luna. He had found his fated mate at the age of twenty, and they were soon married, but then everything went downhill, and he lost his Luna, someone he had cared for deeply.
The elders had soon begun to pressure him to take another Luna, and Seb had complied, as their pack was one of the biggest in the world. She too had died shortly after, and now, two years after her death, the elders were on Seb again to get another Luna, claiming the pack needed a Luna.
After losing two mates, Seb didn’t care about attachments anymore and had begun to live his life the way he wanted, without giving any she-wolf a chance to enter his life. He was done with weaklings who had broken him because of the bond, and if he were to take a Luna again, she would have to be someone smart and strong, someone he wouldn’t get too attached to.
That was the reason they were here now, in enemy territory, on their way to meet the she-wolf the elders had recommended and believed would be fit to be his Luna, the daughter of the Alpha of the North, Ember. Seb had heard many things about her and believed she would do well as his Luna.
But then he had perceived the intoxicating scent of another potential mate from miles away when their car broke down, and he had gone straight to that forest, which was in the territory of the pack he despised with every fiber of his being.
“Is she so bad you’re looking this pissed? I remember the last potential mate hadn’t made you this mad,” Matt pointed out as he grabbed another glass and poured the drink for Seb, who let out a cold scoff.
“She’s blind in one eye p>
Matt grimaced. “Woah p>
“And she is wolfless. Not just that, she’s short and small. I could break her with a snap of my finger. The worst part? She’s from Moonwillow Pack,” Seb said, downing the drink as if it could drown out the stabbing ache in his chest.
“Okay, let’s scratch her from the potential mates and Luna. She won’t survive in our pack. The elders won’t even approve of a wolfless who comes from Moonwillow Pack. Those hypocrites of a Pack,” Matt said, already disliking this new mate.
Seb had rejected so many shewolves who were his fated mates, who had their wolves, and who were beautiful and perfect in every way a woman should be, not to mention a wolfless one from Moonwillow. She didn’t have a chance in hell of being his Luna or carrying their Pack’s next heir.
“So do me a favor and let’s never mention her again. Tell me about Ember, how is she, again?” Seb inquired. He had tried to avoid learning anything about Ember before this, but now he needed a strong distraction.
He felt slightly more at ease as the strong Scotch began to dull the pain. He was mad at himself; had she not told him where she came from, he would have made the grave mistake of bringing her back with him, even though she had not a single ounce of potential to be a Supreme Luna. She would have been dead before tomorrow. She wasn’t the kind he took to bed, let alone a Luna.
“Oh yeah, Ember. Let me show you her pics. She’s quite a sight to behold,” Matt said, bringing out his tablet. He browsed through the pictures sent to him by the North Pack and then presented the image to Seb, who studied the beautiful woman on the screen, dressed in training gear with swords in her hands. She had red hair and blue eyes.
Blue eyes. Not like the girl in the forest, the kind that had flared at him and shown her displeasure when he touched her. That blind girl might have been interesting if she hadn’t been a weakling from a pack he despised.
But Ember’s eyes, at least, weren’t bad, they were blue as well.
’Aww, you are cruel. She must be broken by now because you rejected her and threatened to kill her. Poor thing. She’s blind in one eye, you should have been merciful in your rejection,’ came the hypocritical words of his wolf. But Seb ignored him, keeping his gaze on Ember instead, a woman he would make his Luna if she turned out half as interesting as her bio suggested.
“Did you tell her father we’re coming?” Seb asked.
He would have never gone out of his way to meet a pack lower than his, but he wanted to see this Ember character in person before she set foot in his territory and began to get delusional with high hopes that he would marry her. It was better he go himself and burst her bubble if she didn’t fit while she was still in her father’s pack.
“Her father said they are currently attending the moon festival in Moonwillow and would be back in three days. He suggested we meet there so you could get to know Ember, but I told him we don’t fancy Moonwillow. So technically, we have three days to stay in this hotel before the meeting,” Matt said with a nervous laugh as Seb shot him a glare.
Well, it had been Matt’s idea that they come early, since the elders had been chewing his ass off, urging him to tell Seb to take another Luna. He had had enough of their constant pressure and wanted to get away from the pack, forgetting that the moon festival Seb never attended was around the corner and that their potential Luna and her family might be busy.
“So tell me, Matt, now that we’re stuck here, what should I do for the next three days?” Seb asked sarcastically, his fine brow raised.
Matt shrugged. “Take it as a holiday from your duty. We could go moon howling as well,” he said, but Seb’s dark look made him laugh. “Hey, come on, I’m joking. But seriously, there are many things to do out here. Laila is a call away, you can get some steam rising together, and it might help you forget this new rejected mate before you meet Ember p>
Seb’s cold expression didn’t soften at all at the mention of Laila, who was, unfortunately, another female he shared a mating bond with and would have made a Luna if she wasn’t the kind who opened her legs to every man during heat. At this point, he didn’t want anything to do with women he felt a mating pull toward.
“No, don’t call Laila. I don’t need another pain to suffer. Tell the Deltas to get a new car if that one won’t start. We can go stay in the North territory to wait for them to finish the festival,” Seb gave the order and then busied himself going through Ember’s profile so he could forget a certain blue-eyed weakling he had met in the forest.