Archer remained silent throughout the drive, only focusing on the road while listening to the even breaths of his mate. There were thousands of thoughts running through his mind. He did not understand how his second-chance mate had already been mated to someone else when he did not even reject her. More so, he felt enraged thinking about what he had heard about his mate at the party.
Although he did not hear everything, he got the gist of it. The way everyone tried to humiliate his mate did not go well with him at all. Not to mention that fucker even broke her arm. He gently looked at her arm and caressed it.
“I will make sure they will suffer from the worst, unimaginable consequences.”
Taking a deep breath, he escalated the vehicle through the dark road.
************
Meanwhile, the situation at the Greyhound Pack did not look good at all. At first, all of them were momentarily confused, but when the dust settled down, most of them realized they had done something wrong.
After Archer Raven left, Henry too stormed out of the party, blaming everything on Liam. Now caught between two packs, Liam sat shocked while his mate Ramona tried to soothe and calm him down.
“Are we seriously accepting the fact that she has got two Alphas as her mate?”
Amber Grey, the former Luna of the pack and Liam’s mother, asked the question that had been bugging everyone’s mind.
From what they had witnessed, it did not feel like Alpha Henry was pretending, as he genuinely looked happy and wanted to show off Natalia as his mate. His face turned sour after knowing the truth, and he immediately started asking for a rejection. In the process, he got impatient and broke Natalia’s arm as the pop sound was audible enough for everyone present at the party.
“Henry is not our concern, mother. Our concern is Archer. If what he said is true, then we are indeed fucked.”
Liam voiced out his concerns.
“Does that mean he will really cancel the alliance?”
For a second beta, Peter Stone felt like smacking the back of his son’s head with great force so that Jame would shut up his mouth for good.
The atmosphere became dead silent again and in the midst of this Ramona clutched the hem of her dress tightly.
It was supposed to be her day and she was supposed to be in the limelight. She had made a great contribution to the pack even before becoming the official Luna, and she wanted to shine in her moment. But, as usual, everything went downhill the moment Natalia appeared and snatched everything from her.
“Wait.. If what Alpha Archer said is true, then we still have a chance to make things right.”
Everyone immediately looked at Ramona as if she had grown another head.
“Natalia is mated to the Alpha of a different pack. As per customs, she needs her family’s permission and the pack Alpha’s permission before she can officially leave the pack and join her mate’s pack.”
“That means we still have a chance to ..”
Alpha Liam did not finish his sentence and hugged Ramona.
“Hahh.. I knew I made the right choice by accepting Ramona as my mate instead of that mute.”
His eyes shone with pride after his mate offered a solution. The two families start forming a plan to coerce Natalia to come back to the Greyhound pack and use that as a bargaining chip to deal with Alpha Archer.
**************
After storming out of the party, Alpha Henry wandered around the street until he saw a pub and made his way inside. His plan was simple. He ordered all the drinks he could get his hands on and started chugging them down as if his life depended on it. He wanted to erase everything from his mind. He wanted to erase the existence of his mate and the humiliation he felt because of another Alpha.
In the midst of this, he sensed someone’s presence and looked up to see a cute blond girl winking at him. Without any hesitation, he grabbed the girl by her neck and pressed his lips on her. The duo hastily made their way to one of the washroom’s cubicles and Henry released all of his stress on her.
**************
After arriving at the pack hospital, Archer gently lifted his mate and carried her princess style. He had already informed the staff about his arrival and a team of doctors and nurses were already waiting for her. He gently laid her on the stretcher and walked along as they carried her to the room.
“You will have to wait here, Archer.”
One of the senior doctors advised, and he stopped himself from going inside. The next one hour was agonizingly painful as he silently waited for doctor’s assessment. Joshua Stone, the pack beta, and James Raven, his younger brother, as well as the pack gamma accompanied him.
“Don’t worry Brother. Everything’s going to be fine. She is going to be fine.”
James tried to console his brother as this was the first time in the last two years he had seen his brother so worried. He could not help but recall the devastating sight of his brother after hearing about Rose’s passing.
Without making a single noise, the trio waited in utter silence. Using their super sense, they also tried to hear the conversation happening inside the room. However, those sounds did not make much sense to them at all.
A few minutes later the door of the examining room opened, and the senior doctor walked out. Archer instantly stood up and marched towards the doctor, followed by Joshua and James.
“Apart from her arm being broken, there is nothing physically wrong with her. She is still unconscious and will regain consciousness after the effects of anesthesia wear off.”
“I have already bandaged her hand. If you want, you can go ahead and meet her.”
Archer did not even waste a second and immediately marched inside. Joshua and James followed him, curious to see the face of the girl because of whom their Alpha was so worried and nervous. But the moment Joshua saw the girl, he was left shocked and staggered backward.
Joshua felt a familiar feeling just by looking at the beautiful sleeping face of the girl. His heart started beating fast and, without realising, he started to walk towards her. He was about to touch her face when someone’s hand stopped him, and he looked to the left to see Archer glaring at him. Realizing his shortcomings, he immediately withdrew his hand and stood by her side to watch her.
“What’s her name?”, James whispered.
“Natalia.”
Archer whispered back without averting his gaze from her. He stayed by her side the whole night despite everyone’s pleas. Joshua and James, after listening to the gist of everything, walked back to the pack house with heavy hearts.
Meanwhile, Archer sat on the stool beside the bed. His eyes were looking at her from head to toe. His mind wandered to the thoughts of his first mate, Rose. His past and present memories shackled his mind and he let his thoughts flow deep into oblivion.
***********
As per the plan, Alpha Liam Grey along with his father and Natalia’s family arrived at the border of the Raven pack in the morning. It was barely seven in the morning and the guards were shocked to see the neighboring Alphas as they never got any notice of anyone’s arrival. However, after the initial checks, the guards allowed everyone to pass through and breathed a sigh of relief. The grandeur of the Raven pack spiked the jealousy of Alpha Liam, and he felt uncomfortable. Comforting him, his mate, Ramona started sweet-talking him, fanning the fire to humiliate her own sister, Natalia.
“Alpha. Everyone from the Greyhound pack is here.”
As soon as the message was delivered to Archer, he stepped out of the room and marched forward. His face filled with anger and veins popping out of his head as he walked towards the abusers of his mate.