The Mate That Wasn't Mine novel Chapter 8

Chapter 8

TESSA POV

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Kai takes the lead, quickly stalking through white–washed corridors before entering a double–height, vaulted dining hall.

Long red banners drape down the white, cragged walls, instantly filling my mind with images of innards and gore.

The busy space is lit by flaming torches as evening descends, a thousand different scents combining into the nasal equivalent of the colour beige. Beige laced with meat and burned vegetables.

Wardens are everywhere. Trying not to look overawed, I just follow. Yet even with my head as high as I can muster, there is no pretending some people aren’t scowling at me.

My long waves of rusty–coloured hair and Maxim’s borrowed leather jacket mark me out to everyone as the girl who succeeded, or rather, cheated at the archery range.

Rows of wooden tables are packed with men fresh from the sparring. A collection of black eyes, cuts, bruises and torn clothing. Some are silently sulking into bowls of stew, others are beaming, somehow making lifting a fork into a display of flexing, vein–riddled bicep curls.

Mingled into this collection of egos are dozens of women, squeezing their way onto the benches with wide smiles and braying laughs. Friendships and everything else being formed.

If I had held my nerve this morning, never tried the other carriage and landed on Maxim, could I have been one of those happy, chattering faces?

Dozens of women have signed up to be Healers, scent–tracers and spiritual guides. Only a few wear the dark blue of experienced Betas. Most older women here are serving food and drink.

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Neither Malva or Juno come into my line of sight. I do notice one table full of muscular, broader women. The blade wielders and infantry ladies. Hair braided into thick coils, long leather skirts and attitude to rival any bragging man. Curiosity keeps my eyes fixed on them until Kai guides us to a half–filled table, long brown benches seating ten at a time.

“So…you’re top archer?”

I blush. Then I hate myself for blushing. So I go even redder with frustration. I can feel Silas and Kai exchanging quick looks.

“I guess so. I mean we’ve only shot one arrow, so it’s not like it’s that accurate.”

“That puts a target on your back,” Silas grins broadly, tearing into a roll of bread with abandon, not bothered about the crumbs raining down onto the wooden table. “Pun intended.”

“I hope not. That would be awful.”

“It’s a competition. This whole place. If you aren’t at the front, you’re at the back, hating.” Kai adds, nodding towards the table to our left.

I recognise some men from the archery range. They stop talking and glower at me. Kai’s slender face softens at my panic, adding quickly. “We’ve all been there.”

“Now we’re Beta’s, it only gets worse,” Silas mumbles through a mouthful of bread, gesturing at Kai to complete his thought for him. Kai rolls his green eyes, tearing his bread into small chunks in front of him.

“He means, because now we’re fighting not to be sent to die fighting nasty little elves with their tricks and games. Or reduced to guarding moats. We all want to serve here. Right at the heart of the Alpha’s world. You never stop trying to prove yourself. Even the Warden’s are in competition.”

“Mmhmm!” Silas nods, giving Kai a thumbs up.

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“Nearly all my archery practice was in secret, the only competition was with myself until now.”

“Well if you need tips on showing off, your mate is the man for the job,” Silas chuckles, grabbing his third bread roll. My mate. The man I walked away from, who I haven’t seen for five hours?

“Why?”

“Goddess, so many reasons.” Silas ponders, chewing like a cow.

“When they did the roll call?” Kai smirks.

“Yes!” Silas nods enthusiastically, mouth full again.

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“It was a course on concealment. The Warden was going bananas thinking he had skipped class, saying he’d had his last chance…but he had been hiding, hidden in some rafters the whole time!”

I gasp. Kai just raises his black eyebrows. “Oh yes, emerging just in time to almost give Warden Marshall a heart attack. And prove he didn’t need any pointers on concealment.” I can just imagine the triumph in those cunning tiger eyes when he pulled that trick off. “Marshall had him down for a whipping only for Warden Donlon to intervene and reduce it to-”

“ALL RISE!” a deep voice explodes around the hall.

“Look alive,” Silas mutters quickly as I copy their actions. Standing tall, hands behind my back, I crane my neck to see around Silas’s huge shoulders to catch sight of the man we are all here to impress.

Alpha Hale. The man himself. Maxim described him as a shaved gorilla. I’d say he was being complimentary. His shoulders are the double of any other man, his hands the span of dinner plates.

“ALPHA!” booms out when he lifts his huge hand in acknowledgement.

He stands on a set of benches pushed together to really look down and assess us all. His icy blue gaze lands on me for less than a second but his

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Alpha authority hits me like a tidal wave.

The Goddess has blessed us with wolves, but she has blessed our Alpha with the ability to command those spirits at will.

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Should he choose to shift, his wolf must be an utterly terrifying prospect. Yet the delicate fairy–like waif next to him, a mere twig in comparison must be Luna Sabrina. Her golden hair hangs in carefully styled curls, her silver, shimmering dress complimenting the Alpha’s stark white, pristine shirt. A chunky band of flat, gold, intricately crafted crests rest around his shoulders.

“First years, welcome! Work hard, listen to your Wardens. I ask for only one thing. Your loyalty!”

A vigorous “YES ALPHA,” fills the hall in response. Alpha Hale strides back and forth along the bench, the gold plates around his shoulders catching the torchlight, clashing with the pure blue of his eyes.

“I want this packhouse filled with only the best! The most faithful, reliable pack members. The cliff and it’s cruel justice exists to remind all of us, including myself, of our oaths to Ravenbow! To the Goddess! Those of you lucky enough to have found mates must show the rest of your fellow students the way to act with honour!”

So it’s true. He has a clear preference for mated couples. Silas shifts his huge weight from foot to foot in front of me. Alpha Hale jumps down, his thick leather boots creating their own thunderclap.

“To serve a pack is not to think of yourself. But of the members out there now, fighting scurrilous humans with their silver blades, or the devious, land–grabbing elves. Lies and deception have no place here!”

“YES ALPHA!”

I must be paranoid but I feel his eyes land on me. Don’t blush, don’t blush circles around my head. As quickly as he arrived, he turned and left, a

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GO

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flurry of Warden’s scattering outwards in his wake. Luna Sabrina stays, making her way around the room, chatting to various Wardens and senior students.

Then another, younger pair stride in. Brother and sister around my age. The Alpha’s heirs. Prince Remy is just as Maxim described, Tall, powerful and oozing that same authority. He wears a small, thinner collection of gold plates across his massive chest. He looks kinder than his father. But of course one day it will be his responsibility to hurl traitors from the cliff face.

n his arm, beaming like the sun itself, Princess Hazel. Like a fool, I annot drag my eyes away. Resembling her mother she is ethereally graceful, draped in clinging, floor–length white and silver. It is a simple style, but elevated enough for her station.

White–blonde curls are styled upwards without extravagance. Her slender figure is outweighed by a bright, perfect smile, her pristine blue gaze high and ready to befriend.

When a petite, honey–haired girl stumbles in front of her, our Princess doesn’t recoil. She quickly helps her upright, smiling and joking about her own clumsiness. She exudes a bright joy that allows her brother to be the quieter of the pair.

The poor tumbler is blushing, tucking her hair behind her ears. I recognise that level of mortification. Thank the Goddess she didn’t spill her stew on her. As soon as she is pardoned she scuttles out of a side door.

Kai and Silas have already sat back down, eating stew like starved animals. I’m frozen. Because I need to see Hazel in all her perfection. Burn into my head the type of woman Maxim seduces.

He chases angels. Chooses them for his kisses and adoration.

I fell on him.

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“Tessa?” Silas checks, my body lowering to the bench robotically, Making a poor attempt to eat, minutes crawl. The most stunning, confident woman in the room might at any moment saunter over my way. Would she see the state of me, crazy, thoroughly knotted copper hair, boring brown eyes and a borrowed leather jacket and pity me. Pity Maxim?

“I’m going to head out. Thank you so much for this,” rising from the table before Kai or Silas can try to change my mind. It is not like I know where to go, but this gothic hall has me feeling more inadequate by the second.

The instant I leave the huge dining hall and hit the fresh air outside I hear a faint sound.

Mewing. A gentle, plaintive mewling.

Following the sound I wind my way back inside the packhouse. My wolf’s instinct picks up the trail of the warm–scented little stranger.

The corridor is almost pitch black, no torches lit for this end but I follow the sound, my eyes glued to the corners and wooden furniture.

Until I walk straight into something.

“Ow!”