Page 360 of Alpha Mates

At the very least, his excitement made it easier to manage the panic spells when they rose up, because it reminded me that I wasn’t doing it alone. Though I suppose I never really was.

Aiden’s eyes flick up the second I walk into our office, and a knowing smile appears on his lips.

“Shut up,” I grumble, and he has the gall to gasp as he glances at Levi.

“I didn’t even say anything,” he whispers to him. Levi bites into his smile but stays quiet while he continues working on his puzzle. To me, Aiden asks, “You okay?”

“Yup,” I promise, sliding into the seat beside him. “What’s next?”

Aiden eyes me, knowing that’s neither the full truth nor a lie, but the bond assures him I’m fine for the time being—and I am. Every now and again, I freaked out about growing a whole child inside of me since when I shouldn’t have the proper equipment, but then I chilled myself out with reminders that it was all Goddess’s plan.

She hadn’t told me that herself, but seeing as she’s the one who’d put us together and made this possible, it’s what I’m choosing to believe.

“The border wards need to be checked, so we’ll need to assign a team to do that, especially with patrol teams smaller than before. The healers say the elders are sniffing around about our last visit, and the festival is in less than a week,” Aiden lists in smooth succession as his eyes slide down our checklist. “Oh, and another meeting in five.”

“Oh, is that all?” I retort, and he nods exaggeratedly.

Life as alphas had always been challenging enough, but after the year we had—and the latest predicament with the rogues—the work refuses to stop.

On top of the everyday squabbles and requests that required our attention, there’d been an influx of meetings. They came one after the other, each bringing with it some new problem to add to all the others—balances needed to be confirmed, population reports needed our attention, new warriors needed to be trained.

It never ended, but I’d take this any day over the storm the rogues had hoisted onto us. The distraction was appreciated as well, considering the things it kept my mind off.

I hadn’t seen my parents since the night we’d returned.

No part of me regretted it. Each day, I thought I’d wake up and suddenly want to take it back, but the relief remained, and I didn’t know if that made me sick or healed. What I do know is that I’m happier for it, and that’s all the confirmation I need that I made the right decision.

A knock on the door makes me sigh before Aiden calls for them to come in. When Emitt pokes his head in, Aiden groans, “They’re early?”

“Not quite,” he replies as the rest of him follows with a maroon envelope in his hands, with a seal I’d recognise anywhere.

My eyes immediately dart to Levi, but other than keeping a wary eye on Emitt, he keeps playing with his puzzle. He has no idea that in Emitt’s hand is the news about his family we’ve all been waiting for.

Silently, I wave him over, and Emitt quickly slides the package into my hand. It’s large—larger than a missive should be—and that makes my fingers stiff as I turn it over.

Regarding the case of Levi Gagnon and the Dark Moon Pack.

Aiden meets my gaze, and in his eyes, I see the same dread and hope I’m feeling.

Gagnon. A name meant they’d finally figured out where he was from. The mention of our pack, however, likely promised scrutiny and punishment regarding our familiarity with Katerina.

My fingers linger on the seal until Aiden whispers, “Open it.”

I oblige, and immediately wish I didn’t.

Earlier this year, a small pack far up in northern Canada had been decimated. Nobody knew until months later, when communications from the pack ceased and a councillor went to investigate, only to find the lands in ruins.

A rogue attack had occurred, and the entire pack had been slaughtered. What was left of them remained in pieces that would’ve been unidentifiable if not preserved by the ice and snow. The Council had used them to identify each lost wolf and account for each member of the pack. They had, for all except one. The alpha’s son—Levi Gagnon.

They’d searched for the missing child for months, but eventually marked him as deceased when every path led to a dead end. Someone had finally connected the dots and identified Levi as the missing boy, but the news is hardly heartening—because if this report is right, that meant that Levi either spent all that time between in Reon’s clutches, or he’d spent months, Goddess knows where, with Goddess knows who, before he ended up on Reon’s path.

Where our pack was concerned, they went on to congratulate us and thank us for the initiative we’d taken with the rogues. They noted that the Supernatural Board was also impressed with us. So much so that they’d offered a spot for someone to be sent to their illustrious Academy.

They not-so-subtly hinted that that someone should be Katerina. Otherwise, they’d wait to hear how we wanted to proceed with Levi if we did not plan to send him straight to them.

“They’re leaving us to deal with him,” I whisper as my gaze drifts to Levi. He’s still playing with his puzzle, still so blissfully unaware that my heart hurts just to look at him.

“Want me to take him?” Emitt asks, reading our expressions from across the table, and that steals Levi’s attention. He blinks wide, terrified black eyes at us, and my heart shatters in my chest.