Page 27 of An Alpha's Commitment

“Well, I'm flattered, but I suspect it has more to do with her wanting to achieve a good political connection with the mating. Luckily Marius was just as interested in going along with her plan as you were.”

A somber look clouded Irian’s normally cheerful face. His eyes narrowed and his lips thinned as he pursed them together. I knew he was probably remembering the terrifying moment when he’d realized Marius could have forcibly mated him and no-one would have faulted him for it. It would have been a politically favorable match for both families. Fortunately, Marius wanted another omega he had fallen in love with more than he wanted to play politics, and he’d helped Irian escape from where he’d been locked up. The experience had left scars though, emotional scars, and Irian hadn’t spoken to his mother for a very long time after that.

“That’s all in the past,” I reminded him gently, and he rewarded me with a half-hearted smile. He was a strong-willed omega and the impotence he had felt that day had been devastating. I knew this because we’d talked about it a few times over the years. We were also in love by then too, and it had crushed him to think he might lose me forever.

The truth was, he wouldn’t have lost me. I would have killed Marius if he’d taken my future mate from me, and I would then have claimed Irian as mine. There was no doubt in my mind that I would have been successful – I was one of the better fighters of my birth pack, and I knew full well I would have obliterated the other alpha. Anything that was his would have become mine, according to pack law. Fortunately, it hadn’t come to that.

“Anyway, not your mother. One of my old packmates used to have a mage in his pack. And he's Pack Alpha now. I'll find out if he's still with them, and if he is, see if Darius will ask his mage to help us.”

“Ooh, Darius? We haven't seen him in ages!” Irian exclaimed, eyes lighting up.

“He's had his hands full since becoming Pack Alpha. There were some problems within the pack which took some sorting out. I still talk to him on the phone from time to time, though.”

“He wasn't Pack Alpha when I last saw him,” observed Irian. “What happened to Marius? Wasn't he supposed to take over the pack?”

“Yes, he did. Darius joined another pack.”

“A new pack? I bet there's a story there...” Irian looked at me expectantly.

I shook my head. “Not my story to tell,” I told him.

Isca's head was ping-ponging between Irian and I as we talked. Finally he blurted out, “But do you think he'll help us?”

“I'm sure Darius will if he can. We used to be very close. It's probably more about whether his mage can or will even agree to.”

Mages were fickle things. I hadn't had many dealings with them myself, but I'd heard from people who had.

???

A couple of hours later I was on the phone to my old packmate Darius. We’d grown up together. He’d been there when I first met Irian as an underage wolf holidaying with his family asguests of our pack leader. And he’d been the first of my friends to be welcoming and accepting of him, even though Irian was several years younger than the rest of us. At 17 and 18 years old, three years had seemed like a big age difference to most of my peers. It didn’t now.

“Hey, Darius! How’s things?” I greeted my old friend when he answered the phone.

“Talius! It’s been a while,” Darius recognized my number so he must have had me in his contacts.

“Yeah, I could say the same to you.”

“True. But you know what it's like, right? Packs don't just run themselves. Especially mine with the mess I inherited.” Darius' sigh was a little weary, a little wistful.

“From what you've told me, I think I've got it easy with mine.”

“Yeah, well, you started from scratch. I inherited problems. Still working through them. Anyway, that's old news. How's Irian?”

“Irian?... well, Irian's Irian. He hasn't changed. Cheeky as ever. Keeps me on my toes.”

A deep chuckle rumbled through the phone.

“I can believe that.”

“How about you, have you heard anything...?” my voice trailed off, he knew what I meant. We'd talked about this the last time we spoke several months ago.

The pain in the sigh was palpable over the phone. “...my mate? No, nothing. I'm starting to think... I'm starting to think I never will.” Another despondent sigh.

“Don't give up.”

“I won't.”

For a moment, we sat with silence at each end of the phone, both wrapped in our respective thoughts.

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