Page 38 of The Married Alpha And His Arrow: Vol 2

Chase sounded much calmer, “You’re staying.” This time it wasn’t a question. I assured him, “We are forever. You promised. I know we need to talk, but you did say the words forever. We are probably going to fight more than just this once in a time frame that large.” Chase agreed, “Forever, Sweetheart.”

When I opened my eyes, Frank was smiling. He winked, “Link him. So simple and brilliant. Thank you, Haley.” I asked, “Why wasn’t she allowed to go?” Haley scoffed, “You lose your shit to ancient fairy magic one time…” Frank belly laughed. Haley actually looked a little embarrassed. She huffed, “I’ll have to sneak away to apologize for some of that. Not all of it because some of it was justified.” What the hell was going on?

Derrick, Matt, Heath, Cameron, Eric, and Chase came into view. My heart stopped for a moment when I saw Chase. He looked tired but breathtakingly beautiful. I heard a pop. Dylan shouted, “GOSH DARN IT PEOPLE! We missed something! Lacy, I told you the first three dresses looked good, butttt noooooo you had to keep going through them to end up with an Emmaline snapped dress. You WILL have to make this up to me later. I even have an idea of how.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Lacy laughed at him. Alpha Lucas shouted, “DYLAN! That’s still my little sister!” Dylan said, “Ahh but the things…” Lacy cut him off by kissing him. When she pulled back Dylan said, “You are forgiven. Someone fill me in! Beta McAlister! Notice how I addressed him people! Stop giving the poor man an identity crisis!” I laughed.

I turned back to see Chase standing on the third step of the stairs. Cameron was beside him with Matt and Derrick. They were all talking to him, but he was staring at me. I gave him a quick smile and he smiled back.

Frank sighed in relief. “You’re sitting with us. Susie was supposed to be at our table, but something tells me she won’t be there.” Nadine kissed his cheek, “It’s cute, Frank.” Frank grumbled, “Cute. I was supposed to have until she was eighteen to worry about her mate. Now we’ve got a fairy who can tell people who their mate is, and my little girl already has one.”

Reagan said, “Technically she’s had one since she was born but you do you, Frank.” I laughed. I added, “Plus, now you don’t have to worry about her dating. She’ll just be with him.” Frank shivered. Nadine laughed, “We missed you around here, Lexi.” I blushed.

Heath said, “I traded spots with her.” I asked, “Why were you at the Kyle’s table?” Heath said, “I did have things to talk about with him, but who could say no to that little face. She gave me puppy dog eyes and pouted.” I snorted knowing he was screwed when Jasmine came along.

We sat down at our table. I leaned over to Heath asking, “What happened? Why was Chase so upset?” Heath brushed me off, “Chase can tell you about it himself.” I studied him. He didn’t look great either. I asked, “Are you ok?” Heath answered, “Honestly? Not really.” I frowned, “What’s going on?” Heath brushed m off, “We can talk about that later. It will wait. I’m just glad you’re back.” He kissed the top of my head and squeezed my hand. I was really worried about Heath now.

I sat back and smiled as Sally came in. She looked stunning in a white, tulle off the shoulder gown with a sweetheart neckline. I felt eyes on me, so I turned to look behind me. Chase hadn’t stopped looking at me.

I linked him, “You do have to perform the ceremony, you know.” Chase replied, “I don’t have to look at them to do that. I know all the words.” I said, “I’m not leaving so focus on them.” Chase replied, “You look beautiful, Sweetheart.” I blushed, “Thank you. You look handsome yourself. Tired but handsome.” Chase smiled and turned to Derrick.

He performed their ceremony and inducted Sally into the pack. Everyone howled. Derrick turned to address everyone, “We are going to do the run later this evening. Sally feels best then.” I couldn’t help but smile because he was so sweet with her. He led her in a dance. Everyone was just kind of mingling.

I whispered, “This is a strange reception.” Heath replied, “It’s not really a reception. Sally just wanted everyone to hang out afterwards.” I asked, “Heath, what’s going with you?” Heath said, “I still need time to process that myself. You know sometimes when you want something for so long then it happens you aren’t sure what you want?” I admitted, “Well, actually yes.”

Heath said, “That’s what’s going on with me. I’m not ready to talk about it yet. So I vote that instead we talk about you.” I sighed asking, “What about me?” Heath nudged me, “I know there’s something you aren’t telling me.” I told him, “I don’t intend to keep it from you for much longer.”

Heath nodded, “Fair enough. I’ve met another one of our cousins, Jasper.” I asked, “How did you meet him?” Heath answered, “He brought someone to us. Bjourn took her to torture after Haley took away her wolf.” I gasped, “Who did Haley do that to?” Heath answered, “Opal.” I tensed because that was not a name I wanted to hear.

I heard a soft growl. I whispered, “From Sophia’s pack?” Heath answered, “Yes, she hurt you. Jasper, James, Haley, and I found that to be unacceptable. Along with several Cambridges. A lot happened while you were gone.” I took a big drink of water.

I admitted, “A lot happened to me while I was gone. What else happened here?” Heath stood and danced with me. He spun me around stopping on the other side of the room. Heath answered, “Your string is no longer married, and you two need to talk.”

I realized Heath had stopped us in front of Chase, Matt, Ted, Derrick, and Sally. I smiled and hugged Sally. I told her, “You look beautiful! Congratulations, you two.” They both smiled at me. I felt Chase behind me and subconsciously leaned back into him.

Sally said, “We’ll go back onto the dance floor that way you guys can sneak away that way.” Chase spoke, “Thank you, Sally.” She smiled at him. All eyes were on them when they left us. Chase led me away. Haley raised a glass and winked at me. Eric’s eyes were on Chase until he nodded to me.

Chase led us to the main house in silence. He walked up to his room which was freezing. I found the reason quickly running over and shutting the window. I asked, “Why was the window open?” Chase answered, “I jumped out of it and ran to your house when your brother and Matt dragged me up here after the meeting.”

I moved to him and cupped his face. I apologized, “I’m so sorry, Chase. I really didn’t mean to be gone so long.” He put his forehead against mine, and his hands went to around waist. He whispered, “I missed you so much, Sweetheart. I’m the one who should be sorry and I am. I’m so damn sorry. I made a huge mistake when I was eighteen.” I said, “Just tell me what happened.”

Chase took a deep breath, “Sophia’s dad died the night before her eighteenth birthday. He’d been sick for a while, but they made her Alpha on her birthday. The elders in her pack weren’t going to let it stand. She’s female, and female Alpha’s just aren’t accepted. Even if a girl is born first, they are passed over for a boy.”

I frowned. What if Emma wanted to be the Alpha, and Emmett wanted to be something else in the pack? I asked, “So if we have a girl first, she can’t be the Alpha?” Chase looked alarmed, “NO! My daughter can do anything she wants. Alpha Eric actually has paperwork going around for just that. Recently, it was amended and passed that we will have both lead female and male warriors. I actually need to talk to Matt about having the first tournament for the females.”

Chase shrugged, “That’s not what we are talking about though. Anyway, Sophia came to me because they were only going to let her stay in power if she married someone. I think Alfred Senior told her to come to me when no one was in town so we couldn’t ask for advice.” He sounded like an ass then.

Chase ran a hand through his hair, “She and I have always been friends nothing else. I SWEAR to you on my life we are not more than friends. Now, I don’t even know if we are even friends.” I sighed. Did I want to be the reason they weren’t? They had been friends since childhood, but at this point I didn’t want to think about her being in the same room as Chase. Time would fix that, but right now it was too raw.

Chase continued, “I just knew she deserved to lead her pack. It wasn’t fair for them to pass her over. I had also just taken over my pack because I was ready. Not everyone is at eighteen, but I wanted to be like Alpha Eric. I worked really hard, and it was recognized. Sophia had to take over though, and I wanted to help her.”

I looked into his eyes acknowledging, “Of course you did. I would’ve thought of another method, but I’m not a wolf. I can acknowledge I don’t understand what she was facing and having just lost her father and having your pack, your family say you aren’t good enough on your own; I can’t imagine. I just don’t understand the rest. I know there’s a broken promise involved Haley was pissed off about.”

Chase searched my eyes, “The marriage was never real. We’d agreed that when I left for training in Europe, we’d get our marriage annulled. I was so stupid that I didn’t think about what it would do to you. I thought this would all be over and done with when I met my mate.”

I asked, “What happened then? You’re obviously back from Europe, and until Haley got involved you were still…” I choked up, “Married.” Chase held me tightly, “I’m sorry. God, I’m so fucking sorry. I didn't know what happened. I just knew she wouldn’t sign the papers. Tensions between our packs and us were high.” I would imagine they were. I’d felt the tension between them and I knew nothing of the situation.

Chase sighed, “Even when I came home, we went to Haley’s birthday party together. I thought if we went together to a few events she’d give me what I wanted. She didn’t. We argued, and tensions mounted. Then when Haley found out I was your mate things started to come out.”

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