Page 153 of Game of Destiny
“I tried talking to him, he doesn’t listen to me,” Mark told me.
“He doesn’t listen to me either. He is not in a good place at the moment. We need to give him time. Maybe Cindy is better off where she is for now. It will keep her from doing something to provoke him. If she keeps prodding at him, he will do something worse than locking her in the cells,” I said to my uncles.
“Elder,” Jonas objected. I sighed. They hadn’t been at the game, they hadn’t seen it all unfold and therefore they didn’t see how deep the issue ran. They just knew James had come back from the Games in a worse mood than they had ever seen him. They knew about the rejection and I had tried to explain to them why it hit our Alpha so hard, but they had a hard time believing it. He had rejected Amie, so why would he care if she accepted the rejection or not?
“I will talk to him,” I surrendered. “But we need to keep Cindy away from him if she is let out.”
“I will make sure of it,” her father promised. I nodded.
“Amie had her mating ceremony last night?” Mark asked. I nodded again and I smiled before I could stop myself. My little sister had looked like a true Luna in her white and gold dress. She had looked radiant and happy. I knew it was almost treason to think this way, but I was happy she had got a second chance mate and that it had been Alpha Finlay. He was good for mysister. No one could doubt how deeply they felt about each other. I had seen the bond between them the first day I had met her. Besides, I liked him. When he also put a smile on my sister’s face, then he became one of my favourite persons. My mother hadn’t stopped talking about how much she liked him and how nice it was to have him joining the family. I secretly thought she would make my dad jealous soon if she didn’t stop praising the Alpha.
“Did it go well?” Jonas asked. I could see they both still cared about my sister.
“It did. She looked beautiful in her white and gold dress. The ceremony was as graceful as you could wish for and their pack seemed genuinely happy to have an Alpha pair,” I told them. They were both nodding along. “When are you calling her?” I asked.
“Tomorrow. Joy can barely contain herself,” Mark told me.
“I hope it goes well. I’ll head over to talk to the Alpha. I’ll let you know how it goes,” I told them and continued my walk to the pack house. I didn’t know if I liked the idea of my uncles and aunts talking to Amie. In a way I thought it would do everyone good. In another way I felt like they had forfeited their right to be a part of her life, but if I were to think like that, did I have the right to be in her life? I decided Amie would be able to set boundaries on her own and her mate would be by her side. I knocked on James’ office door and mindlinked him it was me. He told me to come in. He looked like shit. The bruises and small cuts he had received in his fight with Alpha Finlay had healed. Instead he looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks, his hair looked dishevelled and he hadn’t shaved in days. “You look like something found floating in the river,” I honestly told him. He glared at me.
“Well, at least it will keep women out of my bed,” he said. I had to laugh.
“You need to pull yourself together, man,” I said and sat down opposite him without being asked.
“You sound like my mom.”
“There are worse people to be compared to. Look, I know shit has been hard and I know you are hurting, but if you continue down this road, the pack will suffer.” He sighed and rubbed his hands all over his face.
“I know, I know. I just don’t know what to do to get in control of my life. What do I do with all this anger and pain?” he asked. I had no idea.
“Don’t keep it bottled up inside,” I said.
“Tried letting it out. It ended up with me getting my ass kicked by my mate’s newest love interest.” He sounded bitter. I couldn’t really blame him for it.
“Ex-mate.” He glared at me when I corrected him. I glared back. “You need to face reality, James. You fucked up. This is the result. Own it and move on. Amie is mated to her true mate. That ship has sailed. You will have a chance to find a new mate as well. Or chose someone. There is always Cindy,” I told him. He looked at me and then he laughed.
“Don’t be fucking disgusting. She will never be my Luna.” It was nice to see him laughing.
“I get it, but there are other women out there. I’m not saying you should start sleeping around right away. Maybe just be less focused on my mated sister?”
“I know I should. Fuck! I feel like such a loser. If I hadn’t opened my fucking mouth back then. If I just had pushed my fear aside and done what my wolf told me, accept our mate. I would have been mated to Amie, maybe we would even have a pup or two,” he told me.
“Don’t. There is no use in ‘what if’. Things are the way they are.”
“Yeah. Did you know I can barely feel my wolf?” he asked. I didn’t, and it made me worry.
“Since when?”
“Since the fight with the Alpha. He was weak even before then. Ever since our mate accepted my rejection. It hurt him deeply. He tried to reach out to Amie’s wolf and she refused to even acknowledge him. After the fight, he just seemed to fade.” James sounded defeated. I didn’t know what to say. The thought of losing my wolf scared me senseless. The only thing worse would be to lose Becky and Mino.
“Maybe he just needs some time to heal?” I suggested. James nodded.
“This needs to stay between us,” he told me.
“Of course.” If it came out our Alpha had almost lost his wolf, the pack would be a sitting target.
“Did last night go well?” he asked. I hadn’t told him about the ceremony, but I wasn’t surprised he knew.
“It did.” I kept my answer short, not wanting to cause him even more pain.
