Chapter 6

I walked to the hotel slowly, it was almost eleven at night, I don't know why I still thought that maybe I would still find Joe there. He was not and I had expected that. I walked out of the restaurant sighing. I wasn't tired so I figured I would spend the rest of the night somewhere around town. At the movie theatre maybe? And then I would figure out what to do once the sun came up.

"Looking for me?" I jumped when a voice came from right behind me. Joe burst out laughing as I cursed at him. "An easily scared werewolf, you don't see that every day." He smirked.

"Did my mother hate you – If you're not lying about all of this?" I asked.

'No.' I was a little surprised when he mind-liked to me. I had never been linked to anyone before. It was like his voice was inside my head, like my own had been. "How could I be lying? You look like me. Amarelo wolves can link to any family members of theirs. That, and I'm an Alpha." He said. Alpha? "Your father would have been. You know, if he wasn't… killed." He said. I frowned.

"How does an Alpha get killed?" I asked.

"He jumps in front of a sea of wolfsbane and platinum-containing jacketed hollow points to save his seven-year-old daughter after his wife had been ripped to shreds by a never before seen species of wolf." He said. I stared at him surprised.

Wolfsbane and platinum were extremely harmful to wolves, put together they were deadly. As for the hollow points, those bullets expanded once they hit their target. My birth father did not stand a chance.

"But… I don't remember it," I whispered.

"I guess Richard compelled you to forget before he died, he probably also compelled you to run because when we got there, you were gone. Your father was the type of person who would not have wanted you to remember what happened." He said.

"Compelled me? But I'm an Amarelo wolf." I said. In the books it had said that Amarelos could only compel other wolves and species, not other Amarelo wolves.

"Your father was an incredibly powerful werewolf, Izabella. He could compel anyone. He named you Izabella by the way, I don't know how Ian came up with the same name. Faith, maybe." He stopped, before he began walking, "Walk with me, Izzy." He smiled. I furrowed my brows but followed him as he made his way down the sidewalk. "You know, I found you a few weeks later in the Galaxy pack..." He looked ahead of us as he spoke instead of looking at me.

"You did?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes, I did. But I saw you with Ian and Hillary, they had found you and then patched you up and were taking care of you, they were raising you as their own; you were a little girl with no memory of the past and they desperately wanted a daughter. Their boys loved you so much in just a couple of weeks of you being with them. How could I take you away from a family of that kind when I was just going to neglect you? I mean, at the time, I will admit, I wasn't the most responsible werewolf around. Your mother always frowned upon me for that. But, hey, I was seventeen years old, what did everyone expect? I have no idea why the pack dubbed me Alpha at that age after we lost your parents. I was happy though, I was going to be able to have a huge office and get everything I wanted paid for.” I smiled, that was not what being Alpha was, he shot me a frown as he read my face before he sighed, “Yeah, I soon learnt it was much more than that, I almost gave up a few times but for some reason the pack believed in me. On the basis that I was 'trained by the best'. The best being your father and his father." He said.

I nodded. Whoa. That was a lot of information all at once.

"So... You're kind of like… my father's prodigy?" I smiled. He chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Why do you have a bag?" He asked.

"Escaping my pack for a while," I told him the truth, "They're suffocating me... And I'm not going back in the next two days." I muttered.

"I have a feeling this isn't just a pack issue?" He said, before adding, "Have you found your mate?"

"Unfortunately." I muttered. My wolf let out a growl and I fought to keep myself from shifting by clenching my fist and trying my best to suppress her, putting all of my energy into keeping control of us like I usually did when she wanted us to shift. I still couldn't believe I was mated to that asshole.

"You can't control your wolf yet?" He looked shocked and worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You're eighteen, the wolves of Amarelo wolves become way more prominent when they turn eighteen. How often do you shift?" He asked.

"Not often. Only when I have to..." I mumbled.

"Izzy, are you inane? Your wolf could decide to control you at any moment now, she's going to get annoyed and force control, and if you cannot control her when that happens, someone is going to get hurt." He said. I bit my lip.

"Does my running from my mate have any effect of that?" I asked slowly.

"Yes, Izabella! She's going to be absolutely pissed, very aggressive." He said.

"Oh. What if I reject him before then?" I asked. The only way to break the mate bond was to verbally reject your mate, of course that came with consequences but it was better than being mater to Sean.

"You cannot reject your mate. That's the downside of being an Amarelo. You can choose to ignore your mate but no matter who you're with, you'll feel the pull and you'll feel your mate's emotions and physical state." He said. My eyes widened, that was completely unfair. That meant Amarelo mating was even more forced than other mating. There had to be another way…

"Wait, but he can reject me?" I asked.

"Yes, he's a part of Ian's pack so he has to be a Novoluní wolf. So yes, he can reject you." He said.

"Then I'll make him reject me." I said.

"And why would he do that?" He asked.

"Because he's hated me since I can remember. We've gotten into physical fights, well, he has sort of beat me up –” I was saying.

"Want me to take care of him? I have the best team of spy wolves, they could kill him without a sound or a trace." Joe said. I stared at him.

"Nah, I would rather just let it go. He's going to be their Alpha." I said.

"Sean Slade?" He looked surprised.

"How do you know him?" I asked.

"Stuff Alpha wolves, and alike, should know. He seems like a pretty skilful Alpha in the making. Disrespectful and ill-disciplined sometimes, but he has a lot of potential. I doubt he'll reject you. Wolves get a bond to their mates when they find out they're mated. Alphas can usually tell earlier, I think he couldn't understand his feelings for you until now. He's probably shocked and a little regretful." Joe said.

"I don't c –” I cried out when he shoved me back and I heard someone grunt. I looked down to see a man on the ground at Joe's feet, Joe's right foot on his neck. I was stunned, they had both moved so fast I had not even seen it.

"Smells like a Titan. Another reason I never took you from Ian, Izabella. Everyone is looking for you." He said.