5

CHAPTER FIVE.

NOLAN’s POV

“Are you okay baby?” I ask Mia whose eyes seem to be watery. I hate that she is always around to witness the drama between Catania and I. I can only imagine how bad she feels, because if I were in her shoes, I would feel the same. Having someone else try to claim your mate before your eyes is a very vexatious thing to witness.

"Uh…yeah…" She stammers and the pain in her voice is inevitable. "Yeah, I'm good. You know, I'm actually used to this by now"

"No baby, don't get used to this. I promise everything will be fine soon. I promise!"

"Ah… yeah. I know everything will be fine, Alpha. But what I actually meant was that I'm used to my sister always trying to steal what's mine. You see, while growing up, she never wanted me to have anything nice. If our parents bought something good for me, she would steal it and hide or destroy it so I won't have it anymore. That's why right now I'm not surprised that she wants to take you away from me" She elucidates sadly and my heart almost bursts with empathy.

She must have gone through hell in the hands of that selfish sister of hers and for that reason, I won't take it easy on her.

Catania Gabriella Collins, I'm going to make sure you pay for all the times you maltreated my mate.

"Don't you worry baby, henceforth, things are going to be different."

"Thank you"

"For nothing, love." I twirl to the two maids who are standing before us with their heads bowed down. "Please take Miss Mia to my bedroom and make sure to serve her properly. Give her whatever she wants, is that understood?"

"Yes, Alpha Nolan" The two maids respond in unison.

"To your bedroom?" Mia asks dumbfounded and I smile as I turn to look at her once more. The look on her face is priceless and you have no idea how much I'm fighting the urge to laugh.

Of course she is going to be in my bedroom. I've waited for her all these years and now that I have found her, there's no way I'll let her stay in another bedroom other than mine.

Just no way!

"Yes, love. Now please go with the maids. I will be joining you shortly"

"Okay, see you later"

"Yeah" I give her one more kiss on her forehead before she walks away with the maids. I stand on the spot and look at her until her figure disappears into the castle, before turning to face my Beta, Nigel, who looks confused, dumbfounded, happy and angry at the same time. I'm sure he is dying to know what is going on.

"Nolan, it would do us both good if you'd start explaining what's going on."

"Come with me" I instruct with an enthusiastic smile as I start walking into the castle. He follows closely without uttering a single word.

Once we get into my office, I walk straight to my wine bar where I take out a bottle of scotch and serve myself a shot. Without any hesitation, I take the shot down in one go and once the urge to take another gets over me, I don't resist. I gulp down another shot and I'm about to pour the third when I hear the sound of Nigel clearing his throat behind me.

I know what that means.

I quietly set down the glass and do a hundred and eighty degree turn to face him.

He looks like he is about to die of impatience.

"Sorry" I apologize as I take conscious steps towards him. "The past eighteen hours have been accompanied with overwhelming discoveries and it's making me go nuts"

"You can start from wherever you want"

"Sure" I walk past him to my work table where I sit on it.

One bad habit of mine.

"So I arrive at the Crescent Moon Pack and the first thing Ander tells me, is that my mate is in that pack and I have to find her. I do my best to keep him abey and ride on with my mission. At nightfall, during the banquet hosted at Alpha Chase's castle, I perceive the smell of sweet caramel, mixed with honey and chocolate. Totally captivating. Ander tells me that is our mate's pheromone, but he doesn't say it's our mate. So I go to meet the girl and she is just perfect. The most perfect girl in the world, or so I thought. I made her understand that she's mine and will be leaving with me the next day and she had absolutely no problem with that. I then go to meet Alpha Chase who told me we had something to discuss and when I do, he tells me something mind wrecking. He tells me there's a stealer in his pack who could be used to redeem my brother Kai. You do know what a stealer is, Don't you?"

"Yes, I do"

"Good. So you know what I mean when I say that she can be used to redeem Kai"

"Yes, I do"

"Perfect! I did not agree to that idea at first because of apparent reasons. I hate the Alpha, I don't trust him and so on. Just in the middle of that discussion, I perceive the same smell, caramel mixed with honey and chocolate, but this time around, the smell is stronger and I cannot resist it! So I rise up from my seat and look into the crowd, hoping to see the girl I saw earlier, but she is out of sight. Instead, I see two guards dragging a weak girl into the castle and as they approach, the smell only gets stronger. Ander immediately screams the word "mate" in my mind and that gets me mystified because I know I saw my mate earlier. The guards come to a halt before me and when she perks up to me, the word "mate'' escapes both our lips at once. Goosebumps all over my body, my heart starts somersaulting. Everything feels right and when I touch her hair, I feel sparks! Just when I'm about to accept her, the girl I met earlier, Mia, walks in and makes me understand that the girl standing before me is not my mate, but the stealer. Alpha Chase confirms and that's when I realize that I'm attracted to her only because of her identity. Everything goes down the drain. I approve Alpha Chase's proposal, so here we are, with my mate and a rebound for my brother, Kai." I conclude as I rub my palms together. Nigel heaves out a heavy sigh of… I don't know and takes slow, calculated steps around the office, probably thinking critically.

"What is her name? I mean, the stealer" He asks quietly. He is supposed to be asking for my mate's name, not the stealer.

"Catania. Catania Gabriella Collins" I answer anyway.

"Beautiful name." He compliments and I give him a hard glare.

"Seriously! She's a stealer!"

"So what? She's a beautiful stealer."

"Moron!"

"You said when you saw Mia, your wolf Ander identified her smell as that of your mate's" He asks cautioussly and I give him a queer look.

He is at it again.

If he's asking this kind of detail, it means there's something off about all that I just explained to him.

"Yes"

"How did Mia react when she first saw you?"

"Well… just normal, I mean she even seemed surprised when I told her we were mates. She looked so dumbfounded and that baffled me because she was supposed to know at first sight!"

"Exactly!" He takes two steps closer to me. "However, Catania knew at first sight. You two even pronounced the word "mate" in unison. You said her smell was way stronger than Mia's, is that right?"

"Yeah" I say with a slight nod as I try to figure out where he's heading with all these details.

"And that Ander chanted the word "mate" over and over again"

"He does that every time I see her"

"Alpha Nolan.."

"Nolan!" I interject.

I hate it when he addresses me as Alpha, it makes me feel old.

"Sorry, Nolan. There is a loophole in this entire charade and if you don't find it and make the right decisions right now, then you will live a big lie that will destroy you in the future."

"I… I… don't understand"

"I'm your friend and Beta and it is my duty to tell you the truth no matter how absurd it is. It is my duty to make sure you are making the right decisions, not only for the pack, but for yourself as well. I accept the fact that Catania has the identity of the stealer, but I don't accept the fact Mia is your mate. There is a mix up somewhere"

I look at him with my eyes flickering red and anger rising in my chest. I grit my teeth and clench my fists as I walk closer to him, breathing hard. I will not condone all what he just said about my mate.

"How dare you! How dare you say such a thing about my mate" I ask in anger but he doesn't bulge or feel afraid. A tiny smile forms at the side of his lips as he locks our gazes.

"My advice is for you to carry out a proper investigation about this whole issue and know the entire story, because it is not clear at all. Two she-wolves can never emit the same pheromone!"

"Did you not hear the part where I said she is a Stealer ?"

"I heard you, clearly. My question is, why would a stealer emit the same pheromone as your mate?"

"Are you dumb? She's a stealer and whatever her pheromone is, it changes once it hits my nostrils to that of my mate's. Every other widowed and unmated werewolf perceives their mate's pheromone on her, that's why they go crazy!" I explain in fury and he exhales in frustration.

"And how do you explain the fact that hers is stronger? That Ander told you she was your mate?"

"Stealer!!" I insist and he shakes his head.

"I smell something fishy, Nolan. Something is just not right. But then, it's your matter to handle. Who am I to get into your mate affairs? Now that I know what happened, I'd love to report to my post"

"You may leave"

"Thank you"

"Uh… one more thing"

"What's that?" He asks as he looks over his shoulders.

"I'm inviting you and Melissa over for dinner. I want her to meet Mia"

"Sure. See you at dinner then" Then he exits the office, closing the door behind him.

I shake my head and walk over to my wine bar to ride on with my drinking spree.

Nigel has no idea what he is talking about.

Mia is my mate and Catania is just a stealer. There's nothing fishy about that.

But then … point of interest, why does Ander stay silent every time I'm around Mia, but goes crazy when I'm with Catania?

Why?