After some deliberation we got back into my car. I tried to convince grant that we could run in wolf form to his pack lands. I knew it would be quite far, but I also knew the car had made him nervous and I didn't want him to have another attack. But Grant was stubborn and insisted we take the car so after we got all of the bags in the trunk we were on the road again.

It took us about an hour to reach his pack, and when we entered the territory I could almost see his muscles tense up.

"It'll be alright." I said softly, putting the car in park, "They can't touch you anymore, you're a part of my pack and you are mated to an alpha." I encouraged, giving his hand a squeeze.

Grant glanced over at me, his facial expression telling me I didn't quite understand, but he simply nodded his head and unbuckled his seatbelt.

The pack lands had changed much since the last time I had been here, but, frankly I had been in such a frenzy to find my mate I had hardly noticed anything. The only true difference for me was now I wasn't being attacked and the alpha and beta of this pack were standing nearby, ready to greet me.

"Alpha Vienna!" the alpha called, waving his beefy hand in the air as if I could somehow miss him.

"Hello." I said curtly, striding towards them both with purpose "Thank you for allowing me on your land."

"Anything for a woman as gorgeous as yourself." The alpha purred.

I bit my tongue when a sly comment leapt up my throat. I knew this alpha had a mate and I also knew that after my episode last time I had no right to be rude to him. At least not yet.

"What can we do for you?" he asked.

"Nothing really, my mate simply wanted to see his family." I answered, pointing my thumb over my shoulder at Grant. He was keeping a fair distance from the alpha but I made no attempt to bring him closer. He would do what he needed to in his own time.

"Well, if that's the case why doesn't your mate run along and you and I will discuss more pressing matters?" The alpha suggested.

I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to be Grant's support system today because I think he really needed one and I wanted to meet his family. Knowing where someone comes from helps unravel the mystery and with Grant there was a lot of mystery. But I was worried that if I said no it would be rude and I had no idea there were matters to discuss so I was slightly intrigued.

"That sounds lovely." I agreed, forcing a dim smile.

"Good, come with me then."

I gave Grant an apologetic look over my shoulder when the alpha and his beta started to walk away and he gave me a blank stare in return. I decided not to worry too much; hopefully this meeting would be over in a matter of minutes.

The alpha ended up taking me to a local coffee shop that was very modern and very clean. He even ordered coffee for me which both irked me and pleased me. I was grateful for his kindness but he didn't ask what I wanted and it felt almost like he was a controlling boyfriend.

"So, let's be honest, you're here to get rid of that omega you were wrongfully mated with." The alpha announced, speaking casually.

I nearly spat out my coffee at his words.

"Pardon?" I asked, horrified.

"You're an alpha, he's an omega, it just doesn't make sense." The alpha pushed.

"He's my mate." I hissed. I was clenching the edge of the table to keep myself from punching him or his smug looking beta. "It's Jordan right?" The alpha nodded, "You have a mate, would you give her up because she had low status, Jordan?"

"Absolutely, it would weaken my pack, the pack comes first." he answered curtly.

"Grant is not weak." I snarled, "My pack loves him."

Alpha Jordan leaned back in the booth bench, smirking slightly, "That's interesting, last time I talked to your parents they told me you had to introduce the pack to your lovely mate or complete the mating ceremony. And unless you kicked your own parents out of the pack they would know about something as large as a mating ceremony, wouldn't they?" he taunted.

"What is this actually about, Jordan?" I demanded, exasperated beyond belief, "I know you don't actually care about Grant and I know you don't want him back in your pack so what is going on?"

"I had one of my warriors lose their mate." Jordan said, finally sobering up.

I just sipped my coffee to prevent myself from speaking, but the alpha in me wouldn't let that happen. I swallowed the burning liquid quickly then began to speak.

"So what? You want Grant to return to your pack so he can go pretend to be a mate to a warrior who lost her own?"

Alpha Jordan surprised me by chuckling, then laughing like I had told him a joke, "Oh, Vienna, all of my warriors are males, we couldn't put females on the battle front. They're too weak."

I bit my tongue again. I knew plenty of female wolves who would've loved Jordan's theory, they were content with being housewives and there was nothing wrong with that. But I had several females in my pack that could fight just as hard as my men and I wouldn't suppress them because of their sex. Still, Jordan could run his pack however he pleased and right now I wasn't concerned with his sexism.

"Then what do you want?" I questioned.

"I want you to mate with the warrior who lost his wife. I want you to marry him and be his wife. Get rid of Grant and go be with a man who is actually suited to your bloodline."

I just sat there in sheer shock, gawking at this massive man and his equally large beta in horror. There was no trace of humor on their faces but they couldn't possibly be serious.

"That's ridiculous, I will do no such thing and I have no idea why you would approach me with this kind of suggestion."

"Because I assumed that any alpha would want what is best for their pack." Jordan replied. He was so calm that it only made me more furious.

"My pack will crumble if I abandon my true mate for some other man simply because he has a higher title. Packs need strong, loving leaders."

Jordan shrugged, "I was going to tell you that our packs would blend together if you chose to take my offer. We would rule both packs together, as two alphas. We'd be the strongest pack in America."

I slid off the bench seat and stood up, too upset to just be sitting still.

"This is absurd and I deny it whole heartedly. I will not reject my mate and I will not allow you to absorb my pack."

"Alright," Jordan shrugged his broad shoulders, "that's fine with me, just think about it. And don't come crying to me if your pathetic mute mate turns out to be a shitty luna."

I nearly bolted out of the coffee shop, not caring if I made a scene. It was that or I tried to keep my cool and prevent my wolf from taking over. I wanted to fight him, I truly did, but he was surrounded by pack mates and his beta. I would struggle taking on a man as big as him, and there's no doubt in my mind that every single warrior would be on my back in seconds.

I just needed Grant so I followed his scent through the packlands, sprinting once I was out of the café.

I ran for at least twenty minutes before his scent was strong enough for I'm to be nearby. At this point I was already significantly distanced from the majority of the pack, which upset me even more. My omegas were integrated in the community, close to everyone else so if a threat arose we could all fight it together.

Jordan had it set up so the least valuable members of the pack would be killed first while the rest of the pack prepared for battle.

But, it we're being fair, a strong wind could've blown this house down. It looked like something out of a horror movie with the paint peeling off, the windows dirty, and the wooden porch in front rotting slightly. The only thing that looked nice was the wild flowers that were clearly planted in a little flowerbed. So Grant didn't have the money to fix up the house but at least he was trying.

I jumped onto the porch, wary of the stairs and twisted the doorknob, successfully letting myself in.

"Grant!" I yelled from the entrance way.

But the people who greeted me weren't my mate.

There was a woman who was likely in her forties with short dark brown hair and concerned eyes. She had deep wrinkles and a few grey hairs, but she was very pretty, even though I had clearly frightened her. The other person was a man who had the same eyes as Grant, but he was shorter, thinner and covered in scars.

"Oh, I am so sorry, I thought this was Grant's house, I didn't mean to barge in."

"Oh, you must be his mate." The woman's face broke into a wonderful smile and she extended her arms towards me in a hugging gesture. "I'm so happy to meet you!"

Her mate cut her off, putting his arm in front of her and pulling her backwards, but when I looked at him he dropped his eyes down to the floor.

"I'm sorry, Alpha, she means in disrespect." He whispered apologetically.

I saw Grant's mother mouth the word 'alpha' over, then her eyes widened and she too dropped her head.

I was speechless. My own omegas didn't fear me like this. I could only imagine how Alpha Jordan treated them.

"Vienna." Grant breathed, coming into the entrance way.

My heart softened a little, loving the sound of my name when he spoke. He squeezed passed his parents so he could stand in front of me and his hands framed my face, making me look up at him.

"Are you okay? You look upset." He said.

"I'm okay." I murmured, loving his touch. "I just waltzed into your parents' house by accident; I assumed it was yours so I'm a little sheepish. Your mother was just starting to introduce herself, actually." I said pointedly along with an encouraging nod.

"Oh," his mother seemed flustered, "my name is Anne. It's a pleasure to meet you Alpha Vienna." She said shakily as she dropped into a curtsy.

I never had someone treat me with such fearful respect. It made me feel like a murderous king instead of a caring alpha.

"Well, Anne, it's lovely to meet you." I replied. "I'm sorry I've kept your son away from you for so long, I was just so thrilled to have such a kind man all to myself, I forgot he had a life back home."

Anne just gave me a tense smile.

"I'm Octavius, Grant's father." The man said, bowing his head, "My apologize, Alpha, we weren't expecting company and the house is not suitable for your arrival."

I blatantly scoffed at his words, "Your apology is not needed, if anything I should be apologizing for nearly kicking down your door without any warning. And I should also apologize for taking away your son without telling you what was going on, you must've been worried sick about your son."

"Oh no Alpha, we weren't worried at all." Anne lied.

"Please, call me Vienna. We're family now." I said, "I don't want you apologizing for anything else today either. I assume you're both lovely people with good intentions, anything else isn't worth fussing over in my opinion."

Despite my words the rest of the evening was tense. I could tell that Grant was relieved to see his parents, but having an alpha in the house was stressing everyone out, including myself. Jordan must've been an awful alpha to make such kind people fear power so much. But I tried to keep the conversation flowing around the dinner table after Anne insisted we stay for supper. I ended up doing most of the talking, telling them about my pack, and what it was like to be the first alpha female, but I got very little out of them.

They were my vessel into getting to know Grant better, but they offered very little. They told me he was a good student when he was younger and Octavius did finally admit that they were very concerned about their son up until now. Apparently no one from the pack had informed them that he had found his mate and they simply feared he had been killed by rogues.

Judging by the way they looked at me they must've assumed that being killed by a rogue would be less painful than being mated to an alpha.

\+

You guys are so sweet! Thank you for all the votes, comments and reads! Let me know what you think is going to happen!