The Alpha's Slave Mate

Daphne's Point of View Caleb got Clint settled into what was supposed to be our nursery. Luckily, there was an attached bathroom as well, so Clint would have total privacy. | was still flabbergasted by everything that was currently transpiring. This week seems to be tossing us mystery after mystery. My brain could not stop trying to fit all the pieces together. Somehow, | had a feeling that a few things were connected.

“| feel like | can see the gears turning in your brain already.” Caleb’s voice startledout of my thoughts. | turned to see that he had cback.

“Did Clint need anything? | feel bad because | do not remember asking him if he had already eaten.” | tell him.

“I ran down and grabbed him a few sandwiches, fresh fruit, and made sure he had plenty of water to drink as well. He will be fine.

This whole story seems crazy.” Caleb pullsgently into his chest.

“| feel like sof it is connected though. Axle’s behavior, Isabella and the twins, rogue attacks, plus my mother coming to warn us. There are too many coincidences for it not to have skind of connection buried within it all.” My brain is searching desperately to try to piece it all together.

“I have been thinking something, but | feel like a jerk for admitting to it.” Caleb admits to me.

“Well, it is just you andhere, so what is going through your brain?’ | reassure him.

“I admire Alpha Clint; he was friends with my parents and to my knowledge holds a lot of the svalues that our pack does.

Sometimes it is hard to pass on the torch of leading a pack though. Axle is young, and he is slightly immature, but he handled the alliance meeting great. | applauded the young man on the way he handled the whole thing.” | could tell that Caleb is having a hard tfinding the right words to get out what he is thinking.

“Baby just say what is on your mind.” | try to reassure him.

“When young guys are handed a bunch of power, and then something traumatic happens like say getting attacked and watching someone die for you it can have lasting mental effects on someone. The parties, the attitudes, even his behaviors can be explained away because of that incident. It can be tic, and scary.” | can feel him slightly relax behindas he says what is truly on his mind.

“So, in short you think that Axle is really Axle, he is just suffering mentally from the experience of his warrior being killed. Clint is having a hard treleasing the responsibilities of the pack on Axle, and due to Axles outbursts, he is seeking ssort of conspiracy that will both salvage his son’s reputation but possibly let him step back in as Alpha?” | tried to summarize everything, and make sure that | was understanding him.

“Wow you explained that a lot better than | did.” He tellswith a little chuckle.

“| feel like my brain just will not shut down.” I admit to him. “Even if Axle is reacting to all of the stress, that still does not explain his behavior towards Hannah. | just do not see what he would gain from such a lie. The mate bond is felt by both people, and it is hard to resist.” “Yes, | have been questioning that myself. | did cup with one possible reason, but it is not necessarily a good one” he says.

“Well, | would still like to hear your theory.” “The only thing | could cup with is that the girl that claimed Axle as being her mate was telling the truth. Clint said that he got the girl out, so Axle may believe that the girl has rejected him. Knowing that eventually he needs to have a mate to prevent him from going feral, he started to panic. Hannah cout of the house after us, so he may have thought that she was an Omega.

Perhaps he thought that the idea of being a Luna would be enough to get Hannah to lie about the mate bond.” Caleb tells me. | can see that this is becoming taxing for him. Caleb is a warrior; they settle things with brute force if needed. Mind games, and manipulation are not his forte and | can understand how the stress can be physically draining.

As | was thinking this there was a slight knock at our door. It was already getting late, so | knew that whoever was there deemed it important. Caleb and | both looked at each other for a moment, hoping that there was not snew catastrophe or mystery awaiting us. Caleb releasedand went to answer the door. Scarlett and Theo wasted no tcoming into our room.

“Sorry for the intrusion at the late hour, but | never received anything from you regarding our unexpected guest. Since the rooms are soundproof, | figured this was the best place for us to talk.” Theo quickly explained their late-night visit.

“l am very grateful you are here actually. Daphne and | need to catch both of you up on sthings that have happened. Daphne maybe you should tell them about your visit with Carolyn earlier than | will tell them about our secret guest.” Caleb went to our mini fridge and started to pull out sdrinks for everyone.

| quickly explained the visit with Carolyn and Anita. | also went into a few details as to what Caleb and | had discussed earlier.

“We had wondered for a while if Carolyn had an active imagination or if she was seeing vision. | guess we have kind of figured that out now. It is amazing that her gift is so pronounced at such a young age.” Theo was impressed that we had discovered another peculiar wolf within our pack.

“Leave it to our mother to still be maddening even after death.” Scarlett looked ticked off about the whole situation.

Caleb then took over and explained about Alpha Clint being here and why he was concerned about Axle. Caleb also told them the few theories that we had been discussing before they cinto our room.

Out of nowhere Scarlett starts laughing. “I am sorry, | do not mean to laugh but wow we really do lead scrazy lives.” | could not help but chuckle as well after my sister spoke. Theo on the other hand was looking between the two of us like we had gone crazy.

“Can | vent for just a moment? | find it insane that we have back-to-back situations in such a short amount of time. | know that | cannot be the only one that thinks that a few of them must be related. Now | know that you think that Axle is acting out, right?” | pose the question at Caleb, who nods yes. “What if we are wrong about that?” | pause as | try to put exactly what | am thinking into words. “What if Axle is bewitched, or hexed or something? | mean is it really just a coincidence that rogues were attacking both Marcus, and Axle’s pack, and amongst the rogues there are three hybrids.” “Daphne are you really suggesting that Isabella had something to do with all of this?” Caleb asks me, appalled that the thought could even run through my mind.

“Not necessarily Isabella but think about it. Theo, you said that there were not many witches left, yet Marcus found three hybrids not far from his pack. What if there are more hybrids that we are simply unaware of? If Marcus would not have seen the twins grow, then would he have ever of assumed that there was something magical in the rogue camp? Not to mention look at how many peculiar wolves we have amongst members of our pack. | know that one of our theories dealt with the blessings of a witch.” | pause finally allowing my words to sink in. My theory may be completely wrong but at least it was a working theory.

“| already sent a runner to the elders council regarding Hannah and the mate bond. | also asked the runner to inquire about hybrids, although Caleb you know that the elder council is going to be stringent on information about witches.” At least now | know that Theo is giving my theory splausibility.

“] do not care what the theory is | do not want Axle near Hannah.” Scarlett had her arms crossed over her chest and | could see that she was in full momma bear mode.

“Has Hannah mentioned any pull towards Axle at all?” | must ensure that Axle is not her true destined mate, but Scarlett quickly shakes her head no.

“The majority of our guests are supposed to be leaving tomorrow, or the morning after. | will make an extended invitation to Axle to stay, until we can get the situation with Hannah sorted out. We need a plan though one that will not appear suspicious to him.” Caleb states openly to all of us.

Scarlett snaps her fingers together with a wide grin on her face. “I know how we can rule out a few things actually. Caleb, please make the invitation, but explain to him that we have a few rules, after all we are known to be a protective pack. Tell him that we require him to have a full physical done by one of our doctors. We need to get a few vials of his blood for testing. Have our doctors look for anything out of the ordinary like abnormal cells, or anything that looks like it could have been altered. Have Clint get Axle’s medical records sent to our hospital. While that is going on | will need to speak to Alma.” Scarlett gets quiet very quickly and | can see that she has revealed something that she did not intend to.

“Scarlett why would you need to speak with Alma?” | ask her confused.

Scarlett takes a deep breath and realizes that she will have to explain her reasoning. “Look this was told toin confidence, and | did not mean to break her trust. Ama confided inwhile we were at the spa. Alpha Jeris dying. He has a very aggressive form of cancer that is killing him faster than his wolf can heal him. They have tried everything within their power to stop it, but nothing has worked. Alma found a witch when she was looking to save her mate. The witch was not able to heal Alpha, but she did ease sof his suffering.” Scarlett looks down at her hands, | can see that she feels bad for telling us Alma’s confession to her.

“He already told me, although he did not mention that they had contact with a witch.” Caleb's voice sounds strained.

“Anyways | was thinking perhaps Alma could putin touch with this witch. She should be able to determine if Axle has been placed under a spell. Equally she may have spointers on how to train and help Isabella and the twins.” Scarlett quickly explains. | give her a big hug, knowing that she needed it.

“Alright well now we at least have a plan. | will meet with Axle in the morning. In the meantime, it goes without saying that this needs to stay between us, and Clint’s presence needs to be kept in absolute secrecy.” Caleb's voice is stern, and | know that this is an order.

It does not take long for everyone to shuffle out of our room, and | am so ready for bed. Mentally | am now exhausted and | have a feeling that we are only at the beginning of this thing.