*****Pa''s POV*****


    My heart skipped when I heard the guard announce the presence of my mate and the Alpha of our pack. I could not really believe they would be here.


    Why would theye? How did they know I or Erika was here? Who had given them information? And why would this person give them? Or maybe it was all prank. I looked to where Erika was, she had a stunned look on her face as though she could not believe the names she had just heard.


    "Do you think it''s true? Have they reallye?" Kat whispered beside me.


    I could not reply, I had no answer to that. I glued my eyes to the entrance of this very massive hall and waited with bated breath as Erika ordered the guards to go bring them. Her eyes roamed the ce, searching for us.


    When she finally found us, she raised a brow in confusion and disbelief. But when I heard the Alpha Alexander''s voice asking of the Alpha of Iron w pack, I knew


    it was no joke. The guard was serious, they were here in person.


    The shock on all three of our faces when we saw the two men step into the hall was overwhelming. Kat turned to me. "They are really here."


    "Yes, they are." My tone was distracted, as I saw my mate stood close to the Alpha, a look of disbelief coated his face. My first thought had been shock but seeing him in person, the mate bond was activated.


    I was missing him. I dropped the te of food I was holding in the care of a random guest standing close to me and proceeded to meet him, Kat followed behind.


    "What? You''re the Alpha of Iron w pack?" I heard Alpha Alexander say to her. The shock was refusing to leave his face, as he was finding it difficult to say something else.


    As for Erika, her face wasposed and nk. One would not guess what she was thinking at that point and if not for anything, I loved herposure. She showed no signs of weakness or any of those emotions, she looked every bit of the Alpha she was.


    My mate turned to se


    me then, his eyes widened more. "You''re here?"


    My heart raced, I grinned. My mate was fine, well and alive, and he was looking every bit of the handsome werewolf he was. "Yes."


    But why was he not smiling back? Was he not happy to see me? I reached out to hold him, he let me but he was not holding tight back, his hand was more ofx in mine. That made me frown.


    "Why did you not tell me?" He asked. Shock had been reced by disappointment.


    "Do you know she was here, Gage?" Alexander turned to him, the saw and understood the meaning in his eyes.


    I went on defensive immediately, not minding he was my Alpha. "Don''t me him, he knows nothing about it."


    Without waiting for him to reply, I pulled my mate away from the hall and took him into a different room in the mansion. I wanted to take him into Erika''s own room but I remembered that this was a very critical, crazy time and we needed to be careful.


    Not that I did not trust my mate but I had to understand their reason foring here, to know if anyone had told them of this pack belonging to Erika. I slipped into the room with Gage following behind.


    "Lock the door." I instructed.


    He obeyed and turned to me. We stared at each other for a while, none of us saying anything.


    I sighed, I decided to break the silence. "Are you not happy to see me?"


    "Under different circumstances..."


    "So the circumstances have to be different before you can hug and kiss me, your mate? Does the mate bond work for you that way?"


    "No, you don''t understand. I just..." He threw his hands up in the air and let it fall. "You just what?"


    "Why did you not tell me about this?" He turned the table on me.


    "Because Erika wanted it so, and I can not betray our friendship."


    "But you can betray our mate bond?"


    "Betray our mate bond? How? Because I did not tell you Erika is the heiress of


    Iron w and is of royal blood? Is that the betrayal, Gage?"


    "Do you know how this makes me look?" He asked instead.


    "I don''t understand." My heart was pounding and my stomach clenched in nerves.


    What was going on between us?


    "I know you traveled. The Alpha had once aired his suspicions of you going to meet Erika but I stood against that opinion, saying you would not lie to me and he should not use you. I stood up tome, I was ready to fight him for trying to think you were hiding Erika." He ranted.


    "I get your point but it was out of my hands. You know I ordinarily won''t keep this from you, but there was no way could betray her trust. She''s my best friend." I defended.


    "And I''m your mate, Pa!" He argued.


    "So? What had this got to do with anything?" I took two steps closer.


    "My duty. The Alpha''s trust in me. Now, he thinks I had probably lied to him about


    you not being unaware, and you know how he is." He was really angry and disappointed.


    I was hurt but was trying not to be too hurt, I wanted to understand him from his own perspective, but it was hard. I had no idea what to expect from my mate the next time I would see him but it was certainly not his attitude.


    He should at least be happy to see me. "So you can not be happy to see me?"


    "This circumst..."


    "Fuck you and your circumstances." I did not wait for him to say anything, I unlocked the door and bumped into... Melisse?