Chapter 12: Silent Confession

Wolfgang

I sat through the meeting with Alpha Wilhelm as we sorted out how we were going to deploy our warriors, but I couldn’t concentrate.

My mind was on Aurora, but mostly on her shift.

Why was her shift that way?

I’d spent all morning and most of the afternoon with my nose deep in books. I had looked through half of my father’s extensive library, but I couldn’t find anything about it.

Yet I was sure I’d read something about it when I was younger. When I was preparing to take over the role as future alpha.

~That white fur, and those eyes…~

“Alpha Wolfgang?”

I was brought out of my thoughts by Remus, who was looking at me.

“Huh? What?” I looked around the table, struggling to remember what we’d been talking about.

“Alpha Gagliardi, are you feeling alright? You’ve been spacing out a lot during our meeting,” commented Wilhelm’s beta.

“Forgive me. Carry on,” I said, trying to get my mind off of the omega she-wolf who had been crowding my every waking thought.

***

Thankfully, an hour and a half later, the meeting was over.

I headed downstairs to put something in my stomach.

~“We should invite our mate to eat with us,”~ Cronnos said in my mind.

I growled at him. ~“Not happening,”~ I answered, continuing down the hall to the dining area.

~“Listen to me. I want my mate by my side. You’re not going to ruin that. Now go and look for her. You brought her to this place where she knows no one else except Mrs. Kala.”~

His ears pricked up. “She must be anxious. This is the perfect time for you to correct your childish behavior, and make it up to her.”

~Old fleabag.~

I tried to ignore his constant hounding as I walked through the hall leading to the dining area.

That’s when something, or should I say ~someone~, caught my attention.

Aurora was out in Mother’s rose garden.

I stood there, like some lovestruck pup looking at his crush from a distance, afraid of being rejected by her.

As if she could ever reject me.

I stared at her, watching as she startled at something.

She rose to her feet, and I saw her bow her head.

That’s when Max came into view, walking toward her.

Anger flared inside me. Why the fuck were the two of them out there, alone, at this hour.

I walked out there just in time to catch the last part of their conversation.

“…You’re a total hottie,” I heard my beta tell my mate.

My anger increased.

“You’re already eighteen, right? The guy who turns out to be your mate will be one lucky bastard,” Max continued.

I felt a sudden pang in my chest as guilt crept over me.

Was I perhaps taking this girl for granted?

~“YES!”~ Cronnos shouted in my head.

But my anger only grew.

Of course not. She was an omega she-wolf. Having such a weak luna would jeopardize the alliances with the other packs...and if we had no allies then the rogues would attack.

No. That couldn’t happen.

I was about to turn around and leave when I heard Aurora speak.

“Do you think that Alpha Wolfgang would mind if I picked a few of these roses to put in my room?” she asked innocently.

Max shrugged. “I don’t know about that. He treasures this place more than anything else in the world.

He paused. “But I bet if you asked him personally, he’d say yes.”

She turned to look out over the garden and sighed.

“I don’t think so. I’ll just admire them from afar.”

She sounded almost defeated.

I walked back inside before they could notice that I was out there, spying on them.

I didn’t want to give my beta any more wild ideas.

Apparently, both Max and Remus thought I had some secret interest in this girl.

They weren’t exactly wrong, though.

Aurora was my mate. I hadn’t been able to reject her.

And when I’d found out she was planning to leave the village, I’d had to do something to keep her close.

I couldn’t bear the thought of her out there, on her own, exposed to every danger.

I walked into the dining room and took my seat at the table.

“Alpha Wolfgang! For a moment, I thought you weren’t coming for supper,” Mrs. Kala said. Dinner was waiting to be served, as usual, for my arrival.

“The meeting took longer than expected,” I told her. “Has Miss Craton settled in properly?”

I was curious to know why she was out in the gardens, when I thought she’d be locked in her room, distraught.

“I showed her around and presented her to the rest of the staff. She said she was okay with the room but felt it was too big for her.”

She clucked her tongue. “Poor child. Must feel like a fish out of water. Hasn’t even eaten anything all day. She came down a couple of hours ago asking for the backyard to go for a run and hasn’t come back yet.”

My stomach churned, and all of a sudden I lost my appetite.

“What do you mean she hasn’t eaten all day?” I asked.

My anger began to surge again.

“Well, when I went for her this morning she had just gotten up and with all the crying and the fact that you urged me to come with her as quickly as possible, she didn’t get the chance to get breakfast.”

She frowned. “And after I showed her her room, she said she wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t insist on her having lunch. Poor thing. She must be overwhelmed about all this.”

~“You see? Just what I said. She needs to be comforted, idiot,”~ the old bag of fleas grumbled in my mind.

I stood from the table, my appetite completely gone.

“Mrs. Kala, go look for Miss Craton, please, and make sure she eats something. I won’t have her fainting while on duty tomorrow on her first day.”

With that, I headed out the dining hall.

~“Do you seriously think forcing her to eat will make her all better, dumbass?”~ Cronnos growled.

~“Shut up fleabag. What the hell am I supposed to do?”~

~“She’s our mate. Figure something out.”~

I didn’t have time for this shit. I had work to do.

But I couldn’t get Aurora out of my mind.

Then I remembered her asking about having some of my mother’s roses.

~“Perfect!”~ Cronnos approved.

~“I can’t give her any special treatment,~ I said. ~“She’s just a maid.”~

~“She’s our mate you idiot. And besides, you already have given her special treatment. You gave her a room and made her your personal maid. Stop lying to yourself.”~

A vein pulsed in my head. Cronnos was right. Nothing I was doing made any damn sense.

Still, I found myself walking towards the rose garden and carefully trimming a few for Aurora’s room.

I crept through the house, intending to leave these in her room without anyone seeing. I didn’t want anyone getting any stupid ideas.

The roses were to ensure she was well enough to focus on her job.

Nothing more.

~“Whatever you have to tell yourself, buddy,”~ Cronnos said.

~“If you don’t shut the fuck up I’m going to smash these roses and that’ll be it. Got it?”~

My wolf’s silence was good enough for me.

I looked into Aurora’s room, and after making sure she wasn’t there, stepped inside. I filled a cup with some water and placed the roses inside.

~“Romantic,”~ Cronnos quipped.

~“The fuck did I tell you?”~ I growled.

I placed the glass down on the bedside table and turned to leave.

“Sir?” a timid voice asked from the doorway.

I spun around and saw Aurora standing there, her eyes wide with surprise. She saw the roses, and her face turned bright red.

~Goddess, she looks so beautiful.~

“A-are those for me?” she asked, her voice like heaven.

~Fucking great,~ I thought.

The worst possible person to see me putting these roses here was Aurora. She looked up at me with those amethyst eyes, a glimmer of hope in them.

I could feel my willpower beginning to crumble, the mating connection willing me closer to her.

I wanted to touch her. Taste her. I wanted to take her in my arms and ravish her right then and there.

And I wasn’t sure I could resist anymore...