Chapter 2 - Elias
I stared at the tiny house as lights flicked on and off throughout the night. The inside of the car was steadily growing colder the longer we parked, the chill from the outside seeping into the interior. I leaned back in my seat as I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel.
We had pulled up two hours ago. I hadn’t caught a glimpse of Emma beyond brief silhouettes in the windows. The house was tiny, but the street itself was quiet, peaceful.
“You’re going to have to go talk to her at some point,” Sam said from the passenger seat.
I snarled, and he shrugged. “Look, don’t shoot the messenger. You knew you were going to have to do this before you even hopped in the car. Don’t get pissed off at me.”
Scowling, I turned back to stare at the house, as if staying here would somehow change the outcome of what I had to do. Except, as Sam pointed out, I knew what I had to do for days now.
I doubted I would ever forget that conversation with the Oracle of our pack. She had shown up in my office while I had been talking with Sam and a few other men about the sand wraith that had been plaguing the town for months now.
“I’m sorry, Oracle,” I’d said, glancing up briefly from the map of attacks before us. “But right now is not a great time.”
The Oracle stayed put.
“I’m afraid I must request an urgent audience with you, Alpha,” the Oracle said as she bowed. Her gray eyes always had an almost cloudy look to them, as if she were blind, but the intent stare she gave me as she spoke indicated she was anything but.
“Very well. Sam, you can stay. Everyone else, please leave.”
Something about the way she spoke and the somber expression on her face told me I would want Sam, my beta and the pack’s second-in-command, nearby.
The rest of my men shuffled out, giving respectful nods to the Oracle as they scurried around, giving her a wide berth.
Though most of the pack hierarchy was male, the Oracle held a special place of honor and respect in the pack due to her abilities.
Though some regarded her with suspicion because her powers were too close to witchcraft for some of the pack’s comfort, her counsel and visions had provided the pack with help countless times, and everyone respected or feared her.
I could understand why she unnerved people. Her gray eyes always seemed to know more than they should. Her hair still had streaks of dark in it, but was mostly an almost identical shade of gray to her eyes.
“How can I help you?” I asked, once it was only the three of us.
“I know you are aware of the problems currently plaguing our pack,” the Oracle said. “It seems the sand wraith attacks are only going to get worse.”
I glanced down at the map. I leaned forward, all my attention on the older woman. “Did you see something? You have information?”
“None of which I think you are going to like.”
I took a deep breath, fingers curling in on themselves as I braced myself for whatever was about to come.
“It’s better to hear it than pretend it’s not there,” I said. “Let’s have it.”
The Oracle nodded approvingly.
“The attacks are going to get worse over the next several months,” she said.
“Which was what we were anticipating,” I said slowly. “But I doubt you would have come to tell me something that we had already suspected. What else?”
She didn’t answer for a long moment as she scrutinized me, as if debating whether I was ready to hear whatever else she had to say. Despite my respect for the Oracle, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy whenever she stared at me like that.
That was nothing compared to how I felt when she actually spoke.
“If the situation is to improve, you must marry your luna.”
Sam sucked in a breath at the words. I didn’t miss the hurried glance in my direction at the words, even as I refused to look at him. I stared straight ahead, processing the words, a frown spreading across my face.
My luna. The alpha’s mate. It was one of those things that I knew I would have to deal with at some point as part of my duty to the pack. I had just hoped it would be a few more years before I had to think about it.
“Mating will cause the attacks to stop?”
“Not just a mate. Your fated mate.”
I kept my face impassive even as I tried not to roll my eyes. I had never taken much stock in the idea of ‘fated’ mates. A mate was a mate. But if the Oracle was telling me that I needed to mate a specific female, then the elders would insist on it.
“Who is this supposed to be, anyway?”
“Emma Mayberry.”
I blinked, the name bringing to mind a freckly, round-faced girl with auburn hair. The last time I had seen her was when she ran out of my house after she came home with me from some party.
Sam’s brow furrowed. “Mayberry? Isn’t that the girl who ran away from home a few years ago? She can’t even shift.” He turned to look at the Oracle. “Are you sure you’re correct? That just doesn’t seem like the right choice for a luna.”
“I’m only telling you what I’ve seen,” the Oracle said.
Sam shook his head. “It has to be wrong. No one is going to accept a luna who ran away from the pack, let alone someone who can’t even shift.”
“He’s right,” I said, drumming my fingers on the table as I mulled over this new information. “Maybe it’s best to keep this to ourselves. We can find out some other way of dealing with the wraith.”
In my mind’s eye, I was back in my room, telling her she couldn’t tell anyone about our one-night stand.
If the town had reacted poorly to my hooking up with a female as weak as her, there was no telling how they might react if they found out she was supposed to be my luna.
And with all of the other turmoil going on right now with the wraith, I didn’t need any more complications, and Emma would be just that.
“We can worry about fate and prophecy once we have a better handling on the wraith,” I said.
The Oracle’s eyes narrowed, her lips pursing. “Even your father, stubborn as he was, was not so stubborn as to ignore prophecy,” she said. “If you ignore this, then it will spell disaster for the whole town.”
The words felt weighed down with premonition in a way that sent shivers running up my spine. I tried not to shudder.
Even if I wasn’t sure I believed the prophecy, or in fated mates, I couldn’t walk away from it.
Once word inevitably got out, there would be enough people—elders and normal pack members alike—who would demand I follow through that I wouldn’t be able to refuse.
If I did, I would lose the trust of half the pack.
Emma Mayberry.
A small swirl of guilt started in my stomach as the image of her hurt, confused face blossomed in front of my mind.
The last time I had seen her, I’d told her to get out of my house before anyone saw her.
I remembered the surprise and hurt and confusion in her eyes.
There was no way in hell she was going to want to see me.
But the Oracle stared at me, her lips a thin line as she gave me a glare, waiting for my response.
I exhaled through my nose, then gave a short half-bow. “In that case, I’ll find out where she—”
“No need.” The Oracle gave a vague wave of her hand. “She’s in Adobe Creek.”
Now, I slouched down in the driver’s seat, still staring at the front door. Emma. My mate. I had always sort of assumed I would have more say in who I got to choose as my luna, but it seemed I wasn’t going to get that luxury.
“Sitting here and brooding in the car isn’t going to make this any easier,” Sam piped up.
I glowered at him. “Why did I bring you along again?”
“I think you said it was for morale support,” Sam said with a wide grin.
“You’re doing a shitty job,” I fired back.
Another shrug. “I never said I was good at it,” he said. “You’re the one who said it, not me. If you wanted quality moral support, you should have asked Rachel to come along.”
That at least earned a genuine snort. My sister would have been less snarky, that’s for sure. But Sam was my second-in-command, and the only person I could really think of who I wanted nearby.
“Let’s get this over with,” I growled as I pushed the door open and clambered out. The walk to the front door was only a few yards, but it might as well have been a mile.
I pressed the doorbell. It was broken. I knocked.
It took a moment for the light to flick on and footsteps to sound on the other side of the door. Eventually, though, the latch turned, the door squeaked open, and Emma Mayberry stood on the other side, her mouth opening as she stared up at me as if looking at a ghost.
She had grown into her curves. Her auburn hair fell in loose ringlets past her shoulders. Her full lips suited her rounded face, as did her wide eyes.
“Hi, Emma,” I said. “We need to talk.”
“Elias?” she asked, her voice high with disbelief and something that, if I didn’t know better, might have been anger. “What are you doing here?”
I raised an eyebrow as I looked around. “Aren’t you going to let me in?”
Her lips thinned as she looked up at me.
“No,” she said. The response took me so by surprise that she had already gotten the door halfway shut before I stuck out my hand and held it open.
She glared at me. “Leave,” she said. “Whatever you want to talk about, I don’t care. I don’t want you here.”
I gave a sharp-toothed grin. “Unfortunately, I can’t take that as an answer.”
Before she could fully close the door, I pushed it open again. She took several steps back, disbelief and anger radiating off her as she glowered up at me.
“You have got to be kidding,” she hissed.
“I told you,” I said as I turned back to look at her, one eyebrow raised. “I’m not leaving.”