Chapter 3 No.3

Red velvet cake with butter cream. That's what the man, who claims to be my mate, smelled like.

And for a quick second, my wolf is all over my mind. She's jumping aimlessly from one direction to another, going batshit crazy from the scent that is our mate. Like a worm sprinkled with salt.

She's too much to handle, with only his scent. Imagine how crazy she would be if he started to come closer and... touch us. Imagine the feeling of actually completing the mating process and just... claim him ours.

Okay, not exactly the best time to be feeding my wolf with mental images that her hormones can't handle.

So many emotions came into me in waves, and I felt like it showed clearly on my face. I'm certain it did, because the guy in front of me kept his ground as he observed my facial features.

He didn't take a step forward, nor a step back. He just stood there, watching me as I get a hold of myself. Watching me as my mind processes this bullshit.

A second chance mate? Bullshit. I would've appreciated it if we met months ago, maybe even three weeks ago, when I actually wanted one. When I'm trying not to kill myself every night thinking why I wasn't enough for my soul mate.

Where was he, when I needed him? Where was he, when I pleaded for him to come and save me? Where was he, when my broken heart yearns for a fix? He was nowhere.

And now, when everything is all in havoc, and when everything needs more mind than heart, he comes in front of me. He makes his existence known. As if this is what he thinks of a right timing.

And I kid you not, I'd rather have him reject me right now. It would hurt, definitely without a doubt. But if that means fueling my anger more, then I'm fine with it. Anger keeps my eye on my goal.

I need to avenge Dione. I do not need a second chance mate right now. I do not need my feelings to possibly be all over the place, not when I need to be focused on my main goal. He, whatever his name is, would be nothing but utter distraction.

"Alastor?" I heard, Delta Solomon before I saw him enter the barracks. I didn't even smell him as he slowly came closer to where we stand.

Alastor. Even his mere name had my mind going haywire. As if his scent wasn't enough. That red velvet scent is too damn intoxicating. Like it has already stayed under my nose.

"Alpha Dionysus won't be particularly pleased if he was to be informed of this. You were expected to..." Delta Solomon started to tell my mate, Alastor, before he paused.

Solomon looked at me, then at Deimos beside me, then at Alastor, then back at me. In five seconds, he has already read our body languages, and has already made his accurate conclusion. It only took him five seconds before he realized what's happening.

"Oh," Solomon mutters, "Five minutes." He tells Alastor, before he looked at me, "Delta duties." He tells me, and then calmly walked out on us. As if he knows nothing.

I bet he already read my mind. He always knows what everyone is up to. He's smart like that. He probably will wait outside of the barracks. Deltas like him prefers a safe space where it's rather quiet. And gammas aren't exactly that type of wolves.

"Well, I'm waiting," I spoke up just when I saw Solomon leave. I looked at Alastor straight in his eyes, "You won't be needing five minutes to reject me."

I felt Deimos shift his weight from one foot to another, quite uncomfortably at that, "Don't be stupid," he whispered as he eyes Alastor.

"I'm not," I said blankly, my eyes not leaving Alastor's pair of pure black ones, "All he has to do is say the words and we're done."

I felt Deimos heave a sigh, "Look, Phoebe, I don't think it's wise to do this." He whispered behind me.

That was the time when Alastor decided to stop staring back at me. He cut our staring contest short, then looked at Deimos straight in the eyes. "Leave," he simply says, his velvety voice seeming to echo in the barracks even with the noisiest gammas around.

I looked at Deimos, and found him standing straighter than before. His posture has always been great, and he always seemed intimidating. But in front of Alastor, he seemed to look at him with utter respect that he didn't even question the command he was given.

Deimos simply gave Alastor a nod before he looked at me and whispered, "He's the delta. He's the boss." And then left.

A delta. I smirked. Of all possible ranks, my mate is a delta. Although I know nothing about him, one thing is for sure: if a gamma cannot accept me, why would a delta do?

I guess making him reject me is easier than I would've imagined.

"A delta, huh?" I muttered, mostly to myself before I looked back at Alastor? whose eyes seemed to never actually left me, "Never seen you in this pack before."

"Eastern pack. Delta duties." He simply says, but didn't bother saying anything more. He just stood there, watching me. I guess I'll be doing all the initiative in this conversation.

Like Deimos, who participated in the gamma training, deltas do have duties to fulfill as well. That's why Solomon and other deltas were sometimes missing in our pack. They all have their delta simulation.

Delta stuff. For advanced war strategies against rogues, other packs, or even in internal conflicts. An exercise of the mind, if you will. They go missing for months, like gammas do.

I'm guessing he's a delta two, because Solomon is a delta one. Delta ones usually go to their simulations first. Then after months, they get back, and now it's time for delta twos to do their training.

All in all, there are four groups for deltas. So all of the delta threes in this pack will probably go missing for months starting tomorrow if not today.

Gammas, unlike deltas, have fifteen groups. Deimos being a gamma five, and Zelos being a gamma four. There are more gammas than deltas, so the distribution of groups is understandable.

After the gamma fifteens, it's back to gamma ones, and it would be in two years time before Deimos start to go missing again. However, with Alastor, he only has to wait for three delta batches before he's sent back again to train.

"Okay, so I'm an omega," I simply told him, as if he hadn't figured that out yet, "See? Rejecting me will be easier."

He regarded me for a second, before he started to move for the first time in what felt like forever. He took a step forward, and as a shocked response, I took a step back with my eyes wide.

He might not have done physical training as much as a gamma would, but he's still a delta. He could most definitely kill me if he wanted to and given the chance.

"Am I your second chance mate?" He asks, his face blank as he took another step towards me.

But this time, I didn't take a step back. I buried my heels on the floor and looked him in the eye, as if I wasn't at all intimidated by him in the first place. I raised a brow at him, "Aren't I yours?"

"No," he simply says, before he reached out and put his arm around my waist. His hand stopped on the small of my back.

I almost choked in my own saliva when he pulled me closer to him. I felt the sparks running through my waist going to my back where our skin touched. And with him invading my personal space, his scent was clouding all my senses.

It was as if there was nothing but red velvet. Even his breath, as it fans my nose ever so slightly, smelled like butter cream, and that's not fair. He literally smells delicious.

And now my wolf is getting delirious. And delusional. And hungry. And hormonal. And just all over the place.

"You're my soul mate," he continued, and this was the first time he actually said something longer than a phrase, and that might be considered a sentence.

I blinked at him, my hands on his chest. It was my stupid attempt of trying to push him away, but the moment I felt the sparks, I just can't seem to let go of him.

He doesn't seem to mind though. For all I know, he'd rather want as much physical contact as we can. Or at least as much physical contact in the eyes of the public. Because he looked like he was still holding back.

And I feel like if we were alone in s private room while I say certain... words, he would most immediately ravish me. And I would most definitely let him do so.

The goal, Phoebe! The goal!

Yes. Goal is to fuck mate. My wolf yipped at the back of my mind, and that's when I realized that my eyes had been pure black all this time.

And so is Alastor's.

At this point, I'm so scared that Alastor would claim me inside the circle. Right here, right now. So scared. And excited.

"That's," I started to shake my head. Is it my attempt to say 'no'? Or my attempt to shake away the thoughts in my mind? "That's impossible. We can't be soul mates. You're my second chance mate."

"You can't be my second chance mate, if I had not been rejected before," he tells me, which was true. Second chance mates only appears when you're already rejected. If he wasn't rejected before, how can I be his second chance? He didn't even have his first.

"Then that's good news for you. If you reject me, you still have your second chance mate."

"Rejecting you isn't an option," he says.

"Because it shouldn't be an option. There shouldn't be a choice whether to reject me or not. There is simply one answer, and that is rejection."

Alastor stared at me for a couple of beats, before I felt his hand trace circles on my back. It sent me in a euphoric state where my eyes went pure black that I almost let my wolf take over.

With his simple touch, I feel like I would do anything for him. Just so I could feel him like that again.

"Pray tell, my love, why is it that you speak of rejection," he leaned towards me and softly whispered in my ear, "When your eyes speak of a different feeling?"

And that's when it hit me.

I was too into the intense feeling of having my mate finally in my arms, that I was hypnotized by my own feelings. I stayed here, and trained as much as I can, for one purpose only.

And that's to avenge Dione, my best friend, who died in a rogue attack. She, someone who has done a lot of good things in her life, died instead of me, who did nothing but bad things.

How could I let my goal, the goal that I have been setting for weeks, be forgotten by letting a man I've met in minutes cloud my senses?

I looked up at Alastor, and I knew I had to do this if he doesn't want to do it himself, "I, Phoebe from the-"

But before I could finish my sentence, he captured my lips. And I let a man I've met in minutes cloud my senses.