Chapter 4 Rick (POV)

"What do you mean you have a chosen mate? Son, I asked you a question. Did you not wait for your fated mate? Do you not understand the mate bond? Your fated mate makes you stronger. Have you not paid attention to anything?" I could feel the anger my father had.

My father was reaming me from his bed. He can no longer walk. He has problems with his speech. I had just told him I am taking a chosen mate. Ursula. She will make me stronger. Then he goes into detail about how I should wait for my fated mate. Then I had to tell him, I already knew who my fated mate was, but I rejected her.

"You idiot! You have no idea what you have done. You will not get a second chance. The moon goddess may punish you. Damn fool! You let your dick think for you. You think you are better that your fated mate? Your future, your Luna, she is supposed to be the mother of the pack! A blessing from the Moon Goddess! Who is your chosen mate?

I tell my father it is Ursula. "That useless succubus! She is money hungry just like her mother. You have no idea what mess you have just created." My father's head is about to explode. What is his problem? I sit down and rub my temples.

"Explain dad. I have no idea what you are talking about. You are giving me a headache." I sat down at the foot of the bed. I am starting to re-think my choices.

"Your mother almost banished your 'chose' mate and her parents. They are money hungry people and were trying to manipulate their way into my pockets. Your mother being my fated mate, thank you moon goddess! She watched Ursula's family. Closely. Your mother found out that Ursula's parents were laundering money out of our business accounts. You have no idea about them because I replaced my beta. Beta Charles is my replacement beta for Ursula's father. This happened before you were born. As a matter of fact, your mother was pregnant with you."

I stood up and started to pace the floor. "You mean, Beta Charles was not your original choice?"

"Boy, pause a moment and let all of this sink in your brain for a moment. Ursula's father, my original Beta, threatened your mother. He must have forgotten that your mother was a Beta as well. Your mother's brother, David, came to the pack and almost killed Ursula's father for his threat to your mother. This all happened when I was away at a pack conference in Europe."

I felt so stupid. I thought Ursula would make me stronger. She lied to gain status in the pack. Dammit.

"You better find your mate and pray to the moon goddess you can take back your rejection. You must produce an heir to keep this pack. If you do not, the pack reverts to my brother and his son. His son is thirteen years old. He already attending alpha training."

"Great. Just great dad. This information would have been good to have when I turned eighteen. I have no idea where Autumn is. She cut all ties with this pack."

"Did you say Autumn? Like in the young she-wolf that was accepted to Stanford University in California.? You are a very stupid, stupid wolf! She is an amazing young woman. Her and her wolf excel at anything they attempt, and you just threw her away. Just to appease your dick! I think having too much sex while your mother was pregnant with you, affected your brain!" my father chastised, and my wolf grumbled.

"Thanks dad. I can always count on you to lead me in the best direction. If you will excuse me, I have a mess to clean up." I walk quickly out of the room. I need to find Autumn and bring her back. I head to the gamma's house.

There are no cars there. Did they leave? I knock at the door. No answer. What the hell? I try and mind-link them. Nothing. I mind-link my dad, "dad any idea where the gammas are?'.

"Yes, they left on a short vacation to visit their son. Do you not pay attention to what is going on in this pack?" He mind-links back.

Dammit.

'Autumn, I will find you and bring you back one way or another!' I say to myself. I know she was accepted to Stanford university in California. I left a message at the campus call center, and she never called back. I check with the bookstore to see if she left a forwarding address. Nothing. I check with the postal service here to see if she completed the forwarding information to have her mail forwarded. Nothing. I check the pack records for a cellphone number for her. We only have her parents' house phone number listed. Damn.

I will have to have my father's investigator search for her. I need to fix this mess I created. Meantime, Ursula walks into my bedroom. She is wearing daisy-duke shorts and a very, very small tank top. Hey, I need to burn off some stress. She closes the door, locks it and walks over to the bed. I have my arm over my eyes as I lay on my back.

"What do you need Ursula?" I ask in an irritated voice. I feel her hands on my crotch. She unbuckles my pants and slides her hand inside my pants. She starts to rub my dick and she is kissing my neck. It feels good. So good I do not stop her.

"Baby, don't I make you feel good? I will do whatever you want. Anything at all. Just tell me."

I pulled my dick out of my pants, "Suck and do not stop until I unload. Do you hear me?" she grins and kneels at the foot of the bed. She does exactly what I told her. But then she drops per shorts, and she has no panties on. She straddles me and lowers herself and inserts my dick into her pussy. I'm enjoying this too much, I completely forgot what I was doing. Ursula is bouncing on me fast. Before I know it, I unload my hot seed into her. She keeps going and going.

I cannot control myself. I flip us over and start pounding into her. I unload again and again. After two hours of fucking, I slide out of Ursula and walk to the shower. "Show yourself out."

"What? But babe, I can stay here now. Don't you want me?"

"No. Change of plans. I have to fix something I screwed up. See yourself out. Now!"

"You will be sorry, asshole!" she screams and walks out.

My father's investigator, Marvin is sitting in my office. I sent a message to him to meet me in my office after I got out of the shower. I have not heard from Autumn in almost two weeks. I have not seen her parents either. I have no idea is she made it back to the dorms at the university or not. I gave Marvin all of the information that I had on Autumn. He said he would get to work on this case right away.

It has been almost seven days since Marvin left. I am in my office going over pack finances and noticed we spend too much money on crap. I need to implement a budget cap. I stop all spending until I get a grip on the budget.

This is where Autumn would have excelled. She knows numbers. Her boss complemented her when I stopped by trying to get a forwarding address. Her boss said that Autumn took the books overnight and came back the next day. She had all of the books balanced. Balanced out the checking account and put in a budget system that would flag out any overspending. She inserted a red flag check on anything over fifty-dollar charge. She set up suppliers on a purchasing order system.

I missed the baked items, that my mother would buy from Autumn. She makes my favorite tri-level brownies. Oatmeal cookie on the bottom, milk chocolate brownie and fudge icing. My mother loved the cinnamon bread. My father loved the chocolate chip cookies with chopped walnuts. My entire pack complemented Autumn's baking skills but yet no one could say that she was their friend.

I realized we all treated her badly. I was admitting to myself I was a poor excuse of an alpha. I should be protecting everyone in my pack.

Marvin sent a message that he tracked her down to the dorms, but she moved from there shortly after she left my pack. She cut ties, so I could not mind-link her. He is now checking for any employment she may have found near the campus. Now it has been almost a month after I rejected Autumn. Nothing. Not a word from Marvin yet. Just as I was about to send him a message, my phone pings.

"Alpha, she left the country. But she is not alone. She was last traveling to the Himalayas. With a dragon shifter. Do I proceed?"

What the hell! A freaking dragon shifter. Has she lost her mind? Has she found someone else so soon...?