Chapter 7 Sheldon's POV

It's nothing but the mate pull. The fucking mate pull.

The moment I saw her, I felt it. The magnetic pull that defies sense and reasoning. But it was nothing to me.

Goddess knows I am lying to myself. I have never felt as weak as I did in those few moments. All I wanted was to consume her whole. Mark her. Mate her. Make her mine. But that is not what I want. I am not some weakling who will yield to the whims of a wolf.

"Take her," I bark, motioning to the guards coldly. "Drag her to the cold room. I don't want to see her again until I say so."

The guards enter, grabbing her roughly. I grit my teeth as I watch them, a strange, bitter taste lingering in my mouth. It is my wolf being protective again.

She is dangerous for me, instigating feelings I never thought possible. I have never even acted this way to Karel. I feel a sting in my chest as I think about her.

Her scent still lingers in the air as she has been dragged off. My jaw tightens as my wolf growls inside of me in protest.

"Don't treat her like that! She's ours, you idiot!"

He screams at me in my head, scratching and whining, but I pay him no attention. I need to get rid of her smell. I can't let Karel see me like this.

I stride to the bathroom, turning on the cold shower and letting it splash over my face. Her scent clings to me, maddening and intoxicating, and no matter how many times I scrub, I can't erase it. I look down at my cock, remembering how her warm tongue had felt on me, my body betrays me, beginning to be engorged with blood. I grit my teeth, willing it to fade, refusing to give in to the relentless ache that she's awakened in me but it was useless.

Rejecting her would make things easier for me, but I didn't want to. At least not yet.

I glare at my reflection and punch the mirror hard. I can't give in to flimsy weakness. I mind-link my Beta asking him to meet me in the room.

"Alpha, everything's in place for the meeting with the subjects" He pauses, hesitating slightly. "The breeder has been taken to the..." My facial expression must have shut him up as he trails off, standing up and bowing slightly with a respectful nod.

I nod back, drying myself off and getting dressed pretending not to feel the tightness return to my chest. I could almost hear my wolf's angry protests in my mind, the restless part of me that longed for Esmeralda. But I had silenced it once, I'd do it again if needed. There was no place for weakness here, not in my life, and not in my heart.

"Alpha, I am sorry. I had to do it. I just had to..." A pack member cries out desperately as they kneel before me, shaking as they await my decision.

I sit on the throne in a large room filled with the elders council, warriors, and the rest of the high-ranking members who gathered for the pack meeting. Their eyes fix on me as I address them.

"You had stolen supplies meant for the pack's maintenance for the coming winter. You have been found guilty of treason." I declare coldly.

"Alpha." The subject bows, pleading for his life, his voice choking and trembling.

"Behead him." My order is cold and firm. This is my power, absolute and unwavering. Every decision I make holds the weight of my title. I will never let emotions cloud my judgment. It is how I've been able to unite the territories of the different pack regions.

I watch as the blade descends on his neck, severing his connection with life. This is who I am. Ruthless and unforgiving. It is my duty that I provide the pack with an heir and that, I will do.

The corridor towards my chambers seems longer. Karel awaits me. My face is a mask of composure, a total opposite of my disrupted thoughts that keep flickering back to Esmeralda.

Karel is perched by the window, draped in elegance as moonlight catches her features. Her head turns as I enter,

"You're back" she says, giving me a soft, warm smile.

But as I near her, she backs away abruptly with a slight crease in her brow. She takes a step toward me but then stops, her expression hardening. "What is that... smell?"

I tense, caught between instinct and duty. I had scrubbed myself raw in the shower, but Esmeralda's scent had been as stubborn as the memory of her touch, clinging to his skin like an unwanted ghost.

Her expression darkens at my silence and her nostrils flare as she inhales once more. "That scent... it's her. The breeder." Her words are laced with bitterness, her eyes narrowing as she approaches me. "You reek of her, Sheldon."

My jaw tightens and I try to suppress the turmoil roiling within me.

"My loyalty is to you," I respond firmly, closing the distance between us. "You're my Luna, Karel. Don't let jealousy cloud your judgment."

Her eyes flashes and she spits, "Misplaced jealousy?" her voice quivering with fury. "You can't deny that she's getting under your skin, Sheldon. You spent the night with her! I can smell it on you, I can feel it. Just get her pregnant and be done with this!."

My expression hardens at her words. "The breeder is nothing more than a means to an end," I explain. "That's all she will ever be. Don't forget that."

She took a breath, her voice barely above a whisper. "Then prove it. Prove to me that I'm still your Luna. Make her as insignificant as you say she is."

"What do you want me to do?" I ask, ready to do anything to make her believe me.

She keeps quiet for a bit and when she speaks up, I regret that I had asked her.

"Kill her."