Chapter 6 Done

There was a knock on my door, and I stretched. Yesterday, after the shower, I decided not to go into the office. Instead, I laid down and slept off the pain. When I woke up this morning, I felt much better. My chest looked more like a scar again and it barely hurt. I still had my tablet in bed for a little while as I worked through my emails.

"Silas, are you planning on getting up at some point today?"

Shaking my head, I sighed. "How about you not question me, Beta? I'm getting work done. What are you doing?"

There was a heavy sigh on the other side of the door before it opened. Nate had his hands crossed over his chest. I put down my tablet and raised my eyebrow.

"I didn't say you could come in."

"I haven't come in. As you can see. I just opened the door."

Of course, he was going to start this today. I really wasn't in the mood for it, either. Throwing off the blankets, I got up and stretched, my back cracking in a few places. I grimaced. Missing one day of running had its repercussions.

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

Going into my closet, I dressed for the day. "You are talking to me."

"I...that's not..." He sighed. "Do you have to be such an asshole? I mean, really. Can't we just have a normal conversation?"

"We were until you started being a smartass. Get to the point."

Nate was quiet until I closed the closet door after fully dressing. "I...I wanted to talk about what happened yesterday. About the bond..."

"Let me stop you there. That was a mistake. I was in pain and I wasn't in the right mind. If it isn't about work, then I don't want to hear it."

"Silas!"

Pushing past him, I headed down the hallway. "No. I already told you, I'm not talking about this. You're used to ignoring the bond, right? I mean, you've done it since you were a child. You can go back to doing it."

"You don't understand...what it's like. I get that, but you can't just ignore it, Silas. You saw what happened to me. What I did to Aelia. I paid the price. You think that isn't hard to ignore? You think it doesn't hurt?"

"I'm telling you to get over it, Beta. So we can move forward. Get over it."

Nate reached out to me and the electricity that had shocked me yesterday was barely there. I don't know if he thought it would elicit a reaction from me, but I shook him off. Stepping up to him, I looked down at him.

"I don't know why I need to keep repeating myself, but we will never mate. We will never be mates. I don't need anyone. The past ten years prove that. We can get by just fine without one. You don't get to assume that the position is yours."

"I'm not after the position! I just...want to stand by your side!" He fought back.

Shaking my head, I glared at him. "You think you have that, right?"

"Right? I've been by your side for years, Silas! I have been your Beta..."

"Exactly. You have been my Beta. You will continue to do your job as my Beta. You want to be by my side? You want to continue to be by my side? Then this conversation needs to stop. Otherwise, you're going to push me over the edge. It's going to push me to remove you from my side completely."

He flinched back. "Did I do something wrong for you...?"

I let out an exasperated sigh that turned into a low grumble. "Yes! You keep bringing the mate bond up. You keep thinking that anything between us could happen. It's not."

"Do you hate me?"

His question made me pause. Nate was trying to stand tall, but his fists at his side were shaking. I could also see him trying to hold everything in as he searched for something that I knew wasn't there. How could I answer this without giving him hope? If I outright said no, then he would come back and try to fight me for trying to give him a chance.

My chest hurt, and I knew it was the bond again. Didn't he realize how much of a burden and a weakness this was? Did he not see how Charles crumbled in front of Sam? Didn't he see how it would destroy this pack? How it would destroy all that we did? That I would be at the mercy of the bond, like I felt already? How could he ask that of me? After championing me and being my Beta for so long.

"I don't hate you." I finally said, but before he could open his mouth, I finished my thought. "I hate the bond between us."

His clear eyes now filled with tears. "What?"

"I hate that we have a bond. I hate everything about it. I hate that it's you. I hate I waited this long simply to have it be you. I hate that I'm stuck battling against them. I hate that all you will be is a weakness. I gain nothing by you being my mate. There is nothing that would make me mark you. Never."

Leaving the upstairs, I headed down and turned to see Meredith, Sam, and Charles in the kitchen. All three of them had their jaws dropped. Stepping past them, I grabbed a water bottle and a bag of chips.

"Alpha..." Sam worked up the courage to speak, but I shook my head.

"Everything I need for the day is on my desk, correct?"

He nodded, glancing at his mate. "Yes, Alpha."

"Good. I have a meeting with the Elders later in the week to go over the progress of everything."

"I've also placed all the documentation for the housing expansion project on your desk and uploaded it to your computer. You should have access to everything there." Sam glanced behind me for a moment. "There is a lot of information that I couldn't make heads or tails of...so you may need to speak with Beta..."

I snorted. "I will be fine. Thank you. If you need me, I'll be in my office."

Leaving all of them in the kitchen, I went into my office. The last thing I needed is to not only talk about Nate, but have to talk about something with him. There was probably a lot of documentation, but I doubted it was that hard to deal with.

As soon as I sat down, the door opened and Charles stepped in. He shut it behind him and I knew what was coming. Still, I ignored him as I looked over everything Sam had put on my desk. He came up to the edge of my desk, tapping on my desk with his finger.

"Was that really necessary?"

I read over the document for something about changing the underground sewage system to be expanded into the area we were building on. "What was?"

"Silas. I may not be a wolf, but I can feel the bond. I felt it the moment I looked at Sam after Solaris meddled. How could you say something like that? The day that Sam asked if we could break it...I remember the pain I felt."

"You don't understand..."

He scoffed. "Then let me understand, Silas. I am your best friend. Nate used to beat me out for that position, but now you have been working really hard to tear all those years apart."

"It's an Alpha thing, Charles. You wouldn't understand. I don't feel like taking the time to explain it when, by the end, you're still not going to understand."

"It's Nate! If there was anyone..."

I growled, slamming my hand down. "Enough."

"No! Someone needs to talk to you about this! Someone who will not crumble just because you want to use your Alpha mojo on them. You've been an asshole for weeks now. Weeks. At first, I chalked it up to you mourning in your own way. Except that isn't it, is it? You're just shoving everyone away. For what? Because you think it will make you stronger?"

"Stop, Charles. I mean it. It's got nothing to do with you, and you don't need to be meddling."

Charles snatched the paper out of my hand and slammed it down. "Like hell it does! I don't know if you knew, but I live here now. In the house. With my mate, who is a member of leadership. What you're doing affects everyone in this house! You're breaking apart a team that worked well..."

"Me? Me break it apart? Do you understand what Nate is asking me? You might switch teams with no issues, but I sure as hell will not fuck my brother. On top of that, how do I explain this to not just the pack, but to everyone? You think it's going to be a simple conversation to tell everyone that it so happens that my Beta was my mate all along? You think people are going to let that go? You think they will not see the cracks?"

"Cracks? What cracks, Silas? Where are you coming up with these things? You think that...what...mating Nate will make you weak? It's the opposite. Let me tell you from experience..."

I stood, leaning in to him. "I said enough. I'm done with the conversation."

"Bullshit! You can't just let this go! You'll fucking kill him!"

"I don't care!"

He stepped back. "You didn't...just say that. Not even as a fucking joke, Silas."

"Get out, Charles. I don't want to talk about this further. I have actual work to do."

After a couple of seconds, he finally turned and slammed the door behind him. Sighing, I rubbed my eyebrows. I was really done. We still had so many things to fix. Luckily, with the training regimen, that should take care of any weaknesses in our warriors. Next was making sure the borders were secure. Not to mention the expansion so that we could continue to pushing towards humans being able to stay on the territory.

Plus, I was also working out how to do background checks on those who moved in. Just to make sure they didn't have a history of Hunters or anything that might put up red flags. Alpha Reid and Alpha Alex both gave me the insight of what they do, but after the attack, I didn't know if that would be enough.

I needed to make sure that my pack was secure. Not just the borders, but financially as well. We were fine from the income coming into the pack, mostly thanks to some other investments from my grandfather and father, but I wanted everyone to afford whatever they needed. Whether they worked on the territory. This would ensure we had the business to continue, even if we were in a small town.

It was going to be an uphill battle. These next few weeks and even months might be a fight over everything, but I knew at the end, I would come out on top. I was Alpha and as much as everyone could try; I had the last word. About the pack, about the directions we were taking, and about the bond. My words would put the end to all of it.