The Alpha's Secret Mate

"Are you excited?" Lindsay asked, gripping my neck tightly and staring at me, her intense blue eyes blinking at me.

"Of course I am," I smiled, brushing her nose with mine.

"I'm so eager to reveal myself as your mate and finally become your Luna." Lindy grabbed the collar of my dress shirt, giving me a smile.

"If I were you two, I wouldn't get my hopes up too high," Gamma Paul said, tapping his glass on the coffee table. He chuckled and looked at his wife. "I swore another she-wolf was my mate, hated Lucia, and look at me now, I can't live without her."

"Oh, no, that certainly won't be our case," Lindy laughed. "Don't worry, Uncle Paul, the goddess will watch over us both."

"Well, I think young love is beautiful," Lucia said, gazing at us with shining eyes. "Look how adorable you two are,"

Lindsay blushed as she let go of me and sat next to her mother, the wife of our pack's beta. We grew up together, and it wasn't hard to fall in love with her. She's the sweetest and most delicate girl in the world, and she's very kind too.

Of course, sometimes I wonder what would happen if we weren't mates, but I try not to dwell on it. Deep down, I'm sure she's my mate. Period.

"Here," Kyle murmured, handing me a can of Pepsi, my favorite soda.

"Mommy!" Emily's high-pitched scream echoed through the room. Her footsteps in her fancy shoes sounded like trotting horses. Her face was red and angry.

I laughed when I saw her. Lucia had dressed her beautifully in a white dress with a big bow on the back, knee-high socks, and doll shoes. Her hair was tied in a ponytail decorated with another bow. Her furious expression didn't match her cute and delicate appearance at all.

"I'm going to kill him," she growled, glaring at her brother. "Kill him."

Kyle burst out laughing beside me, using me as a kind of human shield. "Emy, whatever he did, remember I had nothing to do with it," I said, raising my hands in surrender. "I'm being used as a shield. I'm a victim here."

"Oh, don't worry. Mom said I can't kill you," she huffed. "But him..." She glared at her brother. "I'll give you the same fate as Pitty."

"Pitty?" I frowned.

She growled, and I barely held back my laughter when she raised her arms, revealing a Barbie doll with nearly all its hair cut off and colored black, the body covered in tattoos-probably with a permanent marker-and some drawings on the face.

"She was my favorite doll, you mutt," she grumbled, throwing it on the floor.

"I can see the love you have for her, you didn't even have the courage to give her a proper funeral."

"Oh, certainly, the one who'll get a proper funeral will be you," she said, rushing towards us, but I held her back, keeping her in place and preventing her from advancing.

"Emily." Her father's voice echoed, making her freeze. "Is that any way for a young lady to behave?"

She stopped, with my arms still on her shoulders, her body trembling with a stifled sob. Then she ran to her father, pouting with tear-filled eyes. Hades watched her closely, and I frowned.

He hates children. I mean, he hates other people's children. He finds them annoying and as hell. But he doesn't usually complain about her. Not about Emily, and he's always nearby when he hears her cry. "Daddy, punish him. Make him pay," she sobbed, inconsolable. "He killed Pitty. That mutt."

"Emy," Lucia pulled her into her arms. "Come here," she hugged the little one, who now seemed even more inconsolable.

"If you keep coddling her, she'll keep crying like a spoiled baby," Kyle taunted.

"I'm not a baby," she screamed.

"Of course you are," he said, sticking his tongue out at her.

"No, I'm not," she stomped her shoes on the wooden floor.

"Kyle, that's enough," their father shouted. "Goodness, can't you two behave politely in front of our guests?"

Kyle stood still while Emy hid her face in her mother's neck. For a second, I felt Hades wanting to come out, and I was mad at Kyle, but it passed before I could question it.

"Kyle, go now and buy her a new doll," his father pointed.

"Dad..."

"I said now," the older man grumbled as he sat back down.

Kyle walked out, kicking the ground, and I watched him, unable to follow. I mean, he had crossed all limits, hadn't he?

The adults started a new conversation, something about children, but I stayed out of it, watching Lindsay talk. Emy jumped off her mother's lap and walked over to me with weak steps. My eyes were on her now.

"Uncle Ezra," she called.

"Yes, Em..."

"Do you think I'm a crybaby?" She blinked, her eyes swollen and her face marked by tears.

"No, I don't," I sighed, watching her sit next to me with a bit of a struggle due to her height. "Kyle's just an idiot, that's all."

"I know," she rolled her eyes. "He's a meddler. Are you sure you want him as your Gamma?"

"He's smart, you just need to see it in him," I chuckled softly.

"Well, he's dumb and gets low grades in writing," she scoffed. "And has mediocre grades in math. Good luck."

I watched her grab an unopened can of Pepsi behind me. I figured it was Lindsay's since I didn't see her holding one.

"Didn't anyone bring me a soda?" Lindy pouted.

I looked at Emy with a conspiratorial glance. "No, dear, sorry," I shrugged.

"I'll get one myself," she said.

Emy giggled softly as she opened the can and winked at me. "Shh," she whispered, putting her finger to her lips.

"Secret, little one," I said, nodding and laughing, as she jumped off the bench and ran outside, where Toby was waiting for her.

I could see him through the window. They hugged, and for the second time, I saw Hades completely focused on everything Emily was doing.