Giving someone a piece of your soul is better than giving someone your heart. Because souls are eternal.

— Helen Boswell

One month later

Michael

"I want mate. It's been so long. We can just look at her from a distance. Pretty please.! I want Mate. Mate! Mate! Mate!" whines Alarick in my head giving me a headache. He has been begging me to take him to our mate. He even threatened that if I don't take him to our mate, he will castrate me. He has become a lost puppy from a big bad alpha king. He even said pretty please to me. I smile internally.

"Don't act like you don't miss our mate. When she meets me, she will love me more than you." He huffs and turns his back to me. Moody bastard.

But he is right. It's been so long since I saw her and I am going crazy. The only thing that is keeping me sane right now is the locket I am wearing and the threat of her death. I can't even be near her, I will lose control and bring her here with me.

Great. I am sitting in my office and instead of working, I am thinking of my Hope. I want to go to her. Will she be happy if I go to meet her?

I look at the files in front of me. There's a pack named Red Dawn which needs my help in settling vampire matters. I will need to ask my secretary about when I am free. Those blood suckers need to be taught a lesson. The Mortars need to keep their leeches in hold or I will break them into pieces. The Mortars or the Vampire royal family have been at peace with us for hundreds of years. The Mortars have a gift. COMPULSION. My pack would have killed them all if they didn't had this gift. Now some vampires are breaking our laws, I need to talk to them. The second file is about funds for a nearby school. The third file is about a pack which needs financial aid. The rest of the files are related to the pack's business in human world. Some are about recruitment of new employees and some are about the upcoming projects. I call my secretary Miss. Layla and she answers in her formal voice.

"Good Morning Alpha. What should I do today?" She wishes and asks. I like it. Straight to the point.

"I want you to arrange me a meeting with the Mortars next week. A school and a pack needs financial aid. Issue them cheques after discussing their situation with the financial advisors, I will send you their files. Check my schedule and arrange a trip for five people to the Red Dawn pack in California. And pack your bags, you are coming with me." I say.

"Sure Alpha." She replies and I cut the call.

So now business. I work on the other files and settle all the problems present in the upcoming projects. Hours later when I finish today's files, I stand up and stretch my arms. I can rest now. I stand up and collect both files and exit my office. Miss. Layla and the other employees stand up as I exit and wish me good night. I give Miss Layla the two files I told her about and leave the building and every guard and employee bow in respect and I nod at them. I exit the building and go to my car. I don't have a driver as I like to drive. If I have a accident even then I won't die as I am immortal. I have forever to live. My mate would have also became immortal but again the biggest rock in my life came in between. That curse.

I always wanted to go on long drives with my mate but that doesn't seem plausible in my situation.

My mate would have been so happy about my achievements. I would have showed her all my hotels, my companies and my palace. I can imagine what she'll look like when she sees my palace. Her midnight blue eyes that reflect a thousand of emotions widened in amazement, her perfect eyebrows raised in bewilderment and her luscious lips parted in astonishment. I wanted to show her everything that belongs to us.

"See you also miss our mate. We can see her without her knowing anything. Please." Says Alarick. So now he decides to speak. Suddenly the hopeful look in Hope's eyes flashes before my eyes and I hit the breaks. My hand reaches involuntarily to my neck and touches my locket and grips it.

"My love. I am sorry I gave you pain. When I break the curse, I will come back to you and take you with me to my palace. To our palace. I had to reject you. It was for you. I love you so much. I love you enough to let you go." I whispered as my fingers run along the surface of the locket and my wolf's howl fills my head. He had been waiting for our mate for centuries and when he had to reject her, his heart broke along with mine. I hear quiet whimpers of my wolf and I feel my eyes getting teary. He may seem playful when he begs me to take him to see our mate but I know he is just hiding his pain beneath that playfulness. He doesn't want to upset me. Even if we bicker like children, we both love each other very much. He knows that I am hiding my pain for him by taking out my frustration in the office, working myself to the brink when people can call me workaholic. Just like I know he fights with me so that he doesn't feel alone.

"What if she doesn't accept us? What will we do?" He says with a whimper at the thought of our mate rejecting us.

"She will accept us. We will give her so much love that she'll not be able to resist us." I say trying to reassure both him and myself.

"Yeah, she'll accept us. And when she does that, I will take over your body and me and my Hope will live happily ever after." He says with a nod of his big head and I laugh.

"Laugh all you want pup but she'll love me more than you." He says and cuts off our mind link and I laugh again and start my car. Like I said, Moody Bastard.

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Layla schedules a trip for the next day for five people. I had ordered one of the maids to inform my gamma Zach, and two wolves from my specially trained royal guard to pack their bags and inform their families about where they were going. My beta Axel had to stay here to rule the royal pack until I return and as Zach's and Axel's mates were pregnant, one of them had to stay here to take care of them. After dinner I went up the extravagant stairs up to my room and the guards standing at uniform distances bowed their heads and I nodded at them. As soon as I entered my room I started packing my bag. After this exhausting task, I took a bath and changed into something more comfortable. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

_____________________________________________________________

"Alpha we're ready. Should we move?" Asked Layla and I nod. We took two cars to reach the airport. The first one was occupied by Zach and two wolves from the royal guard whose names were Hunter and Logan. In the second, I sat at the back seat while Layla sat at the front.

The plane ride was peaceful. No more files. I sat in the first class section and spent the whole ride thinking of my mate. Their was no doubt at her beauty. She was so beautiful that sometimes I couldn't believe that she was real. Her beauty could make the strongest man fall to his knees. Her eyes were the most beautiful part of her. Her silky thick straight black hair in which I longed to run my fingers. I wanted to know if they were as soft as they looked like. Her high cheekbones which I wanted to graze with my fingers. Her midnight blue eyes looked as deep as the ocean. As dangerous as the flames. Her eyes sparkled like water does in sunlight.

She was dazzling.

I had seen how the men in her pack looked at her. I saw the last in their eyes. I wanted to kill them all but I couldn't or everyone would have known that she was my mate. They would raise questions. In our world, a mate is the best thing that could happen to a wolf. If their own king doesn't accept his, their trust from this bond would start to break and I couldn't let that happen.

On the airport, the Alpha, Luna and beta of the Red Dawn pack were waiting for us. They all bowed in front of me and the Alpha came forward.

"Good afternoon my Majesty. My name is Dylan Wilson and I am the alpha of the Red Dawn pack. This is my luna. Her name is Eva and he is my beta. His name is Kaden." He introduced all of them and his beta took all of our luggage and put it in a car.

We sat in a limo that was waiting for us and took off to the pack land.

When we reached there, we were escorted to our rooms. I have to say the pack was beautiful. Humans thought of this pack as a small town named Red Dawn and they occasionally visited here. The meeting with Alpha Dylan was scheduled for tomorrow. The day passed as I inspected the pack. There was an orphanage in the pack and I decided to visit it. Everyone who came in my way bowed and hurried to leave as if I was going to eat them. I know where they are coming from. When you see a six -four foot man packed with muscles and add my reputation, then your first thought is to flee.

When I enter the orphanage, the workers there bow and ask me about how was my day and what am I doing here while stuttering.

"I want to meet the children." I say and a woman takes me inside to a kids room where children of three or four years age are playing. They watch me enter with wide eyes and their mouths opening comically in shock.

"Hi children." I say and move towards them with a big smile on my face. When they see me smile, they smile too and come towards me. Their are seven of them in which two of them are twins.

Gabriel and Gabriella, the twins think it's fun to use me as a horse and I find myself on my knees with Gabriel and Gabriella on my back while the others laugh.

The other five children Tara, Mike, Rony, Noah and Evan show me their toys and I mind-link Zach, Logan and Hunter to bring toys and chocolates and storybooks for the children.

I spend the evening with the small children. They were so cute. I wanted children of my own but as I didn't had a mate at that time, I spent my free time in orphanage or with my best friends Axel and Zach.

_____________________________________________________________

The next day I and my beta go to Alpha Dylan's office while Logan and Hunter stay outside to guard.

He stands up when he sees us and asks us to sit. Zach doesn't sit as in front of people, he is a gamma and a gamma never sits with an alpha in a meeting.

"You said there were vampires in your area. Do you know what they wanted?" I ask coming straight to the point. There is no point in beating around the bush.

"Yes. There were sightings occasionally. I increased the patrol but they still found a way. They act like they are looking for someone. Many times they were seen by small children but the vampires never attacked them. They hadn't hurt a soul till now." He replies and I keep a straight face even if i was confused. Why didn't the vampires hurt anyone? They don't play around.

'Alpha, this isn't typical vampire behavior. Why the heck were they roaming on pack lands? And if what alpha Dylan says is true then the question is — who were they searching for?' Zach mindlinks me, sharing my confusion.

"Do you know who were they looking for?" I ask Alpha Dylan.

"No. But I think whoever they were searching for, they didn't found him or her till now." He replies.

"I have a question."Zach mindlinks me.

"Ask." I mindlink him back.

"Alpha Dylan when was the last time they came?" Zach asks.

"Yesterday." Alpha Dylan replies quietly.

"My royal guards Logan and Hunter will stay here until they catch a vampire. We can get to know the reason behind their behavior. And I have scheduled a meeting with the Mortars. They need to keep their blood suckers at leash." I say and then my eyes fall on the photo frame resting on alpha Dylan's table. My eyes widen and I quickly snatch it from the table. My wolf snarls inside my mind.

"Who is she? " I ask alpha Dylan calmly even if I want to pull him by his collar and force him to open his mouth.

'What happened Alpha?' Zach's voice fills my head but I ignore it as my full focus is on the photograph in that photo frame.

The girl in the photograph is almost an exact copy of my mate. The only difference is that this girl has green eyes while my mate has blue. It can't be possible, right?

"S-she is my si-sister. She di-died a few y-years ago. My f-father r-raped her and her mate re-rejected her. She k-killed h-herself." Comes Dylan's broken voice and I look up to find silent tears running down his face.

I feel sympathy for the alpha in front of me. If I had a sister and my father had touched her in a single inappropriate way, I would have killed him. This girl is dead but my mate is still alive. My Hope is real, right?

"What was her name?" I ask in a soft voice afraid to upset alpha Dylan even more.

"Aurora."