The Alpha's Slave Mate

Daphne's Point of View Walking out into the back courtyard my breath was taken away. The decorations were amazing. There were five small tables set up with navy tablecloths, and simple mason jar candle lights in the middle surrounded by a small wreath of flowers. Fairy lights were draped elegantly over the pergola, and over a few of the rose bushes. The sound of a violin caughtoff guard and | looked quickly towards the back of the garden path to find a few of our teenage wolves tuning orchestra instruments.

“| asked Brandon to gather a few members of the orchestra from school to provide slight background music.” Caleb leans close toand whispers in my ear.

The courtyard looks like something out of a movie. | had always admired the beauty it held during the daylight, but tonight it was a shining star. “This looks better than anything | could have imagined.” | whisper still in awe. Caleb put his arm gently around my waist and leadsto one of the tables, pulling out my chair for me. | take count of the chairs that are out here and realize that we have more than we need.

“l must not have let the catering company know that we had guests leave.” | tell Caleb.

“No sweetheart | opened this evening up and invited Theo, Scarlett, Hannah, Maria, Scott, Liam, and Corey as well. That is why there are five tables with four chairs each. | would have invited Isabella as well, but | believe that she is still settling in at Mavin’s house.” | am stunned by Caleb's confession. The busy Alpha has managed meeting, alliance negotiations, my mood swings, new members of our pack, and a million other things that have happened in the last few days, but he still puts the wants and needs of others before himself. Love and pride swell in my chest, and | cannot stop myself from leaning over and pecking him on the cheek.

“Thank you, sweetheart it is perfect.” Not long after we were seated our guests started to arrive. Theo and Scarlett chose to sit at our table. Marcus, Cole, Axle, and Lola sat at the table next to us. Jerome, Alma, Hawk, and Maria sat on the other side of us. Noah and Melissa walked in and sat at the table farthest from ours. Liam, and Scott were running a few minuets behind but choose to sit at the empty table rather than sit with Noah. Next Corey, and Gabriel filed in. | could see that Gabriel would have liked to continue talking to Corey and he looked wistfully at the table that held the younger guys. He was also fearful of embarrassing his Alpha, so he quickly recovered and sat with Noah and Melissa.

Hannah walked in last, looking beautiful in a summer dress, and gladiator sandals. Axle immediately stood and pulled another seat over to his table. Hannah smiled but still looked slightly uncomfortable. Gabriel also offered the seat next to him.

“Hannah sweetheart you look fabulous. Csit next to me, | feel like | have not seen you all day.” Scarlett’s voice rang out clear in the still night, and Hannah looked relieved that she has a way to escape. Axle looked slightly crushed that once again Hannah chose not to spend twith him.

The table was slightly cramped with five of us around it, but it was pleasant. The few teens that Caleb got to play were doing wonderfully and overall, it appeared that everyone was having a great time. | was finding the evening rather enjoyable, and | was fully relaxed as jokes were told, and everyone was talking and having a good night.

We were just finishing up dessert when Brandon hustled over to our table with a stoic face. He bent and whispered into Caleb's ear.

| watch as Caleb’s eyes got kind of glossy, and | could tell that he was messaging someone in the pack. He thanked Brandon and watched him leave just as quickly as he came. Even though Caleb was still smiling, | could feel his demeanor shift. He was now on edge, and | could not get my mother’s warning out of my head.

“Is everything alright?” Curiosity finally got the better of me, and | leaned over and asked him. His eyes glossed again but this the was messaging me.

We have a visitor that no one else can know about. | had Brandon escort him to my office, and unfortunately, they will need to stay in the nursery that we had set up for the pup. | am sorry but we need to be as quiet about this as possible. | will explain everything later.

| knew that it was very important if Caleb was intending to use the nursery to hide this person. Now | am anxious to find out who it is. | was happy that this dinner was almost done. After the catering company cleared the plates away, we thanked everyone for coming and Caleb announced that tomorrow he would love to show everyone the training center before we have the summer bash.

With his announcement we said goodnight to everyone.

Once we were in the house and | knew that we were alone | asked Caleb who was in his office. He was walking fast and practically draggingbehind him. He did not answer and instead pulledswiftly up the stairs and around the corner to his office. He quickly walked in, pullingwith him and shut the door. | was stunned to find that someone had drawn the drapes in his office, they are never closed. Caleb walked over and flipped on the small desk lamp that he keeps on his desk.

It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the glow, but once | blinked, | noticed an older gentleman sitting in one of Caleb's office chairs. Caleb wasted no twalking over to him. The man stood up, but his face appeared to be stone like.

“Alpha Clint while it is a pleasure to see you, | am confused as to why you are here, and why this needed to be kept secret.” Caleb wasted no tand got straight to the point. Once | heard the man’s n| was confused as well. From what | could remember if this man is Alpha Clint than he is Axle’s father.

“Alpha Caleb, | assure you that secrecy is much needed. | fear we have an issue that is affecting both of our packs.” The older man sighed and for the first t| watched the stony face that he had put on start to crumble. “I glanced at your dinner party hoping that my source had been wrong. Unfortunately, | fear that one of my nightmares has cto life. That man posing as Axle is not my son.” When he said the last words, the man broke into tears and crumbled back down into Caleb's chair.

I was in shock. What did he mean that Axle was not his son?