MERCIFUL

"He that demands mercy and shows none, ruins the bridge over which he himself has to pass"

Cullen's pov.

My mind was racing in every direction possible, being the beta and second in command of the alpha king meant I had seen and heard of so many things that others of our kind would think of as non-existent or impossible, it also meant I had a lot more work to do and secrets to keep, that I had taken an oath to never utter a word about or my head would serve as the alphas main dish that same night.

But a rogue clan Killing 15 of its members and dumping them in various packs with no message attached on them and attacking some pack members, that was a first.

I knew of the rogue clans that existed, we all did, but there were never a threat, how could they be?, rogues were outcasts, banished from their own packs as punishment and left to feed off carcasses, they may be lowly and measly creatures, but they never killed their own, they took care of each other because they were all they had left, as pathetic as they were they still had some dignity left in them, well at least most of them did.

"Hey, Culls, over here mate."

Serao, a retired alpha and our pack secretary called out to me, his face was glistening with sweat, his short brown hair shaggy and unkempt, and his heart was beating fast and loud.

"Were you out training at this time of the day.?"

I questioned as I walked towards him, wrinkling my nose in disgust at his stinky self when I moved closer to him.

"Yes, of course, that's my favorite part of the day you know,"

He answered grinning at me and wiggling his eyebrows trying to make a funny impression, it didn't work.

" Just Spill it out Serao, that stupid grin is only making your face look more psychotic than it already always is."

"Rude," he answered back, this time crossing his arms together and faking a hurt emotion, terribly trying to get me to apologize, but I wasn't in the mood today, not until we had all this figured out, I turned on my heels preparing to leave when he raised his hands in mock surrender now ready to speak, which earned Him a little smile from me.

"I already set up the meeting with the agent wolves, Derek had asked me to inform you earlier but I was caught up in the training room when you came in, you two will be leaving in three days, everyone else already knows what to do and I will be in charge once you leave, also, the elders requested for you on your arrival, you should go see them."

he then paused for a while and I knew he was about to come up with a really, really, stupid joke "at their usual chilling place aka the shrine." and he burst out laughing and I slowly walked away from him, not wanting to be seen near the lunatic.

I felt dumb for how I had reacted, of course Derek had done that, he was the king after all, and always one step ahead, I wondered why he had let me go on and on with my rants if he had already figured out what to do, even though I knew that the only answers I would get was migraines.

Derek was a calm alpha, no one had ever seen him lose his temper, ever, he was polite to everyone associated with him and he was just a generally loved man and that in itself was something to be scared of, a man with so much power and yet he had his emotions under control, an unreadable man, who only talked when deemed extremely necessary, a man who never acted on impulse, and all this without the help of a Luna, and someone whose parents had died traumatically when he was just but a teenager, that....that was a dangerous man.

Him growling at me today was the furthest he'd ever gone to losing his temper and that was because of my disrespect and his wolf had come out to show who was superior between the two of us, and we both knew who it was no questions asked.

I didn't really know him, even after four years of being his best ally and his second in command, I only had bits and pieces of what he wanted me to know, and I respected that, we all had our own secrets that we were entitled to keeping.

As I walked towards the newly decorated shrine, I spotted an unusual female, a few meters away, going towards Derek's mansion, her long yellow dress glimmering due to the sunlight as her blonde hair reflected the sun's rays, even from afar, anyone could see how beautiful she really was, suddenly the air filled with thick strawberry scent, and my wolf started to become restless, gnawing and clawing to be let out, and that's when it hit me, why I had been feeling grumpy and moody all day, why I had been getting unnecessarily hot and envious of the couples around, my lack of concentration, it was because my wolf could sense her near presence, "Mate," I growled loudly as I instinctively turned to follow her.

Finally, after twenty-four miserable years of waiting and hoping, and having that same hope crushed over and over again as each day passed, she was finally here, my mate was finally here, but what was she doing here? and why was she heading towards the alpha's mansion in such a hurry? what else was Derek keeping from me.? and how did he know my mate?