August's POV-
I stayed back and out of Emerald's way while she tried to track trails and find anything she could hunt, but the woods here weren't like the ones back home and I'm sure over the years of her living here she's cut game population down.
After a while we just ran and she would brush up against me every now and then. I loved the feeling and I loved the fact that this was only the beginning of many more runs in the woods together. After almost two hours we started to head back to the house, but when we got close I could smell multiple different males and one female nearby that weren't there before. One smelt familiar and I knew it was Alpha Paul, but I didn't recognize the others.
I walked closer to Emerald's wolf until we were touching and lead her to the shed and made sure to sit by the door until she was done changing. When she came out I went inside the shed and made sure to brush up against her exposed legs when I did. I shifted back and threw the clothes I had on earlier before walking back outside. Emerald was gone though and a surge of panic went through me and I started to walk fast to the back door.
I walked in and could hear multiple voices talking, but none of them were Emerald's. I went into the open kitchen and it was empty, so I made my way to the living room and in there stood Alpha Paul and a younger male who shared some of Paul'a features. He had short blonde hair and the same friendly blue eyes. He looked to be about the same age as Emerald.
On one of the couches was an older male, who looked closer to my age. He had cropped inky black hair and dark blue eyes and I could tell that he was an Alpha just like the other males.
Next to him sat a girl that didn't look much younger then me. She had a pretty complexion and shared the same dark black hair as the Alpha next to her, but her eyes were brown. She smelled like sugar and spice.
Sitting on the edge of another couch was Emerald, but she wasn't looking at me. She was looking down at her hands and I wanted to go straight to her side.
"There you are Alpha August, we were just talking about you." Alpha Paul said and cane up to great me.
We shook hands and he turned back to gesture to the strangers he brought with him unannounced.
"This is my oldest, Brandon he went to school with Em." He said pointing to the blonde boy that looked similar to him. I nodded to him and he did the same and gave me a friendly smile
"This is Alpha Stefan, he's from a neighboring pack about an hour drive away from here and this is his sister, Alexis." He said I nodded to them too.
"It's nice to meet you all." I said a little forced.
I didn't understand why Alpha Paul brought these people over. I thought he was coming over to check on us, but my gut is telling me it's something else. I looked at everyone again a little more intently.
Nobody in this room is marked except Alpha Paul. I flick my eyes over to Emerald and she still hasn't looked up at me yet. Did she know he was going to bring other unmated wolves here? Is he trying to push my wolf into marking her or is this some weird joke?
"So what's this about Paul?" I asked turning around and facing him eye to eye.
"I think you know August." He said back not breaking eye contact.
"Can I talk to you private?" I asked him and he chuckled and nodded his head and we both walked to the empty kitchen.
"What is this?"
"Look I'm not going to sugar coat this for you. I was under the assumption that you knew for sure she was your mate, but she has expressed that isn't the case. If there's the slightest chance that she could be my boy's.."
I let out a low growl stopping him from finishing that sentence.
"So you brought unmated Alphas here to sniff out my Luna?" I said to him feeling Zeb wanting to push through.
"It's not like that August. If she's your Luna then you have nothing to worry about. I'm just trying to do the right thing and make sure." He said this, but it didn't make any sense to me.
"I don't plan on marking her until I am sure. That's why I've been waiting."
"Exactly what I mean. You're. Not. Sure. So until you are sure why don't you go out there and mingle with Alexis. She is also going to be a Luna and the odds of her being your Luna are just as high as they are with Em. Which is why I invited them all here, so everyone gets a chance to find their mate." He said trying to use his influence on me.
I glared at him for another minute before I heard the sound of my Emerald's laugh from the other room. I turned around and quickly went back to the living room. The dark haired Alpha had moved seats from one couch to the one Emerald was on. He was sitting close to her and saying something to her that made her smile.
I let out a powerful growl and Emerald jumped in her spot and her eyes snapped to mine finally. Our eye contact broke though when the sound of a hearty laugh was heard from next to her.
"Calm down, we were just getting to know one another." Alpha Stefan said staring right at Emerald and not bothering to look my way.
"She's mine, that's all you need to know." I said and this time he did look up at me.
"Prove it."
I made one step towards Emerald before she jumped up from the couch and walked behind it.
"Stop it both of you." She said warningly, but I kept my eyes trained on hers.
"Let's all just calm down okay? There's enough pressure as it is on everyone to find a mate, so let's cut each other some slack." The Alexis girl said and again that Stefan guy laughed.
"I agree with you sister. Let's all play a game to break the ice." He said and I slowly turned my head from Emerald's to his.
Before I could say no Emerald spoke first.
"What kind of game?" She asked with wide eyes and sat on the opposite end of the couch from Stefan.
He looked at her grinned.
"A game me and my sister would play as kids." He told her and she smiled at him and nodded her head.
I felt a small hand wrap around my wrist and looked down to see that the Alexis girl had grabbed me and she patted the empty seat on the couch next to her. I wanted to explode in this moment and kick everyone out, but instead I sat down next to her after I shook her hand off my wrist.
"What are the rules?" Brandon asked sitting on the other side of Alexis.
Stefan turned his head from Emerald, but kept that same sickly smile on his face.
"Simple, you get to ask one person any question you want. Now they can either lie or they can tell the truth. If you can guess if they're lying or not you get to either ask the same person a question or pick someone else. If you can't then the person who you asked gets to ask the next question. Two questions is the max amount you can get before it goes to the next person. Sound easy?" He asked and everyone nodded their heads but me.
I was too busy staring at Emerald and how she made it a point not to make eye contact with me.
"Who gets to go first?" Brandon asked and Stefan looked over to me.
"Since it's her house, she can go first." He said and turned to look at Emerald.
She had that void mask on, but she wasn't looking at anyone. I could tell by the little lines on her forehead that she was thinking.
"Alexis, do you think August and Brandon are attractive enough to be your potential mate?" She asked and looked over at the girl sitting next to me.
Stefan chuckled and sat up more on the couch to face Emerald.
"You don't play around do you?" He asked her and she smirked and rolled her eyes at him the same way she does me and my chest started hurting.
'Snap his neck.' Zeb said darkly and I considered it for a minute.
"I think they're both attractive yes." Alexis answered and Emerald narrowed her eyes at the girl a minute.
"You're lying."
I looked at the girl next to me and she had her mouth partly open in shock.
"H..how'd you know?" She asked sounding both embarrassed and impressed.
"It's a special skill I've picked up." Emerald said and shot me a look before smiling back at Alexis.
"So who do you not find so attractive?" Emerald asked, but Stefan interrupted.
"Now remember this counts as your second question." He reminded her and she dropped her smile and glared at him a minute.
"I'm young not stupid." She said back curtly and I let out a deep laugh.
She looked up at me and small smile came to her lips. I smiled back at her and felt more relaxed that she was looking at me now.
"You have a little attitude don't you?" Stefan asked her with a grin.
I felt anger heat up in my chest, but Emerald was quick to change the subject.
"Uh huh, so Alexis you were saying?" She said turning back to the girl sitting next to me.
"It's not that I don't think Brandon's cute or anything. He's just very young is all. Like you." She admitted and Emerald smiled at her and nodded.
"Young isn't always a bad thing, I have quite the stamina." Brandon said to Alexis making her blush.
"Okay sister, your turn." Stefan said and Alexis didn't skip a beat with shooting her own questions back at Emerald.
"Emerald, do you find my brother attractive?" She asked and I don't know how much longer of this game I could put up with.
I stared right at Emerald, but she wasn't looking at me. She was looking at Alexis with that emotionless mask on her face.
"He's okay looking." She answered.
Stefan scoffed and Alexis's even giggled.
"You're not telling the whole truth." Alexis said and I could see the flicker in Emerald's green eye.
"Fine, he's very good looking. Happy?" She said in a cold tone and Alexis nodded her head.
"Yes I am, thank you for your honesty."
"Thanks baby, you're not bad looking yourself." Stefan said and before I could react Emerald did first.
She let out a powerful growl and bared her teeth at Stefan. Her one green eye was much brighter then before and you could feel the air shift in the room. It went from 70 degrees to 90 in less then a minute.
"Don't ever call me baby." She said, but it was not Emerald's voice. It was bone chilling and came out more venomous then her usual soft raspy one.
"Woah.." Stefan started to slowly scoot away from her.
"Sorry I didn't mean it." He said and everyone in the room stayed silent for a minute.
Emerald had clenched her fists up in her lap and she would change facial expressions and the lines on her forehead were showing. I wonder if she was arguing with Anala or not.
'Anala doesn't seem to like pet names.' I said to Zeb.
'She is enthralling when she's angry isn't she?' He said back to me as if it pleased him to see our Luna lash out.
I guess since it was towards another male that wasn't us made it more entertaining. I'm glad she put him in his place though and it made me feel good to know she wasn't much of a fan of him after all.
"So who's turn is it now?" I asked with a grin on my face.
"It's still my turn. August, do you find me attractive?" Alexis asked and I looked over at her and took in all of her features.
She was attractive and she had long silky black hair that went to her shoulders. She had warm brown eyes and clear tan skin. There wasn't anything wrong with her, but she wasn't Emerald.
"Not particularly.. sorry."
She looked at me with a bit of hurt in her eyes and I suddenly felt bad that I hadn't been more sensitive with my answer.
"You're lying."
I snapped my head from Alexis to Emerald. She wasn't looking down at her hands anymore and was looking straight at me with that plain mask on again.
"I'm not." I said to her and she narrowed her eyes at me before nodding her head to herself.
"Yes you are." She said as if she had just doubled checked to make sure she was right.
I ran my hands through my hair and gave her a stern look.
"Don't start Emerald." I warned her, but that was basically sending her an invitation to argue more.
"It's okay if you think she's pretty it's not going to hurt my feelings." She said to me and it did nothing, but hurt my chest more.
"I know it's not going to hurt your feelings." I said to her trying to keep my voice calm.
"Then tell the truth."
"Fine Emerald, she's very pretty." I said harshly to her.
She grinned looking satisfied and leaned back in her seat on the couch.
"But she's not my Luna." I said and she dropped her grin and masked her expression instead.
"My turn right?" I asked looking over at Stefan who had lost all humor or cockiness from Emerald's outburst still.
He looked up at me and nodded his head without saying a word.
"Emerald."
She was still looking at me, but kept her face neutral.
"Do you honestly still think you're not mine? Do you really think putting another female in my view will keep me from you? You are my Luna and nothing is going to change my mind about it or convince me otherwise."
Silence was in the air for a few minutes, but I forgot all about the other people in the room. I stayed staring at Emerald and she stayed staring back at me until Alpha Paul walked back into the room.
"So, how's everything going in here?" He asked while clapping his hands and rubbing them together.