[TAMIKO]
"I'll be here for a whole week, Gabriel, get comfortable… Or not. I don't care," Igor said as he watched Gabriele touch his face where Galya had hit him.
"You wouldn't dare," Gabe said as he looked at Igor. Between the punch he had just gotten from Galya and the pain he was feeling in his heart, it seemed that Igor was more threatening to Gabriel the Grealor.
And maybe that's why when Igor started walking away with Tamiko, ignoring all the stares that he was getting, Gabe decided he would follow them.
Well, it only lasted a few minutes, because the alpha called for them.
"Don't you ever raise a hand on me again," Gabe warned as he walked back to his father's office angrily, while Galya, Judd, and Zakhar were tagging along as they had all been summoned by the alpha.
It was evidently a terrible morning for Gabriel Grealor, but would Galya really give two shits about that when she had just found out that her best friend was Gabe's mate and the man had not even announced it to the public yet?
Oh, but he was the one who needed to be careful of Galya, because there wasn't a thing on the face of the earth that Galya Belova wouldn't do for the brother she adored like her own.
"But me, Gabriel. Or maybe I should just tell your father dearest that you had a mate and still decided to play victim and let me be chosen for you. Makes me wonder what the great alpha would think of his coward of a son.
"Don't test me, Gabe. You don't know just how much I'm willing to do for that outcast you all branded so quickly, okay?" Galya said, the warning in her tone so clear and yet the smile on her face brother than anything the trio had ever seen.
Then again, Gabe knew that with Galya having the knowledge of everything, it would be quite hard for him to figure things out in the right way. But then for the mate he had always wanted, Gabe was willing to do whatever it took.
Maybe this time, he was done staying on the sidelines right?
"Father, you called for us," Gabe said as he walked into the alpha's office with his team.
They had heard the whispers outside and they knew it was just a matter of time before the realm knew that Igor Konstantin was in Grealor. That in itself would raise so many questions and the alpha needed to be ready to answer them.
At least this bunch of warriors was clearly aware that damage control needed to be done. But for how long and would they even succeed when the devil was finally in their compound anyway?
"I need to know what the fuck happened with Igor and why he suddenly showed interest in Tamiko. Give me everything down to the last detail, because Igor Konstantin isn't the kind to put one step forward just because of a fling.
"And he fucking claimed Tamiko, now that is some shit I have to deal with too," the alpha sighed frustratedly while the four wolves in the room looked at him like he had said something out of this world.
Sure, they all had expected that, but damn, hearing that Igor had claimed Tamiko in front of Alpha Ashton spoke so many words it was chaos that had knocked on their door and not just Igor.
The man was fire and ice at the same time and clearly, it would take them all a while to determine what version of Igor Konstantin they wanted to deal with today.
"Impossible," Gabe whispered defeatedly as he sat down on the nearest couch.
He didn't trust himself to stand through whatever this was, because if Igor had claimed Tamiko then it meant that Igor Konstantin was officially Gabe's rival on the path to Tamiko's heart.
With everything that Gabe had done, the young alpha's son wasn't sure he would win. But then wolves only ever got one mate in their world, so for him, it was either Tamiko or no one.
Oh, but he was fucked and doomed at the am time.
"I know. But this is something we have to work on. Igor is going to be here for a week and he insists on staying with Tamiko in the woods. That should give us more time to dig up dirt on him and find a way to make him leave.
"—Even if he has to leave with Tamiko," Alpha Ashton said, adding the last part defeatedly. Then again, he had tried to defy fate for a long time. He had tried to play god for twenty-five years, and he could have won, if only fate wasn't a son of a bitch.
Tamiko would always find his way home, because his people were looking for him, and as it was, the moon goddess was also on his side it seemed.
"You want to hand over one of our pack members to the barbarian? The man who kills without thinking? The same man who now already knows that Tamiko is an outcast? Do you want to give our pack member to a man who can't be trusted?
"You can't be serious, alpha," Galya said as she looked at the alpha. She didn't mind Igor and Tamiko having whatever the fuck they were having. She didn't care if Igor was TaMiko's mate or if the devil himself was Tamiko's mate.
But she knew that if Tamiko left Grealor, Tamiko would never come back. No matter what treatment was accorded to him anywhere, Galya knew that Tamiko wouldn't ever look back at Grealor and ever wish to come here.
She was going to lose a best friend and she didn't like it.
"He is insignificant. Besides, he's the pack outcast. We have so many pack members who can work together. I doubt the presence of the kid would do anything more than it already has anyway.
"Besides, I hear he is your friend. Surely you wouldn't want him to slave away in Grealor forever, right? Because that is what would happen if he stays.
"Igor is giving us good options right now, and we can be rid of Tamiko without risking any alliances," Alpha Ashton said and Galya looked at the man in the alpha's seat.
For the first time, she wondered what the fuck was going to in the man's head.
She couldn't believe that she was wearing this from an alpha she had always thought was more reasonable than most of the alphas. Then again, at the end of the day, everyone would always want power and to feed their stomachs.
It was just a pity that Tamiko was going to be dragged in the middle of all that horseShit.
"Oh really now? If that is how you want to do this, then you leave me no choice," Galya spoke, making alpha Ashton look at her curiously.
The tone Galya was using was direct and the threat was so clear. It was like she was about to dare the alpha, but wasn't that it anyway?
"What do you mean?"
"As the Grealor Luna, I declare Tamiko a member of the Belov household. Any threat against him, is a threat against me, the reigning luna, and shall be considered a threat to the Grealor pack."