MINI STORY: The Greybacks Continue

The next couple of hours went back quicker and then it was nightfall. Theo and Tigris dressed in dark clothes so they wouldn’t be easily spotted before sneaking out of the cabin. They silently followed a path through the woods until they reached Quinny’s cottage. They arrived just in time to see an unfamiliar man walking up the steps to her cottage.

It wasn’t Gregory or Collin, so it had to be one of her other regulars. The twins noticed that Jackson and Garet were standing on either side of the doorway, leaning casually against the house. Collin and Baxter were nowhere to be seen.

The front porch light flicked on and then the door swung open, revealing Quinny. She was dressed in a white silky robe that was loosely tied around her belly, revealing her nearly naked body.

“Morgan.” She purred and the stranger now had a name, “I’ve been waiting all day.”

Morgan slipped inside the house. The door shut behind him and the porch light switched off. Theo and Tigris crept closer to the house, careful to avoid being noticed by Garet or Jackson.

Suddenly, the porch lights switched on and off twice. Garet and Jackson looked at each other and then started walking away from the cottage. When they got to the edge of the forest, they shifted and sank into the darkness. Theo and Tigris looked at each other in question, guessing that the lights flickering was some sort of coded message for the guards to back off.

Theo pulled out his phone, careful to dim the light of his screen, and sent off a text to Wally. Now all that was left to do was wait. Wait and pretend that they couldn’t hear the noises coming from inside the Luna’s cottage.

“Where are her guards?” Tate’s voice cut through the woods, catching the twins’ attention.

“I don’t know, Alpha.” Wally replied.

“I thought you said her guards mindlinked you that something was wrong?” Tate’s voice sounded panicked.

“They did. I don’t know where they could’ve gone.” Luca lied.

Tate ran down the pathway then, hurrying towards Quinny’s cottage. Theo and Tigris watched him closely, preparing for what was about to happen. As Tate approached the door, he became all too aware of what was happening inside the cottage. His head shot back towards Wally and Luca who looked like they would rather be dead then in this situation.

Tigris and Theo could practically feel Tate’s rage as it came pouring off of him. He turned back towards the door and yanked it open, storming inside. Theo and Tigris ran out from behind the trees and towards the cottage, wanting to be there to support their brother or to keep him from killing Morgan, whichever came first.

“Tate!” They heard Quinny’s shrieks all the way from outside the cottage, “Stop it!”

Theo and Tigris looked at each other once before quickly running inside. They found Tate beating the snot out of Morgan in Quinny’s bedroom.

“Tate, that’s enough.” Theo said, but Tate was too consumed by his grief and his anger to notice.

Tigris and Theo grabbed a hold of Tate’s arms and yanked him away from Morgan. Tate fought against their grip, assuming it was Wally and Luca.

“You defiled the Luna!” Tate shouted.

“Tate, it’s not just Morgan.” Tigris said,

Tate finally recognized the voice of his brother and turned towards him in shock.

“What the hell are you two doing here?” Tate snapped.

“We never left. We thought something was going on so we did some investigating. Quinny has been sleeping with multiple men behind your back, including her guard.” Theo ripped the band-aid off quickly.

“You orchestrated this?’ Tate glared at Theo.

“We knew that she was going to be seeing someone tonight and we had your Beta and Gamma lure you out here, yes.” Tigris replied.

“You made this happen!” Tate jabbed his finger in Theo’s chest, “You had that man come out here and seduce my mate!”

“Tate, seriously? She sleeps with a different guy every night. She hand picked her guard to ensure that they were all mateless men who were not only willing to sleep with her, but keep her secrets. She lives all the way out here instead of with you in the packhouse, so she can see other men. She leaves the pack territory repeatedly so she can go on dates and then brings the guys back here at night.” Theo glared at his brother.

“Alpha?” Wally said hesitantly, entering the room, “They’re telling the truth.”

“We’ve known about it for a while, but we also knew that you wouldn’t believe us. When your brothers showed up, wanting to help you, we knew this was the best way to get you to see the truth.” Luca explained.

“You two were in on this?” Tate looked hurt and shocked.

“We’re loyal to you, Alpha, which is more than we can say for the rest of the men in this pack. No one takes you seriously, no one can understand how you don’t know about your cheating mate and Luna. The women mated to some of the men she’s slept with are pissed and the pack is completely falling apart.” Luca tried to knock some sense into his Alpha.

Tate looked around the room, studying the face of each of the men with whom he placed his utmost trust in. Then, his gaze landed on Quinny, who had been silent throughout the entire conversation. He noticed only one thing, one thing that made everything crystal clear to him.

She didn’t look guilty, or upset, or fearful. She didn’t look like anything. That’s how Tate knew that he had not only been lied to, but that she had been making fun of him. He saw smugness in her expression, smugness because she knew she would get away with this. Why wouldn’t she? She’d been getting away with it since before they were even mated.

That’s when Tate knew.

“You will stop this.” Tate spoke sternly to Quinny.

“Tate….” Quinny started to pout, but Tate spoke over top of her,

“You will stop this until we produce an heir. You won’t risk getting pregnant by another man before you’ve produced this pack’s hair. Once that happens, I don’t care what you do.” Tate’s face was void of emotion, his voice cold.

Quinny’s eyes went wide as his words sank in.

“You…..” She didn’t even know what to say.

“I don’t love you, Quinny, and you don’t love me. That’s fine. We don’t need love. Your father needed an heir so he had to wait to see who you would be mated to and hope he was good enough to lead. I took the role of Alpha and made a pledge to this pack. I will fulfill my duty and you will fulfill yours by ensuring this pack has an heir through blood. Am I clear?” Tate narrowed his eyes on Quinny.

“Yes.” She said in a small voice, nodding.

“I’ll be picking my own guards for you from now on. Guards who won’t let you anywhere alone, who will watch you like a hawk, and who will answer to me.” Tate went on to say, “Until you birth my son, you’re on lockdown.”

Tate’s eyes were full of hate and discontent as he looked at his mate. He had never loved Quinny, but he had hoped he would grow to. Now, all he felt was hate, disappointment, and loathing resentment.

He turned his back on Quinny and strolled out of the cabin, leaving his brothers, Beta, and Gamma looking after him in utter shock. They all looked at each other before rushing out of the room after him.

“Tate!” Theo called after his brother.

“You two have accomplished what you set out to do, you can leave now.” Tate snapped.

“We set out to bring you home, brother, to help you.” Tigris said in a sympathetic voice.

“I’m not coming home. I’m the Alpha of Red River and I have a job to do. I have a Luna and she’ll give me an heir, end of story.” Tate said,

“You deserve more than this, more than her.” Theo sighed.

“Maybe I’ll find it one day, maybe she will, too. But, the Moon Goddess paired us together for a reason, she picked us to be the Alpha and Luna and to continue Red River’s bloodline. That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

There was no changing Tate Greyback’s mind.