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Reece

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I was sitting at my desk listening to the reports from my personal assistant Noah. He was highly efficient at his job, which meant that the reports always lasted longer than absolutely necessary. He could convey all the information in less time, but there was no telling what the extra info would provide in the long run.

He reported on the restless independent wolves living in the next city over. He informed me that the pack whose territory bordered ours, but had significantly less land than us, was causing a bit of a stir with talks of a possible attempt to overthrow me and take my land and people. There was talk of a rogue coven of magic users, witches and warlocks, that had decided to settle in our area. We haven't seen the likes of them in nearly twenty years, according to the elders and the record books.

Noah was so thorough and good at his job that I had considered making him my Beta, his grandfather had been my father's Beta after all. But there was all that unpleasantness that his family had following them. And it wasn't like they could escape from it, the girl was still there as a constant reminder of what had happened. I felt bad for the guy, truly. And he was smart as hell, he really was the best wolf around to be my assistant, I just wish he wouldn't drone on for so long. Ugh!

"And lastly, all of the unmated females have been assigned to their groups. You will spend your time at each of the Full Moon Gatherings looking for your mate among the women assigned to the group number for that gathering." Noah stood straight as a pin as he recited the information from memory. Standing there with his clean-cut features, dark hair and eyes, he seemed to only be missing the penguin suit to make him look like an old-fashioned butler. The thought was enough to almost make me laugh, which made me mad. I was supposed to be indignant and angry right now, I don't want to go to these damned gatherings.

"I will not need an entire night just for that. I will know within five seconds if anyone in the group is my mate." I grumbled.

"The Elders seemed to think you should spend some time alone with each one of them if possible, but as much time with the group as a whole if not."

"If they're not my mate, then spending more time with them won't make a difference. These glorified speed dating traps they've set up for me won't change anything at all." I yelled.

"Hey, don't snap at me, I'm not the one who set all this up, alright." Noah commanded, dropping his work facade for just a moment as he smiled at my frustration. I had to remember he was my friend, and this wasn't his fault.

My anger was getting the better of me. I had been on edge for weeks now, and things were likely to get much worse with what was to come. Throw me into a battle with another pack and tell me I might not come back alive, and I'd jump in with both feet. Tell me that a rogue is challenging me for my position as Alpha and needs to be put into his place, and I will knock him down a peg or twenty. Tell me that a warlock has kidnapped a human child and needs to be dealt with stealth and precision, and I will be first on the scene.

But tell me I need to be made to socialize with a gaggle of giggling she-wolves that think they have a chance to be the next Luna, or think they have a chance to be the next one to warm my bed for a night. That they think they might have a chance at my money, or the status I could offer. Whatever the reason was, it would always be the same. They would always be the same. Women were shallow, useless creatures that used you to their own end and then just left you without so much as a word.

That's why I don't want a mate. Women only care for themselves. There may have been a few exceptions, like his mother. Before the incident, she was the greatest woman in the world, without a doubt. But now, now she was just a shell of her former self. She just sat there, day in and day out, in a catatonic state, like a vegetable. She sat staring out the window and drooling on herself. She hadn't moved, spoken, showed any kind of life at all. Not since the betrayal seven years ago that had led to my father's death. The betrayal of a woman who only cared for herself and no one else. I couldn't let someone like that ruin my pack again, I simply wouldn't allow it.