"Heard from Lucy's family yet?" Alpha Carl asked as he walked into the elevator with his beta, Tyler following after him.
"Yes Alpha. Lucy would be coming over to your home tonight as she is now totally healed from the minor accident she had" Tyler replied.
"Good" Carl remarked, his lips barely moving.
He could not wait to finally have his mate with him, by his side and he was glad to the moon goddess, his mate was beautiful, smart and was pretty strong too.
Carlos was satisfied with the capabilities of his mate and hoped he would be satisfied with every other thing about her.
It was the custom of the River Alley Pack that the mate of the Alpha would stay with him for three months before becoming a Luna. During these three months, the Alpha would have to study his mate and ensure she is worthy of being the Luna of the pack and whatever was lacking in her had to be improved within those three months.
It was also within that three months that most mates grew to know each other.
All in all, Carl was quite ecstatic to have his mate in his home.
"Make sure a room is cleaned up for her and hand over the rules to her as soon as she gets into my home."
"A different room for her? But it is the custom that you both stay together and...."
Carly's gaze at his beta made him shut up.
"I would do as you have said" Tyler bent his head down obediently.
"Good" he remarked as the door of the elevator opened and he stepped out with Tyler, following behind.
As much as Carl would have loved to stay in the same room with his mate during those three months, he knew it would be a major distraction to him and not only that, he had gone through the history of the pack and most of the attacks the pack had ever received was during this period because of course, the Alpha would be too busy with his mate and he was not going to make the same mistake that his predecessors had made.
He walked into his office, pulling off the jacket that he had on him.
He walked to his seat and folded the jacket on the seat before taking his seat.
"The schedules for the day?"
Yeah, he wasn't just an Alpha, he was a CEO Alpha, leading the pack and yet leading the most successful company in the pack.
*
Ethel looked at herself in the mirror, noticing the huge difference between her the last night and her right now.
She looked completely different from what she had seen in the mirror last night. She had been starting to forget that she and Lucy were identical twins but this night and this tight fitting dress had made her remember that.
Ethel could not remember the last time she had dressed up and looked like this, this beautiful, this sexy.
Her body was clad in a black lengthy dress that had a slit by the side. The slit ran all the way up to her thighs, revealing the beautiful skin that she had always covered up.
The slit of the dress had glitters that made it sparkle. Moving upwards, the dress was sleeveless but hugged her body firmly enough. Her boobs had been pushed up by the dress and her cleavages could be seen.
Her hair that had usually been held in a messy bun now ran down her shoulders, all combed and stretched out to look like that of her sister, Lucy.
"Wow" she heard the door opening.
"You look so beautiful, darling" it was her mother's voice.
"Really?" Ethel asked though it wasn't more of a question to her mother.
"Of course, why in the world would I lie about it?"
Her mother moved over to her and stared at her lovingly but to Ethel, her mother was not staring at her lovingly, her mother was only staring at Lucy lovingly.
The person that she was at the moment was Lucy and not herself.
"Are you ready for tonight?" Her mother asked.
"Yes, mother" Ethel nodded.
"Remember that you have to act like Lucy and for those things you can't do, just make up excuses not to do them. You are smart, you should be able to come up with perfect excuses. As soon as Lucy is awake, she would take over things, alright?" Her nother asked and Ethel responded with another nod but wondered how she was supposed to be like Lucy.
What if she was asked to shift? She had no wolf side yet! But her father wasn't interested in any of what he called 'excuses'.
And their scent? Though she and her twin sister smelled alike and she had even used her twin sister's perfume, Ethel wasn't sure that the Alpha would not find out the difference. Though normal wolves would find it hard to spot a difference in their scents but then, they were not dealing with normal wolves, they were dealing with an Alpha wolf.
"Let's go now" her mother held her hand and the both of them walked out of the room.
They both walked to the living room where Ethel's father was seated on a sofa.
He seemed pleased, seeing how much Ethel now looked like Lucy.
"The driver would take you to the home of Alpha Carl now, you cannot make any mistake, Ethel. Whatever you can't do..."
"Make excuses for it" Ethel completed.
"I see your mother has told you what you need to know already. You may leave" he dismissed her.
Ethel forced a smile out of her lips. Her father was sending her out and he was being as cold as ice about it. All he wanted from her was a job perfectly done.
"Be sure to call if anything comes up" her mother said to her and kissed on the back of both her hands.
Ethel nodded in understanding and walked a few steps away, trying to walk like Lucy.
"Ethel" her father called and Ethel for once thought maybe he was going to hug her or say some nice words even if they were not going to be sincere but her father was far from being one who would pretend to be nice to a daughter he hated.
"Remember that you are only a substitute, do not be stupid and fall for Alpha Carl like it happens in your stupid romantic books"
Ethel felt her heart tearing apart but she squeezed another smile out.
"I would not be stupid, I'd understand the fact that I am a mere substitute" she assured him and walked out of the house with the confident steps that Lucy had always had.
The car's door was opened up for her as she approached. Ethel slipped into the backseat of the car and closed her eyes as the car revved into motion.
She opened her eyes and stared at the house that her entire life had revolved around. She looked out of the window at the moon.
"Moon goddess, you have never listened to me but this time, just this one time, please listen to me. Make my stay at the Alpha's home successful and not as hellish as my entire life has been." She prayed and closed her eyes back.
"Welcome to your new home, Miss. Lucy" Tyler welcomed the mate of the Alpha as she stepped into the mansion. "Alpha Carl is not back from work yet but as soon as he is back, he would definitely be glad to see that you are here" Tyler added. "Thank you" Ethel responded, she could feel her heart pounding with every step she took. And in her head was this voice that was screaming at her that this was going to go wrong, this was all folly. "Follow me, I will lead you into your room" Tyler gave her a warm smile that Ethel responded to with an equally warm smile. Tyler walked forward and Ethel followed behind him until a question popped up in her mind. Was she going to be sharing the room with Alpha Carl?"Excuse me?" She tried to sound as confident as Lucy would have sounded. "Yes?" Tyler looked back at her. "Would I be sharing a room with... With my mate?" She could feel something inside of her snort at her when she said those words. "Actually no, it's Alpha Carl's orders. The bot
Alpha Carl pulled away from the hug as soon as he had made that discovery. His face was covered in confusion as he took two steps backwards, away from the woman that he had thought to be his mate until only a few seconds ago. Ethel felt her heart racing and this time it was more of fear than excitement. The way he was staring at her, his gaze that had suddenly gone much more intense than it was before. "Is... Is anything wrong?" She slowly questioned him but there was no response from Alpha Carl and the next second, Ethel's back had been pushed against the wall and his arm was to her neck, almost choking her. Ethel gasped as her back hit the hard wall in a single second."Who the hell are you?" He questioned, his eyes turning a bright red that scared the hell out of Ethel. "Wh... What do you mean?" She stuttered out, not willing to give up on her guise, not just yet. "You are not my mate, who are you?" His voice deepened but this time not in that hot manner that it had done previ
"This can't be good, Matthew. This can't be good" Mrs Adams, Ethel's mother repeated her words like she had been doing throughout the entire journey to the Alpha's home. "Your stupid daughter. We sent her over there just this night and we are already being called" Mr. Adams replied his wife in a mindlink and sighed heavily. "She told you that it was not going to work, Matthew. You should just have told the Alpha the truth. If you had done so, this would not be happening" her voice was panicky as she replied him back in the mindlink. "Do not blame me for this. Just blame Ethel" He groaned his response and looked forward to Tyler who was driving the car."Beta Tyler" He called."Yes, Mr. Adams?" Tyler looked into the mirror. "Do you know why we are being summoned right in the middle of the night?" He asked, slowly. "I have told you a thousand times already, Mr. Adams, I do not have any idea why I was asked to bring the both of you" he replied and Mr. Adams let out a shaky breath an
"You are useless, Ethel" Mr. Adams said to his daughter. Ethel lowered her face back to the floor, sobbing silently. "You see what you caused? I am having my toes chopped off! And it is all because of you! Don't you dare come back home! Don't you dare come back home or else I am getting you killed, Ethel!!" He screamed at her.Tyler pressed his lips into a thin line and glanced over at Ethel for a second, her shoulders shook lightly with her sobs. Tyler took his eyes away from her and looked at Mr Adams who would not stop ranting about how useless his daughter was. "Mr. Adams" Tyler called when he could not stand it anymore. "You should not talk to Ethel that way, not when you were the one who schemed all of this""Beta Tyler, you... " Mr Adams stopped talking and sucked in a large amount of air into his lungs and glared at his daughter. Tyler walked over to Mr. Adams and grabbed him by the arm. "Mr. Adams, let's get your toes chopped off. I will try to make it as painless as p
It was 10am when Ethel left the room. She had taken a bath and dressed up in one of the clothes that was meant for Lucy. She stepped into the passage and could not help but notice how sparkly clean it was. She walked to the stairs and the intricate designs of the hand rail hooked her. It was so beautiful and carefully done. Fear and tension had not allowed her notice so much details of the mansion the previous night. Ethel took a few seconds to admire the designs of the hand rail before continuing her walk down the stairs. Thoughts of her father, her mother and Lucy flashed through her mind but she was able to push away the thoughts before it would get to her heart. "It all already happened. I just have to survive" she mumbled to herself as she climbed down the last stair. Ethel pulled herself to the kitchen door and pushed open the door.She stepped into the kitchen and let her eyes roam around the clean place. She approached the cooker and noted that it had been used that morni
Ethel stared at the retreating figure of Alpha Carl until he completely disappeared from her sight.She still stood at the same spot thinking about the new rule. She was not allowed to go close to him.Ethel bit gently on her lower lip. It wasn't like she would glue herself to him anyways, after all he was not her mate. ."Anything the issue?" Tyler's voice came from behind, shaking Ethel back to life.Before she could turn back to glance at him, he was already by her side."Uhm... Welcome back, Beta Tyler" Ethel greeted."I told you already, Ethel. You can call me Tyler" he paused for some seconds. "Ethel" he added and let out a soft smile. It was clear that he enjoyed having her name roll out of his tongue. Ethel simply lowered her head without a response to him. "Was Alpha Carl being harsh with you just now?" Tyler asked. "Not at all. He only gave me a rule.""Which is....?" "I am not allowed to come close to him. All I should do is stay away" she replied. "That's not that
Ethel stared back at the Alpha in even more confusion. She had no clues about the moon ring and absolutely did not understand what he was asking her. "I am Ethel Adams" she replied timidly, wondering if that didn't sound dumb. "I know you are Ethel Adams" he groaned. "What are you? Why do you make the moon ring shine?" He requested again, this time sounding more impatient "Alpha Carl, I do not have any idea what the moon ring is" Ethel replied and though Alpha Carl clearly had more questions to ask, he kept them to himself as he realised that whatever was going on, Ethel most probably didn't have a clue. He slowly let go of her hand."Leave" he uttered the one word order. Ethel took three steps away from him and had just turned to walk away when all of a sudden, the lights went off. Ethel shrieked as both she and Alpha Carl were immediately enveloped by the darkness. Alpha Carl's first object of attention was the ring that had suddenly stopped shining. "What is wrong with the
Ethel's lips were parted as she breathed out heavily, trying to process what had just happened. She had just been kissed by the Alpha and it was a great kiss, a kiss that had totally blown her mind away. Ethel's eyes were still on Alpha Carl's lips and he was staring at her too, the both of them seemingly ignoring the presence of Tyler in the room. "Alpha Carl" a soft voice called, attracting the attention of Alpha Carl and Ethel. The both of them looked towards the direction of the voice and there was a lady standing, a bit farther away from Tyler. Alpha Carl recognized her almost immediately."Hayley?" Alpha Carl stood up from his kneeling position.That was when Alpha Carl understood what had happened to the lights. It was Hayley's habit to have the lights turned off whenever she was making her entrance after a long time and then she would turn it on when he could see her. That way, she felt like she came into his life as the light of it except that she was moe far from being