The Possessive Alpha
Chapter 84

DAMON POV

There is electricity in the air; every pack member is busy scurrying around, helping with the decorations, and making the pack look pristine for the Ball today. Elle was up training early like she had been all week, leaving a little note beside my pillow with a little Hershey’s k**s resting on top like it had been all week. I don’t know where she keeps them, but I have grown used to the little tradition that developed between us.

‘Damon,’ my mom’s voice rings through the mind link, her voice taking on that pitch, telling me she is pissed off and not in the mood to wait around on my bullshit. ‘Are you coming into breakfast or not?’

“Yes,” I say aloud as I round the corner to the dining room, where my mom is already sitting with the Beta and Gamma families. I walk towards the table and plop down in the seat next to Elle, throwing my arm over her chair before kissing her temple in a silent greeting.

I can feel my mom’s frigid stare on Elle and me again, and it’s been the same every morning, her sitting there staring at our necks intensely. The anger rolling off of her is starting to affect the Beta and Gamma families joining us for breakfast. Elle and I remained unphased, but we still felt weird energy rolling off my mother.

“Luna?” Elle asks, trying to distract her enough to save the Omega’s hanging decorations from kneeling on the floor in submission. Some of the weaker ones are already halfway there. They are bowing so hard they want to snap in half.

Elle’s distraction is enough to get my mother to calm down enough for the Omegas to listen to my command through the link, ‘come back after we have left to finish decorations.’

‘Yes, Alpha,’ they say in unison through the link, practically tripping over each other to escape my mother’s wrath. Within seconds that evaporated into fear and panic as she asked about the ring on Elle’s hand. Her face becoming paler by the milisecond as Elle retells a tale of her time in the city.

What’s even odder is how quickly she ran out of the room with the others when the conversation was finished, telling me to meet her later for the event specifics. Glancing at Elle, she seems uninterested in what just happened, focused too much on the ring on her finger, twirling it around with a faint smile. For a second, a pang of jealousy tears through my body, making it harder to breathe, until

I realize I am envious of a f*****g ring.

Elle hasn’t said a word to me the entire breakfast, her mind too focused elsewhere; not liking the feeling of being ignored, I pull her chair closer to mine, practically forcing her to sit on me. I can feel Andrew and Matt watching this with amusement but knowing better than to say a word.

Bending to her ear, I whisper gently, enjoying the slight shiver that rolls through her body at my closeness, “how is your breakfast, biscuit?” I ask as she wraps her mouth around a chocolate-covered strawberry, moaning deviously as the juices dribble down her chin, my tongue dying for a taste. My c**k has already formed a tent in my pants as she licks the chocolate off her lips.

“Can you two f**k already?” Andrew chokes out, startling me. I had forgotten he and Matt were still sitting here. “Your combined crazy Alpha s*x energy is really starting to f**k with us, unmated males.” The double entendre is clear in his words as a blush creeps up Elle’s skin until it lands on her cheeks.

“Yeah, and it’s becoming a real f*****g inconvenience,” Matt agrees, kicking his chair, the dark, an ominous cloud hanging over his head, the same one that appeared after Elle’s first shift. I am about to open my mouth and ask him what’s wrong, but fingers graze my arm, making it fizzle with electricity and stopping the comment from leaving my mouth. Looking at Elle, she gives me a slight shake of the head, telling me to drop it, and from the look on Andrew’s face, he agrees with her.

As I am about to ask Elle a question, Charity and Theo walk into the dining room on their way to grab Elle for something or other. Since being named as her Beta and Gamma, they’re always around the packhouse now, which is weird but also not. It feels like they belong here as Theo takes his seat next to Andrew has he has every day. Charity sits beside Elle, causing a low growl to leave Matt’s throat.

The tension between the two is so thick a jackhammer wouldn’t make it through. Andrew being the peacekeeper he is, clears his throat to ask a neutral topic, “What’s left to get done before the ball?”

“I have to take the girls into town to get some last-minute things for their outfits,” Theo grumbles, not looking too thrilled about the prospect of having to go shopping, but that’s what happens when you’re the only male at the top of the pack hierarchy.

“I don’t envy you,” Andrew says, throwing him an apologetic look. “We’d probably join you, but I know Luna Olivia will kill us if we aren’t here to help with all this.” His arms waving around to indicate the craziness going on around us. “Did you guys already train for the day?”

“Of course,” Charity and Theo grumble together, obviously not thrilled by Elle’s thrilled by her preferred training time.

“I don’t mind training,” Charity says as she grabs a strawberry for the center, “but why must it be so f*****g early? I swear Elle never sleeps.”

“I can attest to that,” I say, unable to take the distance between us as I scoop her into my arms, pulling her to my lap as my face nuzzles her neck and her scent calming my frazzled nerves. I am about to say more when my mom walks back into the kitchen, looking calmer and less angry than she had earlier, a smile gracing her lips as she sees Elle in my arms but doesn’t comment.

“Damon, Andrew, and Matt, enough gossiping. We have things to get done today,” her voice sternly as she gives each a pointed look.

“Elle, have fun shopping with your Beta and Gamma. Please don’t forget your hair and makeup appointment at two.”

Turning to face me, still sitting in my lap, Elle smashes her lips to mine, flaming the fire of desire. Pulling her lips away, her breath tickles my ear as she whispers, “I’ll see you tonight, Alpha.” The way she says Alpha, in that sultry, husky tone, has me drooling. Before I can stop her, she has skipped off with Theo and Charity.

Walking with my mom, we follow her into her office, which is on the other side of my father’s. As the three of us file into the room, she shuts the door behind us, jumping straight into business. “Alright, boys,” she sighs, clearly exhausted by the last weekend. “Since all three of you are eighteen, we need to decide how we will do the “mate find” at your party. As you know, we can do this in many different ways. We can line all the unmated males over eighteen as eligible females enter the ballroom, allowing for their mate to stand forward.”

None of us said anything to her, slightly puzzled why we have to make these choices, “Mom, none of us care how the “mate find” goes. Pick what will be the easiest for you to organize.”

“I know why you don’t care,” my mom snips, but turns her eyes to Andrew and Matt, “but what about you two?”

“Honestly, Luna,” Andrew says, his voice light and airy, “I agree with Damon. Please pick whatever is easiest for you to organize.”

“Very well,” she sighs, disappointed that none of us want to participate in this beloved tradition. It occurs before any event we host, allowing mates to be found at the beginning of the event.

“How about you place the unmated females strategically throughout the room and allow each unmated male to enter separately to sniff out their mate,” I suggest, feeling guilty seeing the look on my mother’s face, but her face brightens at my suggestion.

“That sounds lovely,” she says, “that’s all I needed from you boys. You can run along and help the others in the pack with preparations.” She waves us through the door so she can finish with the things we got to get done for today.

Once we are back in the hallway, Andrew turns to me, “come along. We have something to show you anyways.” Looking at Matt, he says nothing, just nodding in confirmation of what Andrew says.

**********************

Ten minutes later, we are standing in the field, staring at the large oak tree in awe. I don’t know how they did it, but it’s beautiful and will be a great surprise for Elle tonight. After a moment in silence, not commenting on their work, Matt’s impatience rears its ugly head, “well, do you like it?”

“It’s perfect,” I say, completely blown away by the twinkle lights dangling from the tree and wrapped around the trunks. A clear greenhouse sits on the edge of the tree so that if you’re inside, you can still see the stars. It sits on a raised platform made of pallets. Inside the greenhouse is a bed piled high with warm blankets and pillows. Sitting next to the bed is a bucket and two champagne flutes sitting on the tray sitting on the bed.

“You two thought of all of this?” I ask them, slightly impressed, thinking they’d throw up some twinkle lights and call it a day.

Chuckling for the first time in days, Matt says, “hell to the f**k no. Do we look like the property brothers? We had help,”

“I am going to ignore the fact that you know what Property Brothers is,” I say through my snickers, “who helped? Charity and Theo?”

“No, we didn’t want to risk telling their Luna,” Andrew explains, “so we asked Emma and Taylor for help.”

“You asked Taylor for help?” my head snapping to his, slightly freaked that she spilled the surprise to Elle.

“Don’t worry,” Andrew says, “She won’t say a word. I ensured she didn’t say a word to anyone using my Beta command.”

“Well, it’s perfect,” I say, admiring the romantic space they created for tonight. If Elle cannot get the same mate experience as everyone else, I will try to make it as special as possible. “Thank you, guys, seriously.”

“It’s no problem,” Andrew says, clapping a hand on my back. “Now let’s get you your Luna.”