Not Your Mate Anymore

Chapter 4 It all comes down

I dragged Max to his room and shut the door. He was going to tell me what was going on and if I had to punch it out of him I would.

"Max, why are you letting these girls think you and I are an item?" I ask him. Taking a seat on his couch as he sits next to me.

"I thought they'd stop trying to get the luna title out of me. I'm a guy Kim but I know a diamond when I see one and none of these girls do it for me. I'm sorry you're getting the glares and snide comments. I didn't think it would get that far but it's stupid of me because the very same thing happened with my mother and all the females my dad was shacked up with.” He said.

"Max, a little heads up would've been great. I literally ran away from my pack to escape the madness only to find more here." I tell him.

"What happened to your mate Max? Why are people saying she’s around?" I say that remembering when I went into the kitchen earlier to get bottled water and two girls made it a point to tell me that I'm nothing but the next piece of ass and I shouldn't get comfortable in the Luna

seat as it was already reserved.

"I don't want to talk about Kim please don't make me" he says. I needed to know though. I had to find out why he wasn't with her.

"Max, I'm not letting you go anywhere until you tell me what happened" I say sternly. Folding my arms for that added effect. He sighs in defeat.

Three points to Sabrina!

"I met Elise same time Tristan met Bella. They are sisters. That's why Bella was acting the way she was towards you. You've got to believe me when I say that Elise is evil and manipulative Kimberley.” He said.

I've seen Max hurt, angry and sad but right now he just looked lost.

I scooted next to him to give him a side hug. It felt like he had more to say so I kept it shut so he could continue.

"When I met Elise, my father was still alpha. You know about the annual alliance ball my pack hosts right? You weren't here last here or

you would've met her. She's cute Kim, you'd think she means well until you actually get to know her..." he says.

"My uncles brother, Darryn who is also an alpha of his own pack came to the ball with his twin sons. They are both going to be running the pack together when he steps down. Well Elise slept with them both. That's how I knew what was happening with you, I felt it too. Although I pushed through the pain thinking something was wrong with her. I ran around the pack looking for her... Only to find her in my cousin's chambers doing the deed." He said dejectedly.

"I walked over to them and broke the whole thing up. I was so angry, I beat the guys up to the point where they were unconscious. Elise ran out but I caught her in the woods. I asked her why and she said they promised to make her their Luna. They told her my father was broke and my uncle was only here to help my dad get out of debt. She knew we were broke Kim, she slept with them because she had no intention of staying with me.” Max let out.

I guess he couldn't stay seated anymore so he stood up and walked to his window looking out to the woods running his hands through his hair to ease his frustration.. I didn't know what to say. Looks like we both got matched with the wrong kind.

"She's having their baby Kimberley. It was raining that day. The moon goddess blessed their union but the twins want nothing to do with her now that they've found their mate." Max said turning around to look at me.

"When did that happen?" I asked Max. Curiosity tends to get the better of me, especially when I know I shouldn't be asking questions.

"Kim, the twins are here for the annual ball. They arrived this afternoon.. the ball is tomorrow. They met their mate today. " Max looked at me..

"Kimberley, Josey is their mate. They met Josey today as they walked in with Elise. They left her right at the door and walked up to Josey and claimed her." He said.

I stood up. Way too quickly as I had a little dizzy spell. Max walked up to me to steady me and i hugged him. I just held onto him. To calm him down and to also calm the storm brewing in my head.

"Where are they?" I asked Max. My voice laced with Athena's meant I was seeing red. My sister is 15. She's my responsibility right now and I need to make sure she knows that it's ok to wait before you give yourself to your mate. He is yours forever so he should be willing to wait. Forgetting Percy.

"Kim you need to know that.. they, they plan on taking her to their territory and completing the mating ritual there."he says.. I left his embrace raving out of Max's room.

I run around the house trying to find my sisters scent only to lead me to my brothers room. I barge in to find Josey with Cj and two lookalikes.

"I'm guessing these are the twins that are to mate my sister?" I ask looking at them..

They smile and nod. Looking a little too happy. Something tells me they haven't been honest with Josey.

"Sabrina omg omg these are my mates! Can you believe it? How lucky am I?? Two for one! Its insane" she giggles childishly.

"That's Clayton and Chase. Boys, this is my sister, Sabrina." She says all giddy.. all loved up.. high on those hormones.

"Josey. I know you must be happy but these two mutts owe you an explanation" I say. Angry that they betrayed their own cousin and now were betraying my sister. My sister looked confused. Looking between me and her mates.

"What are you talking about? I know everything there is to know about them. We are not wasting any time. I mean no offence Sab but we've been in here pouring our hearts out to each other while Cj babysits. We aren't like you and him. We are straight solid" she chirps out. Max finally catches up to me just before I drop the bomb.

"So you're aware they have a pregnant she wolf downstairs?" I ask.

The twins look at me shocked. Or is it scared? Cj looking all sorts of confused. Then they look at Max and are about ready to kill him. I look at Josey and she looks at me like she got slapped on the face.

"Sab if this is your way of keeping me away from my mates just because you failed to keep yours, this is not the way to do it. It won't work anyway. We want each other and I'm leaving straight after the ball

to be with them. You've got no Say in that matter!" She lashes out.

Well that stung. That hit the spot and more. I had no come back. I was shocked to hear my sister call me a failure. Is that what

everybody saw me as? Did I really fail at keeping my mate? Was it all my fault?

This was a bad idea. Maybe I should've sat her down first and kicked the testosterone out but what's done is done. I need her thinking straight.

"Josey I'm hurt to hear you think of me as a failure but this isn't some sick ploy to keep you from your mates. I would never do that to you! They slept with Max's mate and knocked her up. Ask him" I said pointing at Max.

"Better yet, ask them. Your mates." I say looking at the two wet cats.

Josey looks at Max, he nods at her without saying anything. She then turns to her mates, who look at her with so much sadness. Then she looks back at me, eyes glassy...

"I didn't.... they didn't.... what?” Josey looks at her mates again. She tries to walk up to them but her legs give out and they rush to catch her. Clayton places her back on the bed and puts a strand behind her ear.

"We were stupid. Idiots. We thought we would never meet our mates. Our father putting pressure on us to choose a mate and take over the pack. We were assholes, lied to Elise and promised her she'd be our luna if she came to bed with us. She was easily manipulated considering Uncle Deacon had exhausted pack funds and girls like Elisa don't like the idea of being penniless." Chase confesses and a low growl can be heard from Max.

I walk over to him and hold his hand.

"Max found us in bed together and he gave us our asses. Unfortunately Elise got pregnant and we had to bring her with us to the pack.

We never introduced her as our Luna. Just a mistress that's carrying our pup. As soon as she found out that Max got the pack out of debt, she wanted to come back and that’s why she's here. Not to attend the ball, to win you over Max" Clayton says turning to Max.

Max chuckles. "She rejected me remember? And I accepted her rejection. To the moon and my heart, I have no mate." He says void of any emotion.

"The pack doesn't know that Max" I point out. "To them, she is still very much your mate. You need to tell them what happened. You are their alpha." I say holding his hands as I look into his eyes.

"It's not easy Kim. My wolf wants nothing to do with her but I know if I tell the pack, that'll ruin her reputation." Max voices out.

"I'd rather leave that to her unless she pushes my buttons and my wolf lashes out. I have no intention in telling on her to the pack. The truth will come out" he says. I nod in understanding. I turn to Josey and the twins.

"Josey, I'm going to give you a minute to talk to your mates. If you need to, show them your strength and remind them who's boss. Make them put everything on the table you understand me?" I say. She nods back at me and I get up to walk out.

"Sabrina, are you disappointed in me?" Josey asks and I walk back and pull her into a hug.

"im only disappointed that you'd think I'd want to keep you from your happiness because I'm miserable. We were raised to live for our mates. You did what we all dream of doing but now it's time for the serious talk. Talk things out with them and when your done, send them to me so I can straighten them out alright?" I say to make her smile and smile back at me..

Max takes my hand and we walk out the room with Cj right behind us closing the doors to his room.

I pull Max in for a hug. "You have been dealt a shitty hand my dearest Max. I will be your date to the ball. Let's deal with heartbreak together. Let me protect you too." I say to Max.

He pulls me in for another hug and then we go to our rooms to get ready for dinner.

"I don't know about you guys but I think we need a new moon goddess. The one we have plays too much".. Cj shakes his head as he walks away from us. Girls greeting him and giggling.

We walk back to Max's floor. We stop at my door and I give him one last hug before I go into my room and close the door. I don't know what the moon goddesses plan is.. everything is going to shits and i hope she knows what she's doing.

Let me get ready for dinner because that's all my brain can focus on right now.

As I'm getting ready to head out for dinner Josey slips into my room. Her eyes look puffy like she's been crying all month.

"Oh my baby come here.." I say to Josey as I open up my arms waiting for her. She comes to me and just falls in my arms.

"Oh Sab you must know I had no idea she was even in the picture. What's worse is she is Max's mate! They told me it rained when they slept with her Sabrina. The moon blessed them with an heir. How do

I compete with that?? How am I supposed to be with my mates when another woman is involved?" She cries in my arms.

"How about I go downstairs, get Albert to bring up our food and a few bottles of champagne? I'll add our favorite cookies and cream ice cream! We can change into our sweats and just lie in my bed. Is that ok with you?" I ask Josey. She nods frantically.

"I don't think I was going to survive sleeping alone Sab." She tells me.

It was my turn to soothe her and I was going to do just that.

"Go into my bathroom, shower and wear something comfortable. I'll be right back with our dinner ok?".. I walk out my room and bump into Max walking out of his.

"How is she?" He asks me. So selfless. His pregnant mate is under this roof but he’s worried about Josey...

"She's torn. I'm off to bid uncle goodnight and ask Albert to bring our dinner upstairs with a little alcohol. You're welcome to join us." I say knowing very well Max would rather be swallowed by a shark than face his mate at the dining hall.

"No. I need to face the music and get it over with." Max says.. well color me stunned. He's less of a coward than me.

I nod my head and walk to the kitchen while he walks to the dining hall.

I'm in the kitchen preparing for #ProjectJosey when I overhear noises coming from the dining hall. We all rush out of the kitchen to find out what was going on.

I see a girl sitting by the Luna chair and my uncle sitting by the alpha chair. Looking around for Max I see him sitting on a different table with his friends Damon, Nicole and Tristan.

Max and Damon were trying to hold Tristan down and I look around the other side to see Bella standing next to Peter, Damon's father.

Elise gets up to try and calm the situation but only makes it worse by showing her belly and making Max lose his cool. Now uncle has to subdue Max as he is swearing at Elise for sleeping with the twins and carrying their child.

Loud gasps and murmurs could be heard. People giving Max the look of pity I ran away from. How he looked defeated by this broke me.

He was known as a feared young alpha who was ruthless and cunning but now they pitied him. For a wolf it is better to be feared than pitied. I couldn't stand it anymore so I walked into the dining hall, all eyes were on me as I walked past Bella and Elise, who obviously had a confused expression on her face as she didn't know who I was. I walked until I got to Max.

I put both my hands on each side of his face, looked into his eyes and then I kissed him. He froze at first but then he grabbed my waist and as his other hand went into my hair pulling me closer. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't amazing. This was my first kiss and I hoped Max would take the lead and boy did he!? His wolf was calm. He was calm. Heart rate back to normal while mine was beating so fast my heart-o-meter broke!

We only pulled away to catch our breaths just in time to hear someone clapping their hands. I narrowed my eyebrows together. Curious

to see who this jokester was and as if Max could read my mind, "If you're wondering who that is, it's my father. He has always wanted this.

Wanted us together." Max says as we chuckle with his forehead resting on mine.

"Does that invitation still stand?" Max asks and I nod frantically. Afraid to speak as he has rendered me speechless and I've become somewhat shy. We pull away from each other and walk side by side out of the dining hall to the kitchen to fetch the rest of the snacks plus alcohol and make our way to my room.

Maximus goes to his room to change while I go to mine to do the same. I walk in to find Josey cuddled up to Cj crying. I nod at baby bro walking quietly to my closet to find something comfortable.

As I'm getting out of my closet I see Cj, Josey and Max are all huddled up in my bed eating some popcorn. Laughing and making silly jokes. It takes me back to when we were kids and how we used to just chill like this without the stresses of the world. The stresses of the mate bond and our devil mates.

Cj aside, we have been dealt a shitty hand at mates but looking at them now, I know together we will overcome this.... I run to my bed and jump on them spilling the popcorn all over and everyone groaning while I'm a giggling fit. They soon join in and we all find comfort in oneanother.

We watched stand up comedy as we couldn't agree on a movie. Cj and Josey were passed out while I was on the floor with Max eating some ice cream.

I stand up to stretch my legs and I see my siblings all stretched out on my bed, passed out drunk. There was no way I was going to fit in there so I kicked Max awake and told him I'm sleeping on his bed. He mumbled something back but I couldn't make it out.

We switched off the tv and walked out of the room. When we got to Max’s I didn’t even care, I just jumped into his silk sheets. He came into the the room with 5 more bottles of champagne. It was 2h30AM and here were, opening another bottle to drink.

"Let's play a game" Max suggested...

"Truth or dare" he said with a knowing smirk. I was too excited to say no.

I love champagne, all kinds. I love South African sparkling wine, I love the french champagne. I love Italian prosecco... the list goes on! I couldn't get enough once I started. We finished 4 bottles, mostly me because Max went to the kitchen to get some whiskey for himself.

Mostly we spilled secrets. I opened up about Percy and how my heart was broken and he did the same, telling me about Elise. We made a pact that we were going to help each other get over our mates no matter what.

Max passed out first. Lightweight, I'd like to believe.

I continued to drink the last bottle, sitting up on his balcony looking out into the woods. If someone saw me they'd think I was lost in thought, sad about something. What they didn't know was that I was plotting and scheming. I set my mind to work on forgetting about Percy.. and I had the devil of all plans. Where Percy couldn't touch me. I walked back into Max's room and closed the balcony door. One look at Max and I was entranced. He looked so adorable sleeping. He was handsome. That little stubble growing on his face. His tight jaw line. The tattoos going up his neck. His soft lips. His big manly hands. Those thighs of muscle. Of course the schlong because guy wore sweatpants again.

My little sleeping beauty. I pushed him towards the far end of the bed, built a pillow fort on the bed so he couldn't get through to me while sleeping and then got into bed to sleep. Tomorrow I'd regret my drinking spree but tonight I was content. Things might just be working out for the better. Or maybe not. I'm 16 and I'll try anything to get over Percy.

Sleep took over me and I welcomed it. It was time to act on my plans.