Tangled Hearts - The Alpha's Baby Mama-Chapter 42: To live that dream...

Present Day

Xavier POV

"An alliance?" I raised my brows at him "That is out of the blue, Kurtis, what’s on your mind?"

One of the biggest lessons I learnt as a young boy from my father was to never trust the words of someone who was once and is your enemy.

’No matter how much of a reconciliation has been done, always reserve 90% of your heart for doubt because forgiving someone for wrongdoing is the hardest thing on earth’

Now as I sat opposite Kurtis, I knew he was lying. Why did he suddenly want an alliance? I’ve been out of the picture for the longest time and have solely relied on Lucius’s effort as a Beta to help me run the pack. So, anyone coming to me now for an alliance was either mocking me or didn’t know where I had been for quite a while now.

His gaze shifted to Selene and back to me. I knew he wanted me to tell Selene to leave but I’ll be damned that I’ll do that. She was my mate and Luna, and she deserved to know. So, I ignored him and continued staring at him.

"It’s just me wanting to ally with the most hated Alpha of the region. You cannot imagine how many Alphas have staked out for you to be killed. Then the foxes too but that’s because I know what it means to be in that kind of position. I wouldn’t wish it even on my worst enemy,".

"Cut the crap, Kurtis," I sighed impatiently "What is the real reason? Besides, if you wanted an alliance, why did you come all the way here with your troops? You could have simply reached out you know,".

"Because I need to make them believe that I’m here to fight you and also, I never travel without my a few of my army. I don’t want to be stupid and think that I’m suddenly loved," he chuckled.

Beside me, I could feel Selene squirming uncomfortably. I decided to mind-link her to find out what was wrong.

"Hey," I mind-linked her "What’s wrong?"

"If you want to get him to say the truth, you should be calm and remove emotions. Better still, you should mention the reason why you’re here or would you rather I make small talk and put him at ease?"

"Fine," I sighed.

True, I didn’t want to get carried away by my emotions especially now. Shrugging, I return my gaze to Kurtis who was watching us with amusement in his eyes.

"This is a bit strange," he voiced out stroking his chin "I was told that both of you cannot stand the sight of each other. Something about your bond and whatnot. But here you are being lovey-dovey with each other. Am I missing something? Or have I been misled by the Alphas?"

"Perhaps," Selene responded flashing him a calm smile "I don’t know what you heard but now we’re here, you can ask us any question, I’m sure we’d be able to clear your doubts,".

Kurtis leaned forward, his eyes alternating between me and Selene... for a moment, I thought he was going to ask questions but he leaned backwards and shook his head.

"Don’t worry, I’ve made it a point not to inquire much about people... the less I know about your messy affair, the easier it’ll be for me," he said.

Selene nodded, as her lips curled into a smile "Then may I ask?"

"Go ahead," he urged.

"Your soldiers," she began, "They look a little bigger than the regular Deltas... Almost like Alphas if I dare say,".

Kurtis paused as his brows crunched in confusion, I was sure he wasn’t expecting Selene to ask him something like that. His eyes glazed as he sat back and asked.

"Why are you suddenly asking me something like that?"

"Who knows," Selene shrugged "We might form that alliance after all and I hope you know one of the key components of allying is being transparent and truthful. Isn’t it?"

"Well," Kurtis snorted and turned his gaze to me "Your wife is brilliant Xavier and she seems to be rosy with health. Unlike what I heard. Anyways, Xavier, why do you think the Alphas are so fixated to harm you? What is it that you have? What is so special about you?"

"They are after something?" I asked staring strangely at him.

"Yes," He nodded and rose to his feet as he walked to a table with drinks on it at one corner of the hut and poured himself a drink.

He half-turned to me, raising the decanter as if to ask me if I was interested too. I shook my head. After pouring himself a drink, he returned to his seating position and took a sip from his glass before setting it on the table between us. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

"The other Alphas are strangely quiet," he continued "And no matter how I try to find out what’s going on, they all seem tight-lipped. Perhaps you know,".

"If I know half of the reason the Alphas hate me, you think I’ll be hearing talking to you. Since I went on my sabbatical, my Beta has been telling me a lot of things and one of the reasons why I didn’t come here with an army is because I also have a proposition for you,".

"Really?" he leaned forward and took a sip from his drink "And here I was thinking that it was because you were scared of me. Nothing scares you right?"

I decided not to take the bait.

"As you know, I am the leader of the Eastern Werewolf Pack Coalition and I want to officially make you an Alpha. I know you’ve taken the self-acclaimed role of a rogue king but there’s nothing rogue about you, Kurtis... you’re more like a rebel and one of the key agenda I’ve decided to work on is making sure everyone is giving the due recognition they deserve,".

"Make me an Alpha? Due recognition?" Kurtis scoffed "What are you talking about?"

"Your presence at our borders on the East and North has greatly helped. Whether or not you want to admit it. A lot of reports have come in regarding how much effort you’ve put in for the sake of our security and...".

"So, you’re trying to reward me?" he eyed me strangely.

"Yes," I said staring steadily at him "And you deserve to be an Alpha. You’re not a bad person...I’ve known you since we were kids... we were joined at the hip and somehow you became a rebel but that’s a story for another day. What I want from you right now is to change that narrative and sever all your alliance with the Foxes...".

"That will be difficult, Xavier," he reached for his drink again and gulped the entire content "The Foxes helped me amass the power and popularity I flex nowadays and I wouldn’t want to lose it over becoming a figurehead under you,".

"Who says you’ll be an ordinary Alpha?" I arched my brow at him as a smirk played on my lips "Seems you don’t fully grasp your true worth. Let me tell you. All the so-called Alphas and packs you’ve destroyed as a self-proclaimed rogue king are packs with Alphas that are either involved in drugs or any other demeaning activity,".

"W- What are you talking about?" Kurtis stuttered as he dug his feet into the sand "Who’s giving you all of this information?"

"As for the children and women, they are all in a safe place. Including a handful of men. Of course, I know you don’t kill someone unless the person is guilty; so, they’re all together in one place and from what I heard, you’re trying to start your pack. You want to settle down with all the people you’ve acquired all these days. You’re giving up the life of a nomad,".

The atmosphere crackled with tension as he stared at me with surprise. No one knew this part of Kurtis, but as someone who grew up with him... even though he was born a few minutes before I was born narrowly escaping the curse... we had quickly bonded as friends from childhood.

Kurtis left home and ran away as a teenager and it was because of his father’s constant abuse. When his father had killed his mom in one of his drunken altercations, Kurtis had left and never looked back since then.

No one knew this, except me and maybe Selene since she was here.

"Listen... you cannot become an Alpha and own a pack especially if it is not through inheritance. Our laws forbid that but laws can be made, Kurtis... for you, I am willing to bend a few things and make sure you finally get the freedom you so seek," I said breaking the silence.

"And what do you want in return?" He asked quietly staring into the void.

"Not only would I make you an Alpha... You’ll replace Alpha Kyle of Shadow Hunt Pack and become the assisting leader. Power can make a difference, and I still remember all the good things you wanted to do as a teen. How you wanted to change our world and give everyone an equal representation,".

"Stop blackmailing me with all these talks from the past," he flashed me an angry smile.

"The Kurtis I knew wanted so badly to do away with all of our old laws and the religion of the moon goddess which seems to hem the people in. I shared into your vision of course, but I was a coward... I’m not brave like you and couldn’t see it to the end. However, I’m allowing you to live that dream and not end up with me,".