Three Alphas, Fated To One, Played By One, But Mated To One-Chapter 54: Karl’s Challenge

Karl’s POV

I had watched how Mike was desperate to get close to Valerie these past couple of weeks and I felt threatened.

I still haven’t caught my prey and even if Mike has already acknowledged Valerie as his mate in public, so what?

As long as Valerie left the pack with me, I had many ways to make her willingly give herself to me, whether she had a mate or not.

I don’t want Mike to get too comfortable in his role as a mate. I have to remind him of his place, which was among the filth who tormented Valerie and didn’t deserve her.

Of course, I can’t be too brutal, I am still in his territory, but I have to do something.

So, I requested an audience with him.

Because of the nature of our conversation, I invited him to my room. This way, no one else would disturb us or eavesdrop on our conversation.

When Mike walked in, I was standing by the window looking outside at the women who were going about their duties in the yard.

Some were watching over the small pups and others were knitting or doing other things that humans usually do.

I tried to imagine Valerie among them doing the same thing and couldn’t construct that image no matter what.

She is indeed different. Ever since I gave her that laptop, she has been obsessed with using it. I always wonder what she does on the laptop all day.

The spyware I planted in the laptop when I gave it to her was wiped out the very first day, so I don’t know what she is up to.

I haven’t seen her much since she moved into the main house.

We have talked and laughed a couple of days but I could feel that something has changed. I just hoped it’s because she was now living like a human instead of an animal the way she did before.

"What do you want?" Mike asked as he walked to come and stand beside me by the window.

I turned to look at him and commented.

"You look tired."

"I am not here for commentary. Alpha duties aren’t easy to navigate." He shot back, but I knew he was lying.

Something as trivial as alpha duties could never stump Mike.

I smiled at his weak attempt to cover his situation and said, "Valerie is adjusting quite well."

I noticed Mike flinch at the mention of Valerie, I knew my guess was right. He was trying to win her over but the efforts weren’t paying off.

"Yeah. I am still observing her though." He replied flatly.

Observation? More like she is the one doing the observing.

But I didn’t say anything about that.

"Well, it’s normal to observe her, after all, power changes people."

"She has no power." Mike replied quickly. Almost too quickly.

My smile widened. Valerie was getting under his skin, but that was good for me.

If she had such an effect on him, it meant that Mike finally had a weakness.

I have gained more than I had imagined in my conquest of my prize for the bet we made three years ago.

Even though our packs appeared friendly on the surface, exchanging alpha training programs, they are still rivals at the core and if a chance arose, they would annex each other.

And Valerie seems to have become the perfect pawn.

"She has no power? From what I can see, she has plenty of power. Some pack members would rather listen to her than you." Of course, I have to hit where it hurts the most.

No alpha wanted to share power, even with their mates, let alone someone in Mike’s situation where his mate didn’t even want him.

But I know that if I stir the relationship between them, I will have a better chance of taking Valerie with me when I leave. So, I have to rile up Mike to do something stupid for his pride.

I watched how his jaw tightened and the temperature in the room dropped.

"You are overstepping your boundaries, Karl."

I laughed lightly at his reaction. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"She is influencing you....and that makes her either an asset or a liability." Of course, I have to strike while the iron is still hot.

Mike hesitated for a moment before replying, "She is neither."

Even though he sounded convincing, that hesitation said it all.

I had already achieved my goal and didn’t need to keep up the act any longer.

"Well, that’s even better. I am sure you have a lot of duties as the alpha now. I won’t keep you any longer. I was just worried about you. That’s why I asked to talk to you. Now, seeing that you are doing okay, I am relieved. I will leave next week. My father is urging me to go back and ascend as the alpha. I hope you will join the fun." I am not sure if Valerie will agree to leave with me next week now that her life was different from before.

But from her interaction with Mike, I knew I still had a chance to convince her.

"Of course, I will definitely attend. This is a once in a lifetime event for you. As your friend, what will I be if I don’t come to congratulate you?" Mike finally smiled when I talked about my ascension ceremony and I couldn’t help but feel as if he was planning something.

Why did his smile seem so annoying? But no matter how much I thought, I couldn’t figure out why. So, I just forgot about it.

"That will be great. After all, we grew up together and I would appreciate it if you were there." I replied with a smile.

"Mmm... I will be on my way then. See you later." Mike said cheerfully before leaving.

For some reason, I had a bad premonition.

Why did this guy change all of a sudden? Why become so cheerful when he was mopping a minute ago?