drake, nonstop.

The next day comes quickly or maybe my sleep was just so sweetly amazing that being awoken by my ringing phone came too soon. Answering the call without checking the Caller I.D I'm left confused when I hear an unknown voice.

"Hi Lerato, Alpha Khalil is ready to meet you. I'll be at the hotel in two hours, Alpha does hope this is enough time." As the voice continues I recognise it as Amir's.

"Alright, thank you Amir. That will be enough time but should I eat or not?" I did not want to offend him by arriving with an already satisfied stomach only to find that he had a breakfast ready.

"Oh, yes what a good question. I apologise for not elaborating, you will be joining Alpha for breakfast."

I smile thankful that I had asked because I would have eaten otherwise. My mother had always made sure that we left the house with a satisfied stomach.

"Okay, thank you Amir."

We hang up and I prepare myself for the day ahead, not knowing what I should expect. I knew just about nothing about this Alpha and I would be joining him for breakfast. Would he know information about me so should I contact my father and find out more than just his name?

Not wanting to spend another moment wasted in bed I rise and make the bed out of habit. Forgetting that I was in a hotel and there was most probably room service, I suppose they would probably make it over again anyway.

I head into the bathroom and turn on the water to wet my toothbrush that I grabbed from my toiletry bag. I smear on some toothpaste before wetting the brush again. I then proceed to brush my teeth and then my tongue, rinsing out my mouth before turning on the shower.

I complete everything else until all I'm left with is choosing an outfit, my make-up has been done and my blonde braids tied up into a bun right on top of my head. I settled for a baby pink jumpsuit and white open toe heels that expose my white pedicured toenails.

I grab a blush handbag and throw in my purse and miniature make-up bag along with tissues and my phone.

I grab a banana from the fruit bowl on the kitchen island and make my way out the door. As it shuts I hear the clicking sound notifying me that it has locked, I press on the elevator and wait.

Glancing at my Apple watch I see that I have fifteen minutes to spare. I enter the elevator and press for the ground floor which would be the lobby. When the elevator doors open and finally present the lobby and not one of the many floors in this hotel I let out a sigh of gratitude. Chucking the banana peel in a dustbin, I hurry outside now only having two minutes before I'm to meet Amir outside.

I see him already leaning on the car door awaiting my arrival I apologise as soon as he spots me, "I'm so sorry I kept you waiting, I hope it wasn't too long a wait?"

He laughs, "Good Morning Lerato, no, you didn't keep me waiting long."

Something tells me I did he just doesn't want me to feel worse than I already do, "How rude of me, Good Morning Amir."

He nods before shutting my door and opening his own right in front of me. I put on my seatbelt and this time I keep my eyes pealed to the window, not wanting to miss anything.

Here and there Amir would point out monuments or tourist attractions. He really knew his Pack well, "Amir, do humans live here too?"

He laughed, "I've been waiting for that question. They don't live here necessarily. Only tourists, we're so close to the airport it's easy for them to mistaken us. There isn't much forest area here if any at all really. So if you actually find any human in our territory you would notice they mainly aren't Arab."

I nodded in understanding, "So you guys just take advantage of the situation?" I see his brows furrow in the mirror, "With the hotels and all, you saw that human tourists know no better so might as well accommodate them and make money." I explain.

He smiles at me through the mirror better understanding me now, "Exactly."

When the car comes to a stop I realise that we're outside a really good looking home. I'm tempted to say it's a mansion but it doesn't look like it either.

Amir gets out the front and opens the door for me, "Well, here you are Lerato."

I step out of the car and thank Amir as I begin to make my way to the front porch. I ring the doorbell and someone opens the door almost immediately.

"Good Morning." The person on the other side says.

I smile, "Morning, I'm Lerato Zamo, I'm here to see Alpha Khalil."

"Oh yes, he is expecting you." The man continues, "Welcome to the Origen Pack, I'm Beta Hashim. Come right this way."

As I follow Hashim through the house I ask, "Does your Alpha always invite visitors to his home?"

He laughs, "Yes he does." I silently nod, not wanting to say anymore.

Hashim leads me outback to the patio which has a grand glass table with four chairs on each side and one on each end. Alpha Khalil is seated at the head of the table, or at least I assume it's him. There's a large assortment of breakfast foods on the table and cutlery along with beautiful flowers.

His head rises as he hears our footsteps and when he sees us he smiles. He is gorgeous and with a smile like that it's hard not to return it. I'm almost mesmerised by it, his hazelnut skin shimmering with his deeply defined jawline. Brown eyes twinkling with a bit of excitement, he stands and I can already tell even from this distance that he will definitely tower over me.

Hashim disappears before I know it and I'm left alone with the Alpha, "Please," he indicates to the nine remaining chairs, "Have a seat."

I stare at the table and bit my bottom lip out of confusion, which chair am I supposed to sit on? The one on the other end seems the best, however, there's flowers in the centre that would block our views. Which would make conversation awkward, with that in mind I sit on one of the side chairs leaving one chair open between us.

"Morning." I smile as I place a towel on my lap.

This was all so formal I almost imagined I was meeting Micah's parents. My smile dropped as soon as the image appeared in my mind.

I clear my throat, "Thank you for allowing me access onto your territory and especially at such short notice."

Khalil nodded, "It was my pleasure, your father is an ally so it wasn't a hassle."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

He passed me the roll basket, "Yes, well now you do." he clears his throat, "So what brings you here? You're a long way from home."

I roll up my pancake and shrug, "Well, it turns out my mate is in love with someone else. So I decided to take myself out of the equation and go on a mini vacation."

"Ah, I see. I'm sorry to hear that."

I glance at the seats beside him, "What about you? Where's your mate?"

The Luna of the Pack is usually seated to the left of the Alpha with the Beta on the right. Or it could be vice versa, that is why I decided to leave a seat open. I didn't know if Hashim would be joining us or if there was a Luna who occupied the space. It was purely out of respect.

He smiles, "Oh, I haven't found her yet."

My brows furrow as I take in his facial features once more, "Uhm... If you don't mind my asking -"

"I'm twenty-three."

My eyes widened, "What!? No way!"

His adam's apple vibrated with laughter, "Wow, you don't have to seem that surprised."

I hold back a laugh, "I'm sorry that is just not the answer I was expecting. The penthouse you have me staying in and just everything here is so exquisite and luxurious. I wouldn't have thought you'd be able to accomplish it all at twenty-three, that's all. Wow."

"I'm not fully to thank, my brother pulled the most weight. This Pack was his life."

Was? I kept my mouth shut though, not wanting to pry, his personal life is none of my business.

Wanting to change the topic I speak up, "Uhm, well, thank you for the penthouse. It's absolutely breathtaking, I couldn't believe it."

It was that or my curiosity would win and I didn't want to overstep already. I only just met the guy.

He waved a hand, "Oh, it's nothing I'm glad you like it though and don't feel shy to ask for anything. I'm more than happy to have you here. We don't get many wolf tourists."

"Speaking of tourists, could Amir please show me around the territory?"

Finishing up his orange juice he smiles, "Yeah of course. Even the human grounds too if you like."

"Yes please, that would be lovely. Thank you."

He smiled at me once more and I nearly choked on my orange juice, "It's only a pleasure Lerato."

◇

"You were right it seems." I say to Amir as we drive through the land.

A smirk appears on his face, "About Alpha?" He glances at me quickly from the corner of his eye.

I decided to sit in front now, it felt odd sitting in the back now that I would think we're a step higher than acquaintances.

"Yes, about your Alpha. He is kindhearted, it's a very rare quality to find in an Alpha. I've met my fair share and they are usually instantly arrogant and demeaning. Alpha Khalil on the other hand... he's very sweet."

I wanted to say charming but that might be going too far, besides I need to get my act together. I'm here to vacation not to be mesmerised by Alpha's and their breathtaking smiles.

Amir laughed, "He tends to have that affect on... women."

My eyes widened, "Amir!" I swatted his shoulder.

"Hey! Don't hit the driver!" He barked playfully.

I only responded with a laugh, the Pack seemed to be filled with young wolves. It was shocking but it was odd to me that I hadn't spotted a single elderly person. Amir himself was twenty-one and he had told me that the Beta was the same age as the Alpha as they were childhood friends.

Apparently elders choose to live in the other Pack here in the UAE and youngsters preferred to live here. Things actually were different over at this Pack, that's one thing Amir did not get right. Some of the things that happen here and some of their ways were still a bit confusing to me. Every Pack is different though and it is to be expected, I learnt that very early from travelling with my parents.

I wiggle my brows, "So tell me Amir, have you found your mate?"

We had made a few stops here and there wherever I thought was beautiful and wanted a closer look. At the moment we were driving in the human territory trying to find someplace we could have dinner.

He chuckled, "No, I haven't."

I rolled my eyes and put on a bored expression, "Wow, you too? Is there some kind of bad luck around here?"

He laughed, "Well aren't you one to speak."

I feigned hurt, "Wow, that's a real low blow Amir."

It was harder than I expected to continue on once you've rejected your mate. With how much I've heard of rejected mates I was beginning to think it didn't even hurt but it did. My heart still felt broken and my wolf was so distant. I could feel her there but she was just as shattered as my heart.

In this form I could joke and smile without much effort but I could tell and knew from dealing with wolves that on that side it hurt like hell.

I hadn't heard anything about the Ceremony and I was so thankful, I thought perhaps that there would be a buzz here over Micah finding his 'mate' but there wasn't. It was almost as if they didn't care until I remembered this is the 'young wolves Pack' so of course they wouldn't care much about that. It made me feel so much more relieved, I really did not want to hear anything about that fraud.

Another thing I was grateful for was that Khalil didn't ask my why I went on vacation instead of attend the Ceremony. Come to think of it, I should've asked why he didn't. He's of rank, surely he was expected to go.

"I'm honestly so surprised you don't have a single wrinkle."

I turn my attention to Amir, "What?"

He reaches his hand out and only once he begins to lightly rub the space between my brows do I realise that I was frowning, "You frown a lot when you think too hard and I've come to realise you get lost in your head a lot."

I shake my head lightly, "Yeah it's a really bad habit. Maybe I'll have tons of wrinkles later in my life, I'll send you tons of photos so you can see."

He threw his head back and a melodic laugh escaped him. Clearly the rest of the people in the restaurant thought it wasn't melodic as they threw us some looks. I bumped his shoulder, "Shh, Amir my gosh they're staring."

He sobered up until he was only chuckling, "It's your fault."

I smiled, "Definitely not you obviously wanted to see wrinkles so I'll show you."

He smiled at me again but this time there was a different twinkle in his eye, "I am sorry about your mate but wow is he missing out."

I opened my mouth to respond but instead I just ducked my head covering my smile with the menu, "Thank you."

It had been quite a while since anyone had ever paid me a compliment. Anyone of the opposite sex that would be, my friends would genuinely throw out compliments but I hardly counted that. They were my friends it would be weird if they didn't, now it coming from a somewhat stranger it felt good.

He smiled, "Yeah, uhm, so..." He suddenly seemed nervous, "Their pasta is really good."

My eyes perked up and I could tell he relaxed after that, "I love pasta."

He beamed, "So do I."