Alpha Ace and his Undercover Mate

Chapter 8

It has been a week since my encounter with Ace, and it has been horrible for us both.

Every time I crossed him, he always looked so pained, and his eyes were practically pleading with me to talk to him, but I couldn't.

All my life I've been through training, building up a pack that was broken, sleepless nights wondering how having a mom felt, but nothing I did was ever this hard.

I was glad for the long training hours. Even though I did nothing but 'observe', it really got my mind off things. When I was back at the house, I would either talk to Lilly, or watch movies till I fall asleep.

Today was meant to be my training day again, and I couldn't hide how relieved I was. I desperately needed to punch someone. Aiden had already woken me up, which was a habit of his, so I was currently getting ready.

I finished earlier than usual, so I went to my balcony to get some fresh air.

The six a.m wind hit me immediately, calming my senses instantly. I leaned against the bar as I watched the sun rise from behind the trees.

It filled the sky with mighty colours of red and splashed the clouds with endless rays of pink. It was bright and mesmerising as it invited me to stare deep into the horizon.

A delightful sigh escaped my lips as I got lost in it's relishing beauty.

"Beautiful, isn't it? "

I yelped in surprise as the voice startled me back to reality. I spun around, being faced by my one and only mate, Ace. I didn't say anything, just stared at him. He sighed, stepping further onto the balcony.

"I'm sorry I scared you, it's just that I was passing by, when Aiden asked me to call you. But I was knocking for a while and I didn't hear you so I thought you were hurt or something." I nodded in understanding after he explained himself, but now I was lost for words as I gazed at him.

I haven't heard him talk to me in a whole week, it had my heart racing and my wolf howling, after being pissed at me for days.

"I'll be right out," I said as I turned back to face the sunrise.

He didn't leave though, instead he joined me at the end of the balcony, leaning against the bar. He didn't try to initiate conversation, so I just stayed silent, enjoying the few minutes I had in his presence.

"You really like the sunrise, don't you? " He asked, looking at me with an admirable smile on his face.

"I really do, and sunsets too. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? "

"I can think of something" He took a step closer to me, gazing at me with love-struck eyes. " Or someone" He whispered, moving a loose strand of hair from my face.

Once dormant butterflies erupted in my belly, as I involuntarily leaned into his touch. His eyes glistened with hope, as mine widened in realization.

Shit.

I cleared my throat and stepped back abruptly, leaving his face once again broken. Before I could stop myself, my mouth got the best of me.

"I really am sorry for constantly hurting you like this, but I can't"

I ran out of the room before he could get a hold of me.

I ran down the stairs, stopping dead in my tracks at the sight in front of me. Everyone was sitting in the living room, watching TV, even Aiden.

Not that anything was wrong with that, but it was 6 in the morning. Don't they have stuff to do? Like sleeping!

"Hey sis. Zack had some emergency family matter, so he said we can come down to the training grounds by eight"

I simply nodded at Aiden as I slowly sat beside them, glancing at the stairs to see if Ace was following. Luckily he wasn't, so I relaxed into Aiden to get invested in whatever they were watching.

After a few minutes, I noticed they weren't really interested in the TV show that was on, so I was about to ask why they were up, but then a middle aged woman with a cute baby girl entered suddenly.

Calum and Lilly immediately shot up, running to them open armed. Aiden and I watched curiously, as Scott and Ryan stood with happy looks on their faces.

"Hey mom. Back with our little trouble maker already?" Calum teased as he kissed both their cheeks.

"Oh shut up Caleb, you know you missed her. He wouldn't stop whining about how he missed his baby girl" Lilly said as she took the baby, showering her with kisses. Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

Aiden and my eyes widened in surprise as we put it together. That was Calum and Lilly's baby.

I stood up immediately and rushed to her, holding out my hands as I gazed at the cutie with amazement. I didn't even know she had a baby.

Well I couldn't blame them for not mentioning it. I talked to them, but not much. Lilly and I hung out, but we never talked about personal things.

"Can I hold her? " I asked softly. She smiled and gently placed the baby in my hands.

The cutie giggled as I tickled her side, and I knew from that moment that she stole my heart.

"Her name is Asia" Lilly informed with a proud but loving look on her face. "She just turned one last week"

"Hey Asia," I cooed in a baby voice. "That's such a pretty name for a pretty baby." Asia giggled even louder as I played with her little hand.

She had the cutest laugh and face ever. Her hair was red, almost like Lilly's and her eyes held the same colour and life like Calum's. I could just nibble her little face off.

"I'm your aunty Roxy" I added without thinking. Everyone's face turned even happier at my statement, no doubt having seen how I've been treating Ace for the past week.

A flash of guilt ran through me, knowing I was hurting them too. By right I was supposed to be their Luna, but I haven't been either a mate or Luna to anyone.

The lady which I now learnt was Calum's mom smiled brightly at me, stretching out her hand for me to take it.

"You must be Ace's mate. It's a pleasure finally meeting you. My mate and I couldn't wait to meet you. Ace is like a son to us" I smiled warmly at her as I shook her hand, except, inside I felt terrible.

She told me that I could call her Zorah, and that her mate would be here later when I return from training.

I didn't want to tell her no, but I didn't want to get their hopes up either. I knew Ace's dad died from what my dad told me, and I don't know about his mom, but this felt like meeting the parents and I wasn't ready for that.

Aiden shouted in my head. I groaned, then shut the mindlink off immediately.

I reluctantly gave Asia back to Lilly as I joined Aiden in the kitchen. I knew what he was about to say so I prepared myself to give him 'the face'.

"Roxy what's the biggest rule? " He asked me as if I was five. I rolled my eyes as I grabbed the cereal, deciding to eat before I left.

"I know Aiden, ‘don't get attached’," I repeated boredly, knowing I was already attached to Asia.

Babies were my weakness. From a tender age, I was always in love with them, and Aiden knew that. He was probably seeing this mission as a lost cause for me already. A mate, very nice people and now a baby. This thing gets harder by the day.

I sighed as I actually thought about it.

They all seemed so...nice. Calum and Lilly were building their lives, Ace was building his pack and I was here right under their noses, plotting to take that all away from them.

Dad said he recruited us because we were the strongest and most trusted that he could think of to send here, but I'm starting to believe that I wasn't cut out for this mission.

All I could think about for the next hour was how I'd probably be dooming Asia to a fate like mine, to grow up in a broken pack, and probably with one parent.

I thought about the possibility of Calum dying in the war, which was unlikely but not impossible. Do I want that for these people?

‘Nobody thought about your people when they were attacking your pack,’ my subconscious taunted. I sighed, not at all liking how all this turned out.

I was supposed to come here, live under their roof, hate them the whole time while pretending to like them, get whatever information we needed and attack. Not meet my mate, get my wolf against me, meet wonderful people and fall in love with a one year old.

I need some air.

I had about thirty minutes before Zack would be ready, so I decided to go do some extra warming up.

On my way I saw a lady picking some yellow buttercup flowers, my favourite.

I was about to go get one, when I heard Aiden shouting my name, running to catch me up. My attention was drawn to him, but I could see from the corner of my eye that the lady's attention was now on us.

"Hey wait up! " He called as he neared me. "Jeesh sis you move fast for someone less that 5'6" He joked, causing me to hit him on his shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for? " He whined.

"That's for making fun of my height!" I glared at him, which he simply just brushed off as if it was nothing. Brothers.

I noticed that the lady was now gone and half way up the trail, but I didn't miss the fresh bouquet of flowers she left in the place where she stood.

I carried them to the training grounds, carefully placing them in a corner where they wouldn't get trampled.

We trained for two hours straight this time, and we learnt that as we proceed, our breaks will get shorter. Not that it affected us though, but they thought it did.

Zack was having a hard time getting me on the floor, since I wouldn't let him. My ego was too big; I soaked up Aiden's when we were in the womb.

Aiden was fighting in his wolf form, since that consisted of part of his 'training'. I, on the other hand, will only 'learn' in human form.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Ace coming forward, which directed my focus slightly as Zack almost tackled me. I quickly reversed his trick, making him fall flat on his back instead. I smirked triumphantly at him as he stared at me in shock.

"How-how did you do that?" He asked as he stretched out his hand for me to help him up.

"I'm a fast lear-" I was cut off as he pulled me down, pushing himself up and on top of me, taking me completely off guard. It was his time to smirk.

I didn't miss the growl that came from Ace, as footsteps came closer to us.

"Not fast enough princess" Zack smirked, feeling as if he'd won.

I quickly kneed him in his stomach, taking the advantage of his crunched position to flip him over my shoulders, taking him by surprise once again.

By now Aiden had already shifted, wearing shorts as he came closer to us, screaming in our mind link to tone it down. I got up and was about to walk to him when Zack swept under my foot with his right leg, making me fall once again. Except this time, I heard a crunching sound when I fell.