Page 94 of Locke

I had nightmares for weeks and my smoking and drinking picked up, not that anyone noticed with everyone getting mates and all.

Emm stumbled and I slowed down. Her body was burning up but I wasn’t sensing any arousal from her. I wrapped my hand on her arm and gave her a worried glance, but her eyebrows shot up.

“Are you going to explain to me what’s happening or am I going to have to try to figure out this head thing?” She tapped her temple and gave me a smile.

I shook my head, and gently tugged her along. With a firm grip, I pushed the heavy double doors to the packhouse open. As they creaked, a sliver of light flooded in, revealing the vastness of the space. The sudden flicker of fluorescent lights illuminated the bare walls, casting long shadows. The silence was broken by the sound of my voice reverberating through the hollow halls, echoing with each syllable.

“You understand we were a club, just a bunch of rogues coming together. We were helping one another, but we weren’t really a pack.” I led her up to the third floor and took her to our room. I pulled out the drawers and gave her fresh new clothes.

I cursed myself that I wasn’t able to do more for her. With the Law of Ares I would have supplied her with our own rutting cabin, clothing, food, gifts and supplies. All the things I wanted to give to my mate were flickering to a distant memory, but being an alpha I wasn’t allowed such luxury to spoil a luna.

“Being a part of a pack also means you are bound to one another. You are together not just as a group with common interests, but also in mind and spirit. A large family unit. You can speak to one another through a link common link. It comes in handy when you are in your animal form and need to communicate.”

Emm put on a pair of black leggings and I did my best not to stare. The bruises that I left on her body were fading—far faster than I thought they would. I tilted my head to get a better look and she swatted my ass.

“Hey, don’t get distracted,” she giggled.

“Anyway, it’s called mind-linking. A mind-link breaks when you become rogue. Your wolf is helpless. It needs an alpha to guide the wolf, to make them feel safe and secure. The onlyway you can have a pack is with an alpha, and alphas are not made; they are born. In combination with my alpha blood and my sister’s death—” I took in a deep breath and immediately my mate was beside me. “I have double the strength of an alpha. But with no mate, I am nothing but an ordinary man.”

“You are more than an ordinary man. You have lasted longer than a lot of these rogues, Locke. You’ve saved many.”

I shook my head and pulled up my jeans, fiddling with the belt. “But not enough. I felt like a failure, but no more. Since I’ve found you, I’ve been given hope not just for me, but for everyone.” I pulled her body flush with mine and whispered into her lips. “But, if you told me to run away with you, I would. I’d leave them all—”

“Don’t say that.” She narrowed her eyes. “You care for these people, your pack—”

“I want you to know that I love you because you are my soul, Emmie. Not just because I’m trying to put a pack together.”

Her eyes widened. “It never crossed my mind that you would only be with me to save your pack, Locke. I feel your intentions are true, in here.” She laid her hand on her chest. “It’s a weird feeling but I believe it. And any person with a heart would naturally want to help others in need.”

I chuckled darkly, and grabbed my boots from the floor. “Baby, I don’t have a heart. You should know that by now.” I roughly tied my boots while I sat in the chair and she knelt beside me.

“I know you don’t have a heart, because you gave it to me,” her voice rasped.

I stopped tying my boot and looked at her.

“Now I’m giving you mine, and that means we are going to help them,” she pointed to the window. “We aren’t gonna run away, so don’t keep telling me that like I’m gonna do it. They are my family now, too.”

“You love me?”

“Is that all you got out of that?” she sighed heavily.

I smirked. “Yup.”

I pulled her up for a kiss and threw her on our nest, pinning her between my arms. “You love me.”

“Alright, alright, don’t get your panties in a twist. Now, come on, we have to go cure some mind-link headaches.”

I placed a kiss on her shoulder and let her rise from the bed. As painful as it was to do so, I let her stand and looked longingly at our nest. This should be our time, but as always, according to Ares’ Law, a luna is always the most thoughtful one.

Maybe I could enjoy some parts of the old ways.

I continued to explain the basics of the mind-link to Emm as we descended the stairs. The mind-link is what makes the pack. No other pack can infiltrate it. It’s strong and sacred.

What I failed to see before was that we were creating a new pack. It wasn’t just a matter of the wolves pledging allegiance to an alpha and a luna. We were creating a whole new pack, and it wasn’t as simple as the link ‘strings’ coming together to form between Emm and me. We had to create the center.

Emm and I were the conductors, while our pack members were like roaring electrical charges and currents. Their electricity was zooming through the air, ready to find common ground. While they were close enough to us to keep their pain at bay, they needed guidance to find us, and that is where Tajah and Bram had to come in.

Establishing a pack needed guidance by a powerful witch or warlock.

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