Chapter 10

He sits on his office chair and heaves a sigh while dragging his hand down her face. His mind seems to plays tricks on him by showing him his mate's hurt expression caused by his actions. It plays again and again until he slams his fists down onto the desk and stands. He walks towards the bar area, which is mainly for him and visiting Alpha's.

He opens the bottle of vodka and takes a huge gulp of it drinking directly from the bottle.

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Matthew and Serenity have come out for a run, they have been sitting on top of a broken wooden log which overlooks the stream and the waterfall. It's so peaceful out here, the chirping of the birds and flapping of their wings accompanied by the sound made by the crickets.

The water from the waterfall falls on to the stream in a steady pace never once breaking the rhythm which causes ripples to form on the water in a circular motion.

They have been sitting in silence for the past half hour just looking into the scenery before them, both lost in their own thoughts.

"Do you ever miss her?" Serenity breaks the silence by asking the question. Matthew immediately understand who she was asking him about, his mate.

Its silent for a few moments apart from the chirping of birds and swaying of trees as the wind passes by, Matthew hasn't answered the question and sbe thought he never would, but a small smile plays on his face as he replies "Everyday", still looking forward the stream.

She was not at all jealous that he still misses and loves her, her own mate rejected her and that's painful enough but she couldn't fathom the pain Matthew might have gone through when his mate and unborn child were brutally killed by those filthy rogues.

"Does it hurts now? Like how it did before" she asks him another question.

He looks towards her and replies "No it doesn’t, you learn to live with the pain over time eventually. You become weak and vulnerable due to loosing someone you love, you think that you can't never ever get out of that pit of darkness that surrounds you, but the first thing you should understand is that being vulnerable doesn't make you weak it makes you the strongest, because for you are strong enough to show this whole world your vulnerability and that you're not afraid of it, infact you embrace it and you are willing to fight even though there's no reason left to" It feels as if he's not only talking about how own pain and experience but something else like it's an indication from him to her.

She smilez at his words, for she understood what he was trying to say, he knows full well that Serenity sometimes tends to get emotional and gets hurt easily by those she deeply cares about, and also that she tends to become more vulnerable because of betrayal and hurt they cause her, she was an emotional person.

"Tell me about her" she tell him after a few moments and a sad smile covers his face.

"She was the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on, well apart from you of course" he winks at her at his last words causing her to chuckle and shake her head and he continues "she had long thick brown hair which reached her waist, emerald green eyes that sparkled bright with life and innocence. She was shy just like you. Everyone in the pack was delighted to have her as their luna, she used to help the elders of the pack if they needed help, cooked with the chef's and even played with the kids. She loved kids and she was very happy when she found out she was pregnant" a hard looks passes quickly over his features thinking about the unfortunate event but recovers quickly and smiles at the happy memories?.

Hearing him talk about his mate even after her death in a loving way reminds her of her own mate, who doesn't even wants her. Sadness engulfs her whole being at the single thought.

"Am I not good enough for my own mate, Matthew?" She asks him in a small voice filled with sadness and Matthew turns towards her fully and cups her face with gentleness and says "I love you just the way you are, but you don't see you like I do. You shouldn't try so hard to be perfect, Trust me, perfect should try to be you".

A small smile break out on her face at those words, Matthew always knows what to say in such situations to lift up her spirits.

"Thank you so much for that, I needed it" she replies with thankfulness Matthew just shakes his head at her and removes his hands which were cupping her face moments ago. He furrows his eyebrows and asks her "Hey! Weren't Courtney and Alex arriving today?."

Oh shoot, Alex and Courtney had left for the city a few days ago for buying their wedding dress, which they wanted to be a surprise and also checking up on how the wedding preparations were going on, there was only one weeks time left for the wedding to take place.

"Yes, they are" she replies to his question.

She thinks it's about time they both head back to the pack house as she was feeling extremely hungry as she only had a pop tart for her breakfast this morning, she turns towards Matt to ask him if he felt the same.

"Are you hung-" she's cut off mid sentence suddenly when she hears a growl and watches as Matthew's cheeks tinge with redness and reply "what, I'm a grown ass male and that one bowl of cereal isn't going to cut it, I need to feed these babies!".

The embarrassment is quickly replaced with his usual bout of cockiness as he flexes his triceps causing Serenity to roll her eyes at his actions.

"Come on, you show off" and drag him towards the direction of the pack house.

When Matthew and Serenity reach the pack house they find that Courtney and Alex have already arrived.

Currently Courtney and her were preparing something for all four of them to eat as the boys, Matthew and Alex were watching a soccer game in the living room.

"Courtney" Serenity calls her causing Courtney to look away from her chopping board of onions infront her, her eyes are watering due to the onions, this causes Serenity to laugh.

"Bitch, you better shut up or I'll shove this fucking onion down your throat" She practically growls and Serenity gulps at her warning. She raises her hands in a surrender motion and says "Sorry", still trying to stifle her laughter by hiding her face behind her hair.

"You better be" her eyes stays narrowed at Serenity for a few moments and then she smiles, causing Serenity to look at her weirdly.

'Wow I guess someone is on their period or her inner bridezilla is making an appearance', she thinks to herself.

She almost forgot that she hadn't asked Courtney about the wedding since she had arrived.

"Who all are the bridesmaid's?" Serenity asks her and she replies while continuing to chop the onions "Some of the pack she-wolves I've befriended over the years” Serenity nods het head at that.

"And what about the best man?" She asks Courtney curiously, this causes her to still and turns towards Serenity a guilty look, Serenity brushes it off and ask "is it Matthew?" She asks her excitedly.

"I'm sorry okay, I know you might not be happy with what I'm going to say, you know how Alex and him are friends and I just didn't want to throw your under the bus, and I knew you haven't told Alex or your parents about you finding your Mate and that he's the-" Courtney speaks in a hurry with a worried look on her face.

"No, I am the best man" a new voice joins in on their conversation causing Serenity's body to still, hearing his voice, she closes her eyes and turn towards the direction of the voice, all the while praying that it's not who she thought he was, but as she opens her eyes and she finds him standing infront of her in all his glory, her hazel brown eyes meet grey ones.

'Great, I'm doomed.' She thinks.

I turn towards Courtney and flash her an 'I'm going to kill you' look.