Falling For My Cruel Mate
Chapter 77

"You look great!" She compliments as she grasp a piece of my long hair in between her fingers.

"Thank you, so do you. You're so tan for someone who just got back from London."

"Oh," She laughs lightly and pushes her fingers through her short bob, which complimented her facial structure very nicely. "I actually got back home on the fourteenth, but I've just been so busy I forgot to check in and just last week I went on a weekend trip to the Caribbean."

"Oh," My eyes roam her face carefully as I try and keep up with her story. "That sounds great, we definitely have to hang out soon."

"Ye-"

"Happy birthday, Octavia." Alexander says placing hand on my upper arm before bringing me into a hug.

"Thank you so much, for everything. You guys really didn't have to do all of this."

I've been repeating that statement all day but I just felt so guilty that all this time and energy was wasted on me. There are many other important things we could be worried about and instead were throwing a big birthday bash for me. I really appreciate it though.

"Anything for the woman who brings out the light in Ajax."

I could feel my cheeks heat up at his words and immediately feel embarrassed.

"I wouldn't say I bring out the light him." I say sheepishly.

"Talking about me I see." Ajax's voice comes up from behind me causing me to shiver. His hand lands on my waist and he moves to stand beside me.

"Cynthia, it's nice to see you again." He greets her and even extends his hand out for her to shake it.

"When did you get back from your trip?" Alexander asks.

Was she hiding from everyone? I hadn't even noticed she was back from her trip, neither had Alexander and Ajax seemed intrigued to know the answer as well. "The fourteenth." She smiles her eyes shifting steadily between the three of us.

"Nice." Ajax comments his grip on my waist tightens and he pulls me closer to him. I shoot him a concerned glance but he pays no mind to me as he scans Cynthia and then the crowd behind her. Weird.

"Ah, Octavius!" An excited glint passes through Alexander's eyes as my father approaches him with a similar look. "I'm so glad we're meeting again on much better circumstances."

"Same here." My dad smiles as they shake hands

"You two know each other?" My eyebrow unconsciously raises as I look back and forth between the two of them. I even take a peek at Ajax to take in his reaction, he was simply smirking at my father in an almost evil way. Did he know that they knew each other?

My father shares a now uncomfortable look with Alexander and he goes as far to shoot a glare at my mate. Is there something I'm missing here?

"Yes, we were good friends just before his brother died." My dad barely looks me in the eye.

"His brother?" It barely came out as an inaudible whisper. The pieces were slowly connecting themselves, like a puzzle was forming in my head. The picture was still incomplete and maybe even a bit blurry. I look up at Ajax, knowing who exactly my father was talking about. He was staring my father down, as if he was waiting for him to crack.

"Yes, his brother. My father. Last time I checked you were pretty good friends with him as well." Ajax's tone of voice was sharp, clipped, and maybe even a bit angry.

"Ajax, this is not the time nor place for this." Alexander gave him a pointed look before gesturing to me with his eyes. Why are they treating me as though I am a child?

Ajax and I heave a sigh of annoyance at the same time. My eyes roll in their sockets as my father tries to send me a loving smile. He always does this to me. He treats me as if I were a child, like its too dangerous for me to hear the truth. I'm tired of him treating me like a porcelain doll.

Some of this was starting to make sense. My father was a part of the friend group and so when Ajax asked him for help and my father refused he must've been crushed and upset. Why? Maybe because my father was a lot closer to Ajax's father than they're are letting on. But what did Ajax need help with and why did he kill his own father?

During that whole thing I hadn't even noticed that Cynthia had disappeared. I don't blame her. I would not have wanted to witness something like that.

"Excuse us," I say in the most polite tone I could muster up. "We're going to go get some fresh air."

I dont give either of them time to interject or say anything before I grab onto my mate's wrists and pull him to the front of the pack house.

Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, I take a seat on the steps of the pack house and tug Ajax down along with me. We sit in silence for a moment and just look up at the night sky. The moon was shining brightly, but there were hardly any stars in the sky.

"You know you could've told me that our fathers knew each other." I look over to him. His face was still tilted upwards as he gazed up at the sky.

"What difference would it have made?" He doesn't bother to look at me.

I bite my lip in anger and shake my head disappointedly.

"How about stop treating me like I'm stupid, like I haven't put together most of the god damn puzzle!" I growl at him angrily, causing him to snap his head in my direction.

"So what? You think you've got this all figured out?" His voice was low and anger radiated off of him in waves. His fist were clenched and his brows furrowed in frustration.

"Yeah. There are only so many reasons a child could murder their parent, who also happened to be the Alpha. One, they're absolutely psychotic. Two for the title. Three they were... abused." I could barely get out the last word as his ocean blue eyes, that I've learned to adore so much, stared me down in a way that made slightly afraid.