Alpha Nocurne's Contracted Mate

Felix swallowed his own fear and inhaled deeply, forcing all traces of emotion from his face as he held his brother’s gaze
steadily.
He could feel the lazy smirk that was spreading across his brother’s face rather than see it, and Felix’s wolf reacted accordingly,
readying himself to defend at a moment’s notice. He didn’t trust his brother as far as he could throw him.
“Nervous are you?” Jasper sneered into the darkness, his tone mocking.
“Of what?” Felix growled, “You? We are not children any more Jasper. You don’t frighten me.”
Title of the document
Jasper’s disbelieving laughter rang in his ears as he reached up and gripped Felix’s wrist tightly with both hands, his bony fingers
digging painfully into the skin.
“No? Then why is your heart beating so quickly?” He continued to mock as he increased the pressure on Felix’s wrist, laughing
as he twisted his arm away easily and pushing him backward.
“You would react in the same way if you woke to find an intruder in your quarters whilst you were away from home.” Felix
snapped as he turned and flicked the light on in order to see him better.
Jasper had always been more comfortable in the darkness, moving easily within the shadows and Felix didn’t want to give him
any advantage in this situation.
As the bright light from the fitting illuminated every hollow of Jasper’s once handsome face, Felix suppressed the gasp that
threatened to betray his concern for the state that his brother was in. They had been close once, as brief as it had been, and it
was the familial blood tie that pulled at his conscience now.
He looked horrendous. Jasper’s sickly complexion and dark bags surrounding his eyes looked all the more severe with his once
lustrous black hair pulled back into a loose half ponytail, greasy wisps hanging limp from his scalp and accentuating the gaunt
lines of his face.
He was still handsome, but in a haunting, ethereal kind of way.
“What happened to you?” Felix grunted as he folded his arms in front of him whilst Jasper began to pace slowly around his room,
picking up various pieces of the decor and pretending to examine them closely.

“Nothing happened, little brother.” Jasper shrugged, leaning against the cabinet as he c****d his head to the side and a lazy grin
spread across his face, “I am as I have always been.”
“A psychotic reprobate?” Felix sneered.
“Ah you wound me with those words,” Jasper said holding his hand over his heart as he fixed him with a sorrowful gaze, “I am
nothing but the hand that delivers judgment on those who deserve it.”
Felix snorted as he narrowed his eyes.
“Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep easier at night I guess Why are you here Jasper? I haven’t seen you for years and
now, out of the blue you suddenly show up when things are beginning to kick off here. Why now? Why here?” he pressed
suspiciously.
With Jasper’s sudden appearance within the Enclave, Felix had an awful feeling that he may have had something to do with the
attempted murder of the Alpha Queen, and quite possibly been involved in some way with the rogue attacks all along the
borders.
He and Adam had discussed it in depth during the breaks between successful raids on the oppressed villages that the Rogues
had taken control of.
The rogues themselves were far too well supplied and coordinated to be alone in their movements and initially they had
suspected a single mastermind lay behind their targeted attacks.
They had assumed it was the work of the Excidium Coven before they left but now, with Jasper’s appearance right in the middle
of everything, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was somehow mixed up in all of this.
After all, years of silence and little communication and now he shows up here, of all places, it was more than a little suspicious.
“What if he was involved in Aoife’s disappearance too?” Felix’s wolf growled warningly, “He is a remorseless killer with no morals
and no scruples...”
“No.” Felix replied firmly as a flicker of doubt penetrated his heart, “He wouldn’t stoop that low...”
“Don’t be so sure,” His wolf snorted, “He murders and violates children without a second thought, do you really think he would
bat an eyelid at violating our mate too?”

Felix didn’t answer, watching Jasper quietly as he mulled his wolf’s theory over in his head.
“He hated Aoife from the first moment he laid eyes on her. Even more so when we claimed her as our own.” His wolf pressed
insistently.
“So tell me, little brother, what news of your little diplomatic foray into this ... primitive kingdom. I hear the Alpha Queen is a
pretty little thing, and mated to Alpha Nocturne too, perhaps I will pay her a visit, for old times sake...” he said with a sly smile,
leaving the sentence hanging in the air between them, but Felix knew exactly what he was referring to.
“Where were you last night?” Felix asked suddenly, taking Jasper by surprise.
“Why is that any of your concern?” he answered a little too defensively for Felix’s liking.
Felix knew he had to be careful with how he approached this. He didn’t want to be the one who gave Jasper the information
about Aoife’s disappearance so he had to be careful about what he said.
He wanted to find out exactly what Jasper knew and, without him incriminating himself with knowledge that he shouldn’t have,
Felix would have no reasonable reason for suspicion to accuse him outright. “I only wondered because of everything that’s been
going on here. Considering the mess that we returned to last night...” Felix began carefully, doing his best to feign nonchalance
and relying on his wolf’s confidence to keep his heart beating at a steady rate so as not to betray his ruse.
“Ah you weren’t here?” Jasper asked as a smirk of understanding crept into the corners of his mouth. “No, I was away on a joint
operation with Adam to clear the rogues out of the occupied villages, when he received the call about Ann..” He trailed off,
deliberately leaving out any incriminating evidence.
“Ah yes. Such an unfortunate situation. Ironic though, considering that everyone Adam loves ultimately ends up dead.” Jasper
said solemnly, “Perhaps he is cursed.”
“Wait, Ann’s dead?” Felix asked with a frown, thoroughly confused.
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Jasper smirked as a strange light seemed to dance in his eyes, “She was murdered in her bed last night.
Some assassin I would think...”