Page 1 of His Arranged Plus-Size Mate

Chapter 1 - Asher

I stood uncomfortably as Brandon stood near the podium. He had called a pack meeting and planned to hold an open discussion with everyone in the town square. Kaleb stood next to Brandon, both of them wearing pressed suits. Westley and I stood just a step behind them, both dressed just as appropriately. I was still freezing my ass off, though, with how cold it was outside today.

I yanked at my tie, trying to adjust it again. I felt like it was slowly suffocating me. I never liked dressing up.

“You good?” Westley asked, raising an eyebrow at me. A smirk pulled at his lips, telling me he knew just how uncomfortable I was.

“I’m fine. Just…hate meetings like this.”

Westley nodded in agreement. “I don’t like it either, but at least we look sharp.”

I rolled my eyes at his comment and turned my attention back to Brandon. He cleared his throat. “I want to thank everyone who came. We wanted to have an open discussion about everything that has been going on. We know that everyone has been talking, and we wanted to get everything out in the open. We aren’t trying to hide anything or keep anything for anyone. So if there are questions about what’s going on, ask.”

Since the incident involving Hazel’s kidnapping, everyone has been on edge. The pack was divided, and everyone was angry. They wanted answers, answers we weren’t sure we knew everything about. But Brandon also didn’t want it to look like we were trying to hide. He wanted us to stay united.

“Here we go,” Westley whispered.

It erupted. Everyone started talking at once. People were yelling, wanting answers about what happened. Others wanted to know if we were safe.

“What about the hybrids? They are taunting us at this point! Why haven’t we started going after them? Defending our home?”

I watched Brandon nod at them, taking each of their questions in.

“Why are we sitting and waiting for them to pick us off?”

“What about the rumors that the witches are behind it?”

“Why haven’t any surrounding packs joined us? Why aren’t they reaching out?”

I stared across the crowd, my eyes finding the women. They were sitting in the front row. My eyes found Hazel, who was tapping her foot nervously. She was bundled up, but I could see she was shivering underneath all the layers. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold, though.

I could still remember how she looked when she finally came to. She screamed bloody murder, shoving at the witches like she was trying to dig herself out of somewhere. She looked around the space, an area she used to work in, and seemed to be somewhere else. You could see the pure fear in her eyes, and they had to restrain her to calm her down.

She looked so small in her chair, her eyes glued to her hands. She refused to look at anyone besides Gabriella, who was nudging her every few minutes.

“We have reached out to the surrounding packs on several occasions, but few have responded. I have tried to get them to join, to help, or offer them help, but few have been willing to accept. The witches have been helping, and with thenew barrier put up, there shouldn’t be any incidents like before. They have been working tirelessly to keep our pack safe and heal anyone who has been injured. The rumors that the witches are behind it are just that, rumors. They have no control over the hybrids. We don’t know who is helping them. We only know that they likely aren’t working alone.”

“But we know that dark witches have been working with the hybrids! That’s how they were able to attack us with the shelter.”

“We have no dark witches in this pack,” Kaleb said, standing firm with Brandon. “If we did, we would know about it.”

“How do we know that this won’t happen again? How long do we have before our pack falls like the others?”

I felt my hands tighten in fists, hating the questions. I knew everyone was scared, but couldn’t they see that we were doing our best? We were all working long days, giving up sleep and free time to make sure everyone was safe. We were doing everything we could.

Brandon spoke calmly, showing no signs of frustration. I knew it was from years of being on top and having to answer questions for the uppers. “We know everyone is scared, and I promise that we will do everything in our power to make sure this pack stays alive.”

I zoned back to Hazel. Her brown hair was pulled back in a tight pony, looking like it had been put together in a hurry. She was wearing jeans that hugged her form and a jacket that bagged around her. Her deep green eyes looked empty as she sat there, picking at her mittens now. She chewed on her lower lip, her leg still bouncing.

Gabriella nudged her, whispering something to her. Hazel quickly forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. But as soon as Gabriella looked back toward Nora and Jade, the smile fell.

I felt it twist up something inside me, seeing that something had shattered deep inside her since her return. She seemed lost and angry at the same time. You could tell she was putting on a brave face, but it wouldn’t last long.

Brandon cleared his throat, getting everyone’s attention back. “We aren’t going to sit anymore. Starting in a week, we will begin hunting. With the barrier up, we don’t need the extra hands watching the woods. I will be taking out people who are trained and ready.”

The space fell quiet. Everyone started whispering, seeming shocked by the news.

A hand went up, sending shivers down my spine. My father sat just three rows back with my mother, looking like he had been part of the pack longer than a few weeks. He had his pure black hair combed back, looking like a CEO of a large corporation. I internally groaned.