My Muted Alpha - REWRITTEN~ONGOING

9.

Kronos's POV:

**The Night of Pack Dinner**

She looked so breathtaking in her outfit. Her brown hair flowed and lay past her shoulders. My mate was indescribable.

I swallowed, nervous.

Remain calm.

Think of waves.

Just calm down.

You're an Alpha.

Be a proper one.

As I walked into the room, the chatter stopped as I approached Rhea. She didn't notice me until I stood directly behind her. Rhea turned around and seemed startled but collected her composure.

I made sure to hide every emotion I was feeling.

It felt like my heart was going to burst.

I moved my hands and tried to direct Rhea to the table, but she didn't understand. Luckily, Azrael understood and told her for me.

While dinner was served, I couldn't keep my eyes off her.

Should I tell her how beautiful she is today?

Wouldn't that be weird?

'Tell her, human. I'm sure our mate would appreciate it.' Apollo said.

It wasn't easy to display what I was feeling. For the past ten years, I had to endure and hide all my emotions. It was taken as a weakness if I had shown just a bit of how I felt, and I was beaten for it.

With Rhea here, it's become a lot harder to do so. She continuously breaks down my concrete walls, chipping them away slowly.

She has no idea how happy I am that she is here.

Apollo whined, 'Yet you don't tell her, human. Use your phone and tell her.'

She'll leave me if I show her any signs of weakness.

Rhea wouldn't want a mate like me.

'Mate has reassured us that she wants us to lean on her and won't leave us.'

Her words did make me happy that day... but how could I be so sure she wouldn't? What if they were just words to get close to me and then hurt me?

'Mate would never hurt us, human.' Apollo said to me, disagreeing with my thoughts.

I battled with the thoughts in my head.

'Loving someone means giving them your heart, knowing they might hurt you someday. That is part of the risk you have to take. There is nowhere in this world where you won't get hurt. But I'm sure mate would never purposely hurt us.'

Was I giving my heart to her?

She already had it.

Making a decision, I decided to try to trust her.

I only needed to continue working on showing how I felt...

And it failed miserably after I saw her hold Macy down. I had just come back from patrol. I was far away and couldn't hear what she was saying to her, but I knew they must've disagreed.

Rhea wouldn't hurt a pack member without reason, so Macy must've done something to offend her. However, Macy was a good friend of mine... I hated seeing her on the floor and crying. She did so many things for me in the past.

Walking over to them as quickly as possible, I accidentally stepped onto a twig, catching Rhea's attention. I tried to signal her to let Macy go so we could talk it out.

She misunderstood me because she asked if I would punish Macy for disrespecting her.

What did Macy say?

I would need the whole story.

I turned my head to the side, not saying anything.

Punish? That word scared me... it brought back the worst of memories.

Rhea was distraught and angry at me. Her pupils were pitch black as she said I've done more for Macy than for her.

She wasn't wrong, and that fact alone hurt.

I was hurting my mate.

I hate myself.

Rhea walked away before I could muster any will to text anything.

I'm so pathetic.

Why didn't I act fast enough? Because I was scared of what she had said.

Punishment.

Something my mother used constantly.

'What have you done, human!' Apollo howled.

Macy quickly got up and came over to me. Her tone was sad, "Kronos, I was just telling her that she didn't understand how to be Luna and that I was better fit to be your Luna."

What?

'How dare she!' Apollo roared.

She disrespected Rhea beyond reasoning.

How could she have those thoughts?

I looked at Macy in disdain, my pupils swirling with black. Hatred radiated off me, and Macy stuttered, continuing to talk. As if whatever she said now would matter.

"She doesn't understand what you went through, Kronos! Look at me. I've been with you since everything happened. I took the beatings from your mother when you were at your lowest. I protected you! Don't you see? I deserve it more than she ever will. Because I love you!" She whined, placing her hands on my chest.

The tall concrete walls that I tried time and time again crumbled down. I could now see Apollo on the other side, his rage evident.

My eyes quickly fogged over as I stared at Macy and pushed her off me.

How dare she touch me.

'Rhea is my mate. You will accept her as your Luna. She is my one and only, Luna. I will not accept anyone else as my mate.'

Macy's eyes widened in horror.

Did I mind-link a pack member?

'Yes, you did, Kronos.' Apollo said as he wagged his tail. He was pleased with me.

'How?'

I did it again.

I'm talking to Apollo.

Something I thought I'd never be able to do.

'You thought of our mate. She is our only support to push and break our walls. Now, you can mind-link everyone in the pack and connect to me. All the practice we did when we were patrolling paid off.' He explained.

During any free time I had, I practiced mind-linking with Apollo. My determination to talk to my mate was stronger than ever and it worked.

I nodded, still staring at Macy. 'If you continue to hurt her, I will banish you from the pack. No friend of mine would ever think of hurting my mate. To think that you only helped me because you wanted the Luna position... you are truly pitiful. I don't owe you anything because you helped me.'

Tears rolled down Macy's face at my rejection. "N-No... I—"

I slammed my hand against a tree that stood by us. The tree almost snapped in half from my rage. 'That's not an answer. You either answer yes or get out of my sight. I don't love you, Macy, and I never will.'

She started sobbing.

"Y-Yes, Alpha..." she bowed before she ran back into the pack house.

Sighing, I stared at the night sky. The clouds covered the full moon, but I could tell otherwise.

I needed to talk to Rhea in the morning.

I needed to clear the misunderstanding before it was too late.