Three Alphas, Fated To One, Played By One, But Mated To One-Chapter 73: Something I Couldn’t Ignore

Mike’s POV

"Because your Luna is causing a scene again."

That surprised me.

Valerie wasn’t the type of person that liked trouble or attention.

In fact, I know for sure that she would bury herself in her room the whole day if circumstances didn’t force her to leave.

"What exactly happened?"

I asked seriously.

"This morning while going out to train, the Luna had a conflict with one of the warriors and he tried to hit her."

That reminded me of what I had seen that morning.

I arrived to find Karl scolding Boris, one of our strong warriors outside the pack house.

At the time, I knew Valerie was involved but the two of them ignored me even when I spoke.

So, I didn’t bother following up on what had happened to cause the dispute.

After all, Valerie seemed to prefer getting help from that bastard Karl instead of her own mate.

However, it seems the issue had spread to the whole pack and people thought I didn’t know.

When the warriors going out for training dispersed in the morning, I had been forced to watch my friend, Karl, if I could even call him that now and my mate flirt with each other and walk towards the training grounds without a glance in my direction.

I was angry and returned to the office to handle some work.

Now that someone gave me a way out, I could just pretend that I didn’t know about the issue and take this opportunity to go and see how Valerie was doing.

She used to be a good fighter when we trained together with her father.

But that was a long time ago.

Since her status was lowered to that of a slave, she hasn’t trained.

And even after becoming Luna and moving to the main house, she hasn’t trained. Probably because her body couldn’t take it.

But now that her body was recovering well, she must have decided to start training again.

My chair scraped loudly against the floor as I stood up.

"What?"

"He didn’t actually land the hit," Leon added calmly.

That wasn’t my problem. I had thought that the conflict in the morning was because Valerie had refused to tell the women in the pack to go back to the way they were.

I thought the confrontation earlier was a simple argument.

I didn’t think that someone would dare to lay a hand on my mate.

No matter how I treated her, she is MY MATE.

And no one is allowed to touch her now. No one was allowed to hurt a single hair on her head.

"Why didn’t the hit land? Did Val fight back?"

I know she used to be a fierce warrior, even before she was ten. So, I wouldn’t find it surprising if she beat Boris.

"Because Alpha Karl stopped him." Leon said and I felt something twist in my heart.

Yes. Why didn’t I think of that?

Karl had been there, aggressively forcing Boris to apologize.

He must have stepped in when Valerie was in trouble.

That cunning man.

"Alpha Karl was there too?" Andrew asked in surprise.

"Yes, and he seemed quite protective from the report I received."

Something sharp twisted inside my chest and I didn’t like the feeling. I didn’t like it one bit.

"Where is she now?" I asked.

"Still in the training grounds. Alpha Karl is watching her training."

Leon smirked when he said that and I could tell what he was thinking.

Now, everyone thought I, the alpha was a joke because my mate seemed to prefer another man compared to my company.

I felt that twist in my heart return stronger this time.

I grabbed my jacket immediately and walked towards the door.

"Let’s go."

The moment we reached the training grounds, I spotted them immediately.

Valerie was standing in the open sparring area.

I hadn’t thought that she would start sparring right off the bat.

But she must be eager to recover her strength.

Sweat glistened faintly on her skin as she practiced basic combat movements.

Her long hair was tied into a loose ponytail.

And even from this far, I could tell that her breathing was only slightly unsteady.

After not training for so long, this was a surprise.

Anyone else would be breathing uncontrollably on their first day of training.

But Valerie’s foundation was solid

Just looking at her, I could tell there was a huge difference between that timid girl a month ago and the confident one standing in the training grounds.

I looked to the side and my heart did a flip.

Leaning against the wooden fence nearby was Karl.

He was watching her intently.

Watching my mate.

My jaw tightened upon seeing that scene.

He looked far too comfortable. As if this scene belonged to him. And that made me want to go mad.

Valerie was mine. Mine, and no one could take her from me.

I shook my head at those messy thoughts.

What was I even thinking? I have Innocent and she is so sweet and graceful.

However, my heart wouldn’t just calm down.

"What happened earlier?" I asked Leon quietly.

"Boris confronted her about encouraging his mate to train again."

"That idiot." I muttered under my breath, "then what happened?"

"When the Luna refused to take back her words as Boris requested, he tried to slap her."

My fists clenched. I hadn’t expected that the issue had escalated so much. I had thought that it was only a verbal disagreement.

Even though the hit never happened, the thought alone made anger surge through me.

Before I could ask more, Leon continued with a smirk.

"Then Karl appeared and played the hero saving the damsel in distress."

I didn’t miss the sarcasm in his voice.

But I didn’t care about it because my focus was now on Karl.

He was still leaning against the fence watching Valerie.

But something else bothered me more.

His gaze never left Valerie.

Not once. Not even when I arrived.

And that gaze....wasn’t the casual attention of someone observing training.

It was... focused.

It showed interest, and something more...

Possessiveness.

Yes, Karl, my friend was possessive over my mate.

My wolf stirred uneasily inside me.

I immediately pushed the feeling down.

Ridiculous.

Karl was the alpha of another pack and he was still my friend. Even with that bet, he wouldn’t cross the line.

And Valerie, no matter what....is my mate.

The word echoed unpleasantly in my mind.

I still didn’t know what to do with that fact.

Andrew spoke beside me,

"She is improving very fast."

I looked back at the sparring area.

Valerie threw a punch toward the training dummy.

These were used with the young pups who were starting to train to avoid them getting hurt.

Valerie’s movement wasn’t perfect.

But it carried surprising force.

The dummy swayed slightly.

It was obvious that she had trained before.

But that felt like a lifetime ago.

Before she was enslaved in the pack.

Something about that thought made my chest tighten again.

I hated that feeling.

Hated it.

Suddenly Valerie noticed us standing near the entrance.

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise.