Controlled 2: Loving An Alpha Male

by S. K. Lessly

  “There is a rare bloodline within our species that is stronger than you could ever imagine. This bloodline is meant to fuse with the strongest of our kind. It’s embedded in this person to find their mate, sort of like a sixth sense and when they do, an impenetrable bond is forged. Again, this doesn’t happen very often and only females carry this trait.” Rinic’s eyes darted from each hard face in front of him.

  “As you all well know, our pack consists of some of the strongest bloodlines of our kind. Other packs have tried to tear us down or take what we have and they’ve always failed. We are known to be the bravest, toughest, and strongest. On the other hand, if someone…let’s say your bloodline, Andrew, would ever mate with this rare species, things could get very interesting.”

  Andrew turned from the view outside his balcony and faced Rinic. “Hold on. You said species. Are you sitting here indirectly implying that Nyla isn’t human?”

  “Yes and no.”

  “Come on, Rinic," Cedric said, butting in. "You’re not making any sense.”

  “Let me explain what I mean,” Rinic said, his eyes falling to Cedric then back at Andrew. “Nyla is what you would call a hybrid. She’s part human and part wolf. Hybrids are very rare and special. They are descendants from wolves with similar characteristics of a wolf, but with limitations. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to explain to you the phenomenon behind how hybrids came to be—”

  “Thank you,” mumbled Stevie under his breath and a couple of the men around him snickered.

  Rinic ignored them and continued. “But…” He held up a finger, silencing everyone. “Let me give you just a little bit of history.” He heard groans float throughout the room, but he pressed on. “Hybrids will never fully shift into a wolf, like we do. As I mentioned, from what I was able to gather from my limited resources, hybrids have some characteristics of a wolf such as unbelievable strength, speed, the ability to heal, and enhanced senses et cetera. Their eye color changes like the rest of us, and their nails extend and canines draw down from their mouths, but that’s the extent of their shift. They could be capable of more, but since they are so rare, we just don’t know for sure what to expect.

  “Hybrids are trained up by their families, just like we are. They learn at an early age what they are so that they know exactly how to handle their bodies’ changes. Nyla’s situation is different. Something happened in her past that caused her to separate from her family, which is the reason why she has no clue who or what she is. Andrew, correct me if I’m wrong, but you did say that she has no memory of her parents, correct?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Yes, I’m not surprised. Because she grew up on her own without the protection and guidance of her family, she’s clueless about her true identity. It’s also the reason why she’s not safe. There are predators out there that purposefully seek out hybrids. They’re like precious gems to them to be used to take down their enemies. And once a lost or inexperienced hybrid finds his or her mate, life becomes dangerous for both of them.”

  “How does life become dangerous for them?” Winston asked him.

  “Hybrids only mate with alphas. It would never be someone that wasn’t a leader of a pack or someone weak-minded. And it won’t be any sort of alpha that captures their attention. They are attracted to the strongest and overtly dominant alphas. The timeline of transition is very unpredictable too. For that reason, once she became of age, she would have to be watched closely until she finally starts to transition.”

  “When is that? When does a hybrid female shift or transition as you call it?” Andrew asked as he walked back to the couch and sat down.

  “Anywhere between the ages of twenty-three and twenty-six. If they find a mate they have a deep connection with, it could be sooner than that.”

  “How old is your girl, AP?” Brody asked.

  Andrew looked at his drink and then said, before he brought the glass to his lips, “Twenty-five. She’ll turn twenty-six in four months.”

  “Damn,” Brody mumbled to himself and shook his head.

  Andrew grunted his reply before he leaned back, slouched, and closed his eyes. He did his best to absorb what Rinic had said so far. He heard a few of his brothers murmuring around him, some describing how fucked up they thought the situation was. And, he had to agree with them. This situation was every bit fucked up.

  He felt Cedric’s eyes fall to him before he said to Rinic, “Okay, let’s get back to this finding a mate thing and why it’s so dangerous for them to be together. So, is Nyla, Andrew’s soul mate or not? You make it seem as if a hybrid has a pick of the alpha litter. They can choose who they mate with, and when they pick the poor schmuck then that’s it for him. He’s pretty much fucked. Is that what you’re implying here?”

  Andrew opened his eyes and looked at Rinic. Rinic inhaled audibly and took a sip of his drink, more so to wet his dry mouth than anything else.

  “Cedric, have you ever had the pleasure of being in love? Have any of you?” He looked around the room and finally brought his eyes to Andrew. He continued, “When you fall for someone, it’s one of the most profound feelings that you will ever experience in your life. It will control you, consume you, overwhelm you, and make you lose your mind. But you wouldn’t have it any other way. You’ll find yourself constantly thinking about them, wanting them, and needing them every second of every day. There’s nothing or no one you would ever want more than that one person that takes your breath away.” Rinic met a few skeptical eyes around the room before he came back to Andrew. “I know it sounds unbelievable to some, but for those who have felt what love is, you know what I’m talking about. So, think of that feeling that you felt before or think about what I have just described and multiply that by ten. That’s what happens when a hybrid finds their mates. It’s what Andrew more than likely felt the day he met Nyla.”

  “You make it seem like I had zero control when I met her and that’s not the case,” Andrew clarified quickly.

  Rinic sighed. “When you’re in love, do you think you have control of your emotions and what you feel, what you do, or how you react to the person you’re in love with?”

  “Yes, I do,” Andrew answered right away.

  “Then, you really haven’t been in love.”

  Andrew’s brows sunk deeper into his forehead, his eyes narrowing on Rinic as memories of a love lost flooded his heart. “No, you’re wrong about that. I have been in love before. I know what it feels like and what it does to you. It weakens you. It makes you do crazy things…things that you wouldn’t normally do. Your heart, soul, and mind are engulfed in deep happiness with promises of happily ever after. But you and I both know the bitter reality of falling in love. So, don’t talk to me as if I’ve never forgotten myself because of a woman. I know all too well what it means and what will happen if I let myself go. Well, hear me when I say I will not be fooled again. Do I care about Nyla? Yes, very deeply. However, I refuse to lose myself in false, merciless security. Never again.”

  When Andrew blew out an agitated sigh after his anti-love tirade, he could tell that Rinic wanted to counter his declaration. His mouth opened and shut without a word being spoken. Rinic’s silence told Andrew that the man understood what he’d been through. Andrew wasn’t foreign to falling in love. He knew what it felt like to love someone more than himself. He knew what it felt like to lose that love. Most importantly, Andrew knew that everything he just said was bullshit. Andrew had lost all control with Nyla. He just didn’t want to admit it. He was head over heels, ridiculously in love, and it was nothing like he had ever felt before. It was written all over his face when he heard Nyla’s name. It was in his eyes when his mind drifted to her. Anyone around him could see it. Even now, as Andrew sat before his brothers, he knew they all could feel exactly what he was feeling. The question now was, what was he going to do about it?

  “Listen, I know you have loved and lost, Andrew, so that’s not what I’m saying,” Rinic told his leader, letting him know
he had read his thoughts.

  “No, I get what you’re saying,” Andrew interrupted. “It’s the same thing Cedric said a few minutes ago. I’m fucked. Nyla has tricked me into falling for her and I have no control over my brain or my heart. I have no choice either so I should just go with the flow, right? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  Andrew couldn’t help the bitterness that seeped through his voice. It was the thought of him not being in control and at the mercy of someone else that instantly angered him. He had never allowed something or someone to control him. Of course, when he was younger he had been at the mercy of his inexperience, but that typically happened to men like him.

  Andrew was a leader that was born to lead with strength and power flowing in every part of his body. He had the IQ very few possessed as well as a skill set that would marvel the best strategic thinker in the military or in the world. This was his destiny. Leading this pack, the Westside Shadows. It was his calling and no one would take that from him. So, to hear that he had no choice when it came to Nyla was currently blinding him to everything he felt for the woman.

  “Andrew,” Rinic called, and before Andrew’s eyes fell on the nobleman, he took another sip of his drink in an effort to calm down. “When I say you have no choice in how you feel about Nyla, it’s not what you think. She didn’t cast a spell on you, making you love her or want her. You took one look at her and you felt something so intense you almost lost all control; this is coming from your own words. For humans, that’s love at first sight. Some people believe that if the second they lay eyes on someone that stops their heart and captures them, it is a beautiful and magical thing to experience. That’s what happened to you. You took one look at Nyla and you simply knew. And believe me, the feeling wasn’t one-sided. She felt the same as you did that day. She may not have fully understood what had happened to her, but her heart knew, her mind knew, and her soul.”

  Rinic paused to gather just the right words he needed to get through to Andrew.

  “Her soul could…” Rinic searched his mind for the right words then said confidently, “It could feel you were someone good; someone who would protect her and love her to the ends of the earth. Does that make sense to you? She trusted you. Her brain probably couldn’t fathom that part, but she felt in her heart that she could trust you. If you think about it, it could take the average person months or years to figure out someone wasn’t right for them. That a person wasn’t crazy or a lunatic? A person can’t know for certain with just their first encounter, so they stick around, getting to know the person in hopes that they have found their soul mate. All those things an average person needs to discover, her soul, her bloodline surmised in a matter of minutes. As much as your soul had chosen Nyla, her soul had chosen you as well.”

  Andrew leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs. He looked over at Cedric and stayed there. Cedric had always been his voice of reason. Any time he started to spiral out of control, Cedric was there for him. When he lost his wife and darkness threatened to choke him to death, Cedric was there. Andrew needed him now—his counsel, his opinions, and most of all, his friendship.

  Cedric could see the battle ensuing inside his brother and he didn’t like it. Andrew had been through a lot with Mikaliah and he didn’t want to see that happen to him again. He vowed he would never let him feel that kind of pain again in his life, and as he watched Andrew, he seemed to have failed.

  “Rinic, you mentioned that he was destined to be with this woman,” Cedric began, bringing his eyes to the wise man. “But you also implied that when she has found her mate things can get dangerous. And you’ve also warned AP to stay away from her. Why? And why did you ask if he had claimed her yet?”

  “As I said before, she has no clue who or what she is. When her transition begins, she’s going to be drawn to him. Her desires for him will not be anything she has ever experienced. The need to be with him will be so overwhelming, she’ll do whatever it takes to get near him. When that happens, it will mean she’s close. Her body will send off pheromones that Andrew will find it impossible to resist her. No matter how strong he is and how in control of his emotions he thinks he is, he will not be able to refrain from giving in to his desires to claim her.”

  Andrew frowned at that bit of news and regarded Rinic cynically. “Rinic, without getting into specifics, I’ve felt the need to claim her multiple times and not once did I succumb to those desires. Who’s to say that I’m not strong enough to resist her? If you tell me what the signs are I won’t fall victim. But you have to prepare me for what’s to come. Tell me how long the transition will last? What are all of the signs that I need to look for?”

  “Andrew, it’s not that simple,” Rinic started, but Andrew cut him off.

  “Yes, it is. It’s as simple as me knowing what to expect and preparing accordingly. Look, I’m not going to deny that I am wide open for this woman. Nyla means more to me than breathing. But I will not let anyone control me. That’s just not an option. If that shit happens, then I shouldn’t be in charge of this pack and Cedric and I might as well settle it like beasts now and get it over with.”

  Cedric met Andrew’s predatory expression and sighed. He looked over at Rinic and asked, “What will happen if this fucking idiot claims Nyla?”

  “Many things can happen. And I’m not saying that he can’t claim her. He has to, it’s in his nature to dominate the strongest female of our kind. And when Nyla completes her transition, she will be that strong mate for Andrew.” Rinic looked at Andrew. “Let me explain how things should have gone for this young woman. If she was still with her family, they would have coaxed her through her transformation to completion, teaching her what to expect at an early age. As she grew into an adult, she would have learned everything she needed to know about her heritage. She would have been trained on how to survive and how to protect herself very early in life. They would have taught her techniques to control her strength after she’d completed her shift. After her transformation is complete, her temper will be out of control. It would be just like what you went through, Andrew, the moment you shifted for the first time. It could be painful, despite the fact that she doesn’t shift like us. Her body still changes in some way. And all of this unsullied power running through her veins will be consuming to her. Again, she would have been groomed and taught on how to channel this energy if she had grown up with her family.

  “Once her wolf side has fully awakened inside her, then she would be ready to mate. The alpha that mates with a full-strength hybrid will become one of the strongest alphas this world has ever seen. I say one of the most because, although hybrids are rare, they still exist. There are alphas still living on this earth that have mated with a hybrid and lived to tell the story. The power an alpha will receive from this union will be unbelievable. The bond that is formed from this union will be impenetrable and forever. The offspring that are created become a new breed with insurmountable strength and skills. This family would be linked together in ways I can’t even explain. This is how things are supposed to go if a hybrid was never separated from her family.”

  Rinic took the last of his scotch whiskey before placing his glass on the table in front of him. Rinic, still leaning forward, rested his arms on his thighs and steepled his fingers. “Unfortunately, for Nyla, that’s not in her future. During her transition, Andrew, she will be the strongest she has ever been, but she will also be the most vulnerable. Because she wasn’t groomed and educated, she won’t know or understand what is happening to her. She could be dangerous not only to herself but to others around her.

  “Now, mating is a tricky thing for a hybrid. There are two situations in which you are able to claim her. Either one you choose, as I’ve said, you will become the strongest you’ve ever felt in your life. Andrew, you are already one of the most powerful Alpha’s known to this side of the world. The power that would possess will be the most you have ever felt in your life. It will be glorifying to you. For others, that power could be
maddening, but because of your strength, you’ll be able to handle it. However, before you get to full strength you will become the weakest you’ve ever felt too. This is when it becomes dangerous for you and why it’s crucial you claim her at the right time.”

  Rinic took a deep breath and looked around the room. All eyes were on him, anticipation and preparedness evident on everyone’s face. Good, Rinic said to himself. He was glad he had Andrew’s brothers here. They all needed to hear this.

  “If you claim her before her transition, nothing happens right away. But when she begins to shift, you cannot be far from her. And she must be protected throughout this transformation. You both will be vulnerable during this stage. If someone, say an enemy of yours, caught wind that you mated with someone and chose to attack her, they could kill her easily and you will lose your mind and become the weakest you’ve ever felt. That will open you up to any of our enemies to take over this family and kill you.” Rinic looked at Andrew to make sure what he had said sunk into the fearless leader. Once he saw understanding in his eyes, Rinic continued.

  “If you claim her after she has fully transitioned, you two will become as one immediately. The risk of someone killing her to get to you will not be a concern. She would be at full strength so she would be able to protect herself. The only issue would be you two working together. Understand, Andrew, that when you mate with a hybrid, you two will be bound together forever. She will make you stronger. As your mate, she will complement you in every way. She calms you already, Elese has said it to be true, imagine what she would do at your heightened state? You and she will not be able to function without each other. You have to work together in order to become stronger together. If you don’t learn how to work together, it will also weaken you. This is why I stress the importance of you two learning how to work as one. It’s critical that you do for your own survival. Also, she will not be able to leave your side until she learns what she needs to know in order to survive. But let me tell you, the moment you two are clicking on all cylinders…” Rinic’s face erupted into a rare smile. “My goodness, you two would become a force to be reckoned with, hands down. The bullseye on your back would probably still exist, but it wouldn’t be any different than what it is now.”