THE ALPHA's MATE: A Romantic Thriller

by Jennifer Winget

  “Mom?” a soft voice questioned.

  It was Zea.

  “What is it, sweetie?” Ellie asked her.

  Eager to her the sweet jingle of my mate’s voice and nosing to hear what Zea needed, I tipped my head towards the door and waited to hear the conversation.

  “When are we going home?” she asks.

  You are home! Knox calls out in my head, trying to push me to barge in the room and make Ellie understand that she and Zea are not going anywhere.

  “I don’t know if we can, Zea,” Ellie answers her, “At least not for a while.”

  “Why not?”

  I hear Ellie release a deep breathe before answering her, “Do you remember the rogues that came to the pack?” I assume she nodded her head, “Well because of them, I don’t think we can go back to Blue Moon.”

  “What about Uncle Madden and Aunt Layla? What will they do?”

  “They are going to be fine. You see, they are going to go home and make sure all the rogues are gone so the rest of the pack can go back home.”

  “Did Aunt Layla leave already?”

  “She did,” Ellie answered her, “Your Uncle Madden called her to come home.”

  “Are we going to stay here?” she asks.

  Please say yes, I beg in my mind.

  “Do you want to stay here, Zea?”

  “I like it here, but I don’t know if you do.”

  “I used to, sweetheart. A long time ago.”

  “What happened?” Zea asked.

  “Well I found out that I was going to have you,” I could picture her gentle smile in my mind as she looked down at Zea.

  “Is this where you met my Dad?” I perked up at this question. Will Ellie admit that Zea is mine?

  “Yes it is. He was tall and kind and very handsome. When I first met him, it was love at first sight,” she sighed.

  “When do I get to meet him?” she asked.

  “I don’t know, sweetie. I don’t know if he is the same man anymore. Why don’t you get some sleep and we can talk more in the morning?”

  “Okay. Love you, mommy,” Zea yawned as I heard the ruffling of sheets.

  “Good night my baby girl.”

  I waited a few more minutes as I listened to the calming sounds of their breathing signaling that sleep was over taking them. I was about to back off into my own room when I heard the soft voice, “Are you the same man, Axton? I truly hope you are.”

  Chapter 14

  Ellie POV

  I woke up to musical laughter floating in the air.

  Slowly peeling my eyelids open, I looked around the guest room me and Zea had stayed in last night. It felt so familiar to me; the cream walls and the purple design. Scanning over the room, I didn’t know why this room was the one I recognized.

  Then I saw it.

  Pushing myself off of the bed, I slowly walked over to the wall next to the bathroom door. I gently lifted my fingers up, almost afraid to touch it. The indent on the wall was deeper than I remember, and I could still see the horrible job he made in trying to fix it with spackle.

  This was the room I had stayed in after our biggest fight. Axton had punched the wall when I refused to listen and locked myself in the bathroom.

  It was back when I first came to this pack. Axton and I were fighting about a rogue who had crossed the border. He thought he should be executed for breaking pack law and crossing the border. He thought the rogue was spying on the pack. I disagreed with him. I didn’t want to have to sentence the poor kid to death. I was naïve.

  It turns out Axton was right about that rogue. It was after I left here and I was taken by the rogue Cortez, that I realized letting that rogue go was a mistake. It turned out that he was spying on the pack. He had been infiltrating packs for Cortez all over the country.

  The sound of laughter pulled me away from my thoughts of the past and I dropped my hand from the wall.

  I quickly pulled on a change of clothes from the closet Axton had seemed to have stocked. Grabbing a pair of skinny jeans and a warm sweater on, I pulled my combat boots onto my feet.

  Moving to the bathroom, I did my routine and quickly ran a comb through my hair, not bothering to do anything special, but just let the natural curls cascade down my back.

  Feeling prepared, I walked out of the room and into the empty hallway. I almost kept walking, but the sight of the door across the way made me pause.

  Axton’s room. Our room. Pushing all the memories down inside of me, I walked down the stairs and stood in the kitchen doorway as I took in the sight before me.

  Walker was goofing around and Sawyer scolded him. I saw Reid sitting at the corner watching Zea closely. Zea sat at the counter laughing hysterically as she watched her father before her.

  Axton was leaning over the counter as he placed a plate of pancakes in front of Zea. His smile beamed at her as I saw adoration in his eyes. It was almost… I stopped the thought immediately. I can’t hope for anything until I see who he is. I just hope he isn’t that same man who told me to leave.

  As if he could feel me staring, he lifted his head slightly and connected his gaze to mine. It was like I was trapped. All his look made me want to do was push away all of the past seven years and just run into his arms.

  But luckily Zea pulled me away before I acted on that impulse, “Mommy!”

  Pulling my eyes away from Axton’s, I started to walk over to my little girl, “Good morning, sweetheart. What do you have there?”

  “It’s pancakes! My favorite!” she yelled as she started digging into the food in front of her. I laughed slightly as I watched her make a mess of the syrup.

  “You are making yourself all sticky,” I laughed.

  “That sounds like a good trade to me.”

  “Oh it does?” I questioned, laughing at her ridiculousness.

  “Mmhm,” was the only reply she gave me as she shoveled more of the syrupy pancakes into her mouth.

  I caught Axton’s eyes as he watched our exchange. He smiled at the goofiness that was his daughter, even if he didn’t know it yet. Our eyes caught and for a split second, it was like this was normal, just any other day for our family, but then reality set in.

  Turning our attention completely to each other, my expression turned serious, “We need to talk.”

  Nodding his head, he turned to Sawyer, “Hey, can you clean off Zea when she is all finished.”

  “Of course.”

  “Thank you,” he told her before turning his attention back to me, “Come on.”

  I followed him out of the kitchen and upstairs. Walking back the way I came, only this time he opened the door across the one I left. Moving past him as he closed the door, I took a seat on the edge of the bed.

  The room was the same as the day I left. The same sheets on the bed, the same pictures on the walls, even the desk held the same papers. It was like seven years hadn’t gone by in this one room. It was like I never left it.

  “Ellie,” Axton started and I allowed myself to look at him, truly look at him. He was the same, yet different. He was still muscled and tall and handsome, but there was an air around him that had changed. He wasn’t the same kid who was learning the role of alpha. He was the alpha now.

  “I told you to stay away from her,” I warn him.

  “You know I won’t do that. I won’t stay away from either of you. Please Ellie, I don’t want to fight with you,” he pleaded with me, “Please, just talk to me.”

  “Axton. I don’t know what you want me to say,” I told him honestly.

  “How about let’s start with the day you left,” he suggested.

  “You know exactly what happened, Axton. Why bring it up?” I asked, looking at him, begging him not to make me relive it again.

  “Because I don’t,” he said as he started to walk toward me before sitting down on the bed across from me, “I don’t know what happened because it wasn’t me.”

  “Axton,” I breathed out, “I was there. You were there. What happened
, it was definitely you.”

  “No it wasn’t. I don’t know how, but who you saw that night, it wasn’t me. You have to believe me,” he said as he shifted closer, but it only made me scooch back.

  “No I don’t.” But God do I want to, I thought.

  “Ellie, you know me. Since the moment we met, you have known exactly who I am,” he said as he reached out. His palm rested against my cheek as the familiar warmth and electricity I had thought I would never feel again, coursed through my body by the simplest of touches.

  “I thought I did, but I guess I was wrong,” I said, my voice sounding almost defeated as I thought about that day.

  “You weren’t wrong,” Axton said as he moved closer to me, but this time I didn’t move back. It was like the constant electricity of his touch wasn’t allowing me to move at all, “Think about it, Ellie. Why would I ever want to destroy our bond?”

  “I don’t know, Axton. Your reasoning wasn’t exactly the most important thing to me. You chose this. You wanted the life of a free man, and now you’ve got it,” I said as I pulled away and got up off the bed.

  Maybe he’s saying the truth, Raelynn spoke to me.

  “I never wanted you to leave, Ellie,” Axton spoke as he stood up from the bed, “It wasn’t me who said those things to you.”

  I scoffed at the memories of me wanting to believe those exact words, “Really? You never wanted me to go? Then why would you want to mate with someone else?” I asked him, “Reid convinced me of that it wasn’t you. He told me that you were a wreak and that you never would have rejected me to go sleep with other girls. I believed all of it, only to come back and before I even cross the border, there you are. Ordering some rogue to try and kill me so you could mate with someone else,” I said, my voice deflated from the anger and only carrying the pain I had felt when I saw him.

  “I can’t explain it. I don’t know what you saw, but I know I never would have ever let you go,” he growled as he stepped closer to me and I took a step back.

  “But you did,” I said, “You rejected me, Axton. You chose to break our bond.”

  “But the bond isn’t broken!” he yelled as he walked closer to me, but there was nowhere left for me to go as I pushed myself into the wall. He towered over me as he placed one hand on my waist and the other on my cheek. The sparks spread once again, “You feel it, don’t you. If the bond was truly broken, we would be in pain upon touching. We wouldn’t be feeling like fireworks,” he said as he whispered the last part in my ear before pulling back and staring into my eyes.

  Chapter 15

  Axton POV

  She stared at me at a complete loss for words. I was right and she knew it. If I had rejected her then we couldn’t be this close together. There would only be pain and hurt, but instead there is fire and electricity.

  “You know I’m right,” I said, my body still leaning over hers, “I can see it in your eyes.”

  She took at deep breathe as we continued staring at each other. I watched as the thoughts whirled in her head as I became lost in the warmth of her eyes. The same eyes I memorized all those years ago. The same eyes I had held onto since the moment she left.

  Convince her! Knox yelled at me before whining, I want my mate back.

  So do I, I reminded him.

  “How can I convince you?” I asked her, “How can I prove to you that it wasn’t me?”

  She thought for a second, seeming to think over my question, “I don’t know,” she breathed out. She pushed away from me and walked to the middle of the room. She started playing with the bottom of her hair, a nervous tick she still has, as she thought about what to say, “I don’t know how you can prove it. I don’t know how to explain why I can still feel the bond.”

  “Then trust me. You feel the bond because I didn’t break it. Please, trust me Ellie,” I pleaded with her, taking steps toward her again.

  “God, I want to Axton,” she said, “But I’ve gone down this road before. When Reid found me, he convinced me that it wasn’t you. I wanted to believe it so much that I came back, only to see you wanting someone else. That wasn’t faked.”

  “I don’t know how to explain that, El,” I told her, trying to make her see, “The only thing I can tell you is that it wasn’t me, and I’m going to prove it to you.”

  “How are you going to do that?” she asked, her eyes staring into mine.

  “I don’t know,” I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around her waist, “All I know is that for the last seven years, I thought rogues had taken you. Everyone told me that you were dead, and now that I have you back, I never want to let you go.”

  “Axton-” she started but I cut her off.

  “Just give me a chance, Ellie. One chance to prove to you that we are mates for a reason. One chance to prove to you that I have always loved you,” I pleaded with her, begging her to say yes. She bit her bottom lip as she thought while staring anywhere but my face. Slowly grabbing her chin, I lifter her eyes to meet mine, “Please.”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  “What?” I said, shocked that she agreed.

  “I’ll give you one chance,” she said. Grinning like an idiot, I lifted her into my arms as I hugged her close to me, taking in her scent as I did so. I gently placed her on the ground as I continued staring at her, “Please don’t make me regret this, Axton.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” I told her.

  Without a second thought, I closed the distance between us and captured her lips with mine. Fireworks exploded through my body as I pulled her closer, her arms wrapping around my neck as my grip tightened on her waist.

  It was like entering heaven as I moved my lips against hers.

  Pulling back from the perfect bliss, I smiled like an idiot.

  I finally had my mate back.

  * * *

  I couldn’t keep the smile off my face for the rest of the day. It seemed to be permanently plastered there. Ellie said she was staying, conditionally. She’ll give me a chance. Now all I have to do is find the proof of a witch, which turns out to be a harder job than I thought.

  I tossed the fourth book of witch history into the ever-growing pile on the side of my desk. I have spent the last hour looking at texts of history and scanning over witch activity from seven years ago; I was getting nowhere with this.

  A soft knock pulled me out of my thoughts and the door was gently pushed open, “Axton,” Ellie pushed the door farther, peeking her head into the room, “Is this a bad time?”

  “Of course not,” I said quickly, pushing the paperwork aside, “What’s up?” She bit her lip nervously as I got up from my chair, “Ellie what’s wrong?”

  “Oh god nothing,” she said quickly, putting her hands up as her way to reassure me, “It’s nothing bad. I just-“

  “El, what is it?” I asked, getting a little nervous at her fidgetiness and hesitation.

  “Well, actually, I have someone who would like to meet you?” she says. I give her a questioning look before she turned away and walks out of my office, leaving me a little confused.