THE ALPHA's MATE: A Romantic Thriller

by Jennifer Winget

  “I’m sorry,” I apologized. She nodded her head in acceptance before she continued.

  “When I had made it to Madden’s pack, right before Zea was born, I didn’t hear about any rogue attacks here. If I was destined to die during that attack if I was here, I want to know when it happened?”

  “Why?” I asked her, unsure of why she would want to know about that.

  “Because I want to know how long it was safe to come back and I never did,” her voice cracked as she looked sadly into my eyes before looking down again. I could feel her pain through the bond and I knew it was a reflection of my own.

  “Listen to me,” I put my hands on each side of her face as I brought her eyes to meet mine, “If I had to choose between being together for four years and losing you or being apart for seven and having the rest of our lives together, I would never have you make a different choice.”

  Without a second thought, I claimed her lips. She moaned at the movement as I pulled her body even closer to mine. Her hands ran through my hair, pulling gently. Her moans rang out as my tongue battled hers for dominance. I won of course.

  Pulling on the bottom of her shirt, she was out of it with two seconds before my lips were back on hers. Feeling her lack of oxygen, I removed my lips from hers but didn’t take them off her skin as I kissed down her neck, finally settling of her mark.

  I sucked and nipped at it, causing my beautiful mate to let out a moan. God, what I wouldn’t do to always hear her make that sound.

  I was about to pick her up and move to the couch, when she pulled back. I look at her questioningly as her smile brightens her face, “I love you, Axton.”

  Giving her a smile of my own, I tell her what I will always feel, “I love you too, Ellie. Always.”

  Claiming her lips once again, I stand up with her still in my arms. Her legs wrapped around my waist as I lay us both on the couch, quickly removing my shirt before I continue to assault her lips and neck in kisses.

  We forgot about everything for a while as we lost ourselves in each other.

  I wake up to the feeling of the familiar tingles going throughout my body. Peeling my eyes open, I look down at my beautiful mate as she sleeps. My arms are around her waist as her head rests on my chests.

  As I watched her sleep so peacefully, I studied every detail of her. No matter how many times I have memorized her face or her body, I always find something new about her that I love.

  “Good morning,” she says, barely above a whisper.

  I smile down at her, not caring at all that I was caught watching her sleep, “Good morning, sweetheart,” I say as I kiss her forehead and pull her closer to me.

  She sighs in content, “You know, I don’t even remember when we left your office and came to your room,” she lightly laughs.

  “Our room,” I remind her as I continue smiling, “And you probably don’t remember because you were a little preoccupied,” I tell her as I flip us over before claiming her lips to mine again.

  She laughs when I finally pull away, “I guess I did have lots of other things on my mind.”

  “Or maybe just one thing,” I teased her. She laughed even more but I could see the light pink blush forming on her cheeks, “I’m glad I can still make you blush.” This only causes her to blush even more.

  We stayed that way for a while, just talking lightly to each other before we both decided that we should really start thinking about getting up. Quickly taking a shower and doing both of our morning routines, I sat on the bed as I waited for Ellie to finish up.

  When she finally walked out the bathroom, ready for the day, she walked over to me. I grabbed her waist as I pulled her in front of me. She placed her arms around my neck and we both just looked at each other, “You know,” she started, “You never answered my question yesterday.”

  “What question?” I asked her.

  “When did the attack happen, Axton?” she asked. I dropped down my head for a second before looking at her, silently begging her not to talk about it. But, I knew her better than anyone, she wasn’t going to let this go, “Please, Axton. Just tell me. You said something about four years.”

  I nodded my head, taking a deep breathe before telling her what I tried to avoid talking about at all times, “About four years ago, a group of rogues attacked the pack. Exactly like Michael described, it was the biggest group of rogues I had ever seen. During the attack, my father was badly injured. I saw him get taken down.”

  “I’m so sorry, Axton,” she said, but I stopped her from saying anything else as I continued.

  “You knew my father, Ellie. He was stronger than any one of those rogues. What I didn’t know when I saw my father fall was that it wasn’t the rogue that had brought him to his knees,” I told her, “He had felt my mother’s death.”

  “Axton,” she whispered as I saw the tears in her eyes. I pulled her into a hug as I whispered sweet nothings into her ear, “I didn’t know.”

  “I know you didn’t,” I tell her as I pull away so she can see my face, “Both my parents died because of that attack and with the knowledge that I would have loss you too, I saw what happened when my father lost my mother. I felt it when Michael broke our mate bond. That pain, I never want to feel that way again. I don’t think I would be able to survive that.”

  I catch the silent tear as it dropped from her eyes, “I promise, Axton. I’m not going anywhere,” she sealed the promise with a gentle kiss. She pulled away as she decided to change the subject slightly, “What about Alex? I haven’t seen her since I got here.”

  I nodded my head at her misunderstanding, “Alex was devastated after the attack but you know my sister, she wouldn’t let anyone see her pain. About a year after the loss of our parents, she found her mate in a neighboring pack. Last time I talked to her, she was doing well. She’s happy.”

  Ellie smiled lightly, “I’m happy for her. She always wanted to fall in love.”

  “He’s good for her. After everything that happened when we were younger and with our parents, she needed him.”

  She nodded her head as I pulled her lightly to lay back down on the bed with me, “I’m glad that she’s happy.”

  “Me too,” I tell her. I look back at the clock on the side table for the first time all morning. It was only seven and Zea shouldn’t be up for a little while, “We have some time before Zea or anybody else wakes up. Why don’t you tell me something?”

  She smiled brightly as she pushed herself up on the bed so we were both at roughly the same height, “What do you want to know?”

  “Everything,” I breathe out.

  She laughs lightly at my honesty, “Why don’t we start with one thing at a time? What do you want to know first?”

  I thought for a moment before deciding, “How about we start at the beginning? I already know about Cortez and Reid finding you. What happened after that?”

  “Well, after I left here for the second time, Reid helped me contact my brother,” she started, “Xander’s mate is a witch of sorts. She helped me make it safely through Cortez’s men and got me to Blue Moon.”

  “What do you mean by a witch of sorts?” I asked her.

  “I guess, I should explain that,” she says, “She is an elemental witch. All of her powers are surrounded around the elements and nature. She actually had a run in with Cortez before I had,” she looked down for a second before meeting my eyes, “She’s the witch that poisoned him.”

  “What?” I sat up fully, shocked, “But you said Cortez believes she is dead?” I question her.

  “Because after she poisoned Cortez, he found her and attacked her. She would have died, but Xander found her and using the mate bond, he healed her just enough to keep her alive. If Cortez has no idea who she is, he never even found out her name. So, when she became Luna of Moonstone, Cortez never blinked,” she grabs my hand, squeezing it, “Axton, you can’t tell anyone that she is the same witch. Cortez will kill her.”

  I nodded my head, “I promise. It never lea
ves this room. What happened after you got to Blue Moon?”

  “When I made it to Blue Moon, I was about eight months pregnant. Madden was one of my brother’s best friends so he and his mate Layla took me in. When my water broke, Layla helped me deliver Zea.”

  I look at her, sadness probably evident on my face, “I wish I had been there for you. I wish I had been there when my daughter was born.”

  “That’s the thing, in a way, you were,” I gave her a questioning look when she paused so she would explain further, “Before I went into labor, I had gotten attacked by a stray rogue who attacked near the border.”

  “What!” I growled out.

  “I took care of him, but he clawed me pretty good in the shoulder. When my water broke, I had already lost half my blood. When I went into labor, I didn’t have enough energy. But then I felt it,” she smiled at me, “I could feel your strength through our bond. I couldn’t describe it because I thought the bond was broke. Yet when I needed it the most, I could feel you.”

  She placed her arms around my head as she pulled me to hover above her, claiming a kiss before pulling away.

  “I’m sorry you had to go through that alone,” I tell her, “I promise that I will be there next time.”

  “Next time, huh?” she laughs, “I don’t think we ever talked about that one.”

  I smiled down at her, “Oh really, because I seem to recall a time where you wanted at least four kids.”

  “And when was this conversation?” she asked, her smile clear even as she tried to hide it.

  “One of the days when you were helping with training of the pups,” I point to her forehead lightly.

  She looked a bit shocked as realization hit in, “You were in my head!” she pushed me up and she sat up glaring at me, “That’s a complete invasion of privacy.”

  “We are mates, sweetheart,” I told her as I moved closer. She kept leaning back until I was hover over her again, “We have no privacy, no boundaries.”

  “That doesn’t mean I have to like it,” her lips forming a pout.

  “You don’t have to like it, you just have to accept it,” I smile down as I claim her lips in another kiss.

  “So, you really don’t mind if I start rummaging through your skull?” she asks.

  “I’m am all yours, sweetheart. Body, mind, and soul,” I told her moving down to her neck again.

  “God that was so cheesy,” she commented, laughing out loud.

  Her laugh caused me to start laughing alongside her. I was about to kiss her again when someone started knocking on the door quickly, “Mommy! Daddy!”

  Ellie kept laughing as she called for Zea to come in, “Good morning!” Zea yelled as she ran in and jumped on the bed with us.

  “Good morning to you too,” Ellie tells her as I pull Zea onto my lap.

  “How did you sleep?” I ask her.

  “Great! No scary monsters anymore,” she tells me before turning to Ellie, “Mommy, will you make breakfast?”

  “You don’t want me to make breakfast?” I ask her as Ellie tries to hold a straight face,

  She shakes her head vigorously, “Mommy is a better cook than you.”

  Ellie bursts into laughter and Zea joins her as I just stare at both of them, “I am not a bad cook,” I try to defend myself.

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Ellie tells me, “But you really aren’t a very cook.”

  Zea rolls off my lap and onto the bed as she clutched her side from laughing too much, “Fine, since I’m apparently such a bad cook, I just won’t cook for you guys anymore.”

  “Thank you,” Ellie laughs.

  I tried to be angry, but with both my mate and daughter laughing so much, caused me to start laughing as well.

  “So, breakfast?” Zea asked when she finally pulled herself together.

  “Of course,” Ellie told her.

  One normal day, Ellie tells me through the bond.

  I nod my head in agreement, Just one normal day.

  Chapter 26

  Axton POV

  It’s been over two weeks since the Ellie’s attack and there has been no sign of Cortez or any of his rogues. The pack is still on high alert as the warriors trained harder in preparations for a fight. We all knew it was coming, we just didn’t know when.

  I have spent every moment lately with my family. I was completely enrapt in my daughter. I had missed so much of her life so far. I never had gotten to see her first steps, or hear her first words, or even take her to her first day of school. But I know that I will be there for every first she still has.

  I will be there when she gets her license, when she falls in love, when she goes off to college. As I watched my little girl so focused on her games, I promised myself that I will be there for the rest of her life, to watch her grow, to see her future, and I will have Ellie right beside me through it all. My perfect mate.

  “What are you thinking about?” Ellie whispered to me as she placed a light kiss on my cheek.

  I pulled myself away from my thoughts as I looked back down to her and gave her a light smile, “The future,” she gave me a confusing look before I continued, “Our future, our daughter’s.”

  Her face lit up in a smile, “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” I told her, kissing her lightly. I pulled her closer to me on the couch as we both just sat in comfortable silence before Walker and Sawyer came bursting through the door.

  “I didn’t say that!” he yelled to her, his voice almost pleading.

  “Well it’s what you meant,” she countered back at him.

  “No, it’s not.”

  “What is going on?” I shout. Knox growled in the back of my mind at our interrupted time with our mate and daughter.

  Ellie and Sawyer stared at each other for a second before Ellie pushed herself out of my arms and wrapped Sawyer into a hug. Sawyer squeezed her back like her life depended on it as Ellie turned to Walker.

  “You are an idiot, Jason Walker” she growled out.

  Walker stood there in shock as he watched his and my mate, “What did I say that was so bad?”

  “Why don’t you think about it for a while and we’ll see what you come up with,” Ellie snapped as she took Sawyer upstairs.

  We watched them retreat before I turned to Walker, “What did you say to Sawyer? I have never heard Ellie use your full name.”

  He shakes his head in confusion, “I have no idea. We were fine.”

  “Well what were you talking about when she got angry with you?” I ask him as Zea jumps onto the seat next to me to be a part of the conversation.

  “We were just talking like we always do. I asked about her day and we were talking about her training with the pups when she just snapped at me and started crying then she got angry. I don’t know what I did wrong,” he told me.

  Why would Sawyer get upset with him? I thought to myself.

  What did he say about pups? Knox comments. Oh god, that would explain why Ellie is just as pissed now.

  “Walker, what did you say about the pups?” I ask him.

  “I don’t know. She asked how I felt when I trained the pups and I told her the truth, that I hated training which she knows and then she freaked out on me. Asked if that meant I didn’t like pups and stormed out. I don’t understand what I said that made her think that or made her so angry,” he says.