Pride to Pack

by Aimie Jennison

Having heard Bel enter the house again a few minutes ago, I decide to go track her down. I know Chloe is down at the front of the house. I don’t want her to be causing any trouble while I’m not there. I know Bel would be able to handle herself against Chloe. She has lived through numerous duels after all, but Bel doesn’t need the hassle or guilt if she injures Chloe.

  I head towards the front of the house with Billy following behind. It doesn’t take me long to realise that I made the right decision. I can clearly hear Chloe and Bel at each other’s throats.

  “Are you threatening me?” Chloe demands. I have no doubt that she probably threatened Bel first.

  “I hope there isn’t any threats being thrown around in my house,” I command from the bottom of the stairs. Neither of them could have heard me approach because I watch helplessly as they both stumble around at the top of the stairs grabbing opposite walls to steady themselves.

  “Theo you surprised us both so much we nearly toppled down the stairs one after the other. You might have had two dead women to deal with.” Bel chuckles nervously. The fear I can feel in her makes me think she very nearly did do just that. I should have been more careful. They were in a heated discussion. Of course they wouldn’t have heard me.

  “Sorry,” I grumble, still thinking about what I could have caused.

  “There are no threats here, are there Chloe?” Bel asks as she glares at Chloe. She can no doubt sense that I can’t handle much more tonight before my wolf comes out to play.

  “No,” she replies before going into her room and shutting the door.

  Bel jogs down the stairs to join us by the front door.

  “Night, Rosabel, I’m going now! I’ll probably see you tomorrow at Misty’s,” says Billy.

  “I have the night off, so maybe not. Then again, I can’t seem to keep away from that place so you’re probably right,” she says with a laugh.

  I open the door and my laugh falls flat when I spot Wes’ car. “I thought Wes left. Why is his car still here?” I give Bel a questioning look.

  “Oh yeah, erm... you were mad, but I didn’t think you’d mind. He’s in the lemon room. He didn’t want to go to his without Alyssa. He wouldn’t have been able to handle the emptiness. I’m sorry.” Bel rambles with her head bowed in submission. She is my mate. She doesn’t need to show me submission like that.

  I tilt her chin up with my hand until her worried eyes meet my stare. “Thank you.” I pause, not hiding how mortified I am. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. What kind of an alpha does that make me?”

  I shouldn't be allowed to call myself Alpha if I can’t even care for my pack members like I should.

  “Come on, boss. You have a hell of a lot on your mind at the minute. You were furious when Wes left. You had Chloe’s shit in your head and fighting your wolf wasn’t helping you with being considerate and compassionate,” Billy says.

  I catch the worried expression he throws Bel’s way. I know what that expression means. The last thing the pack needs is the alpha to be feeling weak. It will cause the whole pack to weaken. The pack is weak enough at the moment. I need to find them. We can’t go on without clues much longer.

  Bel’s voice brings me out of my internal musing. “Billy is right, Theo. I only thought of it because of my empathic ability. I could feel Wesley’s emotions. I couldn’t let him leave feeling like that.”

  Billy looks at Bel, clearly astonished. “You’re an empathetic, druid blooded werewolf?”

  We all laugh.

  “Let’s just say I’m unique!”

  I look at her admiringly. “You certainly are, but in a good way.”

  “Right, I’m off before Little Miss Unique Wolfy here decides I’m not fit to leave and sends me to the pink room,” Billy jokes as he steps out the door.

  I laugh. “Have no fear; Chloe is in the pink room.”

  We both stand and watch as Billy walks to his bike, straddles the saddle as he turns it over and speeds off down the drive.

  As I lead Bel back to the lounge I can feel her energy changing by the second. She is worried about something, no longer laughing and joking. I can’t leave her to worry like that. We are mates now. She has me to talk things through with.

  “What are you thinking about? You feel sad and worried.” I sit on the sofa opposite her. She seems to be staring into space and my question jolts her back to the here and now. She looks around the room as if she doesn’t even remember getting here. She stands up and picks up the tray with the mugs from earlier on it.

  “Do you mind if I make another coffee?” she asks. Not exactly what I was hoping for, maybe the coffee will relax her enough to talk to me.

  “Go ahead help yourself.” I watch as she goes into the kitchen to make her coffee.

  I have a bad feeling that she is trying to delay something and, from what her feelings through our bond is telling me, I’m not going to like where this conversation is going.

  She walks back to the sofa with two mugs, placing one in front of me and then sitting down opposite me again. “I don’t know how you take it or even if you wanted one. I hope it’s okay.”

  “I’m not fussy. It’ll be fine,” I say absentmindedly as I reach through our bond hoping for some insight into her thoughts.

  “You regret what happened between us earlier?” I ask. “Upstairs?” I quickly clarify. I can’t stop the sadness escaping me. The bond might not be telling me what exactly she is thinking, but her regret and sadness are coming through loud and clear.

  She takes a calming breath before speaking. “Yes, in a way I regret it, but not because I didn’t enjoy it, or want it, or because I don’t think we are true mates. We are, I know that. I love you, Theo. I want to be able to do what we just did every night. I want to be able to wrap my arms around you and fall asleep cuddling you like my personal teddy bear.” She stops to catch her breath and I take the opportunity to ask the most important question.

  “But we can do that, every day. So why regret it? I can feel it’s the truth you speak, but I can feel your regret too. I don’t understand why you regret it?”

  “Please, just let me finish. It might take awhile but when I’m finished you’ll understand, I promise.” Her begging does me in. I nod for her to carry on, imitating zipping my mouth locking it with a key. I lean over the table to pass her the imaginary key.

  Her laugh is magic to my ears. It wipes the sadness from the room if only for a second. “Thank you,” she says just before the sadness creeps back in. “Okay, the reason I regret it is because it’s complicated things. It’s made this conversation and decision so much more painful.” Her eyes fill with tears but she doesn’t break down. She steels herself and carries on. “When I started seeing Jared, we were in high school, proper high school sweethearts. We were both totally besotted.” She chuckles and I can’t help but frown wondering what her past with Jared has to do with now.

  “His pride wouldn’t accept me. Jared wasn’t leader, but he would be. One day his father would step down and he would takeover. The pride loved him. He had a happy life. When I came along it all changed. I’m not a lion. I’m a wolf - a predator. That makes me a threat. I came here to find people like me and I really thought I had found that in you and your pack. But I’m not just a wolf like you. I’m druid as well and that makes me a threat again. Chloe, and no doubt some others of your pack will feel that way.”

  I open my mouth to speak but remember my promise to allow her to finish, so I close it without speaking.

  “We were together for six years and not a week went by without one of us being challenged. As besotted as we were, he would only end up resenting me for turning his happy life into a constant battle. You know his feelings haven’t changed; he is still as besotted as that first day we met. Having to fight day after day made us miserable, we couldn’t enjoy each other. I finished with him in the end because he deserved better, to find a mate that the pride accepts. At first I thought they would give in and accept me, but I was kidding
myself. I got over him. I guess knowing now that I have a true mate made it easier. I loved him but maybe I was never really in love with him, especially not as much as he was with me. I knew he would never accept us not being together, that is why I left Quilpie. I thought once he knew it was over and that I had left with no trace for him to follow, he’d move on. But we both know I was wrong.”

  “I still love him but in a sibling capacity, like I love Benji. You met Benji didn’t you?” she asks looking at me with her sad eyes.

  I nod but, again, I don’t speak. I need her to get to her point.

  “I can’t live like that again, Theo. Challenge after challenge. I’m not going to be the cause of your pack’s destruction. I’m not destroying your life, Theo - not yours. You deserve so much more. You deserve love and if we end this before it starts now you’ll get that. There are plenty of people in this town that would jump at a date with you. One of them is upstairs in the pink room.” She stops talking as the tears stream down her face.

  I can’t hold my tongue anymore, whether she has finished or not.

  “But what about you, Rosabel? Don’t you deserve the love you want - the love that wants you?” I make my way to her, kneeling before her and holding her shoulders in each hand. “It won’t be like that with us. I am alpha, it will be different.” I give her a pleading look, hoping she can feel the hope I am sending through the bond.

  I see it in her face as she rides my hope but within a second it’s gone and the tears come thicker and faster. “Chloe has already challenged me, Theo. We’ve been together properly, what, a couple of hours? And the challenges have already started. That’s the first of many. I could feel the hatred towards me in that meeting and it wasn’t all coming from Chloe. Once news of my druid blood comes out there will be more that won’t accept me.”

  The hope I had disappears instantly. If this is what she really wants I need to accept defeat. I’m her mate and I can’t even make her happy.

  “You’re right, but they won’t all challenge you. Only a few that of the more dominant will. The submissives will accept defeat and welcome you. Don’t forget some of the most dominant already accept you, like Wes and Billy. You said Chloe has already challenged you. What did she say exactly?” Even I can hear the hope creep back into my voice.

  “She said you might have mated with me but she’ll make sure you change your mind and I’ll get thrown out. And when that happens, killing me will be right at the top of her to do list.” Threatening death is a challenge no matter when you plan on doing the deed. Chloe has challenged her. There is no getting away from that unless Chloe revokes the challenge.

  “Chloe is strong,” I say, pulling her close as my concern gets the better of me. Earlier I had thought Bel could handle Chloe without a problem, but that doesn’t mean she won’t get hurt in the process. Chloe is one of the most dominant females in our pack.

  Bel pulls away with a laugh. “You think she’ll beat me!” she says sounding astonished.

  “Like I said, she’s strong. She’s on par with Billy and she often likes to bring it up. I’m not sure who would win between the two of them. It would be close.”

  She grins from ear to ear. “If she really is as dominant as you think, we could make this work.” Having no idea what she is getting at I frown.

  “You and me, a couple,” she adds. I feel my smile mirror hers.

  “What are you planning?” I ask a little dubiously.

  “We will have to take it slow. Don’t force me on the pack like you have been. No more meetings. I know they’ve already officially accepted with the words but they need to feel it too and I can feel through the pack bonds that they don’t all feel what they said. They need to get to know me as just Bel, fellow pack member, not alpha female.”

  “But what about Chloe and her challenge?”

  “She said she will kill me. I have to take it as a challenge. But that might help us if she is as dominant as you say. If I win, others won’t be willing to challenge me. So we fight.” She shrugs nonchalantly.

  “Yes, that will work.” I cringe at the excitement I can hear in my voice. I sound like a kid on Christmas Day.

  I move my hands to cradle her face and lean in to kiss her. My mouth brushes against hers as my tongue licks at the seam of her lips. She grants me entrance by parting her lips sensually. Her hands grip the hair at the back of my neck before she pulls away, leaving us both gasping for air. Our arousal is thick in the air. I stroke her cheek with my thumb, unable to keep my thoughts away from sadness and worry.

  “What are you thinking about? You look sad and you shouldn’t - not after that kiss,” Bel queries.

  I drop my eyes to the floor. “That I am in love with you, Rosabel, I have only just found you and I don’t want to lose you to Chloe.”

  She mirrors my movements from earlier, tilting my chin so my eyes meet hers, stroking my cheek with her thumb. “I am dominant and I am strong. I have duelled and beaten stronger than Chloe. If I went up against Wesley I wouldn’t be able to bet on a winner, but Chloe I can handle.”

  I struggle to keep the shock off my face. “Really?”

  “Yes! I’ll beat Chloe, trust me,” she says confidently.

  21. TAKEN

  Rosabel