The Alpha's Reluctant Mate

by Williams, Morganna

  “I was committed to you from the moment I first laid eyes on you in that coffee shop; of course you didn’t give me the time of day,” Connor said ruefully, giving me a meaningful glance.

  Blushing, I looked away from him. “I don’t remember meeting you before coming to the compound.”

  “So I’ve been told; so much for my ego.”

  I smirked, “Somehow I don’t think your ego has suffered that much.”

  “I don’t know; you seem determined to hammer me down to size.”

  “No, I don’t! Just because I want time and a normal courtship doesn’t mean anything against you.”

  He nodded and pulled up to my apartment building, watching as I undid my seatbelt. “In the interest of our relationship, how about lunch?”

  I only hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

  “Good, can you get what you need and meet me at the Chinese place up the road by one?”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem,” I said, relieved to be given some time to myself. Connor watched from his car until I was safely inside the building.

  My apartment seemed a little alien to me instead of like the home it had been for the last five years. It was a little deflating to realize that I no longer belonged here.

  Whether or not I belonged at the compound remained to be seen, but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt this was no longer my home.

  As I walked into the kitchen, I was surprised to see the walls freshly painted and a new smoke detector installed where the old one had been. All evidence of my little broom episode had been erased.

  I wondered how long it would take for my old identity to be erased from the rest of the world once I left.

  It took less time than expected to gather up the things I wanted at the cottage and load them in my car. I would arrange to have the rest packed up and put in storage until I had a place for them.

  Locking the apartment door behind me as I left, I knew I would never be back. My life here was over and the unknown stretched ahead of me an adventure waiting to unfold.

  It was too early to go to the restaurant, so I decided to do a little window-shopping. The street was lined with restaurants and specialty stores in an old town main street design. There should be plenty to see and keep me busy until one o’clock.

  I paused for a moment after getting out of my car to absorb all the intense sounds and smells. They were right; it would take a while to be able to filter through all the sensory information bombarding me. I swear I heard an ant walking across the road four blocks away and could smell an apple pie being baked in the next city. Underlying everything was a scent I couldn’t quite put my finger on… familiar but faintly repellent. Frowning, I lightly sniffed the air, trying to single it out to identify the smell. Giving up, I shook my head and resumed window-shopping.

  At the pet shop I stopped to look in the window at all the puppies. Looking up at me, they went crazy yapping and growling fiercely. I couldn’t help but laugh at their antics, but knew I couldn’t risk going into the store.

  Stepping away from the window, I froze; a man was standing close behind me, leaning in to sniff my hair.

  He was a wolf, but not pack and something about his scent raised every hair on the back of my neck to full attention. I shivered, afraid and unsure exactly why.

  Then he pressed himself tightly against my back, lips brushing the side of my neck. “Mmmmm, what a delicious little she-wolf you turned out to be.”

  A rough tongue swept out to lick the side of my neck and up to my face. I tried to spring away, horrified, but he held me fast.

  “Mmm, you taste as sweet as I remembered. I’m glad I didn’t kill you; it would have been such a waste. Once Connor is out of the way, you’ll be mine.”

  “No!” I cried hoarsely, causing him to laugh, the sound like rusty nails on a chalkboard.

  I was suddenly overwhelmed by memories of the night I was attacked, every little detail suddenly crystal clear. I remembered seeing the monster come out of the fog in the park; he was huge, worse than any movie werewolf I’d ever seen, stringy blond hairs sticking out in every direction on his big head, the massive teeth filling his elongated mouth as he sneered at me, spittle dripping from his gaping maw.

  The fear as I realized I was being chased… the pain as sharp teeth tore into my body… the slashing claws… the sound of his laugh as he tore a hunk of flesh off my thigh with relish… the things he said while he was killing me.

  I stood so overwhelmed by the combination of facing the demon before me and remembered fear that I couldn’t move, frozen in his grasp as he whispered all the terrible things he wanted to do to me now.

  The image of an embracing couple reflected in the shop window; to the human eye we would look innocuous, our pose nonthreatening, perhaps loving… a man holding his beloved while he whispered sweet nothings in her ear. His human guise was a very mild-looking man with shoulder-length blond hair, nondescript clothing, very small in stature, nothing threatening to see on the outside, but I knew different. I knew him and felt the strength in his hands threatening to crush me if I struggled.

  Tears tracked down my face as he held me in place while he licked them away in a parody of tenderness.

  A warning growl heralded Connor’s arrival as he stared at my aggressor over the top of my head. “Let her go, Sid.” The quietly voiced command trembled with power and rage.

  The demon holding me chuckled, giving me a bone-crushing squeeze before releasing me to fall at his feet in a crumpled heap, the intense pain in my chest as I tried to take a breath keeping me on the ground.

  “Another time, lover,” he called as he bolted away.

  I gasped in pain when Connor gathered me in his arms. “Shhh… I’ve got you,” he crooned to me as he carried me to the Explorer. I barely registered being put into the car or driving away from the crowded street, so consumed with the effort it took to make myself breathe through my pain and memories of the night I’d become a werewolf.

  The next thing I knew I was in my bed at the cottage and Ryan was injecting something into my arm.

  “I’ve combined a strong painkiller with a sedative, it won’t last long with the wolf’s metabolism but hopefully it will knock her out long enough for the worst of the shock to wear off. I taped her ribs; he must have cracked them while he was holding her. They should heal by tomorrow if we keep her still,” Ryan said, turning to look at Connor.

  “I shouldn’t have let her go off on her own. I was trying to bend so she wouldn’t find me uncompromising, but keeping her safe was more important.”

  I was floating somewhere between semi-awareness and sleep; it seemed vitally important to let Connor know I was okay. “I didn’t remember him… his scent… won’t sneak up on me again.”

  Connor’s hand gently stroked the side of my face as I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Ten

  When I woke, it was dark; the full moon was framed in my window perfectly by the partially drawn curtains. It was amazing how easily my new eyes saw in the darkness.

  Connor was gone but Tera, Epenie, and Sebrina surrounded my bed in straight-backed chairs carried in from the kitchen. Sebrina was the first to notice my eyes were open, but they all spoke at once.

  “Babe! You’re awake. We’ve been so worried,” she said, patting my hand.

  “What did that man do to you?” Epenie asked.

  “I wish I could have been there,” Tera said with murder in her eyes.

  Smiling at my friends, I groaned as I tried to sit up in bed. Frowning, I tried to remember why my chest hurt, then I recalled the slight crunching sound just before he dropped me. Thankfully, while it still hurt to move, breathing was much easier.

  “Take it easy, babe,” Sebrina warned, sliding a hand beneath my back and lifting me slowly to a sitting position. Tera shoved pillows behind me while Sebrina held me up and then guided me back against the now-cushioned headboard.

  “I thought I wasn’t supposed to get hurt anymore,” I mu
ttered. Connor’s spanking had hurt and my ribs hurt badly; this new revelation totally sucked.

  “Oh, you can still get hurt, we can get hurt badly,” Tera spoke as if from experience. “The upside is we heal really quickly.”

  E sat down on the bed next to me, looking seriously into my eyes. “Tell us what happened. We only got bits and pieces from Connor. I gather he missed most of it.”

  “It was awful. I remembered everything from the night I was attacked. The way he showed himself so I would run; he played with me like a mouse and as he tore me to shreds he told me all about what he would do to me. It was his scent that brought back the memory,” I told them softly. “He smelled like a wolf but the scent was tainted with rot… it smelled unclean… evil.” I shivered as I thought about him.

  Looking at Tera, I said, “You were right about everything, I should have stayed here. He will use me to get to Connor.”

  “Yes, he wants to kill you to weaken the whole pack.”

  “No… he said he was glad he didn’t kill me and that when he gets rid of Connor I’ll be his… he licked me when he said it…” That memory turned the shiver to a shudder.

  Tera growled in response and Sebrina’s eyes took on a bit of a red glow as she fumed while Epenie spouted a few choice words about Sid’s parentage. It was good to have friends who became enraged on your behalf.

  “The pack will fix his wagon,” Tera assured me.

  “The nest will help,” Sebrina promised.

  “I’ll watch Dizabell,” Epenie offered, not wanting to be left out of the loop.

  I looked up at Tera. “Once my ribs have healed, I want to learn to fight. I am stronger than I could have ever imagined being and still all I could do was stand there. I don’t ever want to feel that helpless again.”

  Tera nodded. “As soon as you’re feeling better.”

  Sebrina grinned, displaying a hint of fang, “I can spar with you too. Vampires are stronger than wolves.”

  “In your dreams, Dracula. I bet I can make you fly like a bat,” Tera said, springing around lightly on her toes and grinning at Sebrina.

  They both laughed.

  Epenie patted my leg. “I’ll watch and make sure things don’t get carried away.”

  Sebrina sat up with a look of inspiration. “I think this calls for Steel Magnolias, popcorn, and cookie dough. Any takers?”

  “Yeah!” the rest of us yelled in unison.

  In no time at all Sebrina had us settled in the living room with a big bowl of popcorn and an even bigger bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough complete with three spoons as Sally Field and Julia Roberts filled the large-screen TV in the living room.

  Together we laughed and cried with the southern belles as they suffered the vagaries of life, love, and death.

  Sniffling into her napkin, Epenie said, “I love this movie.”

  I agreed. It always seemed to be easier to let myself cry during a movie than over my own life. It was definitely cathartic.

  Leaning up a little more easily from my cushioned perch on the couch, I scooped up another heaping spoonful of cookie dough as the credits rolled.

  “Thanks, guys, this was exactly what I needed.”

  “Have you thought any more about Connor and the whole mate thing?” Tera asked hopefully.

  Suddenly the cookie dough settled into a big lumpy ball in the pit of my stomach; diversionary tactics were necessary. “Epenie likes Tuck and Sebrina’s in love with Ryan.”

  Tera blinked in surprise.

  Sebrina gasped, “Xandie!”

  Epenie knew a spade for a spade and fixed me with her best glare. “What are we, in the third grade?”

  “What?” I tried, feigning innocence.

  She smirked, “You know what, just because a person likes another person doesn’t mean the party of the first part is interested in her beyond bodyguard duties.”

  It took me a minute to wrap my head around that, but in my defense I was still a little fuzzy from the wonderful drugs Doctor Ryan had given me.

  Tera nodded. “If you have any worries, I can give you some werewolf pheromone. Makes the men go wild!”

  “What exactly is werewolf pheromone?”

  “It a clear liquid that we excrete through the skin,” Tera explained helpfully.

  “So basically it’s sweat.”

  “It’s pheromone.”

  Epenie wrinkled her nose at Tera. “It’s sweat. Basically you’re suggesting I spray your sweat on myself. Thanks, but no.”

  “It would really help attract his attention,” Tera said. “But honestly, I don’t think you need it. The party of the first part is plenty interested already.”

  “Really?” E sat a little straighter and looked at Tera with renewed interest.

  “Definitely. I’ve never seen Tuck in such a tizzy. He’s worried about where you are every second of the day. Plus he spanked you.”

  Epenie blinked. “What’s that got to do with the price of eggs?”

  Tera flushed. “Um, dominant wolves tend to spank their mates when they misbehave.”

  I looked away, not wanting to offer comment as I’d already experienced that little phenomenon firsthand.

  “I thought that was because I hit him with a newspaper!” E exclaimed.

  “Well, that certainly didn’t help, but he wouldn’t have spanked just anyone and like I said he’s super protective of you,” Tera said with a grin.

  “That’s not just because he’s a vigilant bodyguard?” Epenie asked.

  Tera laughed. “That’s because he’s an alpha male trying to take care of a non-wolf mate.”

  “Mate?” Epenie and I said it in unison with varying degrees of alarm.

  “Male wolves don’t court women who aren’t mates. A quickie or a temporary companion while you’re passing time until your mate comes along doesn’t rate worry or protectiveness beyond what you’d give any pack mate. As far as dating goes, we don’t really date much outside the werewolf community because everyone knows that if you aren’t mates, it’s casual.”

  Sebrina gave a big sigh. “I don’t know if I could stand it if Ryan found another mate.”

  “You don’t have anything to worry about, Sebrina. We don’t have a surplus, there’s pretty much only one for each of us, werewolf or not, and you are definitely Ryan’s,” Tera said.

  “How do you know that? He either glares at me or orders me around,” Sebrina said morosely.

  “Yes, but he doesn’t ignore you, because he can’t. He worries constantly and fights the urge to take care of you.”

  “I don’t need taking care of,” Sebrina protested.

  “Neither do I,” Epenie said firmly.

  I decided that since I was currently recovering from a second attack by the same wolf, I wouldn’t comment.

  Tera shrugged. “That’s what a mate does. An alpha always takes care of his or her mate and makes sure they’re safe.”

  Now I frowned. “His or her?”

  “All males aren’t alphas just as all females aren’t submissives. Now you can have two alphas in a relationship, but you aren’t going to find two submissive wolves in a relationship because they wouldn’t survive.”

  “Why not?” Epenie asked.

  “A lesser wolf will just roll over and let the aggressor bite out their throat; they don’t know any better. We all protect the submissives in our pack, because they can’t protect themselves.”

  I was horrified. “Am I a submissive wolf?”

  Tera laughed. “Not hardly; if you were a submissive wolf, you would already be moved into Connor’s bedroom following orders. A pack leader needs a strong mate, not a wuss. Two alphas can mate but one is always the stronger mate and the other wolf submits.”

  “How many of these submissive wolves does the pack have?” Epenie asked softly.

  “Luckily our pack doesn’t have many; don’t get me wrong, we love everyone and protect those who are weaker, but having a pack made up of mostly alphas is why we are able to control su
ch a large territory. Most of our lesser wolves are actually children and they may grow up to be alphas as well.”

  “Children?” I asked. “Children have been attacked?”

  “No, some wolves are born and not made. Actually most are born and something else you should probably know; only someone who has wolf in their lineage can become a werewolf after being attacked.”

  “Are you saying that one of my ancestors was a werewolf?” I asked curiously.

  Tera nodded. “We haven’t always been so organized and our people almost completely died out in the seventeen hundreds; hunters took a lot of us. So the people scattered in an effort to blend in with the rest of society. It was safer for us at that time. Since many wolves find their mates in humans, it worked well for us and as we grew in numbers we naturally gravitated back toward each other and new packs formed. Now there are over a hundred packs in the states alone.”

  I looked at Epenie. “This needs to be in the manual too.”

  Epenie nodded.

  Sebrina was as eager to hear some of the history of werewolves as we were. The more she knew about wolves in general, the more she knew about Ryan.

  “You have to understand that the wolf is not a solitary animal by nature. We want to be with our pack mates. We draw strength from each other. Naturally there is the occasional battle for leadership and of course the occasional bad apple that has to be taken care of, but for the most part we live in peaceful harmony with each other and with nature. However, when push comes to shove, the pack will survive.”

  “Why were the wolves and vampires fighting?” Sebrina asked.

  “Vamps are relatively new to the states. They’ve only been here about a hundred years or so. They like to keep their numbers low and don’t mix well with others. We’ve had a few skirmishes over the years when they aren’t careful with their food or they came too close to our territory. Now that we are allies, the skirmishes have virtually ceased in all the territories.”

  Sebrina smiled proudly. “I understand from Ethan that our model of ambassadors has been adopted almost across the board.”