ALPHA

-ADIRA-

A few days had gone by since Rhys and I’s meeting and my wolf had retreated to the back of my head. I hadn’t heard from her since we left the infirmary and it was hard not feeling her there.

I had locked myself in my room and only came out when I knew Rhys had gone to bed via Lucas. Sometimes it paid to have your best friend as the Beta. Though he didn’t approve of me ignoring my mate, Lucas understood my feelings.

From his and Natalia’s reports, Rhys has been doing well in the pack and had even done well training with Selene. Something most people don’t do when they first begin training with her.

He fit in well.

“You know A, Rhys is actually pretty cool.” Selene states from her position on my bed, she had her hands tucked behind her head and was watching me pace back and forth.

I shot her an annoyed look but ignored her statement. Natalia was at the end of the bed watching me carefully. Out of all my sisters, Nat usually let me be when I was in one of my moods. Selene, on the other hand, did not.

“What?” She asks incredulously sitting up from her position “The guy follows all of my orders with no question AND he can keep up with our training. Not to mention he’s got a sense of humor.”

I rolled my eyes “Right he can work out and is funny. So what?”

Emilia who sat next to Natalia spoke up next “He’s nice too Ad, besides it’s not hard to notice that he really wants to talk to you. You should see how he looks around for you everyday.”

I felt a flutter in my stomach at the thought.

Em and Rhys had met his second day here and had instantly taken each other up as siblings. They shared the same love for literature, something I would have never guessed an Alpha male like him would enjoy.

‘You don’t even know him Adira.’ I scold to myself.

“Well, I don’t want to speak to him. He’s just like the rest of them.” I paused in my steps and took in a deep breath reeling in my emotions “I don’t need to worry about a mate anyways, I have a pack to look after.”

“A pack you’ve neglected for three days.” Selene pointed out with a rise brow.

My shoulders slumped at the realization. I was too busy wallowing in my feelings that I completely forgot about my pack. I never got to visit the town with Lucas or even get to join in on training for the first time as Alpha.

“You’re doing a great job Ad.” Natalia begins while eying Selene harshly “Lucas has done a good job at damage control.”

“He shouldn’t have to,” I argue back and begin my pacing once more. We had been at this for 45 minutes, my sisters all joined together to try to pry me out of my room to resume my Alpha duties. I had my excuses which they all backed up with valid points. Sometimes I hated when they tagged teamed on me.

Why was I being so stubborn about this? I shouldn’t let some male wolf throw me off my game. My father raised me to lead this pack and I let my feelings get the better of me.

“Look sis, you’re the leader around here. Get your shit together and get back out there and forget about your damn feelings for a few hours.” Selene says with a roll of her eyes hopping out of my bed. Natalia stood up and slapped her shoulder “Ow what the hell was that for?”

“You know why,” Nat states crossing her arms narrowing her eyes at our sister.

“Ad why don’t you just go out. You’re going to have to face him one of these days.” Emilia asks softly breaking my attention away from our siblings.

I sighed deeply and ran a hand over my face “Okay, okay fine I get it. You guys are right.”

“Of course we are.” Selene rolled her eyes and moved towards the door “Now can we please get out of here? I have training in ten minutes and need to shoo away the fangirls.”

“Fangirls?” I ask following my sisters out the door.

Selene smirked “Oh yeah, Rhys chopped those long locks of his off. It made a huge difference.” Her smirk fell into a scowl “Now all these she-wolves like to come watch training and distract my warriors.”

A growl left my mouth of the thought of other women oogling Rhys. I coughed into my hand pretending like it didn’t happen. Natalia shot me a smile “Don’t worry Adira, Rhys doesn’t pay them any attention.”

“I don’t care if he does or not.” I scoff moving ahead of my sisters as we descended down the stairs.

“Sure she doesn’t” Selene muttered under her breath. Emilia and Natalia let out light chuckles. I chose to ignore them.

The sound of chatter met my ears meaning we were close to the kitchen where no doubt some of our pack members were having breakfast.

Lucas was the first to catch my attention. He was sitting on the kitchen counter dressed in work out clothes, stuffing pieces of bacon into his mouth. The rest of the men in the room were cheering him on as he tried to put as much food as he could into his mouth.

So much for being a respectable Beta.

I looked over to see Selene watching him unamused but I could see that she was somewhat impressed with how much bacon he was cramming into his mouth.

Lucas’ gaze met mine and a wide grin etched on his face. Swallowing the contents in his mouth he jumped off the counter and ran towards me “There she is! Out of your cave, I see.” His beaming smile was contagious and I couldn’t help but smile back.

Putting a hand to my hips I tilted my head to the side “So this is what you meant when you said you had everything handled?”

His smile never wavered “Yep!” His eyes went to Selene and looked over her up and down “Morning Sel, looking good as always.”

Selene rolled her eyes “Hope you’re ready to train with all that food in your stomach. We’re doing a lot of cardio this morning.” She smirked seeing his smile falter.

“Oh damn it.”

Natalia and Emilia let out a laugh “I’ll see you in the infirmary later Luc.” Natalia teases.

“I’m the beta of this pack, I can handle a simple workout.” Lucas huffed making my sisters laugh once again.

My eyes wandered around the kitchen hoping I would see the one person I’ve been thinking about for the past couple of days.

Stupid mate bond. Even when I wanted to ignore him I still wanted to see just one glimpse of him.

“Adira? Helloo?” A hand waved in front of my face making me snap out of my daze.

“Huh?” I looked over to see Lucas and Selene smirking over at me while Selene and Emilia tried to hide their smiles.

“He’s not here,” Lucas explains.

“Who?” I feigned confusion moving towards the front door with Lucas and my sisters trailing behind me.

“Rhys.” Lucas bounced in his steps next to me. I stared at him impassively only to be met with a charming smile “He’s usually up before the rest of us and goes out for a morning run.”

I said nothing but continued to walk towards the training grounds where I could see the silhouettes of the warriors warming up together. I waved hello and greeted pack members who were doing morning errands. I was welcomed warmly and many people seemed relieved to see me.

It felt nice knowing they cared.

“Are you training with us today Ad?” Selene asks unzipping her jacket revealing her sports bra. She threw it down and began to put her hair up in a ponytail.

Lucas’ eyes never wavered from Selene and I could see his eyes turn a darker shade, lust swirling in them. Poor guy, my sister was essentially torturing him. I hope she gives in soon, seeing Lucas pine after her like a lovesick puppy was getting old.

“Why not. It’s been a minute since I’ve trained.” Mimicking my sister’s actions I began to prepare for training. I turned to Emilia and smiled “Will you come train Em?”

Emilia shook her head “Uh no Ad, I’m good here.”

I sighed and put a hand on her shoulder “You’ll need to start training soon Em, it’s not good for a wolf to not know how to fight. Especially the daughter of an Alpha.” My sister dipped her head down avoiding my eyes. I could never figure out why Em was so against any form of training or fighting, but it was something she needed to do. We couldn’t baby her much longer, she was seventeen already, practically an adult. She needed to get over her fear.

Sounds familiar Adira?

“Don’t worry Ad, she’ll train soon,” Nat interjects wrapping her arm around Em. I merely nodded and offered Em a comforting smile. For now, I wouldn’t push my baby sister.

We approached the training grounds and I narrowed my eyes at the sight of a small group of women who were whispering amongst each other, they’re gaze was fixed on one thing; Rhys.

I looked over to try to spot him and felt my mouth dry at the sight in front of me. Selene was right, Rhys’ new haircut made a huge difference. Gone was the look of a wild man and there standing amongst a circle of warriors just a few yards away was....an adonis.

His golden hair was now shorter and was messily styled revealing his strong facial features. He must have decided to keep his facial hair which was now neatly trimmed.

My mate was most definitely hot.

I scowled at my thoughts and looked away before I could be caught staring.

“Ah damn it. When will these girls learn?” Selene growled out stomping towards the group “Hey you leeches! Get out of my training grounds before I kick your asses!”

Lucas chuckled looking over at me with a lovesick smile “That’s my girl.” He then jogged over to join the group of men who welcomed him loudly.

“Well I should get back to the infirmary, Em is coming with me. We’ll see you later?” Natalia asks taking my attention away from the field.

I nodded my head watching my sisters take their leave and walked towards Selene who had managed to chase the girls away.

“Dumb bimbos. You’d think after the fact he ignores them that they’d give up but noooo they just have to enjoy the show.” She scoffed. My lips tilted upwards in amusement.

We neared the warriors and immediately I saw Rhys’ head snap up from a conversation he was in and his eyes met mine. It was as he could sense my presence. I could feel my wolf stir in the back of my head. It was the first time in a few days that I felt anything from her.

“Alright, boys!” Selene yelled out getting all of the warrior’s attention “We’re starting off with cardio. I hope you’re ready because we’re putting in some miles today!”

I smirked hearing the groans of disdain from the men. It must have amused Selene as well as seeing that she had a wide grin on her face. “We also have our Alpha joining us for training so don’t you dare embarrass me.”

The threat was obvious and a few warriors even looked nervous. Their eyes all turned to me and I nodded my head in acknowledgment.

Selene pushed through the crowd of men leading them towards the edge of the pack border where we’d begin our run. I joined Selene at the front with Lucas and Kris, her second in command.

“Good morning Alpha!” Kris greets while stretching.

I smiled “Hey Kris. You don’t need to call me Alpha, I’ve known you since you were a pup. Adira is fine.”

Kris shook his head “No can do Ad, you’re the Alpha now and I want these guys to respect you so if you don’t mind, the title is staying.”

I smiled appreciatively and turned to Selene “Good choice in keeping this guy around.”

Selene shrugged and hid a smile “He’s alright.”

From my peripheral, I could see Lucas clench his jaw but say nothing. It was no secret that Luc hated Sel and Kris’ relationship. The jealousy could be seen from a mile away.

With that Selene began leading the group in a short jog to begin our warm-up. Kris was at her left while Lucas was on her right. I eyed them all curiously but knew it was something I did not want to stick my nose in.

I could feel eyes burning into the back of my head and turned to see Rhys’ eyes on me. He wasn’t too far from my spot. A little too close for my liking.

Liar.

His intense gaze made a feeling bubble up in my stomach and I quickly looked away from his blue eyes.

I jogged lightly behind them and felt a sense of relief come over me. Running had always been my scapegoat, a time when I could forget all of the worries and feel free. Joining the warriors today was a good choice. My dreary mood was instantly lifted.

“Alpha, mind if I run with you?”

And there goes my good mood.

Chase Wilson jogged up next to me and had a bright smile on his face. “Morning.”

“Morning Chase.” I greet casually. Chase Wilson was the son of Abraham, the leader of the wolves in the pack of hates my guts. But Chase was a different story, his infatuation with me that started as teenagers had only grown since I became Alpha. Though he knew I didn’t return his feelings he was very persistent on getting my attention constantly.

“You’ve been gone for a couple of days. The pack missed you.” He states looking over at me.

Aka, he missed me.

Chase was no doubt very easy on the eyes, making him someone the she-wolves in this pack constantly fought over. With his tan skin, long dark hair, and chocolate brown eyes along with his charm and charisma, it wasn’t difficult to see why.

“I wasn’t feeling well. But I’m back now.” I wiped the sweat from my forehead and focused on my breathing.

“Well now that you’re back why don’t I take you to dinner? Take a break from being Alpha for a night?” He asks raising a brow in my direction.

I held back my grimace and shook my head “Sorry Chase I’m pretty busy. I have work to catch up on.”

Please, please leave me alone.

Before he could try to convince me Selene broke out into a run. Silently thanking my sister, our conversation ended as I ran to be in line with Selene and Lucas, away from Chase.

We ran over 10 miles and soon we returned to the training grounds. I chuckled watching Lucas sit on the grass with his head between his legs. That bacon must have come back.

Standing away from the group I panted as I went to take a drink of water. My sister really knew how to work her warriors. I was proud of her.

“Adira.”

I froze hearing that deep voice that sent chills down my spine. Turning around I was faced with a shirtless Rhys’. He was looking down at me with a look of longing in his eyes. Now that I was closer, I could see bags underneath his eyes. Had he not been getting sleep?

“Rhys” I breath out suddenly unable to conjure up a proper sentence. Why did he have to be so damn attractive? I couldn’t think when he was around.

It was as time had stopped as we both looked at each other, taking in each other’s presence. The few days spent apart had taken a toll on the both of us, though I hated to admit it. I missed him.

Stupid. Mate Bond.

I didn’t know the guy and I was acting like we spent years apart. This mate bond was almost too much at times.

He opened his mouth to say something when Selene’s voice rang out making me look away towards her “Well I hope you’re all ready, it’s time for some real training. Partner up and prepare to spar.”

Rhys returned his attention to me and rose a brow. I knew what he was asking and felt my pulse quicken. Parter with me?

Shit.