Rejecting the Alpha

"My wolf almost got the better of me. It was all I could do not to charge off to Stonemason and kill him the moment I discovered you were gone," I told my mate. My wolf bristled inside me at even the memory of those moments. Alpha Timothy had somehow managed to keep me calm, and Jack had kept me logical, and I owed them both more than I could ever repay.

She stepped into the shower, and I followed her. She smiled at me, meeting my eyes as she began to wash her hair. I scrubbed myself as she did so. I wanted the remnant of dried blood off of me. A river and sand could only do so much. "Well, like I said, I think your wolf would have been disappointed if you had done that. It wasn't Alpha Gavriel who abducted me, it was rogues working with his brother Thedric. They must have drugged me in my sleep. I didn't even know anything was wrong until I woke up in the back of a delivery truck. The rogues wouldn't tell me anything, but then Thedric explained. He tried to use me as leverage in his revenge plot against his brother."

Her words were familiar, but had been lost in the mad rush to get her away from Stonemason. I hadn't wanted to push her to speak about it during the long trip back to Lightwood, but I was glad she was telling me what happened. I wanted to tear apart the rogues who had dared to take my mate away from me. I had been so fixated on killing Gavriel that I hadn't even considered there were more people who deserved to die.

Instead of shifting and going on a killing spree like my wolf wanted, I tried to be rational. "Maybe that's why we couldn't find you right away. Jack hacked Stonemason's security almost immediately after I found you missing, but there was no sign of you there for days." I would have been terrified that he had killed her, except that I never felt her die, and I was well aware of what the crushing loss of a mate felt like. I leaned forward and put my hand on her waist because I couldn't bear the lack of contact between us any longer. I needed to reassure myself that she was really there with me. I had been so afraid.

"Yeah, they dragged me around for days while they moved us towards Stonemason. Don't get me wrong, I understand why Thedric wanted to kill his brother, but I didn't want to be a part of it."

"I should hunt him down and kill him next," I said, although my words were at least half my wolf's desires escaping through my lips.

She put her smooth comforting hand on my cheek. "He already beat you to it. I warned Thedric that his plan would get him killed, but he wouldn't listen. And I was right. It did." She stepped closer to me and I wrapped my arms around her. My erection, which had been steadily growing in spite of my best efforts to ignore her naked proximity, became even more prevalent. There was no way that she didn't notice.

She looked up. "I'm so glad you didn't get killed, too."

"Hey, didn't I tell you I'd show you what I can do?"

She smiled. "You did, at that. Maybe you should show me some more of what you can do?" she said, looking very deliberately down before meeting my eyes again slyly through her lashes.

I didn't need more encouragement than that. I kissed her until her legs were shaking, and then I shut off the shower. Grabbing towels, I carried her to our bed because I wanted more room to work. Her knowing expression spurred me on, and I spent long minutes touching and kissing every part of her body, just to reassure my wolf that we really had her back.

Each moan and whimper made me crave her more, and I kissed her while I entered her, her body wet and welcoming all around me. Watching her reactions, I set the pace to push her to the edge and I tipped her over, following her with my own release.

I rolled off of her and pulled her close, inhaling her sweet scent. Her hair was a tangled mess, but it only appeared to me as a sign of a job well done. She snuggled in closer, and every part of me was satisfied.

"You're beautiful," I said.

She laughed a bit at that. "Sure, thanks."

"I'm serious. There's no one else better to me, Kylie."

"Well, I am your mate, so I hope so."

"Even without that, I think I would have fallen for you anyway."

She turned over to face me. "I fell for you when I wasn't even sure what was going on. And now that our bond is free..." She touched my hand with hers and I felt the clear sparks of connection between us. My wolf had been right, and now that the disgusting piece of shit was dead, there was nothing in our way. We were as close as two people could be.

Unfortunately, reality had an unpleasant way of encroaching when all I wanted to do was make love with or even just innocently spend time with Kylie. I couldn't completely ignore my responsibilities, and Kylie wanted to be a contributing member of the pack, as well. She began to work with the luna as an assistant, and she seemed to do well in the role. It wasn't that surprising, since she had been fated to be a luna of a pack before she was mine.

I threw myself into pack security because I wanted Kylie to be safe. I had always had a drive to protect the pack, but after having lost her once due to outside malice, it was far more personal and specific. Jack and I continued to improve our business as well, and everything seemed to be working out well.

It was about a week or two since we had returned to Lightwood, when Kylie's voice echoed in my mind. "Vander, I have a problem."

"What is it?" I asked, instantly worried at the anxiety in her voice.

"Just, come home as soon as possible."

My worry spiked. She was supposed to be with the luna, not at home. I turned to Beta William, "I'm going to head home a bit early. Kylie's upset."

He agreed easily. We were ahead on our work so I had known it wouldn't be a problem. I transformed into my wolf, abandoning my clothing at the pack office, and ran across the territory to our home.

I tried to calm my worries as I punched in the security code on the door and pushed inside.