Rejecting the Alpha

I sighed with relief when I heard the door open. My abdomen cramped with yet another wave of pain.

When the first pain had come, it had brought to mind Alpha Gavriel's cheating, and I had been ready to murder Vander for betraying me. I had never imagined that my Vander would even look at another female, and now he was doing exactly the same thing as that monster had. I just sat beside the luna's desk, trying not to cry or scream.

Then, the luna had noticed the tears I couldn't hold in and asked me what was wrong. I told her about the pain, even though I didn't want her to know what was happening. Her eyes had widened. "Kylie, you're in heat. Is it your first?"

My stomach felt sick. I was a terrible mate for assuming the worst when Vander had never given me any cause to do so.

Luna Serenity acted fast. She personally drove me home and helped me inside and into our bed. She sat beside me and tried to distract me from my suffering.

"Did I ever tell you the story of my first heat?"

She had not.

"It was a few months after Tim and I had been fully mated. He was starting to take over for his father at that point, so he was always being sent here and there to solidify alliances and whatnot, alpha business, you know? Naturally, I went into heat in the middle of the night when he was visiting another pack, about a six hour drive away.

"It wasn't entirely fair of me, but I was furious with him for not being there. I couldn't get a hold of him until the morning, and then he got back as fast as he could, but I'd already suffered through hours of it. I cried when I saw him and told him I hated him."

She smiled ruefully. It was hard to imagine the even tempered luna saying anything like that to her mate. I almost felt sorry for Alpha Timothy, but another pain ripped through me and my sympathy disappeared along with it.

"He looked like I broke his heart so I felt instantly terrible and begged him for forgiveness. Of course he forgave me—I doubt there's a male out there who can resist his mate when she's in heat—and everything worked out happily in the end. Nine months later Lightwood had its heir."

I smiled, but it probably looked more like a grimace.

Her smile widened. "You know, to this day, he always stays on the territory for about a week on either side of when we think my heat is going to fall. Once you figure out your cycle, I'm sure Vander will always be here for you, too."

She tilted her head up and looked towards the door. "Speaking of always being here for you, I believe it's time for me to sneak out the back door. See you in a few days, dear."

A few seconds later Vander slammed into the room, looking around frantically as if searching for threats, then he took a good look at me and his fear transformed into concern. "Heat?"

The fact that he was completely naked did not cool me down in the slightest. "Apparently," I moaned. I'd apologize to him later for my assumption. Right now I needed him to put all those rippling muscles to good use.

"We've never really talked about pups," he said, his eyebrows knitting together. "Should I go get protection?"

I shook my head vigorously. "I'm scared after what happened to my first, Vander, but you aren't him, and you won't do what he did, and right now I don't care. Just help me, please." All I could feel was the pain and a throbbing emptiness between my legs and there was no way I wanted him going anywhere else for anything.

He was on top of me in a second and even that helped a bit. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. If you are."

"I'd love to see you carry my pups, Kylie, but only if you're sure."

"I always thought I'd have some someday anyways, now seems like a great time if you can make the pain go away. Now." In an effort not to be too bitchy and demanding I added, "Please," and looked at him hopefully.

Apparently convinced, he kissed me, and swiftly pulled off my underwear, and pushed up the skirt I had conveniently worn that day. Also conveniently—since I assumed he had shifted to run over and rescue me—he already had no clothing of his own to worry about.

"Hurry."

He did just that, bringing the momentary relief of his length to my entrance and shoving into me. The horrible cramping receded, but I still burned for him, digging my nails into his back to encourage him to move faster.

The tenderness he usually employed was completely absent, and I didn't care in the slightest since I only wanted the satisfaction of his physical claim on me along with the relief he was giving me. I was like tinder and his slightest touch made me combust all around him.

When it was over, I felt normal again. He rolled us over without pulling out so that I was lying on top of him. "If we stay like this, you'll get a longer break between," he explained simply. Sometimes it was great that he'd dealt with all these mate issues before and knew what he was doing.

"What torture," I joked.

He laughed and that caused him to twitch inside me. "Well, you say that now, but let's see how you feel this time tomorrow."

I laughed and kissed him, and waited for the next wave of my heat to come, and after that, the rest of our lives.