The Alpha's Mate (Werewolf Romance) (5 page)

The temperature had dropped below freezing
and the house was just a hair warmer than a walk-in freezer. The big ranch house usually retained heat better, allowing us to save money on the gas bill, but the sun had hidden behind clouds most of the day, refusing to share its warmth. As late afternoon turned to dusk, the heat fled at a rapid pace.

Feeling the chill
, I bumped up the thermostat and shrugged on a cardigan. Then I slumped on the couch and stared at the ceiling. At times like this, I missed my mom. Some motherly advice would’ve come in handy, but I didn’t have a mother anymore and Vicki exemplified the kind of relationship I had with other females in the pack. That’s why Tonya’s offer had been so precious; it marked a change.

So n
ow what?

When I moved in with Jackson I’d worried it would be awkward. We didn’t know each other that well, but it had been almost seamless.
He’d let me decorate the half empty ranch as I saw fit. Being a typical bachelor, he’d done nothing but buy a bed and a flimsy card table set for eating. I’d purchased the leather couch I sat on and kept myself busy with the fun of playing house with my mate.

I
’d brought in my dining set as well as other furniture and selected a color scheme. We didn’t argue once over paint colors, although he’d raised an eyebrow at the peach accent I’d selected to contrast with the deep forest green in the master bath. No, we fit together just fine and things only got better in bed.

No,
not just better, make that fantastic.

Our problems came from
the pack and stray wolves like Kelsey who introduced doubt and conflict. The stares and the gossip got to me. Maybe I
would
be a shitty alpha wife. As wolves went, I was a newborn and what would a baby like me know about leading a pack even in a supporting role? Nothing. That’s what. Add in a layer of extra judgment courtesy of Kelsey and I felt about as big as a bug that probably deserved to be squashed.

Should I even be his mate?

My wolf gave a soft, mournful howl at that thought. She seemed distressed by my feelings. Well, join the club, I didn’t like them either.

The spit of gravel announced Jackson’s arrival. I peeked out the living ro
om window to see Jackson’s black pick-up. Relief washed over me. What would I have done if he’d stayed out with her for hours? Lost my mind, that’s what. Enough to go back to the bar and humiliate myself with a very public display of jealousy.

My relief was short
lived though, as Jackson stormed into the house with an angry scowl. Throwing his keys on the foyer table, he marched over to me, a dangerous glitter in his eyes. I shrank back into the couch and gave a weak smile.

“Hey, Jacks.”

“Chloe,” he growled. He settled into the armchair across from me and leaned forward, elbows on knees, fingers threaded together. His expression guarded as if he didn’t want me to see his emotions, he asked, “Want to tell me what that was all about?”

I looked away, refusi
ng to meet his gaze. “She was--”

He cut me off. “Stronger than pepper up your nose?”

I nodded. I’d planned to say she’d been snuggling up against him as if she hoped she would stick, but the pepper analogy worked, too.

“But also a member of
my home pack.”

I flushed
at his reproving tone.

He continued, “Who I owe hospitality to.
Who is like a sister to me. What does it say when my mate won’t even sit with her?”

I shrugged. “I did sit with her.”

“You ran away,” he said, the words harsh, but the tone soft. “Why?”

I looked at him. Jackson didn’t appear to be
as mad now. Or, rather, he held his anger in check to give me a chance to make things right.

“Because,” I paused scared of the words that were about to come out of my mouth. “She made
me feel like nothing.” I said it all in a rush.

He spread his hands out and then brought them together again with a quiet clap
. “You’re not nothing, Clo. You’re my mate. You’re the alpha’s mate. That’s about as close as you can get to being a queen without a crown.”

That made me laugh
, a sarcastic bark. Me? A queen. Come on! I couldn’t even get the mail without being heckled. My subjects were in revolt before I’d even ascended the throne. “You make it sound so simple.”

He shrugged. “It is, babe.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not. Before Kelsey roared into town, I had a run-in with Vicki.”

His expression soured at the mention of her name. “She giving you trouble?”

“She says I’m an Omega wolf.” The words hung in the air and our eyes met; his concerned, mine running scared.

Jackson frowned. “That’s bullshit.”

I put a hand to my head, pressing against the dull headache that started to pound there. “I don’t know. Maybe that’s why I didn’t change for so long.” What if I couldn’t blame my wolf’s delay on my parents? What if I was just a big, fat weakling? My wolf growled in my head, causing me to wince as the sound intensified my headache.

“We wouldn’t have mated then. An Omega can’t mate.”

“Can’t or isn’t allowed?” I asked softly. “There’s a difference.”

“I...” H
e trailed off, unable to say. With a sigh, he leaned back in his chair. “She’s just giving you shit, Clo. Don’t listen to her. Omegas are something like zero zero zero one percent of the wolf population. It’s as rare as a perfect diamond.”

My ring finger twitched at the mention of diamonds
, but I opted not to bring it up. “I think it’s more serious than that. She’s going to Cal with this. Going to call me before the pack to prove my blood, whatever that means.”

He went absolutely s
till the way a wolf froze right before ripping out its prey’s throat. “Cal won’t listen to her. He won’t let you fight to the death just because she’s jealous.”

My stomach sank. “Is that what proving my blood is?”
On the one hand, I welcomed the idea of ripping out that bitch’s throat. On the other, what if I was the one who went down?

He nodded.
“You fight your way through three wolves to earn your place in the pack. It’s an old practice. Most packs don’t use it anymore. We’re too scarce these days to throw away lives like that.”

“Well, i
f enough of the pack complains, Cal will have to do something. She’s got a few wolves backing her now.”

His eyes gleamed yellow. “Who?”

“All the girls from what she says. Mostly the ones you’ve dated.”

He relaxed a bit. “That’s just sour grapes. Everyone knows that.”

I grimaced. He still didn’t understand. “Well, did you sleep with Tony, Alan and John too? What about teen girls who’ve just shifted for the first time?”

He startled, surprised at the idea. “Hell no.”

“They seem to have a problem with me, too. It’s gone beyond sour grapes.”

Jackson fell silent for a long moment, his expression unhappy. “I’ll talk to Cal. We’ll make it right.”

I frowned at him. “I have a feeling I’m the one who has to handle this or it’ll never stop.”

“Then I’ll have your back.”
His mouth split into a thousand-watt smile meant to reassure me. “I’d also like to have other parts, if you don’t mind.” Yellow heat flashed in his eyes, radiating across the room to brush my skin.

I crossed my arms. “Jackson, s
top looking at me like that. This is serious.”

In response, he stood up and
moved to sit on the coffee table in front of the couch. Taking my hands in his, he said, “I’m not going to let Vicki ruin anything for you, for me or the pack. She’s small potatoes and, whether you believe it or not, Cal’s got her number. She can pout all she wants, but she won’t get anywhere. Now let it go.”

“
But,” I started, but he cut me off with a low growl.

“Let. It. Go
.” His fingers caressed my wrists. “Let’s talk about more pleasant things, like you naked in bed.” The yellow faded from his eyes, giving way to pools dark as fine chocolate and full of sin.

Normally I would be a puddle of wet heat in response, but not tonight. Someone
needed to show some common sense. Irritated, I pulled my hands from his and buttoned up my sweater, deciding I wanted more layers between my skin and that smoldering gaze of Jackson’s.

Wolves hunt three things; gossip, food and sex. Just then, Jackson had shifted into sex mode. His eyes tracked every movement I made no matter how minute and lingered on my most intimate places. I fumbled with the buttons, feeling on edge.

“What are you doing?” Jackson reached for me again and our fingers tangled, me fighting to button, him trying to hold me back.

“I’m cold.” I glared at him.

“Don’t hide from me, babe,” he said softly. “I’ll keep you warm.”

Somehow his hands slipped past all my defenses to cup my breasts.
On cue, my nipples hardened, eager for his touch. My wolf practically swooned, but I held out.

“What about Kelsey
and Vicki?” I said.

“
What about them?” He squeezed my breasts, thumbs toying with their tips. “This is what fills my thoughts, Clo. You and your luscious body. I think about you all the time. Naked and hot beneath me.” He shook me slightly. “You are mine.”

“But who do
you
belong to?” I twisted out of his grasp and resumed buttoning my sweater. “You’ve got a lot of women who think you belong to them.” Kelsey’s self-satisfied smirk filled my mind until I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise.

Jackson sighed
in disappointment, but let me go. “Let me guess, since we’ve already talked about Vicki, you must mean the mate business with Kelsey?”

I nodded.

“She didn’t mean it.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I admit she didn’t put her best foot forward today, but she wasn’t serious.”

“I don’t know
. She looked serious to me.” I wanted to believe him, but he’d failed to pick up on the same undertones of our conversation with Kelsey as I had. Sure, they were from the same pack, but did he really know her all that well?  “You said you grew up together?”

“Yeah. She was a pack baby.”

I raised my eyebrows. “What’s a pack baby?” I’d only just been allowed into the pack clearing for the first time two weeks ago. I still had a lot to learn. More than I liked.

He shifted uncomfortably and looked away. “You know my pack has too many alphas?” At my nod, he continued, “Sometimes after a run, if a wolf is in heat things get a little...crazy.”

It took me a second to catch his meaning and when I finally understood, my eyes went wide and my mouth dropped open. “Isn’t that rape?”

He shoo
k his head. “Human logic doesn’t apply to wolves brimming with too many hormones for their own good. My dad was there, he witnessed the whole thing. She got lost in her heat and was a more than willing participant. Dad tried to stop it, but things spun out of control very quickly.”

“Does that mean she could be your sister?” I put a hand to my mouth shocked at the idea.

“No, I doubt it. Dad’s the pack alpha. He could fight his wolf’s instincts.” Jackson paused for a moment and then said, “Anyway, because we didn’t know who the father was, she became a pack baby. She belonged to everyone and we all took care of her, especially my momma.”

“What about her mom?” I asked remembering the odd exchange back at the bar. There was some painful history there.

Jackson’s expression darkened. “She was married and her husband didn’t like that fact that some other wolf knocked her up. She had as little to do with Kelsey as possible.”

“Oh wow.” I felt a small amount of sympathy for Kelsey. “We don’t do that kin
d of stuff up here.” There was no post change orgy, ever, and, if you were mated, you didn’t sleep around. Jackson’s pack sounded like a Las Vegas bender compared to Huntsville.

Jackson nodded. “I know. Every pack is different. If you had
all the alphas we do, you might.”

I tried
to picture our pack with a bunch of alphas running loose, but failed. We’d never had more than one or two alphas at a time. The whole reason Jackson came to Hunstville was because there was no one to step into Cal’s place. Since our pack alpha was pushing seventy, he’d been concerned enough to reach out to other packs in search of a successor.

Jackson
put his hands on my shoulders. I let him come close this time. “Listen, I don’t want to talk about Kelsey or Vicki anymore. In fact, I don’t want to talk at all.” He leaned down to kiss me.

“They
shook me, Jackson,” I murmured as I pulled away from his mouth. “Both of them, like a one-two punch.”

“
I know. I could see it in your eyes, but you are my mate. You can feel our bond, right?”

I nodded.

“That’s the truth of
us
.”

I waved my
ringless hand at him. “But this is the truth too.” I knew we were mated down to my marrow, my every heartbeat sang of our bond, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t be torn apart. He could walk away or I could even be forced out. It was rare for a mating to be disrupted, but it did happen. With wolves like Kelsey and Vicki at my door, I was afraid of what might happen.