The Alpha's Unwanted Mate: (BWWM) Paranormal Romance Standalone (6 page)

In that instant, Angeline felt her first genuine moment of guilt. She had used Clyde to make her way into this den, even knowing that he must still feel the loss of his late mate pretty acutely. She’d been wary of interacting with his children without taking into account how they must feel about losing their mother. Swallowing thickly, she did her best to bury the emotion.

She could feel guilty later – after she’d discovered what had happened to her friends and figured out a way to reveal to her mother the true nature of the wolves she revered so much. The woman who’d just entered the house was the first human woman she’d seen since her arrival and a possible answer to the questions she’d been seeking. Clearing her throat, she stepped into the kitchen.

Both Elias and the woman looked to her abruptly.

Stepping forward, Angeline made an attempt at civility, holding out her hand.  “Hello, Elias. I’m Angeline. Your father has told me a lot about—“

Growling, the teen merely glared at her before maneuvering his wheelchair expertly to shoot past her and down the hall. A moment later, the door slammed loudly, making both women in the kitchen flinch.

Well, that had gone…well, thought Angeline ironically.

“I’m sorry about that.” For the first time, the woman before her addressed Angeline, her honey eyes apologetic. “Elias has been…difficult since Leila died.”

So Leila was her name. It wasn’t the information Angeline sought, but it was information, nonetheless. Though Clyde had mentioned he’d been mated before, for a number of years, and it was evident that the female wolf had a deep impact on her family, Angeline had never heard him utter her name.

“I’m Alicia.” Elias’ caretaker held out her hand with a warm smile. “Lex’s mate.”

Lex’s
mate… as in the Alpha’s woman, Angeline thought excitedly. Angeline hadn’t just gotten lucky, she’d hit the jackpot! This woman would know everything there was about any other females to have come into the camp.

She shook her hand warmly, her smile wide. “Angeline. I’m so glad to finally see another human face.”

Alicia laughed softly. “Yes, well, some of the males guard their mates rather jealously. Everyone gets together at night after the hunt, though. You’d be sure to meet other women then.”

“But…Lex doesn’t guard you?He doesn’t keep you inside?”

Alicia arched a brow in curiosity. “Keep me inside? Why would he?”

“To have his pups! To protect you from other males.”

Alicia’s cheeks colored slightly at Angeline’s bluntness. “Well, I’ve gone into isolation for the last few months of all of my pregnancies, but Lex doesn’t need to protect me. His influence is enough. Besides, most of the males here respect me and my legacy enough to mind their manners.”

There were perks to being the Alpha’s mate, it seemed. Angeline could only assume her girlfriends, mating lower level wolves, hadn’t gotten so lucky.  And even being mated to the Alpha, it seemed, didn’t save one from being knocked up as much as humanly possible. This woman hadn’t said ‘pregnancy’ singular. It had been
pregnancies
.

“How many children…pups…do you have?”

To Angeline’s surprise, the woman before her beamed with pride at the question. “Three. The youngest is almost a year old. All girls.”

“And…how long have you been mated?”

“Almost six years.” Jesus Christ, Angeline did the math: literally a child every two years. She’d been spirited away from the city up into the wilderness to bear the pups of the most brutal member of the pack and she…was smiling. “Look, Angeline, I understand how you must feel.”

The look on her face must have spoken volumes, as Alicia stepped forward to place a hand reassuringly on her arm. “Everything seems new to you here. Wolves are…different from our kind, to say the least. They can be brash, primal and complete idiots, but they’re loyal, strong and protect one another with their lives. There’s a wealth of tradition and knowledge here. But before you judge, you might want to try and interact with them a bit more. You might be surprised.”

Alicia’s words hit a little too close to the mark for Angeline’s comfort. She forced a smile, even as her stomach clenched in emotional turmoil. She wasn’t here to try and humanize wolves. Quite the opposite in fact, yet, here was the Alpha’s mate telling her that she was perfectly happy here.

“I suppose you’re right.” The words sounded awkward to her, but Alicia didn’t seem to notice.

“Don’t forget that Clyde only wants to help you. He chose you, after all. And Ian and Elias will come around. They’re complicated…but they’re sweet children, really.”

Angeline nodded slowly. 

“Well,” straightening her tunic, Alicia turned to go. “It really was nice to meet you. I hope to see you after the hunt tonight.” With that, she closed the screen door carefully before beginning back down the path towards the settlement.

She carried herself, Angeline noticed, like a woman who was completely sure of herself, despite being under the thumb of the Alpha and mother to three children, Alicia didn’t seem worn down at all. Was it at all possible that she could have been completely wrong in her assumptions about wolves? Shaking her head, the young woman turned from the window to return to the small living room and plop back down on the couch.

Of course the Alpha’s mate would be happy here. She’d be afforded special privileges and luxuries. All she needed was to find Samantha and the others and the truth would be revealed, she reasoned.

Angeline jumped at a loud thump from Elias in the opposite room. Frowning, she recalled the despair in the young wolf’s eyes. It was obvious he was still grieving. There was a part of her that longed to try and comfort him, despite the fact that children had never been her strong suit. Her mother had always told her she’d had an empathetic nature, even when she was a little girl. She supposed that wanting to ease  someone’s suffering was nothing out of the ordinary. However, it was really none of her affair. Let Clyde tend to his children. As long as he accepted her for long enough to expose the truth, she would do her best to forget Elias’s angry green gaze, and the sightless tears of the little boy Clyde cradled close to him as he wailed.

**

“She’s not speaking to me.”

Taking a swig of the beer Lex had brought him, Clyde stared off into the distance. Around him, other males were preparing for the nightly hunt while women rounded up their pups from daily training. Stella, the Alpha’s oldest daughter, was chasing her younger sister around the small front yard. Soon, he knew, Alicia would call them in for dinner. His brother’s family worked like the perfect, well-oiled machine. Certainly, Lex and Alicia got into fights sometimes, but those conflicts always reached rational conclusions and were marked by uproarious make-up  rutting.

Meanwhile, his family seemed to be in utter shambles.

“I thought she seemed pretty eager to get here. Isn’t that what you told me?” Beside him, his brother took a swig of his own beer, watching his daughters with a protective eye. Fatherhood had mellowed Lex somewhat, but that didn’t mean he still couldn’t be the blustering, bellowing Alpha of the pack when he had to be.

“Well, that was a week ago. Before she actually got here. I suppose I can’t really blame her. Elias has been horrible and Ian…” Clyde ran his fingers through windblown mahogany waves in frustration. “He doesn’t even want to be in the same room with her.”

Lex cast him a sideways glance. “Give it time. She has to adjust.”
             

Clyde snorted. “That’s just it, I’m not even sure she wants to adjust. I know the boys are being hard on her but she seems to be avoiding me as well. The last thing she asked was about the evening hunt, but when I told her it was something all the pack males came together for, she clammed up. Hasn’t spoken a word since.”

Lex frowned, gazing over the numerous wolves preparing to head out into the forest. On any normal night, he would be at the head of the group, leading them towards their prey. However, when Clyde had asked him to stay and talk, he’d immediately agreed.

“So, you think she doesn’t want to be here?”

“That’s clear enough, she’s clashed with the boys, is scared of everyone outside the house and jumps whenever I enter the room.”

“So I assume you haven’t fucked her yet.”

Groaning, Clyde set his beer on the step next to him, covering his eyes with a calloused hand. The question cleaved deep, and not only because of the implications of not sealing the mating pact, but also because he was quite sure Angeline meant to drive him crazy.

He hadn’t even touched her. But Clyde didn’t need to. Just watching her sneak into the kitchen in the mornings in her wispy white nightgown, the near translucent cloth clinging to her skin, was enough to make him hard as a rock. He could hear the cadence of her breathing in the room down the hall from his every night, and when, for a moment, he allowed his mind to slip from his troubles, Angeline filled it.

What would it be like, he imagined, if she smiled for him? If she sought him out in the night, let him bring her into his bed and moaned as he worshipped her body? He didn’t think he’d wanted a woman so badly since he’d meant Leila in his adolescent years, and the raw desire left him feeling both torn and exhausted.

“She likes you.”

His head jerked up to see the Alpha eying him with a thin smile. “Not that I’ve seen much of you two together, but you should see the way she looks at you when she thinks you’re not paying attention. Trust me, brother, she’ll come around.”

But Clyde didn’t want to pin his hopes on a young woman who seemed to have every motive but actually wanting a mate. He couldn’t help but wonder if it wasn’t too late to call Madeline and tell her the match wasn’t working out. He certainly hadn’t defiled her daughter yet, so, technically, he could return her to Atlanta as if nothing had ever happened. Never having tasted her sweet mouth or touching the softness of her skin. Never hearing her laugh for him, or seeing her smile…

Sighing, Clyde took up his beer once more. “I hope you’re right, Lex.”

“I usually am.” The younger wolf quipped cockily. “That
is
why I’m the Alpha.”

Clyde simply rolled his eyes. “Yeah. That’s what you keep telling yourself.” Lex chuckled lowly for a moment before draining the rest of his beer in one gulp. Once he’d finished, his expression sobered somewhat before he spoke again.

“There was another Reef pack attack last night. A couple of our wolflings were badly hurt. Headley might not make it through the next twenty-four hours.”

Clyde’s head jerked up in shock. Headley was one of Patrick’s daughters. The girl was only eleven. The idea that their rivals had torn into such a young girl…Christ. He’d been so absorbed in trying to straighten out his household, he’d almost forgotten his duties to his brother. To his
Alpha
.

“Jesus, Lex. Why didn’t you call me sooner?”

“You’ve got a lot on your plate, and don’t you think I don’t realize it.” The Alpha growled lowly. “But now that it’s all said and done, Clyde, I have to tell you…this is getting out of hand. Tirion’s become far too bold and our pack doesn’t have nearly enough strength to face his head on.”

The admission made Clyde’s blood run cold. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t noticed more frequent Reef pack attacks, but for Lex to say that he expected open conflict…that was no small matter.

“So what are we going to do?” Clyde spoke in a tone below the hearing of the children playing a few feet away from them. There was no need for him to tell his brother that he would support any decision he made as Alpha. Clyde had been supporting him since he’d earned the position, and would support him until it was taken from him.

“There’s not much we can do for now. We wait, and we fortify. If Tirion is bloodthirsty enough to move against the settlement, we’ll know what we’re dealing with, and we’ll be ready.”

Clyde nodded stiffly, understanding the gamble they were taking. If the Reef pack was really as strong as Lex feared, and if its Alpha still held the same grudge he had for decades, there was a good chance their rivals would attempt to wipe them out. If that happened, the camp would have to be prepared. 


His children would have to be protected. Clyde exhaled hotly as he imagined Elias, in his wheelchair, struck down by one of Tirion’s savage pack mates, or Ian, running blind from imminent death. He shuddered. No such thing would happen on his watch. If there were still breath in his body, he would protect his sons, as well as his mate.

He might be crazy to still care for her safety when it seemed she wanted nothing to do with him, but Clyde couldn’t help but be drawn to the young woman. Her standoffish attitude hid a fragileness that he longed to expose, and a desire he hungered to unleash.

CHAPTER FIVE

The next day was quiet. Clyde took Ian and Elias down to Lex’s cabin early. Alicia had promised him she would care for the boys to give him some time to think. He could only imagine the trouble they might be causing, running wild with  her own three daughters, but he was perfectly at ease knowing that Alicia regarded his children with the same affection as her own.

He remembered Leila; the sweet scent of her hair and the softness of her skin. He remembered how she would curl up next to him after a long day and lay her head on his chest to sleep. He had watched her stomach swell twice with his pups and couldn’t have been prouder. She might not have been the strongest physically, but he could have not have wished for a better mate.

Perhaps it had been too soon for him to seek another. The boys obviously weren’t ready yet, and Clyde was clueless about what angle to approach Angeline from. So far, he’d left her to her own devices, praying she didn’t get into any more trouble. He couldn’t deny that her body tempted him, but she seemed to be hiding something. And he’d never taken well to secrets.

He was on the cusp of rising to head into the forest to run on four legs when a sharp gasp reached his ears. He stiffened immediately, his ears perking in awareness. After a moment of silence, another sound reached his ear, a low whimper. Slowly, Clyde stood, striding towards the hallway to pause in the doorway of the kitchen and listen intently.

There it was again: a soft moan of distress. Clyde took the few steps down the hallway to pause before the door to Angeline’s room. He hadn’t seen her all morning, and so he assumed she hadn’t yet emerged. Softly, he tapped on the door. There was no answer. For a moment, he fought a brief inner battle. He had no desire to invade her privacy. However, she sounded as if she might be in pain, and his pride wouldn’t allow him to ignore such a thing.

Slowly, silently, he pushed the door open. His breath caught in his throat as a shaft of sunlight spilled across the small cot. The young woman had tossed off the sheets and lay on her back, spread across the bed, her nightgown hiked up high on her thighs. Long, dark legs contrasted sharply with salmon colored sheets and the woman slumbered with her lush lips slightly parted, her short hair haloing around her head.

Half of the blood in Clyde’s body immediately slammed to his groin. A dark, primal lust, the likes of which it seemed he hadn’t felt in ages, flooded through him. He swallowed thickly, struggling against his animalistic tendencies. Before him, Angeline shifted, moaning softly in her sleep as her brown eyebrows knitted together in obvious distress.

Clyde watched as she turned onto her side, her mouth drawing into a tight line. She was having a bad dream. He felt no small amount of guilt that her soft whimpers and sighs went directly to his already straining cock, and contemplated whether or not he should wake her. It really wasn’t his place.

On the other hand, no one deserved to suffer through nightmares. Since Leila had died, he woken from quite a few himself, always drenched in sweat with an emptiness in his chest. He made his way soundlessly across the room to kneel next to the bed. The woman that lay before him made him want nothing more than to take her into his arms to love away every fear that she might have.

But Clyde knew better. Angeline had barely decided if she wanted to be in the same room with him, much less go running to his bed. As her entire body trembled, Clyde swallowed his lust to reach out and touch her shoulder gently.

“Angeline. Angeline, wake up.”

The young woman only moaned lowly, rolling over to frown deeply. She was a heavy sleeper. Her form jerked and a soft cry escaped her. Her obvious distress made his heart clench, and Clyde took her shoulder in a firmer grip, turning her back over to face him gently. “Angeline, wake up.” His voice was louder now, but no less comforting. “You’re only dreaming.”

He shook her shoulder lightly and the young woman’s dark eyes shot open as she gasped sharply. She sat up so quickly that her head almost connected with his before her gaze shot around the room as her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “I…what?”

Clyde touched her arm gently, drawing her attention back to him. Though he ached to touch her, he forced himself to come to terms with the fact that the timing was not right. “It’s ok, Angeline.” The most he dared was to reach out and cup her cheek gently in reassurance. “It was just a bad dream.”

“Clyde…” It was the first time she had uttered his name since she’d entered the camp, and the sound made his entire body tense. Angeline was looking at him through eyes still half-asleep, and he knew she must not be fully conscious of what she was doing. The young woman reached up to run her fingers through the length of his hair, her eyes locked on his. “You’re
gorgeous
, Clyde.”

His gut clenched in a searing desire that threatened to overpower him. She had no idea what she was doing to him.
None
. She had only been in the camp for three weeks and already she had turned his life upside down. He desired her even as he suspected she might not be completely genuine. He longed for her smile even as his children shied away from her. Everything about the two of them together was utterly and completely wrong.

So why was he still so drawn to her? Why did her face haunt him every night as he lay awake, contemplating what the next day might bring? Without a second thought, Clyde lowered his mouth to hers. At the first touch of his lips, she moaned softly, an arm curling about his neck to draw him closer. She tasted sweet, fresh and clean, like something he’d been craving his entire life but had never been able to place. Slowly, his lips moved over hers, sampling and stimulating. Clyde felt her pulse increase as she pressed against him, her nipples hardening to taut buds against his chest.

He drank from her like a man starved, forgetting that his life was in shambles, that his pack might be on the verge of a war, and that this woman was completely wrong for him in every way. He wanted her – powerfully – even though he knew she hid her true self from him.

When his tongue cleaved past her lips to tease her own, Angeline whimpered in his arms, arching against his chest in a silent plea for more. He nipped and sucked at her lower lip until she was clinging to him, breathless, her body an undulating mass of heat and need. Groaning, Clyde tasted her until he thought the feel of her soft form against him might drive him out of his mind.

It took a good deal more effort than anything in recent memory, but he forced himself to release her, drawing back as he ended the kiss. Angeline stared up at him, his eyes dark with desire, and Clyde clenched the edge of the bed to keep from swooping down on her again. He could do no more when he wasn’t even certain she was fully conscious. He refused to take advantage of her that way, to do something both of them might later regret. For a moment, he merely gazed down upon her, waiting for the realization he knew was sure to come.

Angeline’s eyes slowly cleared as lucidity leeched into her features. The soft smile she’d hosted moments earlier sobered as her eyes widened. “Oh…” The word left her breathless as she scrabbled upright, grabbing for the sheets.  “Oh
Christ
. I…” She couldn’t meet his gaze, her cheeks flaming as she stared devotedly down at the coverlet she held in her hands. “I thought I was still dreaming.”

He didn’t know whether to take that as a compliment or as an insult. Clyde chose his words carefully. “I…apologize. I didn’t mean to startle you. I only heard you tossing and turning and thought…”

“What did you think?” Her inquiry was the barest whisper.

“I…thought you might need to be woken up.”

Angeline drew her hands to her face to cover it, and when she next spoke, her words came out muffled. “I do need to wake up. This place…it confuses me, Clyde. It makes me question everything I ever thought to be true about your kind.”             

It was the first earnest thing he’d heard from her since she’d entered his home. Clyde’s heart leaped into his throat at the admission, as he leaned forward to place a hand gently on her thigh. “Let me help you, Angeline. You said you wanted to learn. Let me teach you. There’s no need to be afraid.”

The silence hung thick between them, fraught with uncertainty. At that moment, Clyde wanted nothing more than for Angeline to let him in. It would smooth things over between them, and they could begin to work on the relationship that would make them compatible mates.

He could take her into his bed, and make sure that no other man ever entered her thoughts again. But her next words shattered his hope just as quickly as they had baited it. “I need you to leave.”

Though the words were uttered low, Clyde’s sharp hearing was more than adept enough to her Angeline clearly. Her statement made him stiffen even as his heart twisted in his chest.

“Are you sure,” He managed hoarsely, “that’s what you want?”

“It’s what I
need
.” She returned, uttering the last word vehemently, her face still hidden in her hands. “Please…just go.”

Silently, Clyde stood to leave her room, closing the door quietly behind him. He didn’t stop walking until he had left the cabin and made his way through the settlement. When he reached the edge of the forest, he shifted, his form lengthening and thickening into that of an immense, sable colored wolf with glowing silver eyes.

He had tasted her, and she had turned him away. Clyde didn’t know what was more painful – that no woman could contend with the tatters of his life, or that he had placed all his hopes into a woman he barely understood. Pushing the hurt to the back of his mind, he leaped into motion, streaking through the trees and into the early morning air.