Alpha (15 page)

“
Sure,” said Blake with a nod.

Cade walked me to his car and opened the passenger side and he helped me in and then closed the door. He walked around the front of his car and got into the driver’s side.

He started up the car and as we pulled out of the parking space, he took my hand in his.

Normally, I’d ask where we were going, but I was content to just hold his hand and revel in the calm I felt when I was with him. It was different from before when we’d been at each other’s throats. I couldn’t help thinking it was because we’d been attracted to each other.

He drove to a part of town I’d never been to before. It was more secluded, with tall trees lining the dirt road that led to a house surrounded by more tall trees. He parked in front of the house.

I opened the door and got out. It was beautiful and I couldn’t help but take a deep breath of the wilderness. Cade took my hand in his and led me to the door of the house. He reached behind a potted plant beside the front door and pulled out a key. It was such a typical hiding place for a key.

He opened the door and stepped inside.

“
It’s not much, but I like to come here when I need to be alone,” he said as I entered the house.

I looked around. It was a small house. The lounge had a sofa facing a fireplace with a simple wooden coffee table in between. It was nothing compared to what I was used to, but I liked it. It felt homey. The massive houses that I’d lived in my whole life had been cold and empty.

There was a small kitchen in the corner of the lounge. It had a stove and a small fridge.

“
I like it,” I said honestly as he watched me for a response.

“
I thought it would be better to talk here than at the house where there are too many distractions.”

I nodded my head.

Gary was at his house. He was right, we needed time to talk about what had just happened and we didn’t need other distractions. Like how Gary was going to take the news that Cade was my mate.

Besides, I knew that our talk was going to get heated. Irrespective of how he made me feel and how right it felt being with him, I wasn’t prepared to just drop my life to be with him.

“
But before we talk I need to do this again,” he said before he reached for me and pulled me closer. His hands cupped my face and tilted it upward as his lips covered mine. His seductive touch sent a shiver of awareness through me.

I wished we didn’t have to stop kissing. Once the kissing stopped and the talking started, things were going to get heated and we’d be back to fighting.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Cade

I’ll never forget how I felt the first time I saw her.

I’d missed the first day back at school because I’d been out with a couple of members from my pack trying to track down a rogue that had shown up a few days before.

We’d managed to track him to the town’s border but then his tracks had just vanished. It was never a good thing to have a rogue roaming in your territory. I had to up the patrols and security around my property.

The only reason I’d been waiting outside the school was to talk to Blake. I was leaning against my car with a couple of girls keeping me company when the smell of wild daisies hit me and I looked to the source standing at the entrance of the school.

It wasn’t her outer beauty that kept my eyes glued to her. There was something about her—maybe it was the confident air about her or the defiant way her eyes had clashed with mine.

When I’d watched her walk over to the beautiful Maserati I’d raced the day before, my interest in her had gone up a level. The thought of a girl being able to drive a car like that made her sexier than before.

She was so different from the girls I was used to. She was like a breath of fresh air and I couldn’t dispute the fact that I wanted her.

When I’d found out from Blake that she didn’t know what a pack meant and he was convinced she had no idea she was one of us, I’d felt protective of her. That protectiveness had made me watch over her that night from the boundary wall of her property.

When I’d managed to get her to come to my house so Blake and I could reveal the truth to her, she’d lost her cool and left.

The fear that had hit me when she’d hit the rogue with her car had scared me. I was in charge, so there were plenty of lives I was responsible for, but I felt something very different when Scarlett had been injured.

But it didn’t matter that I was attracted to her or that I cared. She couldn’t stand the sight of me.

And it seemed the more time I spent with her, the more she disliked me and the more she gravitated to Blake. I usually never got jealous, but for the first time I wanted to hit my best friend because he’d seemed to have caught her interest. Watching it unfold in front of me was more than I could handle.

I looked forward to seeing Scarlett as I made my way downstairs.

When I walked into the kitchen and spotted her sipping her coffee, I felt the attraction I had for her come alive. Even though she’d spent most of the day before so close to Blake, it didn’t stop how I felt about her.

I’d never felt jealous before and it took all my self-control not to beat the crap out of him.

“
Morning,” I greeted her as I grabbed a cup of coffee.

“
Morning,” she greeted back, holding her cup to her lips to take another sip.

“
Are you ready to leave for school?” I asked.

“
Yes,” she answered as she set her still-full cup of coffee down on the counter.

“
Come on, let’s go.”

Scarlett was quiet as she gazed out of the window. I couldn’t help sneaking a few glances at her. She was an enigma that I couldn’t figure out.

I had lots of experience with girls. Being an alpha, I never had a shortage of girls wanting my attention, but Scarlett made me feel things I’d never felt before. Maybe I felt this way because she refused to fall down at my feet like the rest of the girls did.

As soon as I parked in front of the school, she got out of the car and disappeared into the school. I felt anger and frustration at the fact that the girl I liked couldn’t get away from me fast enough.

I’d never been in this predicament before, wanting someone who wasn’t interested in me, and I didn’t know how to handle it.

Feeling unsettled, I got out of my Jeep and slammed the door closed. I wanted to go into the school, but the thought of seeing Scarlett getting closer to Blake was too much to handle. So instead, I sat down on the bench outside the school contemplating whether I should skip school for the day to see if I could track the rogue that was after Scarlett.

I didn’t like the idea of someone out there being hell-bent on hurting her.

“
Cade,” I heard the seductive voice say to me.

I looked up to see Nancy standing in front of me. She was a werewolf from Blake’s pack. She wore skin-tight jeans and a halter-top that struggled to contain her big tits.

“
Hi,” I greeted her, giving her a smile.

Then it occurred to me. Maybe the best way to deal with what I was feeling for Scarlett was to get another girl to take my mind off her.

“
I thought I’d come and keep you company,” Nancy cooed and I smiled. She was definitely game.

“
Sure,” I said, running my eyes appreciatively over her figure.

I expected her to sit down on the bench next to me but she surprised me when she stepped closer and straddled me. My hands reached for her waist as she smiled at me seductively.

I smiled at her, thinking that she was exactly what I needed to work Scarlett out of my system.

“
Get off him,” a female voice demanded. Why would anyone care that Nancy was straddling me and getting a little friendly?

“
What the hell?” said Nancy as she turned to look at the girl who’d issued the demand. I was shocked when Nancy shifted off me and I saw Scarlett, angry as hell, with her hands on her hips.

What the hell?

What surprised me even more was the look she gave Nancy. Nancy was about to argue, but the look Scarlett gave her made her bite her tongue.

“
Get lost,” Scarlett told her as her eyes shifted to mine. Nancy hesitated for a moment before she turned and walked off in a huff.

I was trying to figure out why Scarlett was acting the way she was. Why would she have a problem with what I did with another girl? It made no sense. Students around us began to watch the unfolding drama with interest.

“
What is your problem?” I demanded as I stood up. Most people would have been intimidated, but not Scarlett. She stood her ground.

She was acting like she was jealous. She’d been getting closer to Blake yesterday so I couldn’t understand why suddenly she was standing in front of me acting like a jealous girlfriend.

“
You’re my problem,” she snapped angrily. Why would I be her problem? She wasn’t making any sense. She looked so angry and I was trying to figure out why. It was like trying to do a puzzle with half of the pieces missing.

She took a step forward and I felt her hand connect with my face.

Stunned, I stood rooted to the spot. The instant her hand touched my face, I felt a bolt of electricity shoot through me. And in that moment I felt a rush of emotions for the girl in front of me and I saw the emotion for me mirrored in her eyes.

She was my mate.

I was still stunned by the slap and the realization that I’d found my mate. Scarlett stood unmoving as I watched her struggle with the emotions coursing through her.

My cheek hurt. As small as she was compared to me, she’d slapped me hard. Anger flowed in me and I struggled to keep it under control. Slapping an alpha was never a good idea. We had tempers and that type of action would set us off without thinking.

“
Fuck,” Blake said and I noticed him standing beside Scarlett. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her behind him.

Even though logically I knew he was protecting her from me, I couldn’t stop the jealousy that stirred in me at the sight of his hand on her wrist. A possessiveness I’d never felt before took over and I wanted to rip his hand off of her. She was mine.

“
Get your hand off her,” I warned in a deadly tone, fisting my hands to stop myself from attacking my best friend for touching my mate. He was my best friend, but she was my mate. She outranked him—hell, she outranked everyone. To me she was the most important person.

Knowing I was about to lose it, Blake released her wrist and held up his hand to show me that he wasn’t touching her.

I watched as Scarlett stared back at me. She was mine and I needed to touch her again. With my eyes still on her, I took a step toward her, but Blake refused to move.

“
Calm down and I’ll get out of your way,” Blake tried to reason with me, but he didn’t understand. It was the fact that he was in my way that angered me.

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a shaky breath to try and control the anger building up inside.

“
I won’t hurt her,” I whispered, meaning every word I said. I opened my eyes and fixed them on Scarlett.

She was mine and he couldn’t keep her from me. I wanted to reach for her and pull her close. I wanted to touch her so bad that I felt a physical pain at not being able to. She looked at me the same way I looked at her. I was hers and she was mine. We belonged to each other.

“
Get out of my way,” I warned Blake, not moving my eyes from Scarlett. “You’re keeping me from what is mine.”

But Blake didn’t move. He had no right to keep me from her.

“
He won’t hurt me,” Scarlett assured him as she stepped around him, but Blake grabbed her arm to stop her. Seeing him touch her made the rage grow inside of me again. No one was to touch her. I growled at Blake again to warn him and he released her. If he touched her again I was going to go ballistic.

I watched Scarlett take a tentative step toward me. Her eyes held mine as she took another step closer. With every step closer I felt the anticipation of touching her grow.

Blake remained behind her ready to spring into action if I lost it. He hadn’t found his mate yet so he didn’t understand the connection I’d just formed with Scarlett. There was no way I could hurt her, she was a piece of me. Hurting her would be like hurting myself.

She took one more step and she stopped. We were so close. I could see the uncertainty in her eyes. She was used to being in control and I could see something deeper than she understood pulled her to me.

My hand lifted to her face and I trailed my knuckles down her cheek. Her skin was so soft. She closed her eyes at the feel of my touch. I felt the anger begin to disappear and I felt complete. She was the other half of me and when I touched her, I felt at peace. Nothing I’d ever experienced was even close to what I felt at that moment.

My eyes drank her in.
She is mine.