The Alpha's Heart (Wilde Creek Two) (12 page)

He liked her pluck.

As he began to tell her about the pack, briefly touching on the history of his kind and their laws, she listened intently, stopping him when she needed clarification.  Although he didn’t really want to share any more flaws with her, he felt compelled to tell her the truth about his actions with his sister and her human mate which had led him to change the laws about accepting non-wolves as mates.

“That’s why you were drunk that night?  Because you were angry at yourself for putting Eveny in harm’s way?”

He nodded.  “But I don’t regret what happened that night, Brynn, only that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.  I was convinced that you’d be harmed more by being with me than being away.  In my panic, I didn’t think to change the laws about the alpha female.”

Her head dropped forward quickly and a moment later he scented her tears.  Cupping her chin, he lifted her face until he could see the liquid pooled in her eyes.  “I should have come for you sooner, Brynn.  I’m so damn sorry.”

She closed her eyes and tears slipped down her cheeks.  “Go away.”

“What?”

She knocked his hand away and turned onto her side, facing away from him.  “Go.  Away.”

His wolf protested leaving her when she was so upset, but he sensed that she needed time alone to process all that he’d told her.

“When you’re ready, Dr. Kimmi wants you to call her.”

She didn’t say anything.  Although leaving warred with his desire to make her happy, he bet that it would make her happiest right now, so he stood and left, closing the door behind him.

Waiting at the door, it wasn’t long before he heard her crying, but he didn’t dare go in, choosing instead to give her the time she’d asked for.

Chapter 13

After Acksel left her alone in the morning and she had a good cry, she spent a long time considering all that he’d said.  When he brought lunch for her, they ate together but he was quiet, not filling up the silence with a repeat of the history of wolves or his reasons for walking away from her after their night together.  She wasn’t really sure what to say to him anyway.  Part of her was still angry about his behavior and wasn’t ready to forgive him yet.

He left his cell for her before he walked out of the room and she knew that he was showing that he trusted her.  It would have been easy enough to call the police and say she was being held against her will.  The chief of Wilde Creek was human and would not take kindly to anyone — not even the alpha — holding a pregnant woman hostage.

Although she thought she’d probably take some measure of pleasure in seeing Acksel in trouble with the police, she didn’t really want to see him arrested.  Instead, she called Dr. Kimmi and filled in the gaps in what her friend had been told.

“Do you need help, Brynn?  Is there anything we can do?”  Dr. Kimmi asked, her voice filled with concern.

“No, but thank you for caring.  I’m safe now and healed.”

“I’ll let Nila know you’re okay.  She wanted me to let you know that she was worried.”

Brynn hung up and dialed her dad, who Acksel had also filled in.  He sounded very impressed with Acksel.  “He’s a good man to come for you,” he said.

She almost said that the
good man
was the reason she had been taken in the first place.  But the truth was, she was starting to feel as much to blame for what happened as he was.  First, she’d woken up with him eating her out and hadn’t stopped him and hadn’t grabbed a condom from the nightstand drawer before they had sex. But when she realized she was pregnant, that changed everything.  She had thought she could go through it alone, and she probably could have if he’d never wanted anything to do with her and the baby.  But he was so eager for her forgiveness, so eager to make her understand that he had cared for her all along and that the baby was only a sweet bonus to his already sincere feelings.

Did she believe he cared for her?

Yeah.

Did she think if she’d told him two weeks ago that she was pregnant that he would have come busting into her home like some knight in shining armor to sweep her off her feet and take care of her and be there for her?

Yeah.

So if she truly believed what he’d said, believed that he felt caught between her safety and his desire for her — and help her, she was starting to — and he would have come begging at her door soon enough, wouldn’t she have forgiven him?  Didn’t she care about him a great deal, as she had for a long time?

She sighed deeply.  “I know, Dad.  I know he’s a good guy.”

There was a long pause and she thought her dad might ask if Acksel was her baby’s father, but instead he said, “I met with his dad, Dade.  We went to school together, did you know that?”

“No.”

“Back in those days, humans and wolves didn’t get along quite as well as they do now, but I knew him and he was a friendly guy.  One night, I saw a car off to the side of the road with a flat tire and Dade was on a date with the she-wolf that was his mate.  Not only was his tire flat, but so was the spare.  I stopped and gave them a lift into town so he could get a tire from Wilde Creek Auto Repair and took them back to the car.  Dade said he thought they’d have to walk home.  Said he would never forget that I stopped when no one else had.  He’s from good stock, and so is his son.  Regardless of what you might think of his behavior.”

Her heart sank.  “So you know.”

“That Acksel is the father of your baby?  Yeah.  I’m not trying to tell you what to do, Brynn, but it’s hard for men to admit when they’ve made mistakes, and sounds like Acksel is trying his damnedest to make up for what happened.”

Before she could say anything, he continued, “I’m not saying that I’m not on your side, honey, because I damn sure am.  If you tell me that you want to get away from him and keep him away because he’s a total bastard, then I will come to get you myself and no one, alpha wolf or otherwise, will stop me.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“So do I need to storm the castle?”  She could tell he was smiling when he spoke, but he was also serious.

“No.  I’m okay for now.”

“Good.  Take care of yourself and my grandbaby.”

“I will, Dad.”

Ending the call, she stared at the phone for a few moments and then called Mia, who, just like her dad, promised to come rescue her if she needed or wanted it.

Brynn chewed her lip for a moment while Mia ranted a bit at her alpha’s behavior.  “Can I ask you a question about the alpha female stuff and have you be really honest?”

“I would never lie to you, B, you have to know that.”

“I know.”  Brynn sighed and said, “If I
am
his mate, then why would I be in danger from the females?  Why wouldn’t they recognize that I was his and leave us both alone?”

Mia hesitated for only a moment and then said, “It’s an instinctual thing for the females on two levels.  First, a female wants to be with the most powerful male because her wolf tells her that he’s the most capable of protecting their cubs and her.  If the alpha is single and unmated, the females will try to sway him to their beds in hopes of convincing him how awesome they are.  And second, although the females aren’t ranked like the males are, the alpha female is the boss of them, right under the alpha.  Even the males are accountable to the female in most cases, as long as what she’s said doesn’t go directly against the alpha’s orders.  So the reason that Acksel worried about mating with you isn’t because he doesn’t care for you; it’s because he was worried that the females would attack you to try and prove that they’re better suited for alpha status than you.”

“Because I’m human.”

“It sucks, but yeah.”

“Do you think I’m
less than
because I’m human?”

“Of course not!  Crap, B.  How long have we known each other?”

“Forever.”

“Right, damn it.  You’re my best friend.  I’m pissed as hell at you for keeping the one-nighter with Acksel a secret from me, but that’s just because I think I could have helped you understand him better.  But don’t feel guilty.  You can make it up to me by naming your first born after me.”

Snorting, Brynn said, “What if it’s a boy?”

“We’ll call him Mi for short.”

Laughing, Brynn felt some of the tension she’d been holding onto ease away.

“Look, I’m a very mate-and-let-mate sort of gal.  The only thing that matters to me is that you’re happy.  If Acksel makes you happy, then know that he’s going to change things within the pack to make sure that you’re safe.  Once you’re mated officially on the November full moon, you’ll be untouchable without serious consequences, the same as if you were a wolf.  And there’s a meeting with all the females tomorrow morning, so he’s probably going to change things now so that you’re protected before the full moon.”

Well, wasn’t that interesting?

Brynn thanked her best friend and ended the call.

She hummed in her throat, thinking over all that Mia had said.  But one thing had stuck in her craw: Acksel hadn’t asked her to be his mate, he’d simply said that she was and that he was going to protect her.  She had a feeling that if she was a wolf, that there would be some protocol or something involved in choosing a mate and she was a little miffed.  Although Acksel had told her about the laws and the pack history, he hadn’t really talked about what would happen going forward, and being kept in the dark was definitely not something she wanted.  She didn’t want to be taken for granted, either.

Rising, she went into the attached bathroom and turned on the shower.  Pulling the gown over her head, she inspected her body using the long mirror over the double sinks.  None of her wounds had scarred.  Acksel had said some kind of natural remedy had been used to accelerate her body’s natural healing ability.  Whatever it was made of, it should be bottled and sold to the masses.  It was good stuff.

She showered, scrubbing at her skin with a washcloth and washing her hair twice.  She’d been sponge-bathed while she was unconscious because the blood had been off her skin, but she still hadn’t felt entirely clean.  What she really wanted was to take a nice, long soak in her tub at home, but she’d settle for a shower for now.

While she dried off, she formulated a plan to get Acksel to prove his dedication to her and to find out just how much he cared about her.

Chapter 14

Acksel sat on the couch and looked at the laptop screen on the coffee table, his eyes blurring and causing the words to jumble.  The elders had drafted new laws according to what Acksel had proposed, starting with laws regarding the choosing of mates, particularly the alpha female.

He felt her before he heard her walking down the hallway.  Brynn had been shut up in his bedroom all day. Aside from lunch, he hadn’t heard a peep from her.  It was nearing dinner and he’d planned to see if he could coax her out of his room to eat in the kitchen.

She stopped in front of him and pressed the lid of the laptop closed with one finger, bending over slightly. She met his eyes and the glare from their pretty green depths told him that she’d done some serious thinking and had something to say to him that he had better listen to.

His eyes roved over her quickly.  He’d heard the shower come on and was not surprised to see her hair damp and her skin smelling of soap.  He was surprised to see that she was wearing one of his t-shirts and a pair of sweats, rolled up at the bottoms.  Sexy.  As.  Hell.

“We need to talk,” she said, straightening and folding her arms across her chest.  It made her lush breasts plump up and strain against the material of the t-shirt.  She cleared her throat when he didn’t say anything.

“Sorry.  Sure.  Want to sit down?”

“No, I don’t think so.  I’m a little pissed, Acksel.”

Uh oh.

“Uh,” he started, but she raised a hand for silence and he closed his mouth.

“I realized what’s been bugging me.  You never asked me to be your mate; you just talk about us as if we’re already a couple.  I’m pretty sure that things don’t work that way in the forest, so I think you’re taking advantage of me being human and not knowing the score.”

“I am not taking advantage of you,” he huffed.

“Really?  So when was it exactly that you asked me if I wanted to be your mate?  Because I don’t remember you doing that.”

A low growl rumbled in his chest and she waved her hand and rolled her eyes.  “Oh, please.  You know I’m right.”

Damn it.  She
was
right.  He’d made an assumption and it hadn’t occurred to him to actually ask her.  Maybe because he’d been afraid of what her answer would be.

He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.  “Brynn, would you—”

“Hold it!” she shouted, putting both hands up.  “Are you serious?  You’re going to just ask me now?  How easy do you think I am?  Wait, wait.  Don’t answer that.  What I mean is that you have to earn me, buddy, and I don’t come cheap.  You might have been able to get me into your bed six weeks ago without all the fuss, but that ship has sailed.”

He stood and walked around the coffee table to her.  He looked down at her, contemplating her words.  A small voice inside him howled to carry her back to the bedroom and remind her just what kind of male he was.  But a larger voice reminded him that he wanted her by his side as his mate and his lover and his friend.  He didn’t want to coerce her into a mating because she might come to resent him for it.

Understanding filled him.  She wanted him to show her how he felt.  She wanted to know that he was serious about her, and not just because of the baby.

“What did you have in mind?”  He steeled himself for whatever hoops she might want him to jump through.

She seemed surprised, but her smile told him that she was happy.  “First, I want you to take me home tomorrow after the she-wolf meeting.”

“No fucking way,” he growled and she poked him in the chest with her index finger.