Alpha (17 page)

“
I want you to join my pack,” he said as he watched me for a reaction.

It wasn’t a surprise. I waited for him to continue.

“
It will help me keep you safe. Like Blake explained to you, if you join my pack we will be able to communicate via the mind-link,” he explained calmly, still holding my hands in his.

I could read in his eyes that he was expecting me to fight him on it. Before we’d connected as mates I would have fought him on it but now I understood his need to protect me because I felt that need for him as well. Above all else, I wanted to keep him safe.

Just the thought of something happening to him nearly had me hyperventilating.

“
Okay,” I said with a nod to emphasize I was agreeing to it. His mouth dropped open slightly in shock. Yeah, he hadn’t seen that coming.

“
I kinda expected you to fight me on that,” he told me as he flashed a lethal smile that should come with a warning, like ‘panties will melt’. I had an urge to reach for his face and press his lips to mine. The constant urge to touch him and have him touch me was very distracting.

“
I understand you want to protect me, I really do and that’s why I’m not going to fight you on
this
,” I explained. I squeezed his hands in mine.

I wondered if he realized my wording meant that although I wasn’t going to fight him on this, I was going to stand my ground on some other things. I’d conceded on this point and I hoped he’d be able to concede on the other ones I wasn’t going to back down on.

“
I’ll miss the fact that you won’t smell of wild daisies anymore,” he murmured to me as he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. He leaned closer and took a deep breath and sighed as he released it. He liked the way I smelled and I couldn’t stop the flutter in my stomach at the thought.

I loved the smell of fresh rain, so I didn’t mind.

“
So is joining your pack going to hurt?” I asked as I looked nervously at him.

It just seemed like everything that was connected to the werewolf thing had to hurt: the biting to mate, and the first few shifts when I started shifting into a werewolf.

Was it too much to hope that it wouldn’t hurt?

“
A little,” he answered, taking my hand gently into his. He opened my hand and my palm faced upward. “We make a small cut on your hand and I do the same on mine. Once we mix the blood, you become a member of my pack.”

“
Can this be done with just any member of your pack?” I asked.

“
No, only I can allow a new member into the pack.”

It made logical sense.

“
Even you becoming a part of my pack will not be enough to keep you safe. We will need to mate,” he told me. I let out a sigh.

Here comes the fight.

“
No,” I said as I pulled my hands from his. “I can’t, at least not yet.”

His jaw tightened and I could see the anger start to build inside of him. Although I understood his reason behind wanting to mate with me, it was something I wasn’t ready to do just yet. I’d join his pack, but I wouldn’t mate with him.

Because of my little lie, he wouldn’t realize that it was inexperience that made me hesitate to do that with him. And although he was my mate and I cared for him, I wasn’t going to take that step yet. I didn’t even know him that well.

I had no idea how long it would take for me to decide I was ready. It might be a week or two.

“
You’re making it difficult to protect you!” he began to argue in a raised voice, but I held my hand up to him, signaling him to stop talking. He took a deep breath to calm his anger, but it didn’t seem to be working.

“
Put yourself in my shoes for a moment,” I explained to him as I stood up. “I haven’t had a lot of time to get used to the fact that I’m a werewolf and now my life is going in an entirely different direction to what I’d originally planned.”

He watched me pace back and forth in front of him.

“
I’m not saying I never want to mate with you,” I assured him. “I just need time to get to know you a little bit and get used to the idea.”

It was my own fault my jealousy had put me in this predicament. I couldn’t tell him the truth that I was a virgin and I’d never done anything more than kiss a guy. We were mates and destined to be together, but I was scared that his experience would make me feel inept.

What if I wasn’t any good at it? I was always strong and confident, but how could I be confident in something I’d never done? Besides, I’d held onto my virginity for a while and I wasn’t going to just give it up after only knowing him a few days.

I heard him let out a frustrated sigh as he stood up and faced me.

“
You’re my mate and I have to do everything within my power to keep you safe, do you understand that?” he said angrily.

I nodded my head at him. No matter what reasoning he came up with to try to persuade me, nothing was going to change my mind. I wouldn’t be forced into taking a step I wasn’t ready for.

“
Yes, I do understand that, but I’m still not going to do it,” I said, putting my foot down.

“
I’ll never be able to forgive myself if something happens to you, you know that,” he said desperately. I could see the fear in his eyes.

“
Answer a question for me,” I said as I stepped closer to him. I wanted to reach out and hold him to ease his fear, but I couldn’t, so I kept my arms at my sides. Besides, if I touched him it would distract us.

“
Even if we mated, something could still happen to me?” I asked softly as my eyes held his.

He remained silent.

“
Mating with you doesn’t guarantee that nothing will happen to me,” I repeated, watching his face for his reaction.

“
No… but it will help,” he finally answered, realizing where I was headed with all of this. I’d made my point. A few minutes of silence and I felt his anger begin to ease.

“
Fine,” he relented as he reached for me.

I smiled at him as I allowed him to pull me close.

“
But if you won’t mate with me, then I’ll need to be with you all the time to protect you. It means I’ll share your room and I’ll drive you to school and back. You can’t go anywhere after school without me.”

Geez, he’s not kidding!
He was really going into over-protective mode now. The only thing that made me a little apprehensive was the fact that he was going to share a room with me, but I was happy I’d won this round.

“
Okay.”

This whole talk had gone a lot more smoothly than I’d anticipated, but I was glad we hadn’t been at each other’s throats and somehow we’d both compromised.

Now that that was sorted, we could go back to kissing. He pulled me closer and I raised my hand to brush across his cheek.

“
I might snore,” I teased him as he leaned forward and his lips were nearly touching mine.

“
I can live with that,” he said as he smiled.

His lips touched mine so gently that I felt a tingle run through my body. I wasn’t sure if it was part of the whole mate thing or if it was my body’s reaction to his.

I groaned as his lips moved against mine and my hands snaked around his neck, pulling him closer to me. I opened my mouth and his tongue swept inside and danced with mine. The flutter in my stomach intensified.

By the time he broke free, I was breathless and so aware of his body against mine.

“
So when are we going to do the blood thing for me to join your pack?” I asked, feeling a little nervous about it.

“
When we get back to my house,” he answered.

Soon, I would be a part of his pack.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Scarlett

When we arrived back at Cade's house, Blake was waiting in the kitchen with Gary. I was surprised to see him because I thought he'd gone to school. It was another couple of hours before school ended for the day. I walked in first and Cade followed behind.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Blake.

"I thought I'd skip as well to make sure everything ran smoothly while you guys had your talk."

I hadn't even thought about it. It was then that I realized the responsibility that Cade had on his shoulders.

Blake began to stand up and Cade walked over to him and before I even realized what he was going to do, he hit him in the face. Blake took the hit and didn't even attempt to defend himself or try and hit Cade back. It was like he'd expected it.

"What the hell?" I gasped, taken by surprise as I rushed over to Blake. His lip was cut and bloodied.

"That's for being a shitty friend," explained Cade calmly and then he turned and walked over to the kitchen sink.

"I deserved that," Blake said to me. He didn't deserve it. He'd kept my secret because I'd asked him to. I would never understand guys.

"No, you didn't," I weighed in as I threw a glare at my mate.

"Yes, he did," stated Cade as he rinsed blood from his hand.

"We good?" Blake said, wiping the blood from his lip.

"Yeah, we're good," confirmed Cade as he walked over to the fridge and got out a bottle of water.

The slate was wiped clean. Men were so confusing. If they were girls, they wouldn't talk to each other for a couple of weeks. Gary looked from Blake to Cade and shook his head.

"What are you doing out of school?" Gary asked when he realized I was home early.

"Cade and I had some stuff to sort through," I began to explain. I sat down in-between Gary and Blake.

"Remember what Blake and Cade told you about mates and stuff like that?" I asked.

"Sure, I remember," he answered as he nodded.

"Well, Cade is my mate," I stated. Gary's gaze flickered from me to Cade and then it settled back on me. Cade leaned against the kitchen counter, keeping his distance as Gary took in the information.

"Wow," he mumbled as he pushed away from the table and turned to face me.

"How are you feeling about it?" he asked. It was so like Gary to worry about me.

"It's going to take some getting used to," I replied with a shrug. It was inevitable and it had to happen sometime, I just wanted to wait for a time when I would be ready.

It wasn't like I wasn't physically attracted to him, because I was. There was no denying it, but I wasn't sure if I was prepared for the emotional side of what would happen.

"I've decided I'm going to join Cade's pack," I revealed to Gary and Blake. Blake smiled and shot a look at Cade, but my eyes were focused on Gary's reaction.

His eyes widened in surprise and then he reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze.

"You know what you're doing," he said. "You've always had a good head on your shoulders. You've never needed me to point you in the right direction or tell you what to do. There is a reason I never fought you when you wanted to take control of your inheritance. You were responsible enough then and you are responsible enough now to make your own decisions."

My throat thickened at his words.

"Thank you," I whispered as I leaned forward to give him a hug.

A soft growl emanated from behind me as Gary's arms wrapped around me and hugged me. I released Gary and turned to see Cade growling at him.

"Down, boy," I told him as I shot him a glare.

I knew Cade was the possessive type, but I wasn't going to let him make a big deal out of nothing. Although technically Gary wasn't blood related, he was my family and I wasn't going to stop giving him hugs or showing him affection just because Cade got jealous.

"I don't like it when any guy touches you," he said through gritted teeth as he glared at Gary. Gary shifted back slightly, feeling intimidated by the power emanating from Cade.

"Like I said before, this is going to be fun to watch," Blake murmured to me as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. I shot him a glare and I was tempted to wipe that smug look off his face. But the fact that he'd taken a hit for keeping my secret for me softened me up a bit. I'd let that one comment slide.

"Enough," I said to Cade as I stood up and walked to him.

"I don't want any guy to touch you," he said softly to me. His anger began to ease now that I was standing in front of him.

"You're going to have to get used to it because I can't have you overreacting every time a guy comes near me. Gary is my family," I explained to him as he reached for me and pulled me into his arms.

With the first touch, I was distracted and I was lost when his lips brushed against mine.

"I'll try," he whispered.

It took me a minute to remember what we'd been talking about. I pulled away from him because I couldn't think properly with him so close.