Mated & Blooded, A Blood Ties Novel, Book 1 (7 page)

I was kind of melancholy as we got back into
Lucas’s mustang to head back to the pack. I couldn’t help but feel
like bad things were coming our way. Over the past few days Lucas
shared with me all the things that I already knew but was afraid to
say out loud. Turns out his head wasn’t in the clouds. He knew just
how bad mating with me could be. He knew that his father would
demand he reject me. He knew he might have to challenge for Alpha.
He knew his friends might denounce him. He knew the pack might not
accept him as Alpha even if he won the challenge.

Worse, he convinced me that no matter what
the pack decided, no matter what obstacles were put in our way
Lucas was not willing give me up. He would fight his father to be
Alpha. He would fight the pack if they dared to exile him. He would
leave them all behind to suffer without a true Alpha, and move with
me to BlueRidge if necessary. Lucas was never going to give me up.
I believed him now.

Our time over the past week had convinced me.
Lucas believed I was his other half, and that his destiny in life
was to protect and please me. I also knew that the pack would never
accept me. That the worst case scenario was the most likely. I just
prayed to god that I was wrong. Lucas was an alpha meant to rule,
not a loner meant to live in the shadows.

Every single mile we moved closer to pack
territory was like a knife in my side. It was getting hard to
breathe. The fear was palatable and clung heavily around me. I felt
like my soul was getting sucked out of my body. More than once I
moaned in actual physical pain. Each mile away from BlueRidge left
me feeling dull and desperate to go back. Lucas asked me several
times if I was fine I kept saying I was hunky-dory but he wasn’t
buying it. Finally just to calm him down, I told him that I was a
little hungry. He pulled over at the next rest stop with the
intention of buying us some food.

“What do you want babe?” He asked.

That’s when it hit me. I really was hungry.
Not for food for blood. My cheeks turned bright red. I hadn’t had
any fresh blood since the day we left school together. That was
well over a week ago. No wonder why I was in physical pain. I
opened my mouth to tell him when an intense pain shot through my
body. I screamed out in agony and doubled over in the car seat.
Lucas darted around the car and pulled open my door.

“Oh god babe, what’s wrong. Please tell me
what’s wrong so I can help!”

My vision was blurring, my breathing had
gotten very shallow, and I felt like I was on the verge of passing
out. I used the last ounce of strength to murmur

“blood”

Lucas must have heard me because within
seconds I felt his arm pushing into my mouth. I know he was
speaking to me, but I just couldn’t make out the words. My head was
spinning and I kept having this strange feeling like I shouldn’t be
drinking Lucas’s blood I should be drinking someone other than his.
It made me think about the dream I’d had the first night we stayed
in BlueRidge.

It had been such a strange dream, and for
some reason I seemed to keep day dreaming about the dream. I kept
trying to remember why the dream was so important. It was like my
soul was trying to tell me something but I just couldn’t put my
finger on it. Then, as I felt the first drop of blood pumped
through my heart it was suddenly very clear.

In the dream, I had met my soul mate, but in
the dream it wasn’t Lucas. In my dream my soul mate was almost the
mirror opposite of Lucas. He was tall, lithe and light haired. But
it wasn’t just physical appearance that was different. In an
instant I knew everything there was to know about my mate. It’s as
if our souls were bared to each other and every intimate detail
about ourselves had been shared.

This mate was in many ways the opposite of
Lucas. I knew he would be hard where Lucas was soft. He would be
cold where Lucas was warm. He would be reasonable where Lucas was
demanding. He would be rough where Lucas was gentle. He would be
carefree where Lucas was duty bound. He would be funny where Lucas
was serious. He would be a mate that forced me to be all I could be
and take all that I could give, while Lucas was a mate that would
give all he could give, and take only what he needed.

I knew he would love me heart body and soul
for being exactly who I am. That I would be his beginning and his
end and that he would be mine as well. He would love only me. No
other in his lifetime. He needed no pack or justification from
anyone else.

Lucas’s blood started making its way through
my system and I could feel myself getting stronger. The stronger I
got the less the dream made sense. It started to get fuzzy around
the edges. I started to come around and could hear Lucas
apologizing and calling himself stupid over and over again for not
providing for me. He promised to make sure I never went hungry
again. He felt that it was his responsibility to make sure that I
was taken care of.

Mother told me it’s very traditional for the
male wolf to provide and coddle the female wolves. They like to
make sure their mates never want for anything. Often the shewolves
are kept like china dolls on a shelf. I had never thought that I
would enjoy being treated like I was so breakable. But the way
Lucas hung on my every word and need was kind of a major turn
on.

Who would have thought that such a powerful
wolf would bend over backwards to try and make me happy. He would
put the average gentleman to shame. Lucas went above and beyond in
everything he did for me. I’d finished feeding and thanked Lucas
who still looked upset with himself. I kissed him several times,
and promised he could make it up to me once we could officially
bond. That seemed to perk him up.

He ran in and grabbed some burgers and we got
back on the road. We arrived back in pack territory by mid day.
Lucas said he was going to take me to mothers while he went to the
main pack house to speak with his father. He promised not to be
gone longer than a few hours and told me not to leave the house
until he returned for me.

I was so scared worrying about what was going
to happen. Would he have to issue a challenge to his father? What
if he didn’t win? What if he was seriously injured? What if he did
win and the pack still rejected him? I couldn’t stop my heart
sinking. By the time I got through my front door I was a nervous
wreck. I felt like I was falling apart from the inside out.

I started crying the moment I saw my mom. The
next several hours were very strained while mom and I sat on pins
and needles waiting to hear what was going on. Mom kept telling me
not to worry that Lucas had thought of everything.

Turns out that Lucas had given my mom
specific instructions on what to do with and for me in his absence.
Worse, he had given her orders in the event of several outcomes on
where and how she was to take me to safety. She wasn’t able to tell
me much of anything since the alpha ordered her. Apparently he also
forced several weaker wolves to also do his bidding. There were
currently four wolves standing guard in the front and back of the
house.

I was a little upset that Lucas hadn’t told
me about it, and that he used his alpha on my mom, but mom kept
saying that I should be happy that he cares enough about me to
protect me anyway he can. I guess I could sort of agree with her,
but it still bothered me a little. Finally Lucas called,

“Hey baby, I don’t have much time to talk but
I needed to hear your voice and know that you are fine.”

I told him that I was fine but wanted to know
what was going on. He used a lot of words but really didn’t tell me
anything concrete. I pushed a bit harder for some solid answers
when he finally said

“Well, babe honestly it could have gone a lot
worse. Dad isn’t accepting this graciously but he has accepted my
official alpha challenge. We agreed to fight tomorrow at sundown. I
am going to spend a little time here with my mom then go over and
talk to a few of my closer friends. I need to find out how many of
the pack will support me as alpha. I’m not sure how much longer I
am going to be, but I promise I will come to you as soon as I
can.”

Hearing his words sent me back into a panic.
I was crying and begging him not to fight his dad for me. I wasn’t
worth it.

“Please Lucas, don’t do this. You need your
pack. Let me go Lucas so that you can have a good life” Lucas
growled into the phone at me.

“Kalli, don’t say that. You are my life.
Without you I can never be happy. I should have told you before we
came back here but I was afraid, I love you Kalli! You are the only
thing that makes me happy. I am never giving you up. My father and
this pack mean nothing without you in my life.”

I wanted so badly to tell him I loved him
back, but something wouldn’t let me, instead I cried harder and he
just assumed that’s what I meant. We spoke a little more, and then
he asked to speak to my mother. I’m not sure what he told her, but
she ended the call with saying

“Yes alpha. I would always protect my
daughter with my life if necessary. We will be waiting for you. Be
safe”

Things were not looking good. My father
actually tried to deny my request for a challenge. As if he had the
right to do that. If I challenged without permission it would have
to be a fight to the death for me to claim my rightful place as
alpha. If he accepted the challenge we would only need to fight
until one of us submitted. If not for Rob, I know that he wouldn’t
have changed his mind. He believes he can beat me and thought that
refusing the challenge would put me back in my place.

He’s wrong. Not only do I know I can beat
him, I have no qualms about ending his life if it means that I can
bond with Kalli. My mom was there crying and begging along side of
him for me to just reject my mate. How dare she! My mother was a
hypocrite. She spent my entire childhood belaboring the fact that
my father stole her chance at happiness. She claimed that a wolf
without a true mate was a worthless wolf.

Now, when my happiness is within reach she
actually has the nerve to say I should reject her. No way! I am
going to fight my father and win. I am going to bond with Kalli and
have pups of my own. Nothing and no one is going to stop me. My
mother and father can rot in hell together. They have always
enjoyed making each other miserable. Maybe I will exile them and
they can be miserable together.

Rob is the one that finally convinced my
father to accept the challenge. He actually played to my father’s
ego. He basically told my dad it was time to give me an ass
whooping so that my brain started thinking right again.

I almost wolfed out and ripped Rob’s throat
out on the spot. He was my half brother, had been my closest ally
in life and he too mocked my mate. I was getting angrier by the
moment. Then I felt his presence in my head.

“Chill out bro, I’m just working him over for
you. I’m with you. If you wanna mate with the hybrid I’m gonna
stand behind you. We all are. Me, Ryan, Joel, Lance and Cody. We
talked about it this week while you were gone. We realized we
trusted you and would stand behind you no matter what. I can't tell
you that I am gonna be best buddies with her, but I will swear
allegiance and protect your mate and my Luna to the death, so stop
looking at me like you are ready to tear off my head”

I heard the rest of the gang chime in, each
swearing their allegiance to me as Alpha and Kalli as Luna. Thank
god, I really didn’t want to have to fight the whole pack. If my
boys were behind me, I knew we could make this work. The pack might
not like it at first, but they would eventually accept it.

My father and I set the time and agreed on
the rules for submission before Rob and I left to go talk with the
other guys. We needed a plan. We knew that the rest of the pack
wasn't going to be as accepting. Not to mention that taking over
the pack at my young was going to be a lot of work. I was going to
be a young alpha, and would need my own team in place in order to
protect Kalli. I didn’t trust my father and I surely didn’t trust
his team. We would need to make a clean sweep for power.

The guys and I chatted most of the night
away. I don’t know why, but I was on edge the entire time. My wolf
was on complete alert. Something just felt off. When I realized
that dawn was quickly approaching I excused myself and headed over
to Kalli’s. I needed to hold her in my arms so that I could calm
down. I needed to feel her soft skin and smell her intoxicating
scent. I couldn’t wait to see that she was okay with my own eyes. I
was tired, and I needed to be able to hold her so that I could have
peace and sleep.

I found her resting on the couch in the
living room. She looked so comfortable and peaceful in her sleep. I
was glad that I told her mother to put a good amount of sleeping
potion in her drink. I didn’t want my mate worried and keeping
herself awake waiting for me. I knew my mate needed the proper
amount of rest to stay healthy. I never wanted to be the cause of
Kalli becoming ill or sick; it was bad enough that she was stressed
about the upcoming challenge.

For a moment, I felt a little guilty about
tomorrow. I had no intention of leaving Kalli anywhere that my
father or his team could get to her before the challenge. It was
common knowledge that my dad fought dirty. I wouldn’t put it past
him to have his beta or one of his other goons grab Kalli and use
her as leverage for me to submit. Not going to happen. I had
already alpha ordered Kalli's mom and the four dead heads outside
to take her back to BlueRidge. She would be safe away from my
father so that I could concentrate on the fight.

I looked down at her again and smiled as I
push a few strands of hair out of her face. That’s when I noticed
her mother had left her fully clothed and without a pillow or
blanket. I would have to let her mother know that this was
unacceptable. In the future I would expect that my mate was taken
care of. She needed a bed, and softer clothes to sleep in. In the
least, she could have given her a pillow and blanket. I lifted her
very gently into my arms and started to carry her upstairs. The
moment I hit the top of the steps I realized I had no idea which
room was hers. I nudged her slightly awake.