Page 6 of Return of the Alpha
“I hated him somuch,” Sapphire says softly once I stop sobbing. “Marc was the baneof my existence. Did you know that?”
My gaze collideswith hers. “What?” My tone is laced with disbelief.
She nods with a softsmile. “He bullied me for years and made my life a living fuckinghell until my father moved us away. I was finally free of historment. But my brother moved us back to the Katu pack when ourparents passed. And there he was, the Devil himself, my fatedfucking mate.”
“How did I not knowthis? You’re mates. Happy. What happened?”
Sapphire laughsloudly and I watch her. She really is one of the happiest people Iknow. “I kicked him in the nuts. That’s why Calum and Max areterrified of me.”
“Damn, girl,” I saywith a grin, remembering how those two sometimes act around her.“But now?”
“It took us a while,but we worked it out. When Fate picks a mate for us, she does itfor a reason,” she says with conviction. “The Goddess knows exactlywhat we need even if we don’t. If Peyton’s father is your fatedmate, then he’s what you need in your life.”
Chapter Three
James
My mind is reelingfrom everything I have heard in the last few hours. Between Peyton,Caine, and Talon, they have laid out everything for me and I swearto the Goddess if he wasn’t dead I would rip Slade Porter limb fromlimb myself. Slowly.
He destroyed thepack I took years to build and so many lives in the process. Whothe fuck forces someone into a mating with someone they don’t want?He didn’t give a damn about tradition or fate. He was only out tobetter his own life, no matter who got hurt in the process.
But he is gone andall I am left with is impotent rage and no way to release it. Iwant to kill someone to make myself feel better about every badthing that happened to my daughter, Talon, and every other memberof my now nonexistent pack. But there is no one to kill, no way toavenge the treatment they suffered through, and that just brings mefull circle to the bubbling, overwhelming, useless rage.
How the hell am Isupposed to just accept the way things are now? My pack no longerexists, my home is no more, and my daughter is a grown-ass womanliving with her own mate and helping him run the pack they havetogether. I feel pride in who she has become and everything she hasachieved. Her home is beautiful, and her pack clearly loves andrespects both her and Caine.
I’ll spend some timehere, getting to know the person she is now, but then I will moveon. I don’t see myself playing second fiddle to another Alpha so Iwill either become a nomad and roam the world on my own or I couldeven start a new pack. I am sure there are other wolves out therethat need somewhere to go and someone to lead them.
Our attention isdrawn to a young man as he walks in through the back door afterknocking.
“News spreads fastaround here,” Talon says with a roll of her eyes, and I can’t helpbut smile.
I knew both herparents and they would be thrilled to know she has become a finefemale with a mate and children of her own.
This man is thesixth impromptu visitor in the past few hours. It seems I havebecome the talk of the pack.
“This is Marc,”Caine introduces us.
The young man leansforward to shake my hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
I hear the words,but they sound distorted like I am listening to him talk underwater. My focus is the scent clinging to him. Jasmine and freshrain. I am immediately addicted, and I need to know the source,right now. My wolf howls in my mind, pushing to the forefront soquickly I barely have time to keep a hold on him.
Several thingshappen at the same time. Marc frowns at me, quickly pulling hishand back while Caine pins me in my chair.
“Fucking hell!”Talon curses. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” Marcreplies, holding his hands in the air.
“Where is she?” Iroar, trying to fight free of Caine’s grip. But the Alpha has mefully contained.
Marc blanches, hiseyes the size of saucers as he backs away while shaking his head.“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“My mate! Where isshe?”
My voice distorts asmy wolf once more fights me for dominance, trying to force me toshift.
“Stop!” Cainecommands, his voice tinted with Alpha infliction. “Everyone sit thefuck down.”
I never thought itwould happen. I am an Alpha in my own right, after all, but even mywolf obeys his command and falls back to allow me control oncemore. I can still feel his agitation as he prowls the corners of mymind and biding his time until he can be in control once more. Theneed to find our mate is overwhelming but he is obeying the commandof the pack Alpha, for now at least.