Page 8 of Becoming the Alpha

“I’ll deal with it, Laura. She needs some time to calm down. I crossed a line. She needs some time before she’ll even talk to me.”

“Jason, you really claimed her without her permission?” My mom scolded me. I grimaced, hanging my head.

“I know, Mom. There’s nothing I can really say. There’s no excuse for what I did. I can only hope that when the time comes, Lily will actually be able to forgive me.” I turned to look at Amara. “Would you mind going with her and bringing her to the War Room? I know she’s not going to want to be anywhere near me, but she deserves to hear about what’s going to happen with the Alpha Challenge. I don’t want her walking into this without knowing everything that could happen. She needs to be prepared.”

Amara looked alarmed at me speaking to her, but she quickly bowed and sped out of the room. I turned back to Laura and my mom. “Laura, I assume you’ll be joining us?”

“You’re fucking right I am.”

“Laura, please!”

“Mom, I’m 17 years old. My father is a controlling asshole who beats you and will no doubt be moving on to attempting to beat me pretty soon, if my brother doesn’t kill him first. My mate was an egotistical rapist who was just killed by my brother. I think I’ve earned the right to curse a little bit. By the way, bro, you’re doing a lot of killing lately. Is that your thing?” Laura finished, turning to me with her hands on her hips. She tilted her head like she was trying to figure me out. I wished her luck because I still couldn’t figure myself out.

“Your mate…” My mom’s face paled. I ran a hand down my face, hating that we had to go through this whole thing again. Laura rolled her eyes and looped her arm through our mom’s.

“Come on. I’ll fill you in on everything that has happened while we get you a cup of tea.”

I followed the two of them out of the room, keeping silent so they could have their little chat together. I didn’t have enough energy to deal with my mom right now, even though I knew she deserved everything I could give her. She protected us our entire lives and kept our father away from us as much as she could. I needed to repay her and I was going to do just that. I needed to focus on the Alpha Challenge. That was the only way I could protect everyone I loved. If I didn’t win, I didn’t even want to think about what my father would do to them.

9

Lily

The next morning, I was still pissed. I had slept in my old room in the servant’s corridor with Amara. Jason and Dean both knocked on the door, asking us to go back to the room, but I wouldn’t hear it. I knew that Dean and Jason ended up in front of the doorway all night.

I wanted to rage against the world. I’d wanted to hurt Jason, but my wolf wouldn’t allow it. She couldn’t understand why I was so angry with my mate. She wanted me to go to him and crawl into his arms, let him take care of us. I fought for every step I took away from Jason. It made my anger grow exponentially, since I couldn’t just walk away and be angry - I had to fight for it.

I left the room, ignoring Jason and Dean as I went. When they tried to follow me, I snapped at them. I needed some time alone, so I ended up walking to the kitchens and out of the side door. Nobody else stopped me and the staff moved out of my way as I walked. I barely even recognized that I was around them. I was so wrapped up in my own rage that it took me a few minutes to realize that someone was calling me. I stopped and looked around, realizing that Amara was running up to me. My heart jumped into my throat for a second as I worried she was coming to tell me something else had happened.

“You walk so fast now, Lily!” Amara panted as she leaned over to support herself on her knees.

A reluctant grin spread across my face as I waited for her to catch her breath. “What’s up, Amara?”

She straightened up and gave me a look full of regret. “Jason wants you to go to the War Room for the meeting about the Alpha Challenge.”

The smile slipped off my face and I turned on my heel. “Nope.”

“Lily!”

I walked into the forest and followed the trail. I could hear Amara struggling to keep up with me, but I didn’t slow down or stop for her. She kept calling after me though. I did my best not to listen to what she was saying, but my wolf was interested - she was happy her mate wanted her to join in an important meeting and was ready to go trotting off to him. Plus, the pain in my chest was making it hard to stick to my guns.

“Lily! You need to be there. The Alpha Challenge is going to affect you. If Jason loses, you’ll be targeted and in constant agony for the rest of your life. He just wants you to be aware of all the issues that could arise during the whole thing and tell you what to expect. Come on!” Amara called after me. I slowed my pace, fighting my wolf as hard as I could.

“Could you just wait for me to explain this to you?” Amara yelled, stumbling over a root. I stopped, sighing. I was so tired of fighting - first Callum, then Jason, and now my wolf. I had had enough of it.

“Alright, explain it. Oh, also, explain how to get rid of this agony without going to him. It’s just enough to cause me to consider giving in and I hate that.”

“I…alright, well, first of all, your bond is brand new. The agony gets worse the longer you’re together and the stronger the bond grows. The only thing you can do is be with him. I haven’t heard that anything else can make it better but that. Your bond is fragile and weak. It needs to strengthen. Also, Jason wants to make sure you know what you’ll be walking into during the Alpha Challenge.”

“You said that, but who says I’m actually going to be there?”

Amara’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Y-you have to be there, Lily! Your mate is challenging for the Alpha position. He challenged his father to protect you. It is expected of you.”

I crossed my arms and scowled, dropping the volume of my voice. “I didn’t ask him to do that.”

“I know you didn’t,” Amara said, her voice dropping as well. She stepped closer to me and squeezed my arm. “He cares about you. He wants to protect you and this is the only way he knows how. I’m not saying he’s going about this in the right way and I’m definitely worried about how this will affect you in the long run, but he’s doing the best he can.”

“How am I supposed to forgive him, Amara?”