Chapter 19: Chapter 19

Her cheeks were flushed, and her breathing was fast. I looked into her eyes. I hadn’t paid much attention to them before now unless they were glowing purple. But now I was, they were exquisite. Lined with full dark lashes, they were a clear blue colour. I could get lost in them; they were hypnotising. Without knowing it, I was leaning closer towards her, still holding her arms down. She could easily get out of this position, but she didn’t move. Up close her skin was flawless and her scent was so strong. Time felt like it was standing still, and her scent started to change. Now I could smell her arousal. The colour of her eyes started to darken. This was getting dangerous. If I kissed her now, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop. The smell of her desire was driving Maddox crazy.

“Allie,” I said firmly, warning her. “Stop thinking about that.”

She looked shocked that I knew what she was thinking, and her eyes widened. “About what?” she whispered, quietly.

“About sex,” I said, “I can smell it, it’s driving me crazy. Please.” I was begging at this point. Her face and neck went a pink colour and I realised she was blushing. She was embarrassed.

“Are we done with training?” she asked, mercifully changing the subject.

“Yeah, I think we are done for the day,” I said, her arousal fading now. I released her arms and moved off of her slowly. She got to her feet and put her sneakers on awkwardly.

“So where did you learn to fight?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“I joined a self-defence class at Red’s Gym when I was 13. And then I learnt karate and some other martial arts,” she said, “I wanted to open up my own gym one day and teach children.”

She was constantly surprising me. And each time she did, I fell in love with her a little more.

“But I don’t think that will happen now,” she said, sadly.

“Why not?” I asked, intrigued.

She looked down at the floor and didn’t answer. Something was wrong. It took me a few seconds to figure it out. I was the reason.

“Allie,” I coaxed, “Talk to me, honey.” She remained silent. “Please,” I begged.

She finally raised her head and looked at me. She took a deep breath. “Because now I have found my mate,” she said, quietly, “Who is the future Alpha to our pack, meaning I am the future Luna.”

“Is that why you didn’t want a mate?” I questioned, everything was clicking into place and making sense now. Most werewolves can’t wait for the day they turn 18 and the prospect of finding their mate. But Allie seemed to feel the opposite.

“That’s part of it,” she said.

“And what’s the other part?” I asked. She paused for a moment.

“Well, it would be pretty hard to do all of the things I want to do if I have Luna responsibilities and ……other things to worry about,” she said.

“What other things?” I asked

“Most werewolves want to continue their bloodline, especially Alphas,” she said.

Pups. She was talking about pups. And she was right. As Alpha, I would be expected to produce an heir to take over the pack one day.

“On the day before my birthday, Melissa told me about my inheritance. It’s enough to start my own gym. But then all this stuff happened,” she said, waving her arms about gesturing, “And now I can’t see a way that I’d be able to do it.”

She looked totally devastated, truly sad about it. I didn’t want to be the reason she couldn’t reach her goals in life, but it was crucially important to have pups to continue the Alpha bloodline. It left me feeling guilty. Her life really had been turned upside down in the space of a few days. I tried to find the right words to make her feel better.

“Listen, sweetie. We don’t have to have pups right away,” I suggested.

“But you do want to have pups?” she asked.

“Yes, of course. Don’t you?”

“I’m not sure,” she mumbled. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! How can she not be sure!

“There’s just been so much going on and I haven’t had time to really think about it,” she offered, “I’m sorry.” She hung her head, ashamed. I reached out and lifted up her chin with my finger.

“You do not need to apologise for being honest. You’re right, you’re life has changed dramatically, and you need time to process it all. But I will be here supporting you every moment,” I said, “I want you to be happy.”

She smiled a little and I kissed her cheek gently. I led her out of the gym and found some clean towels in a store cupboard. I passed one to her and she dabbed her face and neck with it lightly. We made our way to the pack house meeting room, but just before we got there, Brad mind-linked me.

“Dude, we have a problem,” he said, bluntly.

“What is it?” I said, quickly. He sounded rattled, which was unlike him. He was always calm in the face of any problem. That’s what makes him such a good Beta.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“At the pack house, just about to go into a meeting. Where are you? What’s going on? Is there another attack?” I questioned.

“No, nothing like that. I’m at the dungeons. I’ll make my way to the pack house now to meet you. I’ll tell you when I get there,” he said and cut off the mind link. What was going on with him? I looked over at Allie, who was staring at me with a weird look on her face.

“What were you doing?” she asked, “Your eyes clouded over, and you didn’t answer me. Did you hear me?”

“Sorry, sweetie. I didn’t hear what you said. Brad was mind linking me. He’s on his way here to meet me,” I said.

“Oh, ok,” she said, lightly.

I remembered I had told her I would teach her how to mind link.

“It’s easy,” I explained, “you just think of the person you want to mind link with, and then say what you want in your head, not out loud. Try it.”

She looked sceptical but said, “Ok” and closed her eyes.

“Reece”, I heard in my head. I loved the sound of my name on her lips. I connected with her. “Can you hear me?” she asked.

“Yes, honey. I can hear you. Good job,” I said. “If you ever need me when I’m not with you, you can mind link me. It’s the quickest way to reach me.”

She smiled. I walked her to the main lobby of the pack house to wait for Brad. He came through the door a minute later. Something was definitely up. He looked like he had seen a ghost, his face pale.

“Hey. What’s up?” I asked.

“I found my mate,” he blurted out unevenly.

“That’s great! Who is she?”

He paused. He sure didn’t look happy. Something was wrong. He had been searching for his mate as long as I had, and he should be elated right now.

“She is a rogue,” he said, his face expressionless.

“Oh,” I said. It was all I could say. I wasn’t expecting him to say that.

“What do I do?” he cried. It had been a long time since I had seen him this shook up. He was stressing out and it was super weird seeing him like that.

“Calm down, man,” I said, trying to settle him, whilst trying to think what the best thing would be to do now.

“How can I calm down? She just attacked our pack and our Luna!”

“Look, man. Female rogues are really rare. We don’t know anything about her. Or where she is from? Has she been interrogated yet?” I said.

“No,” he said, “I was just about to, and then…”

“Ok,” I said, “I will take over the interrogation. Does she know that you are her mate?”

“I think so. I got out of there as soon as I figured it out.”

I heard a noise behind me and turned to find Allie with a very angry look on her face.

“What?” I asked. She pursed her lips together. She turned to Brad and let loose.

“You found out she was your mate, and you ran away? Are you kidding me?” she boomed, clearly annoyed by Brad’s actions, “I don’t care if she is a rogue, running away from her was wrong. You know the mate bond takes no prisoners!”

Brad hung his head at the mild scolding. I tried to stifle my smile, but it was impossible. I was enjoying watching him get beat down by his Luna so much! She barely knew him but was calling him out already. She was going to make a great Luna. She caught me smiling and shot me a stern look.

“I didn’t want to leave, Luna,” Brad said, trying to defend himself, “I panicked. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Listen, I will go and check on her and make sure she is alright,” I offered, “And I’ll ask her about the attack to check her involvement.”

“I’m coming too,” said Allie, firmly.

“No, I think it’s best you stay at the pack house with Brad,” I suggested.

“I’m coming too,” she said again, and I knew arguing with her about it would be pointless. She meant business, and I did prefer her staying with me instead of leaving her. The dungeons were not a nice place, but I guess she is our future Luna and needs to learn how to run the pack, even the dungeons.

“Fine,” I said, “Let’s go.”

We walked in silence. I could tell she was still fuming a little, so let her walk it off. It took a few minutes to get there, so I took her hand in mine and felt her calm down.

“So, what’s the plan?” she asked.

“Brad has been questioning some of the rogues, the ones that have recovered enough, about Lucien. Most are still recovering from being hit with the force field. The ones he’s been able to question haven’t said much of any use. He said they are all still out if it and need more time to recover,” I told her. “Let’s just check on her and see if she is ok for now.”

“Ok,” she said, softly. She seemed happy with that. I led her into the dungeon and held her hand tightly, pulling her close. “Stay close to me,” I told her.

We walked into the dark corridor at the entrance to the dungeons. The guards bowed their heads and I nodded. “Where is the female rogue?” I asked one of the guards.

“Cell number 4, Alpha”

“Thank you,” I said, and we walked further in.