Breaking the Chains

For several days, I drowned myself in work as much as I could to keep my mind off the fact that I hadn’t heard from my mate at all.

~Why isn’t she calling me?~

~Does she just need space?~

~Is it space from ME that she needs?~

I was spiraling, and I needed to know that she wasn’t going to jump ship after I’d told her she ‘might’ be my mate.

I was probably just being paranoid, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right between us.

I knew as the alpha that I should’ve been the one to reach out to her, but this wasn’t your typical situation.

I knew what I wanted, but I couldn’t force it or speed it up; I needed Sienna to choose for herself.

I couldn’t help but think of Aaron and his mate, Jen.

When Aaron had tried to give Jen space, she had chased after him, said she didn’t need space to know how she felt in her heart, that she had made her decision—she wanted to be with him forever.

There was never a doubt in her mind that Aaron was the one for her. Not even for a second. Which begged the question…

~Is there something wrong with me?~

Why was my mate fighting so hard ~against~ her feelings for me instead of fighting ~for~ us?

The only reasonable conclusion was that I wasn’t worthy, or at least that was how it felt. I couldn’t lie, it was fucking painful to not know where you stood with your own mate.

Sienna was actively avoiding me, I was sure of it. And that scared the shit out of me.

This wasn’t an easy decision for her like it was for Jen. What if she’d already made her decision?

~And what if it isn’t me? ~

Insecurities like that were uncharted territory for me, and I didn’t like it at all. What kind of alpha was I if I couldn’t work things out with my mate?

My computer screen started chiming, an incoming video call rudely interrupting my thoughts of self-doubt.

I reluctantly accepted, and Alpha Jennings popped up on screen, staring at me with his deep reddish-brown eyes, which almost looked like they could see right through you.

Alfonso Jennings had been Texas’s alpha for almost twenty years. Nearing forty, the man showed no sign of aging but for a few stray silver hairs in his dark hair.

As usual, he wore black clothes that seemed to stretch over his muscled form—a body that could have landed him in a WWE arena in another lifetime—and even through the screen, he gave off that competitive, performative aura.

“Aiden! You ol’ bastard!” Alfonso said, his voice sounding like it was amplified through a megaphone. “You honestly look like shit. And I mean that as a compliment.”

“How is that a compliment?” I growled. Ribbing like that between alphas was the norm, but I wasn’t in the mood.

“Oh stop it, Alf,” came a sweet, Southern drawl off-screen. “He looks just as handsome as ever.”

A woman squeezed into frame and waved, though she was so tall she barely fit. Sarah Abernathy-Jennings, Alfonso’s mate.

She was the tallest woman I’d ever known, yet next to Alfonso, she looked almost petite.

Her waist-length hair was dyed purple—last time it had been neon pink—and her green eyes were framed by pastel-colored makeup. Her slender form was draped in a long-sleeved tangerine dress.

There were so many clashing colors that I was starting to get a headache.

If I’d seen the couple removed from each other’s side, I would’ve never thought them to be compatible, but despite their appearances, their personalities were almost completely alike.

I gave a small wave back. “Good to see you, Sarah. Not so much you, though, ~Alf~.”

“Hey, I’m just calling to congratulate you,” he said in mock-offense. “I heard you got yourself a little mate for this season. Unlike last season when you got, you know, dumped.”

I had to find whatever mole was leaking details about my personal life to the other alphas. My relationship with Sienna was already strained enough without this clown adding fuel to the fire.

“I’m not in the mood for this today,” I said, already tired, “so why don’t we just cut to the chase.”

“Oh, come on, Aiden,” Sarah said in her sugary tone. “Just give us a little morsel. All the alphas are talking about it. You’ll have to show her off eventually.”

Alphas were worse than old ladies when it came to gossip, and I hated every moment of it.

“I like to keep my private life ~private~,” I said pointedly.

She pouted as if she was a child and not a giant woman in her thirties. “You’re no fun.”

“Maybe she’s a real butterface,” Alfonso said, guffawing. “Better with the lights off, right?”

~This fucking idiot.~

I closed my eyes, counted to three, and opened them. “Anything else I can help you with?”

What I really wanted to do was shift through my screen and rip his tongue out.

“Hell, Aiden, can you not take a joke anymore?” he said. “Why so serious all the time?”

Sarah smirked, then rather astutely said, “Can’t you tell, Alf? He’s caught feelings. This one ain’t like the others.”

“That right?” Alfonso leaned in way too close to the screen. “Hot damn.”

I smiled a bit, even though I didn’t want to. I couldn’t help it whenever I thought of Sienna.

But the smile didn’t last for long…

“Sarah is right, you know,” Alfonso said. “You gotta show her off at some point. But I guess we’ll all be seeing her at the Yule Ball.”

“If I don’t rescind your invitation,” I shot back.

I swallowed hard. The Yule Ball wasn’t that far away, and my pack was hosting it for all the other packs who wanted to attend this year.

And since it seemed that every alpha within a ten-thousand-mile radius had heard the gossip about me, they’d ALL be expecting to meet Sienna at the Yule Ball.

~And what if she wants nothing to do with me? What then?~

“You couldn’t keep us away with a fifty-foot pole,” Alfonso said, grinning widely.

I knew it was just a saying, but coming from him, it sounded like a threat.

“Can’t fucking wait,” I said before abruptly ending the call.

I needed to get my shit together fast.

I was in the public eye, and every little thing I did was going to be judged, especially my relationships.

And at that moment, my relationship was a total disaster.

***

It’d been more than a week since I’d last seen Sienna, and I was wound up so tight, my claws were coming out.

The Haze was harder to control than ever before.

The first two days it had still been manageable, but the longer I went without seeing Sienna, without taking in her scent, it seemed my Haze couldn’t bear it.

It obviously didn’t help that I hadn’t had sex for almost a year now and that I was trying to give my mate all the space she needed.

Everyone seemed to sense my mood and had given me a wide berth, which was just as well.

I wasn’t good company for anyone at the moment, and the only company I wanted to seek out seemed to be actively avoiding me.

Which wasn’t a blow to my ego. ~Not at all.~

My wolf was nudging at me to go after her, consequences be damned. It wanted me to hunt her down, get her in bed, fuck her, claim her like a true alpha. But my human side knew better.

This was a war of attrition, both sides trying to wear the other down, and I couldn’t lose. It was Sienna’s turn to seek me out. It was time for her to come to me on her own terms.

I’d already played most of my cards, laying them faceup on the table. I’d told her everything I could without forcing her into a corner.

And I’d put the idea of mating in her head, of a possibility between us.

~If she still doesn’t want me after that…~

I couldn’t let myself even finish that thought.

Since I was way ahead in my workload, I allowed myself to go back home for the day. I was frustrated—sexually and mentally—and I was in a piss-poor mood.

All I wanted was to brood in peace and maybe stroke myself to at least take off some of the fucking edge.

I had nothing to occupy myself with this evening, so I found myself at a new low: I played solitaire in my study like a fucking loser.

I needed some sort of distraction, something to take my mind off the fact that Sienna was…

Sienna was…

My mind suddenly slowed down, nearly shutting off entirely.

Because a scent was wafting into my nostrils, completely consuming my senses.

I sat up straight, knocking the deck of cards to the floor.

That scent… Was it really her?

My heart was beating like a drum, pounding in my ears. I wasn’t imagining it. My mate was near.

No, my mate was ~here~.

I ran to the door and opened it, and the moment I did, her scent was everywhere; in my nose, in my mouth, on my tongue, teasing and taunting every part of me.

And there she was, standing with her hand raised as if about to knock, looking so beautiful, wearing a tight dress that left almost nothing to the imagination…

And suddenly, as if the last week had been nothing but a fever dream, I grinned.

“Sienna,” I said, my relief so strongly washing over me to the point I had to restrain it from coating my voice. “I thought I scented you.”

Her electric-blue eyes were fixed on mine, her scent sharpening with a sudden arousal that made my barely-contained Haze strain against the mental chain I’d bound it with.

“I…uh…I just came to thank you for the other night,” she mumbled, looking away. “You were really there for me when I needed you.”

~And you have no idea how much I’ve needed you.~

Unable to stop myself, I grabbed her and pulled her into my arms, cradling her close to me.

“You don’t have to thank me,” I said, finding solace in her bewildered eyes. “I’d never let anyone harm you. You need to know that.”

She simply stared at me for a few long moments, and then, before I could even take a breath or close the small distance between us, she beat me to it.

Sienna kissed me.

And any and all chains that restrained my Haze were broken in an instant.