Chapter 11 #2
I sat back, my stomach finally satisfied. “Do you think a command came down from higher up?”
Matteo shrugged. “Sure, but who? No one mentioned anything to us, and I can’t figure out who would know enough about who we really are and about our situation to just let us go.”
“The Prime?”
He shook his head. “Nah. I mean, he would have, I think, but it wasn’t him. He seemed fairly surprised when Piper and I showed up.”
Mathan smirked. “Maybe you guys have a fairy godmother?”
Matteo gave him an unimpressed look. “Or a godfather.”
Alistair said, “Now you’re switching genres on us. It doesn’t matter how, just that it did. Be grateful.”
Matteo took his prickly words in stride. “I am, truly. I think Piper would have come unglued if they’d detained us any longer.” He looked at me, then away. “I could tell it was hard for her, being away from Alanna.”
Alanna.
Everyone grimaced, then set their hamburgers down and pushed them away. Mathan said what I was sure everyone else was thinking.
“Alpha, you really have to figure things out with your mate. We need Alanna to stay.”
Alistair nodded. “Yeah, she’s… a little bit of sunshine.”
Frustration welled, spiky and hot within me. Needing something to keep my hands busy, I got up to start putting things away, and even though it seemed as though everyone had lost their appetite, I got out the cobbler.
“I’m trying,” I said. I tried to keep my voice level, but it was difficult with the intensity of everything surging and rioting painfully inside of me.
Mathan sighed, his shoulders slumping. “We know you are, Alpha.” Then his expression brightened. “We could watch her for you guys for a while, and you could do a date night here at the Lodge?”
My hands stilled, and I turned toward him, eyebrows raised. I couldn’t help but smile at the look of hope on his face. Grouchy, standoffish Mathan was looking at me like he’d just solved world peace, and if I’d just get with the program, everything would fall into place.
“She doesn’t want to date me, Mathan.” She’d been fairly clear about that.
“Not until this danger has passed, but… maybe not even then.” My chest clenched as I put the extra food in sealed containers and stored them in the fridge.
I then grabbed chip clips to seal the chips and put those in the pantry.
“I don’t know why, Alpha. You’re handsome.”
I slowly turned toward the table again, completely caught off guard. I hadn’t expected Alistair, of all people, to tell me I was handsome.
“You think?”
“Oh, yeah, Alpha. And you’ve got that Scandinavian Viking vibe that women like.”
I snorted, then couldn’t help but laugh when everyone else nodded seriously in agreement, as though discussions about how handsome I am were just normal conversations we had around the dinner table.
“He’s powerful, too. Women love that,” Matteo added, eyeing the cobbler.
“Don’t forget wealthy,” Alistair said, though his words had a slight bite to them.
I cleared my throat. “The Clan is wealthy. I am not.”
Matteo snorted. “Nice try.”
Alistair shook his head. “You should know better. I’m the Clan secretary. I know what assets are yours and what assets are the Clan’s.”
Uncomfortable now and feeling like I needed to get us back on track, I said, “Be that as it may, Piper has made her choice, and I’m abiding by her wishes for space and patience.”
There was silence for a bit as I sat and we all dug into our cobbler. I’d added vanilla ice cream to mine. Everyone knew it was better that way.
My officers around the table looked glum. “We just don’t want to lose Alanna,” Mathan finally said, pushing his half-finished cobbler away with a morose look.
“I know how you feel,” I said quietly. I decided to be brutally honest with my officers. “I don’t want to lose either of them.” I pushed my bowl away too, sighing. This conversation kept stealing my appetite. “But I can’t make her want to stay when she’s not sure she wants to.”
“You could try to persuade her,” Matteo suggested softly.
I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration, then hissed when I realized they were sticky and I’d just gotten it in my hair.
I got up to wash them at the sink. After I dried them, I stood there, not turning back to the expectant faces behind me, staring at the wall and trying to fight the burning in my eyes.
“It’s my mate. I… want to be her choice because she wants to be with me, not because I had to cajole and convince her to stay.”
Alistair snorted. “Yeah, that doesn’t work in real life. I say we drug her.”
I turned toward him, fury burning through my body, the room filling with my power. Everyone’s heads bowed immediately, but Mathan was a strong bear and managed to slap a hand over Alistair’s mouth despite the alpha aura that made them unable to meet my eyes.
“Stop talking,” Mathan hissed, “or he’s going to kill you.”
I closed my eyes, reining in my anger. I knew why Alistair had made the comment, but it didn’t mean I didn’t want to deck him right now.
“I wouldn’t have hurt her,” Alistair growled, shoving Mathan’s hand away from his mouth and glaring at him.
It was in that moment that Piper walked in carrying Alanna.
My officers immediately stood, nodded at Piper respectfully, and started putting things away. Mathan then helped Matteo stand and moved one of Matteo’s arms around his shoulder as he quietly helped him out of the kitchen. Alistair disappeared just as quickly.
Piper blinked in surprise. “They didn’t have to leave.”
“We’d already eaten.” I turned back to the fridge. “Have a seat. I saved a plate for you.”
I got everything back out and laid it out on the table for her, getting out silverware and a napkin as well. Leaning against the counter, I folded my arms across my chest, trying to keep my heartbeat steady as I drank in my mate’s beauty while working to keep my expression blank.
Piper was stunning. And most of the reasons for her beauty weren’t even physical. So, though I wanted to run my fingers through her short, strawberry blond hair to see if it felt as soft as it looked, what I wanted most went much deeper than that.
I wanted everything—body and soul.
Her sea-glass green eyes studied me from across the kitchen.
“You could sit, if you want,” she said, indicating a spot across from her at the table.
“If I get any closer to you, I’m going to touch you, and once I touch you I won’t want to stop.”
She dropped her fork. It clattered against the wood flooring as she looked at me with wide eyes.
Time spun out.
She swallowed, and I fought my instincts to cross the room and take her into my arms.
Using every ounce of self-restraint I possessed, I made myself move toward the door instead of the table. “I’m going out on patrol with my enforcers. Call me if you need me.”
I let the door swing shut behind me.
Maybe if I worked myself to the bone, I could fall asleep tonight and not dream of her.