Chapter Seven
A week later
Connor buried himself further under the bedclothes as he heard the sound of a vehicle coming up his driveway.
He knew the only person it could be was Davis, and Connor was not in the mood to talk to his Alpha.
Actually since leaving Leyden’s territory the week before, Connor hadn’t felt much like doing anything.
All he had done, since that fateful night, was think about his mate.
Sometimes the memories were happy ones - Leyden being all alpha in his office, the way the man looked so beautiful in the candlelight at dinner.
As Connor had spent all of his time thinking about what he knew about Leyden, even though they had only been together for less than twenty-four hours, he knew he would have loved the man, given half the chance.
Leyden was kind, which was unusual for an alpha.
Connor remembered how Leyden had described the fight he won when he took over his pack.
Every word reeked of compassion for an older alpha who wanted to leave with dignity.
And Leyden had given it to him. In the office, Leyden was strong, but friendly.
He took the time to listen to pack concerns, no matter how trivial.
Connor realized the man had a knack of making everyone seem special.
Yes, and just like always, that’s when Connor’s memories hit the dark side of things.
Leyden was special and an amazing person in every way.
Which was why there were two interlopers in Leyden’s bed when they got home from their date.
It was clear from first glance that both Trixie and Lonnie were comfortable in Leyden’s space, so they had clearly been there before.
That would have been obvious even without Lonnie’s obnoxious comments earlier in the day.
Connor didn’t think he had ever been so angry in his life.
Through the course of the day, from Leyden’s passionate speech when he pledged to bite and claim Connor as his, right through to the wonderful date the two men had shared, Connor had started to relax.
He had started to consider that Leyden was his.
He even felt some slight tingles of the things that Leyden had described when he was talking about desire.
After all, Connor had never felt it before, which was why he had asked the question in the first place.
The more Connor felt confident not only in his position as alpha mate, but also in Leyden’s promise not to rush him into anything, the more optimistic Connor had felt about wanting to have sex in the future. And that was a definite first for him.
Connor hadn’t wanted to walk away. But he’d smelled Leyden’s arousal at the sight of the two people in his bed.
He couldn’t forget Lonnie’s words. They might have felt hateful at the time, but the little shit was right.
Leyden deserved somebody by his side who wanted him, as badly as he wanted in return.
No matter his personal feelings on the subject, Connor would take strength in the fact that he had put his mate’s needs first.
“Connor get your ass out of bed, or I’ll pull you out personally.
” Davis’s roar damn near shook Connor’s small house.
Knowing that Davis could not be ignored, Connor bowed to the inevitable, stumbling out of bed, and pulling on a pair of jeans.
Striding through to his small living room, he was all for tearing strips off Davis for interrupting his thoughts, when he was stopped short.
Lonnie. Sex-mad, pretty, Leyden’s Lonnie was standing in his living room.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Connor growled. “Come to rub my face in the fact that Leyden’s claimed you and your friend as mates? Felt I had a dying need to know how many hours the three of you spent fucking after my date with my mate?”
“Leyden’s in trouble,” Lonnie said. Connor could barely hear the man’s tiny voice over the pounding in his ears. He couldn’t believe the man had come into his house.
Then the words the little shit had said made sense.
“What do you mean, in trouble? Leyden’s the alpha, and perfectly capable of taking care of himself, especially if he’s mated now.”
“He’s not mated,” Lonnie confessed, tears in his eyes. “He kicked me and Trixie out of his room and won’t even let us in his house anymore.”
“Whatever,” Connor said, refusing to show how much Lonnie’s words meant to him. “Why is Leyden in trouble?”
“Leyden was all for coming after you when you left, but Matthew reminded him he had the beta challenge to take care of first. The challenge went ahead and some big guy, Rolf, or something, won. He became pack second. Leyden wasn’t happy about it…”
“He wouldn’t have been,” Connor was beyond frustrated. Rolf had been one of the contenders that Connor had warned Leyden about. Why the Alpha decided to go ahead and let the man participate had Connor’s brain in a mess.
“Yeah, well it got worse,” Lonnie went on. “Rolf’s not only challenged Leyden for his position as alpha, he has also got more than half of the enforcers on his side. Leyden stands to lose his pack, his home and everything.”
“Why do you care? You just want him for sex and for his position. Go and protect him like a good alpha mate should,” Connor snarled as his mind raced over what he could do to protect his mate.
Lonnie scuffed his foot along Connor’s carpet, his gaze firmly fixed on the floor.
“Leyden’s a good alpha, okay,” the young man said at last. “He cares about everyone, and makes us all feel special, you know.” Connor knew only too well. It was one of the things he loved about the man. Loved? Connor reminded himself to focus.
“If he’s that good why did the enforcers defect to this newcomer then?” Connor asked as he galvanized himself into action, rushing about finding shoes, a shirt, and where the hell were his freaking keys?
“Word is that Leyden wasn’t strong enough to keep his mate,” Davis said, holding up the keys Connor was looking for.
“He could have kept his mate just fine, if some little shits hadn’t got in the way,” Connor snarled at Lonnie. “Leyden and I had been getting to know each other, what the fuck was wrong with that?”
“You should have been all over each other if you were mates. It’s what wolves do,” Lonnie cried out, and Connor could see the little man was almost in tears.
“You think too much about sex and not enough about the other things that are important in a mating. Honesty, learning about each other’s likes and dislikes, integrity, learning to live with each other in the same space.
That’s what I was looking for, and Leyden understood that.
What business of yours was it whether or not Leyden and I had actually fucked yet? ” Connor said in a rush.
Where the heck had he left his jacket? Spying it slung across the kitchen chair, Connor strode over, and slipped it on.
“It just didn’t feel right,” Lonnie said in a whisper.
“It was right for me and Leyden,” Connor said, coming to stand in front of the man, uncaring if he looked intimidating. Connor had intimidation down to an art form.
“You’re coming to help?” Lonnie said peering up at Connor through his bangs. Conner could see why Leyden would have been attracted to the man, although he wasn’t surprised that he didn’t feel anything for the little shit. He was more worried about Leyden.
“He’s my mate, and unlike you, I would support him in anything,” Connor said firmly.