Alone Until I Met You (Completed)

(21) The Almost Challenge

I hadn’t exactly thought things through very well when I stomped ahead of Colt and made my way to the bar by myself, but it was obviously Colt’s fault for making me so mad. If he could just trust me a little bit more and maybe treat me more like his mate rather than some flee bitten mongrel then maybe I wouldn’t have carelessly flung myself into the bar. And maybe, just maybe I wouldn’t have rammed into the one person I had prayed to avoid. Six.

Without Colt behind me for support I ended up falling flat on my butt. Six’s head snapped in my direction with a low hiss coming from her thin lips. “Watch where you’re going.”

I felt a shiver run down the length of my spin as my eyes met with her flashing silver ones. As soon as I noticed her silver eyes I wanted to give into my wolf instincts and get the heck out of there because Six and I weren’t exactly on the best of terms seeing as how I was now Alpha of her pack, and if I remembered correctly I was pretty sure that she wanted me dead.

Those cold silver eyes had me so frozen with fear that I couldn’t even manage to look away. It was almost like I was staring into Kirk’s dead eyes all over again and for that instant I could feel the cold sweat forming on my brow as my breathing quickly sped up. Filled with horror and fear I watched helplessly as her gaze shifted from me to our surrounding and I knew that she was searching for Colt.

With a hard swallow I began to face the reality that without Colt’s protection I was an easy target for someone like Six. When her steel cold gaze fell back to me I could feel the tension in the air suddenly burst. My muscles were bunching up underneath my skin and my nails were digging into the hard wood floor as I thought about what I was supposed to do now. Did I try to run away from her or stand up and go down fighting?

I felt the ground shake from under me as a wicked smile formed on her lips. Slowly I started to add weight onto my arms when I realized that it wasn’t the ground that had been shaking, it was me. The wolf inside of me wasn’t standing strong like I had originally thought she would, but instead she was whining for me to run away.

Six must have realized this as well because the next thing I knew she was leaning her body forward with her hands positioned on her hips. Her silver eyes and white teeth flashed as she whispered, “Your little bodyguard doesn’t seem to be here right now to protect you. Does that mean that we can have a little fun?”

My chest grew tight with fear as I stared into her wrathful eyes. What was I going to do?

“Why are you sitting on the floor?”

Six jumped slightly with surprise at the sound of his dominate voice and quickly switched her gaze up to look at him; her shoulders slumped forward unconsciously as her once grim expression turned blank. I could feel the fear and dread slowly start to disappear from my body as his dominate presence grew closer. His hard hands gripped my upper arms roughly as he quickly picked me up off the ground.

I could feel the warm tingles humming on the skin that he had unintentionally caressed as his hands slowly slipped away from my arms. With a shaky sigh I looked over my shoulder at the man who had unknowingly saved my pathetical excuse of an ass. Colt’s eyes however were not trained on me like I had believed. They were focused on Six and I could see the hard flecks of gold start to flare out as his stare became murderous.

“What do you think you’re doing Six?” His voice had a hard tone to it as he took an intimidating step towards her.

Six’s gaze stayed on Colt as if her life depended on it and with her head slightly bent forwards she responded, showing a respectfully gesture. “Nothing really, she just fell is all.”

I wasn’t sure if Colt could smell the lie on her or if he just plain didn’t believe her but the next thing I knew he was snarling at her. “Liar.”

Six did something very strange at his snarling, instead of growling back at him or running away she simply lifted her head back up and smiled. It was that strange smile that made Colt even angrier and suddenly I was grabbing at his arm.

“Wait Colt,” I nearly cried as I plastered myself against his arm. “She’s telling the truth. I just fell down, that’s all.”

I could feel his growl vibrating against my arm as his gaze flickered over to me. “She didn’t threaten or hurt you?”

“No,” The lie left an odd taste in my mouth and made my stomach feel uneasy. I didn’t really have a good reason for lying to him about Six threatening me because she had and if he hadn’t shown up I’m sure she would have done something about me being alone but I just didn’t want to see him getting in a fight about it; especially if it was something that I intended to handle later on by myself.

My gaze switched from Colt to Six and I could see her eyebrow rise in curiosity as to why I had just lied to him. Six was becoming a problem and even though it would be extremely easy for me to just have Colt kill her and get it all over with I felt as if it was something that I should handle. After all I was the Alpha of this pack and I couldn’t very well have my beta doing all of the fighting for me, people would get suspicious.

“You’re sure?” Colt asked in a calmer tone. I looked back over at him to see the gold flecks slowly beginning to lose their spark but his hard tense body told me that he was ready to pounce at Six if I just said the right words.

I knew then that I had been taking Colt’s protection for granted and I felt a warm tingling sensation start to fill up my chest. He was so ready to fight my battles for me and protect me in any way possible that it was almost easy to forget that we had been arguing just a few short moments ago.

I touched my other hand to his upper arm and patted it reassuringly. “I’m sure.”

Colt’s body slowly started to relax under my touch and I could feel his gaze start to soften on me as well. His eyes returned to those perfect brilliant green ones that I adored so much. I couldn’t help but stare into them for a moment and let those sweet loving emotions that I had been keeping at bay inside of me run rampant. Colt must have been sharing a similar feeling as well because his hand crept up to where mine was resting and he squeezed it gently.

“Are you two mated?” Both of us snapped out of our trance at the sound of Six’s voice. How had we forgotten that she was there?

Colt let his hand fall away from me before shrugging away from me and taking a step towards her. “What was that?”

Six’s gaze turned into a hard glare as she looked between the both of us. “She’s your mate isn’t she?” She snarled in my direction.

Colt step over to the side to block me form her hateful glare. “She is not my mate.”

I felt a sting of pain shoot through my chest at his answer but I said nothing. Colt didn’t want Kirk to know that we were mated and if that was so then it would probably be for the best that no one knew that we were mated and that was why I hadn’t even told Jackie about it. Word might get around.

“Liar.” Six screeched causing the whole bar to grow quiet. I could feel the curious stares of the pack beating down on my back as I hid behind my so called beta. “A Beta isn’t so affectionate to his Alpha, you cheat! I knew that there was something weird going on between the two of you as soon as you walked into my bar and now I finally know what it is.”

I moved slightly behind Colt so that I could see Six. As soon as poked my head out from behind Colt her gaze stuck on me like a hook. “You put that damn bitch at the top of the ranking and turned my entire pack into her personal bodyguards. How dare you! How dare you force a weak wolf into an Alpha position? Do you have any idea as to how stupid that is? A weak Alpha means a weak pack and I won’t stand to have my pack name slandered because of your damn scheme. What’s worse is that you had the nerve to put me into a Delta position. I want a fair challenge for the Alpha spot and if you want your damn mate to have it then that’s fine with me. I’ll tear her to shreds.”

My stomach turned at the mere thought of Six and me fighting for the Alpha and I knew that if that were to happen then I would most definitely lose. Six’s argument also made me realize that the Alpha position wasn’t something to be taken so lightly. What if another pack came along and issued a challenge to me? Colt wouldn’t be able to defend me if something like that were to happen because it is an Alpha against Alpha challenge. The only reason I had been able to get the Alpha rank this time was because Six saw Colt as someone that was more dominate than her and at the time was convinced that I was more dominate than him. Being mated however would throw Colt’s entire plan down the drain.

I took a deep breath to help pull myself together but I knew that it was going to be nearly impossible to calm down my wired nerves. I felt Colt’s body stiffen in front of me and I knew that I didn’t have much time left. An Alpha had to fight their battles themselves.

“We’re not mates.” I spoke in a commanding tone as I step out from behind Colt.

Six crouched slightly as a growled rippled out of her lips. “I already know that you are lying.”

I made sure to keep my head up high and my gaze firm as I took a step forward. “I’m not lying.”

Her lip curled and she spat. “Prove it and let me see your neck.”

A sly smile slowly began to form on my lips. I had been waiting for her to say something about that. Without hesitation I lifted my hand up and yanked the collar of my shirt down, exposing my neck to the entire pack. I waited for Six’s expression to change into one of horror before I continued on.

“As you all can see I do not have the Mating Mark. Colt and I are not mated and I apologize if we lead you on. I am not some weak wolf that wrongfully stole your ranking away from you, but if you still feel that way about it then go ahead and challenge me again for the position Six.” I let my smile deepen and prayed that it was a coy as I thought it to be. “I’ll even let you skip challenging my Beta if you’d like, but know this. You won’t be walking away from this fight alive.”

The last part I said with a little bit of ease because I knew that she would definitely kill me in the fight but if that happened then I was sure that my mate would kill her right after. For what male could let its mate’s killer walk away? Six held her ground for a while with her cold steel glare but after a few more moments it started to waver. When she bowed her head in a respectful manner I gave a little sigh of relief.

“I was wrong to say those things….I’m sorry.” She spoke through her teeth and her tone was still harsh but she wasn’t challenging me so I let it go.

“If it happens again Six, I won’t let you off so easily.”

She bowed her head even lower before lifting it up and retreating into the crowd. I looked around to see a bunch of silver eyes staring back at me but slowly they flashed back to their original colors and the pack started to livin up again.

Colt’s hand landed on my right shoulder and he used it to yank me back into his chest, once there I felt his warm breathe tickled the back of my ear. “You shouldn’t put your life at stake so easily.”

I let out a sigh. “If I hadn’t then she might not have backed down.”

“Then I would have put her in her place.”

I looked over my shoulder at him. There were no gold flecks in his eyes so I knew that I was talking strictly to his human half. “As my beta or as my mate?”

His lips formed into a firm line and I knew that he knew what I was getting at. “Both.”

I shook my head at him. “Neither were the right answer. Just because you’re my Beta doesn’t mean that you can fight my fights for me and being my mate would get me killed.”

Colt’s eyes grew a little bit hard before he lifted up his hand and stroked my chin with his thumb. “I would never let you get killed. It’s my duty as both to protect you Allison, no matter what the circumstances are.”

I let myself lean into his hand as he slowly cupped my cheek. It was these kinds of moments that we shared that reminded me that we were mates, the warm hard touch of his skin against mine and the refreshing smell of his scent filling the air around me were all precious to me. The smell of pumpkin spice began to fill the air and I smiled into his hand before taking a step away. Jackie and Linc were here.

Colt looked at me with disappointment in his eyes. His hand slowly fell to his side and he took a small step away from me and running his hand through his disheveled hair. “So do you have any clue as to what this whole dinner is about?”

I blinked up at him surprised. “You mean haven’t figured it out yet?”

He frowned down at me. “Figured out what?”

I covered my hand over my mouth to help quiet my laugh. “Looks like the city wolf doesn’t have as keen of a sense of smell as the wild one but I suppose you’ll find out soon enough.”

He folded his arms across his chest as he glared at me. “I don’t like being kept in the dark on things.”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to keep the whole Hailey thing a secret.” I unintentionally snapped at him.

As soon as the words had left my mouth I immediately wished for them to be sucked back in. I hadn’t meant to ruin such a playfully mood between us and judging by the look on his face I had done just that. His brow was set into a deep frown and his lips were curled into a snarl.

“Will you get off of my back about that already? I told you that I would tell you about her when I felt like it and you keep poking around at it.”

“Well maybe it’s because she just so happened to be you long time love and then died mysteriously! Besides the last time you kept something from me nothing good came out of it so I am set of finding out what happened to Hailey whether you want me to or not.”

Colt took an intimidating step towards me. “That’s not going to happen.”

I squared my shoulders before glaring right at him. “I’ll make you a deal. Either you tell me about her or I’ll find someone that will.”

I knew I had pushed him over the edge when his hands shot out towards me. His fingers dug into my skin as he shook me slightly. “Don’t you dare.”

Without thinking about it I swung my leg back and kicked him in the leg. My kick hadn’t been strong enough for me to actually hurt him it was just meant to get my point across, which it did. He released me but didn’t back away.

“I’ve made my decision Colt,” I informed him before nodding my head to the two people that were walking into the bar. “Now smile, your friends are here.”

Colt’s gaze flickered over to the door where Linc and Jackie were looking around for us. He quickly looked back at me and held my gaze for a moment before letting out a sigh. “If I told you that it would be better for you not to know what happened would you back off.”

“No,”

He lifted his hand up and touched my cheek lightly. “I’m going to try my best to keep the truth away from you.”

I gazed up into his eyes with a little bit of worry. “Why?”

“Because,” He let out a sigh before dropping his hand and turning his back to me so that he could greet his friends. “It’ll be better for the both of us if you never find the answers you’re looking for.”

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