In the deep end

Chapter Three

ANDREW POV

I couldn't believe I had found her, my mate, my other half. It had been two years since I came to the age and my hope faded of finding her each and every day. Finding mates wasn't as common as it once was. Our race had spent the last fourteen years building itself up, spreading into different but allied packs around the world. We were getting ready to destroy the magic beings that tried to destroy us.

I sighed, sitting across from my beautiful mate, knowing I was going to have to explain all this to her. The stories of that dark time haunted me and my pack. "Before the big questions of you know, what the hell happened; how did you find me, other than my house where you followed me last night?"  I smiled, Alexa was so beautiful. I had never imagined that I would have been lucky enough to have a mate so stunning, strong, fearless and just so much more. Alexa put two of my guys in the infirmary after the fight last night. She had spunk and I loved it. 

"I'm the Alpha."

"Of course you are."

"I have my ways and, what do you mean by that?"

Alexa had slumped back in her chair, crossing her arms across her large chest that was just calling for my attention. I couldn't do that though. There was something holding Alexa back from being open, being with me and joining the pack. I had to be careful with her. I also had to be careful around her foster dad. If he spoke like that to her again, I may just have to rip his head off.

I watched as Alexa ran her tongue across her teeth, looking away from me. "I, I've lived as what we are for five years, thinking I was alone, that I was the only one. Vicky and I, mostly Vicky, did lots of research and with the war that came up; I decided I didn't want a mate or kids. I didn't want to repopulate our kind if it lead to more destruction."

My heart deflated, as my wolf, Darius whimpered. "Clovis doesn't want that. She wants what we want."  Darius tried to settle me. It didn't work. "Oh." Was the only thing I could think of saying. What could I say to something like that? "That you two having pups won't make any difference, numb nuts. Our race is growing every day already."

"Maybe I should just go." Alexa spoke softly, grabbing her bag but I was quick to grab her dainty hand. The sparks I had only felt since meeting her, erupted through me. I loved watching how Alexa's breath caught in her throat. I could see she felt just the same as I did, even if she did want to fight our mate bond unlike myself, Darius and Clovis. "Please don't. Please. We have just met, we don't have to talk about that right now. Besides, I still need to tell you about what happened."

Alexa nodded and sat back down thankfully. She said nothing. She just waited for me to speak. Honestly, I didn't want to speak, not about that. "Would you mind if I only told you about how we, us personally survived?" We were sitting in a little diner and this topic suddenly made me wish this place sold alcohol. "Sure. I would still like to know the full story one day though." I refrained from smiling. Hearing her words meant she wouldn't be rejecting me as her mate, not now anyway. Hopefully, I could help her get used to mixing with our race and accept me one day.

"From what my dad told me; Wolves of the higher rankings so, Alpha down to Gammas had guardians take their pups to safety. These guardians are relatives of mates who happened to be human. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough for all the pups, hence why it was only the higher rankings. Although, I think some other wolves that could barely access their wolves anyway, escaped before the war started."

"Okay? Not even going to think about what happened to the children that didn't escape." Alexa cleared her throat as her beautiful green eyes teared up. "How were the kids found after the war?" I could tell that Alexa was wondering why she wasn't found, wondering if she had been forgotten. Moon, her surname was Moon; she definitely wasn't forgotten but, I could get on the topic of her family another time.  "Towards the end of the war; the leader, known as the Alpha King, told all the Alphas, Lunas, Betas remaining to go into hiding. Their packs would sacrifice their lives for them and many did. "When the war did end. Those who somehow managed to survive were found by the Alphas, what have you and they started finding all the pups."

"Just not all of them."

"We'll get onto that topic, sweetheart. Now, will you please come to the pack house?"

I could tell that something was truly troubling my future Luna. I would have loved to ask but, I knew she wasn't at a place where she could tell me yet. I just hoped she'd be able to share her thoughts with me, share every thing with me. I wanted to be able to share everything with her. "Are you okay?" 

"Um, yeah. Maybe one day Andrew but, I best deal with my foster parents. Now I'm eighteen, they need to talk to me. I guarantee that they're going to kick me out, especially now Vicky's going to be moving out." 

I growled. I hated Alexa's foster parents already. "If that happens you are coming with me." 

Alexa's mouth just dropped. "Just, meet me in the woods tonight. We'll talk then. Just, don't expect anything even if they do. May you give me a lift home?"

"Of course."

We drove back in a comfortable silence. I kept glancing over in Alexa's direction to see her staring blankly out of the window. A lot was clearly going through that colourful head of hers but I felt hopeless to help her. 

"How are you hopeless? Just get to know her at least, numb nuts." Darius huffed at me, making an excellent point though. Maybe asking a few questions would help us both. "So, how long have you been looking for a mate?"

I heard Alexa chuckle a little. "I haven't remember?"

"I know but, a man can dream." Hearing Alexa laugh at my words made my heart swell. "How old are you?" I asked after a moment.

"Eighteen, it was actually my birthday yesterday."

I didn't say anything at first. I was too busy having Darius yap at me about doing a celebration for her. Going off Alexa's tone, I could tell that she didn't care about her birthday which was sad. I could see so much hurt in those beautiful green eyes. It was breaking Darius and I to know our mate wasn't happy. "Did you do anything nice? Did you get anything nice?" I finally decided to ask, hoping for a nice answer. Alexa simply shrugged. "Nah, I had that run, nearly got killed and terrified my best friend but I didn't get anything."

Darius whimpered, we weren't mentioned. Was Alexa not happy to have met us? I decided not to ask. "Did Vicky not get you anything?"

"No. I tell her not to. She'd get in trouble with her dad like when we were sixteen and it's not worth it." 

My hands tightened around the steering wheel. I was close to killing this guy. Why would he be such a dick to someone, especially someone he raised. "May I walk you to your door?" I asked with a small smile. I just didn't want to push any boundaries with Alexa. I knew that kiss I pushed for was but, I had my reasons. I wanted that kiss just to prove to Alexa how the mate bond could be. I was definitely thrilled with the results.

"Yeah. Just, please don't kill Marcus if he's home." 

I was glad that Alexa didn't ask me to promise because, if this Marcus hurt my mate; I wouldn't hesitate to let Darius take full control. No one and I mean no one harms my mate. I could feel the anger building already from the idea but the second Alexa stood in front of me, placing her hand on my chest, it faded. "I'm okay, Andrew. I promise; there's no need to be a brute." Brute. I chuckled. I had never been called a brute before but, I definitely was happy with being her brute. "I'll meet you where we met last night at eight?" 

"Sure."

"What the hell are you doing here with this guy?" Marcus snapped. We didn't jump this time, thanks to our sensitive hearing and smell we knew he was coming. It's why I was rushing our goodbye. I didn't trust myself to not hurt the bastard.  "He's just walking me to the door, Marcus."

"Well, stop being a whore and get inside. We need to talk and I do not want issues with the press because of you."

I could feel Darius trying desperately to break through, Marcus's and Alexa's eyes widen at me. I'm guessing my blue eyes were starting to flicker to red. "Darius, stop! Alexa will be fine. Even if Marcus did try anything, Alexa's a wolf, he's human. She can take care of herself." I tried to reason with both of us before I did something stupid. "I'll see you later, Andrew."

"No you won't. Get inside." 

Before I could say anything, Marcus dragged Alexa inside and slammed the door in my face. "One thing, if he does one thing to our mate. I'm going to tear him to shreds."