Taking Down the Alpha

25 Must Be Fate

A hand was stroking the top of my head absently when I woke up the next morning. Without opening my eyes, or even thinking about it, I knew exactly where I was, curled up in Al's arms. His scent surrounded me, his heat radiated into me from where he lay beside me, and I instinctively melted back into him, seeking to close the slight gap between us.

"Hungry?" he asked.

I was almost tempted to say no, but laying around in bed always just made me feel cranky. The world never waited. Then, my stomach rumbled like it was agreeing with me. "Yes."

"We can order again, since you still don't have anything to wear. There's a little restaurant attached on the other side. The food's great, it's half the reason I stay here."

"You've been here often enough you have favourites?"

He went and grabbed a menu as he spoke and brought it back to the bed. "Yeah. I was just a spectator the first few years, and this is my third year competing."

"Oh?"

He laughed a bit as if recalling fond memories. "First year I got my ass handed to me in the first round, last year I got knocked out in the next round."

"You seem so strong, though."

"Can't win them all, and it wouldn't be fun if I did. I'm not the only strong wolf out there."

I didn't like the sound of that. Sure, maybe it didn't matter if he lost in a cage match, but a challenge against an alpha could end in death. Possibly losing my mate over terrible pack administration suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea.

Of course, in the original plan, he wasn't my mate, and I wasn't thinking about the fact the faceless champion was someone else's mate.

His next question surprised me, although it really should not have. "What do you want, Jess?"

"Jessica."

"Jessica," he agreed, obviously with no actual intent to stop doing it.

I pretended I believed him and opened it up, choosing a big breakfast meal. All the shifting the previous night had left me famished, and even my midnight Thai leftover snack hadn't helped with that. He called down, and then we waited, lying together, completely peacefully. Peacefully, except for the huge erection poking me in the back through his boxers. He didn't act on it, though, just keeping me close. I squirmed around to look at him properly. There was something undeniably appealing about the hard angles of his face. Maybe they should have made him look intimidating, but my wolf just loved how strong he was.

He smirked, clearly basking in my admiration, no shame at all. Maybe that arrogance should have been off-putting but instead it was really attractive when he did it.

"You're just lucky that I can't help but like you," I grumbled.

"Yeah, there's no question that you wouldn't be interested in me at all without the bond. Like if we were both humans, you'd probably think I was disgusting."

I couldn't stop myself from laughing at his teasing. I'd be attracted to him with or without the bond. He was definitely my type. He was about the same size as Alpha Hudson, but in character I was convinced he was at least twice the man. I was no longer worried, he'd be a good alpha. "You've got nothing to worry about." I ran my hand along his arm, enjoying the shape of his muscles under my hand.

"Neither do you, Jess."

I rolled my eyes. I was never going to get him to stop calling me that.

"I love the hot librarian look."

"Why do I keep hearing that?"

"Because it's true? Wait, who the hell else is complementing you? There'll be no more of that."