Alpha's Hunt For Love

Chapter 3. My mate

"Hello, mate. What's your name?"

For someone with a bad reputation, he kept his calm pretty well. My wolf pushed me a bit and I replied faster than I intended.

"Hello. My name is Malia. Do you think we can talk somewhere else?" I wanted to get out of the room since his eyes had briefly moved to Beta Josh.

"You know you can't run now, Malia, right?" I looked into his eyes and noticed they stayed blue. The situation was on a good track at the moment.

"I am aware of that. Let's move somewhere else, please, so we can talk in private." He nodded and showed me the way out of the room. When I looked back, the Beta was trying to tell me to run, but before I could say anything Alpha John leaned in and whispered in my ear so no one else could hear.

"You made me wait so long because of your gift. But despite that, I still waited for you. If it weren't for my witch telling me that you were hiding, I would have thought you were dead. Run, mate, run before I get you—if you still want to not be mine!" The vision I had been shown was different; he should have said this a bit later. I wondered what had happened to change the course of events. I had to keep the alpha calm. I wasn't in danger in any way—he was my mate—but I didn't want to ruin my pack's reputation. We're known for not getting into conflicts with other packs. We're like Switzerland: neutral, keeping good relationships with everyone.

"Alpha, I won't run. Please, let's find a quiet place to talk." He smirked, put his hand on my lower back, and guided me through the mass of people until we reached the front of the building where everyone was gathered. "I believe we can go to my apartment and talk without anyone bothering us." I followed him. We went inside and sat on the couch.

"I want you to move in with me as soon as possible. I won't accept delays. I know you saw this happening—my witch told me." He was confident and didn't wait long to say what he wanted.

"I have nothing against moving in together." He looked surprised, so I took the opportunity and continued. "But we have to go back to my pack so I can gather my belongings and the flowers from my house." He looked a bit confused and took a moment to think. His face showed he was rethinking what he was about to say.

"Flowers? Maybe we can hire someone to take care of them and we won't have to move anything." He didn't know the struggle it had been for me to keep those flowers alive while I was away studying.

"I did this, and I lost some of them. I and the flowers are a package." He looked at me and I saw his soft side. But I wasn't going to let him make me leave the flowers behind.

"Deal. With one condition: you give me a kiss for each flower you move into my house." This surprised me. My mom had left me thirty-five flowers when I left; I lost ten of them because the person who was supposed to care for them didn't follow my instructions.

"We have a deal if you agree to let our relationship go at the pace I set."

"Why have you avoided me?" I guessed I would have to get used to him asking questions I didn't want to answer.

"You haven't answered my last question. Do we have a deal?" During our conversation I had avoided his eyes multiple times and hadn't realized until now that he had moved closer. Now he was only a few inches away. His blue eyes were fixed on me and he took my hand in his. The touch was so gentle it felt as if he were afraid that if he used more force I would break. He lifted me onto his lap gently and kept my hands in his.

"I will never do anything against your will. But my request is that you allow me to be close to you. Give me a chance to prove to you that you ran from something good." His eyes were still on mine; I felt the sparks of our mate bond growing stronger by the minute. I leaned into his chest and let him rest his head on my shoulder. I felt him inhale my scent and his arms moved to hug me. This moment gave me a great relief. He was nothing like what I had expected. His blue eyes were gentle and his blond hair made his face even more handsome. He had sharp features and was bigger than any male I had ever seen. I was lost in the moment and, without realizing it, my hands moved to his face. He looked astonished, but my next move surprised us both... I kissed him. He returned the kiss gently and I was happy to have given him my first kiss.