Their Terrified Mate

Chapter Eleven

When I'm done crying, I try to pull away, but Alpha James won't let me, wrapping his strong arms around me and I just let him. This feels nice and Alpha Dennis has a hand on my back. I could get used to this, and that terrifies me. There's so much danger in that, in the possibility that I could trust these two only for them to hurt me or Henry.

I remember when my mom first met Cam, her mate, how she promised me that everything was going to be okay, that we were safe now. I believed her, and it later destroyed me. I can't do that again, but I don't have the strength to move away. Just a few more minutes.

"I have to pick up Henry from school," I say.

"We'll come with you," Alpha James says.

I shake my head. "You don't have to," I say.

"We want to," Alpha Dennis says without missing a beat.

"Okay," I whisper.

When we get to the school, Henry comes running up to me with a large smile on his face.

"Lookie, papa," he says, "I made a picture for you."

He shows me the piece of paper that he's holding in his hand. It's lightly crumpled, but on it is a picture of a colorful house and four people standing next to each other.

"See, papa," Henry says, pointing at the figures, "that's you and me, and daddy Dennis and James."

I just smile at him, but I'm at a loss for words. Daddy Dennis and James. That's what he called the alphas and I can't breathe.

Alpha Dennis and James coo over his picture and tell him how beautiful it is while I'm lost in my thoughts. Henry is already growing attached and that's dangerous. He could get hurt like that and I can't let that happen, but I don't say anything. I don't want to get upset at him over the picture. I don't want to be the one who hurts him.

The frustration at not knowing what to do breeds tears in my eyes and Alpha James notices. He gives me a sad smile.

"What's wrong, love?" he asks.

I just shake my head, saying nothing for a moment until. "You two should go back to the training grounds," I say.

"But we have to take you two back home," Alpha Dennis says.

"We'll be fine," I say, voice watery.

"You're crying," Alpha Dennis says, "what's wrong?"

"Just leave, please," I say and Alpha Dennis looks at me, hurt.

Alpha James gives me a sad look before a smile and nod. "Okay," he says, and then gives my shoulder a squeeze. "If you need us, you know where we are."

The alphas walk away, reluctantly, and I take Henry to our new home.

-

I can't believe I broke down in front of the alphas like that. I feel dirty and ashamed of myself. Why can't I keep it together?

I'm walking back to the pack house after dropping Henry off at school. Tomorrow is Saturday and I'm trying to think about what we should do this weekend when a loud whistle distracts me from my thoughts.

"Hey cutie," an alpha on the street shouts at me, "not running away this time are you?" I look up from the sidewalk to see a man sneering at me from a few feet away. I have a brief memory of yesterday when someone shouted at me as I was running, but I wasn't paying enough attention to notice what he looked like. This must be him.