Claimed by the Alpha

Chapter Twenty-Two

I don't feel a fated bond with her. I feel the bond we established last week.

"Shit!" I turned and threw my fist at the wall. The plaster caved in from the force.

"That's it. You have kept me out of here long enough." We heard Chandra's voice on the other side of the door. The place was relatively soundproof, but loud enough sounds could get through. My growl and punch at the wall must have alerted her that something was wrong. The door swung open and she looked around before her eyes fell on me. "What's going on in here?"

"Nothing. We're leaving." Her concern turned to confusion as I walked to the door.

"Chandra." I didn't mean to sound harsh, but I needed to get out of the cabin and back into our own space. Troy's revelation was bothering me. It had only been a week, but Ade and I had already bonded with her and her wolf. It wasn't a fated mate bond, but it was still a mate bond. I already couldn't stomach the idea of letting her go to be with someone else. She quickly got the hint that I wasn't in the mood and didn't want to talk so she followed me out of the kitchen, not before turning and sharing a look with Paige. Do not tell your mates what we talked about, I linked Troy and Alec.

I wasn't ready to tell her about what was going on. I didn't want her to get the idea that she could go and search for her fated mate. She was mine. I had claimed her and I wasn't going to let her go. If Troy told Paige what was going on, I didn't have a doubt that she would tell Chandra. They were best friends and probably shared everything with each other. I wasn't too worried about Valerie, but Chandra was her Luna. While she couldn't use an Alpha command because we hadn't mated yet, Valerie would feel some obligation to her Luna and would likely tell her the truth if she asked. I couldn't take any risks.

Chandra and I got in the car in silence and drove back to the pack house. I was simmering inside. Ade was completely in agreement with me that we should hold off on telling Chandra everything that we had just learned. He wasn't ready to let go of Imara either.

Does that mean we give up on having our Goddess-given mate?

We gave up on that idea the moment we marked her. She's ours now, he growled.

He was right. We had wanted out fated from the moment we knew what mates were, but the moment we sunk our canines into Chandra, she became our mate. The idea and the desire for a fated mate died. We had claimed a mate and we had accepted that she was who we were going to spend the rest of our life with. There was no turning back now.

I glanced over at her sitting quietly in the passenger seat staring out the window. I knew that I had accepted that she was my mate and wasn't really to change that, but had she? I knew that she had also dreamt of having her fated mate, but what did she think now that we had bonded? I knew that she wanted me, but that was sexually. It was likely to happen, especially since she would be getting her heat soon, but if she had the chance now would she want to find her fated mate still? The idea that she could possibly want to leave the pack to find her fated mate crushed me. Just mark her, Ade insisted. We can't do that. If we marked her and she's not our mate, what do you think will happen if the truth comes out? Ade fell silent at my link to him.

While I doubted whether or not Chandra still wanted her fated mate, I didn't doubt that she would be pissed off if I took her choice away from her without her knowing all of the facts. I knew she wouldn't hesitate to let me know how pissed off she was. My Luna was strong. She proved that by managing to stay unclaimed until she was distracted. It wasn't for lack of trying because I could sense the wolves that wanted her, but were too afraid to approach. She acted shy and timid around me at times, but I didn't think that who she really was. If I hadn't been her Alpha she would never hesitate to speak her mind to me.

I parked at the pack house and we climbed out. She grabbed her bag and headed into the pack house. Pack members greeted us both and she nodded to them as she made her way up to our suite. I could tell that she was irritated with me. Probably because she could sense that I was upset and I wasn't telling her what was going on. She let herself into the suite and I followed her as she walked to the office entering through the hidden door. I didn't know what she was doing, but I followed her in. I was going to go to the office anyway because I needed to be alone, but I needed to get some work done. I just didn't want to be too far away from her.

She sat on the other side of my desk and took out the schoolwork she had been able to collect before she shifted and sat down. I looked at her confused and walked around my desk to my chair. She wants to be close to us, Ade linked me. I could feel how happy he was. She feels the bond like we do. But it's not a fated bond. Doesn't matter. She's our mate.

Ade closed the link with me. He still thought we should mark her even though he knew that it was wrong. I queued up the laptop and tried to focus on my work. The pack owned a big construction firm within the human community. It was how we kept the pack funded and running. I only employed humans and rarely made appearances around them. We didn't have a problem being around humans, but it was easier to stick with wolves. That way we didn't run the risk of exposing what we were. Accidents happened. Tempers flared or people got hurt on the job. I would hate for one of my wolves to get so upset that they exposed themselves to a human or they got hurt and healed faster than a human would. That would cause people to pay closer attention, not to mention the extra strength. It was better to have the pack members find things around the pack to do instead of joining the main business.

I tried to focus on the reports in front of me, but my eyes kept drifting over to Chandra and she completed her homework. She was focused on what she was doing and didn't react to me watching her.

"If you weren't Luna what job were you going to do in the pack?" I asked suddenly. I wasn't willing to let her go, but I was curious about what she wanted to do before I came along. Being Luna was a full-time job and a lot of responsibility. She wouldn't be able to do anything else besides, supporting me and caring for the pack.

Her head shot up and her brows furrowed. "Okay, random," she said. "Well, I was hoping to not get claimed, but we both knew that was a pipe dream, so if whoever claimed me was okay with me working, I wanted to be a teacher or work at the pack daycare."

She wanted to nurture the pups. She was meant to be our Luna. Ade swooned.

I ignored my lovestruck wolf. "Why wouldn't your mate be okay with you working?"

"I forgot you were out of touch with what goes on in this pack," she murmured. "Some of the male wolves prefer for their mates to stay at home and raise the pups and keep house. They're not allowed to think for themselves." She shrugged as if what she said was nothing, but I knew that wasn't how she felt. Her eyes showed how annoyed and hurt she was by that mindset.

"Is that how it is with your parents?"

She looked down at her work for a minute before she looked up again. Her eyes held sadness, but I knew it wasn't for herself. "They didn't have any other kids after me, but what dad wanted, dad got and that included a stay at home mate. If you ask her, she would probably say she was happy and she loved staying at home, but I know she miss going out."

"She doesn't go out at all?" I asked confused. I didn't agree with it, but I could understand wanting your partner to stay home, but I didn't get never allowing them to leave the house. That was just unacceptable.

"Not unless it was absolutely necessary. I'm surprised she said she would visit here when she was allowed."

"I'm sorry. I promise I am going to make more of an effort to know what's going on in our pack."

"I believe you." She started to pack up her things. "It's getting late. I'm gonna start dinner."

She got up to leave and I don't know what came over me. I got up and moved around the desk to pull her into my arms. I buried my head in her neck and breathed in her scent. Her scent was getting stronger which meant that her heat was coming pretty soon. I needed to make a decision before it did because I wasn't sure if I would be able to hold myself back from marking her.

She didn't say anything at first as she let me hold her and breathe her in. "Are you ready to tell me what's bothering you?" she asked as her hand ran lightly across my back.

"I want to taste you."