The Alpha's Mistress

76

Word Count: 2237

~Onyx

I barely make it through the door before I'm accosted.

Alex rushes up to me, her cheeks flushed, her eyes wide. She's still in her sleeping clothes, which isn't surprising considering dawn is just starting to shift into day.

I've been travelling all night, having received an ambiguous message telling me to hurry home.

I'm sure it has something to do with Zion. He may have moved a division of soldiers from one part of his border to another, or made advancements into Maren's pack. Either way I've likely been called back to address it.

"Yet another fruitless trip," I say tiredly as I step inside, sweeping my hair off my forehead.

Sleeping in the transport is never ideal, although I figured I would have to work the moment I returned home.

Working means I'm not thinking. Not thinking means Sienna isn't on my mind, even if I've been away investigating her brother.

I don't know who I'm kidding...Sienna is always on my mind.

"No information?" Alex asks, wringing her hands. Something is clearly on her mind.

"I retired a group of spies my father had stationed in Zion's pack years ago. I thought they might have some old knowledge regarding a potential other child of his, but they had nothing." I brush past her, kneading a tight muscle in the back of my neck.

Everyone always suspecting Zion had a daughter at one point, but no one has ever heard about him having a son. Were it not for the slight resemblance between Sienna and Christian, I would call him a liar.

Unfortunately I have to wait until Christian stipulates his wants before I consider killing him.

"I'm sorry it didn't work out," Alex says in a way that makes it obvious that is the last thing she is focusing on. "But there is a matter that needs tending to."

"Can it wait? I've summoned back for work and I need to get to it," I say, offering a weak smile. I've been pulled in so many different directions recently.

I barely make it a few steps from her before Alex's voice calls for my attention.

"Are you sure you don't want to see Sienna first?"

I pause, slowly turning around to face her.

"Sienna? Has Alston set up another meeting?" I ask, my interest immediately piqued. Everything must be dropped in favour of pursuing this. "If so I'll be leaving right now."

"No Onyx." She steps in front of me. "Sienna is here. She's upstairs sleeping."

My eyes rove over Alex's face, trying to decipher if this is a joke or not. I'm not sure she would do such a thing, especially when I've been so on edge recently, but Sienna can't possibly be here...it's impossible.

"In her room?" I ask breathlessly.

She smiles. "Yours."

I'm halfway up the stairs in a moment, my heart thumping against my ribs. I need to verify, to see her, to make sure she is okay.

"Woah, Alpha, perhaps that are some things we should talk about before you overwhelm her," Alex exclaims, bounding up the stairs behind me, her shorter legs struggling to keep up with my strides.

I can scent my mate in the hallway, almost tipping my control over the edge. She really is here, and I can't go another moment not seeing her.

"Is she hurt?" I ask, flicking Alex a look over my shoulder.

"No, mostly unscathed," she replies. "Just scared and tired from a lot of travelling on her own."

"Fuck," I growl under my breath, shaking my head.

I should have been there. I should have been here, waiting, keeping my eye out for any movement. How she ended up here, I don't know, but I'm anxious to find out.

"Alston terminated the agreement. So she escaped," Alex explains, her voice rushed and urgent as she tries to keep up with me.

My jaw tightens. "Terminated...I should kill him."

I should have known this would happen. Sienna is going to have an extensive story to tell, and I can only hope I don't lose my mind hearing it.

"If him and Zion declare war against you, you might get your wish," Alex reminds me, her tone fraught with nerves.

"War? I'm hardly thinking of such matters like that right now." I sweep into my wing of the house, Sienna's scent only growing stronger. "I need to see my mate."

Alex stops in her tracks, bowing her head. "Alright, I'll be downstairs."

I make it to my bedroom, pressing the door open slowly.

Part of me expects to see nothing but my perfectly made bed, and the reality that this is some kind of cruel joke. Sure enough, however, I can make out the form of a sleeping person, the covers pulled all the way up to their chin.

I rest my shoulder against the doorframe for a moment, rubbing my hand over my face tiredly. She's really here.

Her auburn hair is splayed out across my pillow, the sheets tucked immaculately around her. She must have been exhausted, as she's typically a messy sleeper.

I approach the side of the bed slowly, holding my breath as I gaze down at her.

She's utterly perfect. Her lips are parted as she quietly sleeps, her lashes brushing against her cheeks. My heart stutters at a few small cuts on her jaw, my fingertips coming down to brush against them gently.

Slowly, I sink down to sit on the edge of the bed, running my hand up the side of her face and into her hair.

She shivers, her eyes blinking open.

For a moment we just look at each other, trapped in a moment that feels otherworldly. It's really her soft skin I'm touching, her beautiful brown eyes I gaze into.

"Sienna," I murmur.

"You're home." She sits up a little, smoothing her hair down as she looks over me. Time stands still as our fingers interlace, the familiar feeling of sparks scattering over my skin from her touch.
 
"You're in our bed." I smile, unable to help myself. It's a giddy, emotional smile that hasn't come up since before she was taken from me.

"It smells like you in here," she admits, brushing her hand against the duvet comfortingly.

It was only a few days ago when I was sleeping in this bed, restless and uneasy thinking about her. I don't think I've slept for more than three hours at a time since she's been gone, but all that seems impossibly far away.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" I ask, pulling at her arm, noting more of the small cuts littering her skin.

She shifts, wincing a little. "My legs are tender from riding a horse for hours straight, but otherwise I'm fine."

She pulls the covers back enough for me to inspect her bare legs. Her thighs are red and grazed, forcing a grimace onto my face. Seeing her in pain is capable of crippling me.

"There are some cuts on your arm," I note, forcing my attention away from her thighs before my anger overcomes me.

Alston is going to wish for his death when him and I meet again.

"I smashed a window open." She adjusts the covers back over herself, a solemn look replacing her smile. "To escape."

"Alex told me Alston terminated the agreement. Why?" I ask gently, brushing her hair back from her face.

I hate that I'm confronting her, but I need to know this. I need to know what she endured, and why she decided to leave. It wasn't long ago when she was making me promise not to engage in a war to get her back.

"He claims he loves me, that he wants to marry me and have me carry his heir," she says quickly, averting her gaze to where I hold her hand tightly.

I let out a slow breath, keeping my temper even. As easy as it would be to become enraged at him, Sienna needs my comfort right now, not my anger.

Although the thought of killing him will be reoccurring in my mind later.

"I knew he was falling in love with you," I growl. "Fuck."

The way he looked at her...it was so obvious, but there was nothing I could do. I had hoped his morality would overrule his desire for her, but he proved me wrong.

"It's okay, there was nothing either of us could have done. I knew I had to escape, otherwise he wouldn't have taken me to meet you and you would have declared war against him and Zion," she exclaims, her brows pulling together.

I squeeze her hand. "Of course I would have. You were in danger there.

It would have been the first thing I would have done. Then, I would have entered Zion's pack alone and wouldn't have stopped until I got her back. I would have breached countless laws for her safety.

"I know I was. They were going to lock me up and probably force me...I don't even want to think about it." She closes her eyes, steeling herself. "That's why I had to escape, and I'm so sorry."

I draw her into my arms, hoping she can't hear the blood pulsing through me, the hot and aching need to make Alston hurt for his.

If he has so much as laid a hand on her...the thought is intoxicating, luring me down a dark path of revenge I can't consider right now. Sienna is the only important matter for me to be focusing on right now.

"Sorry? What could you possibly be sorry for?" I whisper into her hair, her head resting against my chest.

"I'm bringing war to this pack. I just know it," she chokes out, her hand gripping the front of my shirt

"Alston is going to use this agreement against us, sure. He may garner more support because of it, but we can crush him and Zion. You said Imogen is willing to help, and Maren hates Alston," I remind her gently.

I've been preparing for a war since I became Alpha. If this spurs it along, then so be it. Zion is only going to continue to be a threat to everyone in his path until he is dealt with.

She twists in my arms to look up at me. "But she doesn't hate Zion...her pack borders this one. What if she lets his soldiers through—"

"I don't care. They will be met with force," I vow sturdily. "Sienna you're home, you're safe. That's what matters now."

Since she left, I considered a great many things I would give up to have her in my arms like this again. I would give up my title as Alpha, my pack...everything.

"People are going to die..."

"Zion wasn't going to die without waging war against me. Why do you think he wanted to secure his line?"

Zion didn't call Sienna back to him for no reason. He is old, he is weakening and his goal is to take my pack like he wanted to do a long time ago. If anything, Sienna is only bringing forth a war that is inevitable.

"Maybe, but..."

"You're my wife, my mate. They can't take that from us now," I assure her. "They can't call for your return. Zion cannot cross my border with good cause now."

She watches as I tug open the drawer in my bedside table, digging around until I produce her wedding ring. She couldn't keep it on her without risk of Zion catching on, so I kept it close until we were reunited again.

"I really don't have to go back?" She asks as I take her hand in mine, slowly sliding the ring back onto her finger. Once it is seated where it belongs, I brush my fingers against it, overcome by the privilege of knowing she is my wife.

"No, of course not. Nothing is going to come between us again," I assure her. Over my dead body.

She wraps her arms around my neck, holding my close. "I'm so relieved."

I can feel her body relax beneath my hands. She knows she is safe, that regardless of any threats Zion makes, she can't be taken from me again. She belongs her, in pack, as my Luna.

Future plans can wait for now. I need some time alone with her, just us. I want to enjoy my wife and mate like I haven't gotten to before.

"You may have to leave here soon, though," I muse as I pull away, mustering a smile.

Her brows crease. "Why?"

"I've been working on something. I want to show you it, but it's a bit of a journey from here," I admit, expecting her to shake her head and deny me.

Instead, she draws in a breath and nods.

"Let's go, today," she insists. "I want to be alone with you."

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