Alpha Mate

XVI

Morgan Pov

I wriggled in Lucas' arms as he tackled and pinned me. The energetic wolf decided he wanted to wrestle me.

Rolling us over, I managed to then pin him myself. When I nipped playfully at his ears, he bared his neck as a sign of submission to me.

I was having so much fun outside I didn't want to go back, but I knew that it was time.

Lucas gave me privacy as we both shifted and changed into our clothes.

"Thanks for bringing me out here." I said to Lucas once we were fully dressed and facing each other.

Together we began walking from the woods to the pack house. From the edge of the woods, I could easily survey the grounds. To our left, many wolves were training in the field currently, too busy to pay any attention to us. To our right, was the gardens. I wondered who used to love to garden, as many of the plants now looked unkept. Further ahead, we could see the back end of the pack house.

"I'll do it anytime for you. I mean it. Ask again and we'll go." I only nodded my head in response, not sure if it was a good idea to take up his offer again yet.

He continued on, "I could tell you needed this today. I didn't mean to eavesdrop yesterday but I overheard your fight with Calum."

"That's ok. You can't help that he's loud and your job is to stand by the door."

"I'm worried about you. Your relationship with him is toxic and it's entirely his fault. If you decide that you can't be with him anymore, come to me. I'll be there for you."

"Alright."

I couldn't do anything but agree to his statement. It bothered me a lot when Lucas insulted my mate, but Calum often didn't do anything to prove him wrong either.

It was a relief to finally see my bedroom window in sight. Lucas ran ahead to change shifts with the guard. When it was all clear I ran up to the spot below my window.

Lucas quickly pulled out a lengthy ladder from an alcove in the nearby garden. It was a good hiding spot seeing as not many visited the garden and leaves of overgrown ivy provided more cover. No one would be able to find it unless they knew it was there.

I was grateful Lucas had thought to hide a ladder ahead of time. My bedroom window was on the fourth story, which would be impossible for me to scale the wall that far.

Lucas and I set up the ladder fast. No one was watching, but it was only a matter of time before people noticed.

"Hurry." Lucas whispered while helping me step onto the ladder.

I climbed the ladder and pushed open the window once I was at the top. I dove into my room head first. Though ungraceful, I was successful.

Now that I was in the room safely, I turned to look out the window. Lucas was already folding up the ladder.

I mouthed a "Thank You" and he smiled back.

After shutting the window, I put my clothes in the washer and spent the next half hour in the shower. As I scrubbed the scent of Lucas and the woods off of me, it was as if all the evidence was being washed down the drain.

After my shower, I stepped out of the bathroom wearing a fluffy white towel.

I was startled to see Calum sitting on the bed waiting for me. His eyes darkened upon seeing my lack of clothing.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked him.

"I wanted to talk to you. You should probably put some clothes on." He said looking away.

I could tell his control was slipping, so I nodded and went to the walk-in closet to get dressed. It was nerve-racking know that he wanted to speak with me. We could end up fighting or worse, he knows that I went out again today.

After being clothes in comfortable shorts and a t-shirt, I stepped back into the room. Calum took his time looking me up and down, letting his gaze linger on my bare legs too long to be completely innocent.

I left a small space between us on the bed when I sat down. He grabbed my hands in his. It was comforting to have his touch, but the shaking of my hands didn't stop.

"You don't need to be worried, Morgan. I just wanted to apologise." He soothed.

"For?"

"I'm sorry for locking you up in here. It's selfish of me to keep you to myself in this way. Would you forgive me, for the way I've been treating you?"

"That depends. Are you going to stop treating me like this?" I asked. I wanted to just forgive him, but it couldn't be that easy. He needed to prove to me that he was truly sorry and deserved my forgiveness.

"Yes. I want to compromise."

"How so?"

"It's not right for me to confine you to this room, but I mean it when I say that it's not safe for you outside. You're too important to me and this pack to be out in the open where someone could hurt you." He explained.

"I can't be that important. You made it pretty clear last night that I'm not the Luna this pack needs."

"I never meant that. I'm truly sorry you thought I felt that way. I was just upset and didn't handle it well."

"Alright. Now how does this compromise help me if I still can't go outside?" I asked him. So far his compromise did nothing to help me.

"You don't have to stay in the room all day anymore. I'm okay with you going wherever you want, as long as it's somewhere in the pack house. I want you to meet the members of the pack and talk with them as their luna because I know that one day you will be a great luna."

"Thank you." I said. I truly was grateful for him allowing me this new ounce of freedom. It wasn't everything I had wanted, but I knew deep down that he only wanted me safe.

Calum kissed my cheek and held me closer. He was finally starting to see things from my point of view and that was what I needed.