Alpha Mate

Chapter 23

"He's...here...has...gun...silver," Tessa panted. Drake nodded and nudged her to tell her to catch her breath while they held Gordon back, Crow getting ready with his small group as Gordon stepped through the bushes, Drake already in his human form as he stepped towards him.

"Hello, Gordon," Drake smiled lightly.

"It's good to see you again, Drake. Too bad we had to meet on these terms," he practically spat at Drake.

Do they...have a history together? You smiled nervously as you took a few steps forward.

"Hi dad."

YOUR POV

Your father looked at you sideways, his expression stern, emotionless, cold. You couldn't blame him, after all. He didn't really know you enough to love you. Then again, that's probably your mind trying to rationalize how your own flesh and blood could murder you. "It's nice to see you, (Y/N). I wished desperately that we didn't have to meet like this," he told you. He grimaced slightly, the tone in his voice harsh but with a hint of truth to it.

"Yeah. Me neither," you agreed, standing behind Rhydian, his stance seeming almost overprotective of you. "I just...I wanted to talk," you told him, nudging your way past Rhydian to stand a few inches behind Drake, smiling nervously. You could hear your heart pounding in your ears, your palms growing hot and sweaty, your knees threatening to collapse as he sat there, glancing you over, each second feeling like a year going by.

Finally, your father nodded lightly, putting his gun back into his holster but keeping his knife clutched tightly in his grasp as he looked at you. "Fine. I'll let you explain, then." He smiled threateningly towards Drake before he motioned for you to step closer.

"Look, dad," you began, the word still feeling unfamiliar in your mouth, foreign, as you stepped towards him, eyes twitching down nervously to his knife before looking back up to his stern face. "You don't need to do this, honestly. They're good people," you began, watching his scowl grow further. "I may not have been sure what to expect when I was dragged into this life, out here into the wild, but nothing has been bad. Everyone's great and supportive. They're human, too." You couldn't think of much to say and it wasn't like you were trying to win a prize for "Best Speech of the Year" or anything, but you could've done better by the fury emitting from your father now, pure rage flashing upon his features as he looked down at you.

"'They're human, too?'," your father began, his anger making his whole body tremor. "You don't understand. How did you get dragged into this?!" He snarled at you, his voice making you recoil back towards Drake.

"I was bitten," you told him calmly, biting back the tears that were threatening to choke you, tears already brimming in the corner of your eyes. "Rhydian bit me," you told him, looking down at the ground as your tears broke loose, not wanting him to see you like this.

"Heh," he scoffed, glaring now at Drake with a knowing glance. "Just like Carol," he spoke. His voice was calm, his body trembling, and it scared you. This was the calm before the storm; the moment before he would most likely try to slaughter all of you.

"You know that's not the case," Drake spoke up, stepping up next to you. "You know what happened! She wasn't just bitten against her will!" Drake countered, putting his arm across your chest in a protective manner.

"Like hell it isn't," he replied, crossing his arms, his knife raising, prepared to attack. "Carol's dead because of you!" He shouted, lunging at Drake. Drake shoved you out of the way before grabbing Gordon, flinging himself to the side, dragging himself along as they both rolled across the ground. Crow had stepped forward, growling threateningly at Gordon as he got up quickly, his eyes darting around, the blade of his knife glinting maliciously.