The Alpha

Chapter 23

Ellie POV

Axton's growl shakes the room as he grabs Michael by his throat, choking the life out of him. Scrambling out of the bed, I latch onto his arm, trying to pull him away from Michael, "Axton, let him go! Axton!"

"He took you away from me! He broke our mate bond!" he snarls out as his hand squeezes Michael's throat tighter, "And you just want me to let him go."

"Yes! He can't tell us why if he's dead," I plead with him, "Please Axton, not with Zea in the room."

Shoving Michael one more time against the wall, he finally releases him and he pulls me back into his arms.

"Reid, take Zea back to the house. I want guards watching her at all times," Axton says in his Alpha voice as Reid nods his head and picks Zea up from the toys she had been playing with, leaving the room.

"You know," Michael coughs as he rubs his throat, "I technically didn't break your mate bond, I just hid it for a while."

Axton growls again as his grip on me tightens a bit, as if our bond could disappear at any minute. Again.

"Why would you do that, Michael?" I ask him.

"He did it for me," a voice speaks out. From the corner of the room, I can see Jade standing there with her eyes solely focused on one thing. Michael. Neither one of them says anything as they look each other up and down, "At least that's what he tried to tell me before he left with Cortez."

"You know I had no other choice, Jade," his voice just above a whisper, "He would have killed you. I would never allow that to happen."

"Why don't you start from the beginning," Sawyer says as Walker holds her close. I

t's as if both he and Axton are afraid that Michael will attack the mate bonds unless they are in constant contact with their mates. If the situation were anything else, I might think this reaction is funny.

"Alright. I'll tell you all everything, but not here."

"Why not?" Walker asks.

"Because Cortez has spies in your pack."

*****

"Why would you want to separate me and Axton?" I ask as we all settle into Axton's office.

"If I'm going to tell you what happened, I'm going to have to explain the whole story. It's more complicated than just one event," Michael starts.

We nod our heads, allowing him to speak. He looks to Jade who is sitting on the couch in the back of the room with her head down, "It started the day I found her.

When I first saw Jade, we both knew immediately that we were mates. I had always known that warlocks could have mates, but they are so much rarer in my world that I never thought I would find her. But when I did, it was like love at first sight.

Jade and I had become inseparable. Within a week, I was completely in love with her. But werewolf law dictates that mates must join the same pack. This was put into place so no mate could be kept from each other and no pack will go to war over it.

The problem is that I am a warlock.

You see, seven years ago, werewolves weren't too kind to witches and warlocks. Your father, Axton, had banned warlocks from ever entering his territory many years before that after what had happened to his sister and the Hollows Pack. I was supposed to be killed on sight. No exceptions.

But that's the funny thing about mates. No matter what, a mate is the exception to every rule.

I thought I could talk to your father. Make him see that Jade and I were mates and that I would never do anything that would harm him or his pack, so, he might let me stay with her. I never wanted to leave her, but I would never ask her to leave her family or her pack. She was to be your next healer and the pack needed her. So, I set a meeting with your father."