The Alpha's Mate

The Alpha's Mate - Chapter 19

Word count - 1238

After Noah had gotten us out of the house, we made our way towards the forest. I felt uneasy about advancing further, I know I'm a werewolf and it doesn't make sense, trust me, I've heard it all, but I couldn't help myself. I've always had a fear of the unknown, anything could happen deep in the forest, rogues can pop out of nowhere, and don't laugh, but I am terrible with being in the dark, which is what you're consumed by 90% of the time in there. In the midst of my internal rant, I hadn't noticed that Noah had stopped until I had pushed in to him, my hands coming out to stop myself from falling, letting out a small scream, my train of thought prompting me to do so.

"Katherine, hey, you're okay, we don't need to do this if you're nervous, we can just hang around the backyard and shift, it's okay." My eyes darted between Noah and the forest nervously, I know he was just trying to be nice, I knew what he really wanted, but I couldn't do it.

"I'm.. I'm sorry, I can't Noah." My eyes started watering, and I shunned myself out loud at how weak I was being at this moment.

"No it's okay Katherine, please don't cry, come here." I accepted his embrace, but it certainly didn't stop the tears from flowing freely. I didn't understand where this sudden sadness had come from, crying because of a forest, I was better than this.

I pushed away from Noah, wiping my eyes and running my arm under my nose to wipe away what had spilled out of there as well, cringing at how gross but necessary it was.

"I'll just go behind that tree to shift, hold on."

I gave Noah's arm a small squeeze before heading behind said tree, still cautious of my surroundings as I made sure to do a double check of the area before I started to undress. I made my best effort to strip as quickly as possible, not really wanting to linger around any longer, and shifted. I whimpered mid shift, as it had been a while since I shifted last, and to be honest, the pain was shocking, not in a way that proved to be too painful, but just the feeling of my bones shifting and moving, growing, it was strangely euphoric. I rounded the tree and barked happily, stopping in my tracks when I noticed that Noah had shifted already also. I had never seen his wolf before, only spoken to him, so I was in a daze. He was pretty, if I was being honest, but I'm sure he'd like to hear something like masculine or handsome. His fur looked visibly silky. It was pitch black, and I wanted to run my fingers through it, but I fought the urge to shift back.

I advanced on Noah slowly, our eyes never leaving each others, as I eventually rested my snout on his, and we slowly moved together, our foreheads eventually connecting as both of our eyes closed, enjoying the moment, this feeling, the tingling feeling that I couldn't help but be drawn to, just drawn to in general. As soon as we had rested there, Noah was ripping himself away, licking my cheek quickly before bolting towards his right. My mouth dropped at the sudden emptiness I felt, but I shook my head as I followed the sound of Noah' yips as he galavanted in the backyard. And then I charged at him.

Noah sensed the challenge, and as he was more wolf than human right now, he could do nothing more than accept, and got down on his front legs, growling lowly. I was more than happy to have a little pow wow with my mate, it would be fun. Copying his actions, I got down on my front legs, baring my teeth and letting the growl erupt from my chest. We circled each other slowly, both waiting for the first move to come. I was growing impatient, it had been like 10 seconds, I figured he would have made a lunge, but he didn't, just watched my move, anticipated my first shot. I admit that my first lunge was a low blow, deceptive, in order to knock him on his ass. I made a sound of approval as I quickly backed away from him, assuming my previous position.

When I had taken the first lunge, I had figured this was a playful fight, just some light fun, I was quick to realise I was wrong as he got back up, growling at me and glaring, his limbs itching to attack, the muscles twitching. I don't think I could have metaphorically shit myself any faster than I did. I had never faced an Alpha in this way, feeling like such prey, it was so strange, but I also knew that I wouldn't stand a chance, and I knew Noah would regret the actions of his wolf, going for blood. I laid down slowly, moving my head to my side, baring my neck ever so slightly, and as I heard his paws rip the ground out from under him, running towards me, I tensed, my eyes squeezing shut. It only took a second before I could feel Noah's snout run along the line of my neck, I knew he was confused by his actions, but I stayed still as he fought to push his wolf down, at least enough for him to be able to lie down next to me, his breathing deep and long, our paws touching ever so slightly as he faced me, lying on his side.

We couldn't connect through the mind link, we hadn't completed any sort of mating processes, so we just looked in to each others eyes, before mine began to close slightly, I couldn't help but be tired, it was ever present, my lack of energy was constantly obvious. Noah nudged me with his muzzle, silently directing me to go and shift behind the tree from earlier, and I complied grumpily. Coming out behind the tree, I was shocked to bump straight in to Noah, only for the shock to be replaced with a warm fuzzy feeling, as he held my head ever so slightly, connecting our lips with a slight force than I was more than happy to match. He pushed me against the tree lightly, moving his hands down to my waist, rubbing slow circles as he went. Moving his lips away for a moment, he began to mumble.

"I'm sorry about before." His eyes were cast down, avoiding me.

"Hey, it's fine." I grabbed his chin, pulling his face up to mine, his eyes connecting with my own, and I almost faltered when I realised how truly sad he was, but I kissed him lightly instead.

That's when I heard the cheering. It was faint, like it was muffled, but it was there, and I could tell Noah heard it too. We both turned our heads toward the house and the back door was drowned with people, smiling, clapping, hooting. I visibly shuddered, my mouth dropping as I looked back at Noah and shoved my head in to my hands, but he patted my back softly and whispered in to my ear.

"Maybe now would be a good time to introduce you to my pack."