Alpha Lost

Trust

Selah burrowed in under the bulk of her mate.

Safe. Protected. Loved. Good Alpha, her Omega purred gently into her thoughts.

Wait. Her mate. With a respite from the crippling heat, Selah's brain slowly came back online with the realization that her mate - her supposedly dead mate - was balls deep inside of her with his knot still locked behind her pubic bone.

"Malcolm!" Selah wanted to yell his name, but the past few days had left her feeling dehydrated and her voice raspy.

"Shh..." Malcolm mumbled the sound in her ear with an added groan as his knot finally shrunk enough to allow them to separate. They both let out a sound as his cock dragged out of her abused tissues followed by a rush of his cum and her slick.

"Don't 'Shh' me!" she replied already trying to roll onto her back underneath of him to look him in the eyes.

"Selah." Malcolm's tone lowered even though his volume never increased. It never had to. Just that low commanding tone was usually enough to stop her in her tracks.

Not tonight though. Not after the last month.

"Malcolm." Selah's tone for the first time was just as low as Malcolm's.

His hand on the middle of her back prevented her from rolling over, but she turned her head and grey eyes clashed with blue. Selah refused to back down.

"Five minutes. Let me take care of you for five minutes, and I'll explain everything." Malcolm acquiesced with a rueful smile. He sometimes forgot that Sel had her own set of claws.

"Now."

"Five minutes, Sel. You were completely unprepared for this heat. You have no water, no food, your nest -"

"Nest! I attended your funeral! I don't give a fuck about the nest!" Selah shouted as loud as her sore throat would allow.

"I know, baby girl. I will explain everything. Just let me...just let me take care of you. Please. It's a miracle that you didn't pass out from dehydration before I got here. You won't last much longer. Just...I need to do this for you, Sel." Malcolm met her stormy gaze knowing that she was entitled to every ounce of anger, "You know this is just a pause in your cycle. Let me get supplies while we have a break, and then I'll explain everything."

Selah eyed him with a confusing combination of anger, fear, and joy. She couldn't believe that Malcolm was here with her. It seemed impossible after this past month. Thinking about it made her remember why she was so furious with him. Where the hell had he been for the last month? Following that the fear rolled in...the last time she had let him out of her sight, he had "died." Fear that he'd walk out and never come back gripped her heart and squeezed.

"You'll come back?" Selah hated the needy thread to her voice, but she found the fear winning out over everything else.

"Yes, baby girl. I just want to grab some water bottles and snacks. I'm not leaving the house, and I'll be back as soon as I gather the supplies. I've got to get some water and food in you before you pass out on me." Malcolm soothed her battered spirit by letting out with a little bit of a purr and running a hand up and down the silky soft skin along her spine urging her to just rest on her belly.

"Hmmm..." she felt herself relaxing under his purr as he intended, and Malcolm gave her ass a little pat before the blankets shifted with his departure.

After he left, taking his comforting purr with him, Selah's thoughts began to push her mind out of her relaxed post-knotting haze. Questions flooded her overtaxed brain faster than she could process them. Where had he been? Why had he left her? Why had he obviously faked his death? Had his commander been in on it? He had refused to let her see the body on the grounds that it had been too mutilated for her to see. The commander had to have known. What had he thought while he watched her suffer knowing all the while that Malcolm was still alive? Who else had known? How would she ever trust them again? How would she trust Malcolm again?