My Protective Alpha

Chapter Four- Marked

My eyes flutter open and I realize I'm laying on the couch in our house. I sit up and I hear Zach walk over behind me.

I say in an irritated voice "what the hell is wrong with you?"

He walks around the couch so he is in front of me and says "I did that for your own good."

"My own good?" I blurt out not being able to hold it back anymore.

Zach gently puts his hand on my chin and moves is so I'm looking into his eyes.

"The pack your dad is in, is the one coming after you."
"Your dad is the beta which means that he will know all of the plans they make to come after you."
"If you would have hugged him or called him dad when those other two would have been right there, the plan would have failed."

I feel bad now that I know that Zach wasn't being a overprotective jerk.

"Who came up with the idea?" I say

"Your dad did river, he loves you." "I'm sorry you can't see him but we both agreed that this is what is best."

I nod and put my head into Zach's chest.

He puts his hand on my back and when it lands on a certain spot I let out a small grunt from the bruised spot.

Zach lets out a very low growl and carefully rubs my back.

"The man I lived with did that to me" I say plainly.

"He kidnapped me when I was a kid and got drunk and beat me everyday."

His grip tightens on me then he looks into my eyes and says "he is ever going to hurt you again for as long as I live."

I nod and tears escape me.

"It's okay baby, it's okay" he says strongly

He holds me tight and when I'm more relaxed I look up at him and ask "can we go swimming?"

He gives me his big smile then grabs my hand and we go upstairs to our closet. We enter it and there is a ton of clothes for me.

"Noah's mate is your size so she just went out and got as much as she could for you."

I kiss him on the cheek and tell him "it's perfect."

We put our bathing suits on and I run to the pool. Zach is in the kitchen getting snacks but he's taking forever so I jump into the deep end of the pool. I'm doing good for the first few seconds then I start to get really tired and start to struggle. The edges of the pool all of a sudden feels miles away and I start to fight for my life.

I'm paddling as hard as I can but right before I go under I see Zach at the glass doors. I try to call out to him but my head sinks under the water. Next thing I know Zach is in the pool with me, pulling my body up with one of his arms.

He gets to the edge then puts me on it so I'm sitting there.

He climbs out of the water and holds onto me while saying loudly "what were you thinking?"

"I just wanted to swim, I'm sorry" I cry out

"He takes a big breath and whispers sweet calming words to me.

He nuzzles his head into my neck and whispers in his alpha tone "no more swimming unless I'm right here okay?"

I nod my head and ask him "what snacks did you get?" I feel like a little kid a lot of the time but I never had a childhood soo.....

He lets out a chuckle while showing me over to the large tray of food by the pool.

I start to eat a little of everything and quickly get full. Zach however sees that I'm done eating and devours what food is left.