Mated & Blooded

Chapter 9

(Lucas's POV)

I don't know how I knew it. I just did. My mate needed me. I awoke abruptly and started running upstairs. Terror was driving me. Somehow, my wolf was convinced if we didn't get to her immediately, we were going to lose her forever. I pulled open the bedroom door and dashed towards the bed. She was gone. I looked around the room for some kind of clue. How could she be gone? I am a god damn alpha wolf I should have heard something. I felt a light breeze and realized the window wasn't completely closed. I moved towards it and threw it wide open.

Looking down, I spotted her footprints on the dirt below and leaped to the ground. I immediately picked up her scent and started traveling towards it. My heart was thumping out of my chest. My wolf was agitated and was screaming at me to move faster. That's when I picked up the other scent. Vampire! That was enough to throw me into overdrive.

Fear and a sense of dread slammed into me. My heart started thrashing and pounding even faster. My wolf pushed towards the surface trying to burst from me. For some reason my wolf and I were convinced my mate was in acute danger and we were going to lose her. I bolted towards her and the vampire and shifted in mid air. I moved through the woods like a blur at my top speed almost slamming into a tree before I finally caught sight of my mate.

The vampire was mere inches away from her. If I had been a moment longer he would already have her in his clutches. I leaped into the air and landed directly in front of my mate, snapping and snarling towards the vampire. I wasn't going to let the dirty vampire get any closer to my mate. He would need to kill me before he could lay once stinking finger on her. My fur stood on end, and I intentionally took a step towards him snapping my teeth at him while growling loudly and possessively.

The vampire seemed shocked to see me. I wasn't really much of a threat to him, so I expected him to immediately attack. I braced myself for impact. Vampires were stronger than wolves. There was a reason we hunted and protected in packs. We are more than double the strength of a human, but It took several wolves to take down a single vampire.

I couldn't worry about that right now. I had a mate behind me that needed to be protected. I was going to fight to my very last breath. I would make sure this was a very bloody nasty battle. One the vampire wouldn't soon forget.

The vampire stood his ground. He looked intently at my mate, then back at me. I saw him breathe in deeply through his nose. He blinked slowly, and raised his eyebrows quizzically. Then he did something I really hadn't expected, he lifted his hands in a gesture of peace. I watched as he took several steps backwards.

"Not tonight wolf" he said.

Then moved like lightning away from us. I don't know why he ran. He would have won in a fight, but I was glad he decided not to kill me and my mate. I also knew he was gone for the night and wasn't coming back.

I let out the breath I hadn't even realized I'd been holding, and turned to face my mate. She was still not moving. It was like she was hypnotized, her eyes were closed, her lips were slightly parted and her body was swaying gently with the breeze. My wolf howled at her, then rubbed back and forth across her legs. There was no reaction.

I phased back to human, and reached to pull her towards me. She was so soft and pliant in my arms, but still she hadn't opened her eyes. I wondered what the vampire had done to her, and how long the vampires' effect would hold onto her. I lifted her into my arms and carried her back into the house. I took her straight to the bedroom and laid her on the bed. I climbed in beside her and pulled her tightly into my arms. I laid there waiting for the sun to rise and my beautiful mate to come back to me.

Minutes became hours. As time moved slowly past, I found myself replaying the conversations I'd had with my father, mother and several pack members last night. My father had been angry. Angrier than I think I'd ever heard him before. He was very clear that he felt I needed to quickly reject my mate and return home. He threw out some ultimatums, and made sure I understood his comments were really orders from my alpha. It was very clear; if I wanted to come back I had better not be bonded to Kalli. If I was, that meant I had gone against a direct order from my alpha. I would be immediately thrown out of the pack. I would lose my right to challenge my father and become alpha. Kalli and I would be forced to live as outcasts unprotected by pack.

Last night's little adventure showed just how dangerous that could be. Pack was important if we wanted to survive. I was going to have to hold off on bonding with Kalli until after I officially challenged my father to become the new alpha. I was sure I was strong enough to win a fight against my father. I just wasn't sure I wanted the responsibility of leading the pack yet. I'd taken Kalli upstairs after that phone call, so I could have some time to think and call a few of my closest friends.

I started my calls with Rob. He was my half brother and would be my beta when I became alpha. We shared a father but had a different mother. I called Ryan next, Robs twin brother and my other half brother. Rob and Ryan were just three months younger than I was. Rob is older than Ryan by mere minutes. Had they been born first dad would have married their mom and they would be the next in line to be alpha instead of me.

I then called in quick succession Joel, Lance and Cody. Each call I made was worse than the one before it. Everyone one of my so called friends turned their back on my mate, which really means they turned their back on me. Each of them had a different take, but all of them thought it would be better if I'd rejected my mate.

First they would get excited and congratulate me on finding my mate. Then, when they realized it was Kalli, they would get shocked. Here's where it varied. Some would be sad for me; some would get quiet and afraid to say anything, Lance was actually stupid enough to say bad things about my mate.

Eventually the conversation would move on to what my dad said and my need to issue an alpha challenge. Everyone believed I would easily beat my father in a fight with no problem. All of them however, thought it was foolish and that I should just leave Kalli here and come back unmated.

In desperation, I called my mother. The one person I thought would understand why I needed to keep Kalli and bond with her. My mother cried harder with every word I said, until she too finally said I was better off without Kalli. She was wrong. They were all wrong. I was nothing without Kalli. I was never going to let her go. She was going to accept me, and we are going to bond and nothing is going to stop me.

I would return to the pack unmated, but Kalli would be with me. I would make an alpha challenge to my father and I would win. I would be Alpha and Kalli would be my Luna. There was no other option. I just wanted a few days alone with Kalli before going home. Hopefully, she would understand when I explained it to her and agree to stay with me for a few days here before we headed back.