Another Half

After the Tournament and before going to bed, Blade texted Joanna. She hadn’t contacted her since she yelled at her for suggesting that her family was from an alpha bloodline, and she hoped things had settled between them.

New Training Master. I think we’re safe now.

And she included the Pack House’s postal address. Joanna’s response was almost instantaneous.

Congratulations on keeping the Zamora Family tradition alive! I’ll be sending your family’s papers soon. Watch your back.

She wanted to ask Joanna what she meant, but she fell asleep before she could call her or text her back.

Blade showed up at the Training Center the next morning a few minutes before she was supposed to, and to her pleasant surprise, many elite warriors and pack members greeted her with respect. Interestingly enough, Julia was nowhere to be seen and Hammer was transferred from the infirmary to the hospital.

Ax was already there and he greeted her warmly.

“Have you heard? Everyone that got your antidote last night has gotten better!”

Not that she was surprised, but Blade grinned. “Great!”

Ax frowned a little and pulled her away from the crowd as more and more warriors and pack members filled the large room. He looked at her with curiosity. “I hope someday you’ll tell me how you knew about the poisons. Your previous life must have been fascinating. Want to tell me someday over a drink or two?”

Blade smiled and raised an eyebrow. “That depends, Gamma,” she whispered, “on how much you bet on me to win the tournament.” It was her turn to wink at him.

Ax widened his eyes and laughed, but before he could say anything more, he raised his head and looked toward the entrance. He sobered immediately.

“He’s here! Rex is actually and finally here,” Ax said excitedly. “I can’t wait for him to see you. He’s going to be so fucking shocked. It’s going to be priceless!”

“You didn’t tell him I’m a woman?”

“Hell no!”

Well, now that I’m Training Master, he can’t kill me once he figures out I’m the one he chased off the bluff, Blade thought. In fact, now he has to protect Andy and me.

Blade almost wished Nick would show up and try to take her back.

Presently, she hadn’t realized that the room was almost full of people, and a disturbance that was parting the crowd made its way toward the ring. Many of the people bowed their heads in respect as their alpha passed, but he apparently was too focused on reaching the ring to acknowledge them.

And then it hit her.

Blade inhaled the unmistakable scent of a wood-burning fire mixed with the sweet tang of roasting marshmallows and warm chocolate. She looked around. The heavenly scents were everywhere, and she didn’t their origin.

The sudden presence of a large male that had reached the circle distracted her. His ocean-blue eyes, framed with black lashes, stared at her but whether they were mesmerized or in awe, Blade couldn’t know and didn’t care because she was too captivated to think. His strong jaw was covered with black stubble, and his full lips were slightly ajar. His obsidian black curly hair reached just below his shoulders. The spell Blade was under broke when Julia snaked her arm around his, irritating Blade. She narrowed her eyes at him.

Almost instinctively, he pulled away from Julia and walked into the circle alone until he was several feet away from Blade. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes away from Blade.

Blade had no time to waste on the simpering blonde because the tall beast of a man in front of her commanded her full attention. He dwarfed Hammer and even Ax in both size and height, and his black tank top allowed for the satisfying display of the thick, hard muscle of his pecs, shoulders, and arms without the pretentious flaunting of a naked torso.

What ultimately froze Blade’s brain, however, was the delicious scent of s’mores in a smoky open-air campfire.

“Mate,” Rex said loudly. He was a few feet away. “You really are my mate!” He looked shocked and elated at the same time. “I didn’t believe it at first, but—it’s true.”

Blade heard several people gasp, including Julia, and murmurs spread throughout the crowd. Blade herself was stunned. Her mind raced with a violent torrent of conflicting thoughts.

Could it be?

No! No way! Nick had been her Fated Mate and he abandoned her, never even Marked her.

But wouldn’t it be lovely?

Nothing good came from mates. Nick was proof of that.

He’s lying. There was no such thing as second mates. This was either a mistake or a very mean-spirited distraction on this alpha’s part. He wanted to confuse her. He was cheating. This was supposed to be a fair fight.

You’re not supposed to play with people’s feelings during a fight. You wait until after you’ve beaten them.

Talon? She asked her wolf.

It would be nice to have a mate like we’re supposed to, but I don’t know, Talon said slowly. I can feel it. There’s a male wolf trying to contact me, and I can sense something. But it feels and smells different from what we felt with Nick and Marcus.

Talon sounded just as deeply confused as Blade felt.

You best be careful, Blade. I don’t quite trust this.

But the fragrance was too much to ignore or discard as purely coincidental. It seeped into her nose stirring some of her most precious memories. Her eyes stung with tears. She remembered the satisfying graham cracker crunch and gooey chocolate with roasted marshmallows between her teeth that her grandfather had taught her to make. Rex smelled of those smoky summer evenings roasting marshmallows, melting chocolate, and eating s’mores with her brother and their cousins while they listened with rapt attention to their grandfather’s spy stories around a roaring bonfire. He smelled of her grandfather rewarding her one late autumn evening after she had bested her twin for the first time, and he suggested they sneak out behind their house to make s’mores to celebrate. Rex also reminded her of when her grandfather had debriefed her about her first mission over a hot cup of chocolate with marshmallows by the fire in the chimney of his office. Abuelo had been so proud of her.

But what about Andy? Talon’s worried voice echoed in her head. Even if he was her mate, the muscled beast in front of her would never accept Andy as his own. His alpha’s pride would expect Blade to discard her baby as Nick had demanded.

Was she willing to give Andy and her family’s legacies away?

Taking advantage of Rex’s confusion, Blade sprinted toward him. When she was close enough, she jumped and pulled up her feet and slightly rotated her body in the air. Her feet landed squarely on his massive chest and she kicked him back with all of her strength. She finished her mid-air rotation and nimbly landed in a crouch, both hands on the floor before her.

Alpha Rex flew back several feet and landed on his ass before landing on the floor on his back and head.

Blade had executed a perfect dropkick by even Uncle Danny’s ridiculously high standards.

But Blade couldn’t take time to celebrate and she stood up.

She noticed that the elite warriors stared between her and their alpha, completely silent. Blade hadn’t heard the slightest gasp. She also noticed that the training center was almost full of pack members that had just seen their alpha get kicked down like a pup.

Oops!

Ax stood by the sidelines. He crossed his arms and did his best to mask his discomfort.

This was supposed to just be a friendly match. Ax had told Blade as much. Sparring with Rex was just the last requirement for Blade to formally become the pack’s training master. Nobody expected Blade to win; nobody expected her or Rex to actually fight. It was a stupid requirement, Ax conceded, but Blade had just turned it into something it was never meant to be, and there was nothing Ax could do to stop it.

Of course, Ax wasn’t an idiot. He knew Rex declaring that Blade was his mate at the beginning of the match had screwed up everything. Ax didn’t understand why Rex had done such a stupid thing. Had it been a tactic on Rex’s part to confuse Blade as an unmated female opponent? If it was, Ax was not impressed. He thought Rex knew better than to play with the mating traditions. Rex had already had his chance at a Fated Mate and—-well, it didn’t work out, much to Ax’s years of chagrin.

What do we do? Sergio asked via mind link.

There’s no precedent for this, Ax said. So we do nothing.

But Sergio could be an insistent ass when he wanted to be.

Ax, I can't leave Rex against that bitch! We have to help him! You have to stop this!

Unfortunately for Sergio, Ax was in no mood to put up with his bullshit today.

Stay the fuck out of it, Sergio. You can’t help an alpha win a fight. You will only humiliate him in front of the entire pack, so stand the fuck down! And learn to respect my Training Master. I don't give a shit what problems you have with her, deal with it.

But, what if Rex had been serious? What if Blade really was his mate?

If Rex was serious, his timing was horribly off. Either way, Rex was to blame for whatever was about to happen, not that Ax could tell his best friend and alpha that right now--maybe later he’d give him a generous piece of his mind. But for now, Ax chose to shut up and watch, knowing well that this was one fight that was going to end horribly wrong.

Blade assessed the damage. The alpha was still on his ass, shaking his head with shock. He frowned, his eyes filling with--exasperation? Anger? Confusion? Blade was too far away to tell which but she knew that he was frowning and that his mouth twisted into a scary smile, so she resumed her fighting stance.

Blade watched the alpha get up through narrowing eyes. He stalked toward her, calmly and seemingly unbothered by getting kicked in the chest, as if it happened every day.

Blade couldn’t ignore the niggling voice at the back of her head, the one that told her that it’s never a good idea to poke a dangerous alpha, that she had just humiliated him in front of the pack’s elite warriors and maybe half the pack, that Blade would have been better off poking a hornets’ nest or a mother bear’s cave, and that she was going to regret it by the end of the day.

Bring it, bitch, Blade muttered to herself.

The alpha must have heard because he raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side. He smirked.

That scared her.

“Are you sure you want to fight me, Mate?” He seemed to be enjoying himself, and that annoyed Blade.

“I’ve already had a so-called Fated Mate.” She resumed her fighting stance. “Which means it’s unlikely that you’re my Fated Mate, too.”

Rex stared at her in shock, and she almost felt sorry for him. She could see the gears whirring behind his eyes, and she sensed and almost saw what he was feeling. A bridge of empathy crossed over a dark chasm filled with nothing but pain, loneliness, and the deepest sorrow.

“Nancy, he was a fool to reject you,” Rex said softly. “He quite obviously didn’t know who he gave up, which makes him an even bigger fool.”

She cocked her head to one side and lowered her fists. “Nancy? Who the hell is Nancy?” Blade was furious that he would bring up some other woman while pretending to be her mate. As if it wasn’t enough that Julia kept staring at him with wounded longing. To his credit, he had eyes for no one but Blade.

“Aren’t you Nancy?” He looked confused. He moved towards her, but she avoided him by circling around him. And that irritated him.

“No, I’m not Nancy, Alpha. See? You quite obviously have the wrong she-wolf.” She put her fists back up. “You’ll have to keep searching for your Nancy elsewhere.”

She charged and managed to punch his handsome face before quickly jumping out of his reach.

“That’s for calling me by some other bitch’s name.”

He took the punch and smiled at her.

“So, I got the wrong name.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what your name is, I know your scent! It calls to me and it’s driving my wolf insane. I dare you to say the same is not happening to you and your wolf. Go on! Say it! Ask your wolf.” He suddenly grinned triumphantly. “Ask Talon.”

For once in their lives, Talon was completely silent.

Really, Talon? Did you give in?

I’m sorry, Blade, okay? It’s just that Nakon is really nice and sweet, and he’s right in that he couldn’t have been able to reach me if we weren’t Fated Mates. That’s how it works.

What about Andy, Talon?! Did you think about him? What do you think they’re going to do to our baby?

Oh! I forgot about that. I don’t know. I’ll have to ask, but I’m sure everything will be alright.

Blade stared at Rex in utter disbelief. She threw a right cross to his face when he was close enough, but he caught her fist and gripped it tight.

She groaned. This is why you don’t fight when you’re too emotional.

Blade tried to disengage, but he was too strong and wouldn’t let her fist go.

“Stop this, Blade,” he whispered fiercely. “Stop fighting it!”

“I can’t let you take me,” she hissed with all the defiance she possessed. “You won’t take me. I will leave. I’ve left before.”

She knew it was the right thing to say because all color drained from his face, and she used that distraction to deliver a jab to his jaw. She then stepped back and delivered a high kick to his abdomen. Whether it was from the shock or the pain, he released her right hand and she jumped away.

But for the first time since she was thirteen, Blade wasn’t fast enough. Rex grabbed her hips and pulled her hard toward him. She crashed into him, and before she could use her fists, he released her hips and grabbed her hands, and gripped them behind her lower back. She struggled against him, but it was futile.

With his arms around her like a vice, she was flush against him, and she could feel his heat and smell his scent. She felt his breath on her neck and she closed her eyes, willing to resist by wriggling away, but she realized she lost that battle when she felt long canines pierce deeply into the side of her neck.

Blade gasped and opened her eyes in surprise. She tried to pull away, but he gripped her by the neck, arms, and hands. She couldn’t move.

Very soon, her mind became muddled, clouded by a storm of raw emotions that were not her own.

Love. Fear. Relief. Frustration. Curiosity. Anxiety. Joy.

Blade heard Ax swear and then start shouting something, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying.

Rex finally released her neck and a haze began to overtake her vision, but she saw his eyes. They were electric blue; she was staring into his wolf’s eyes. His eyes dimmed into Rex’s ocean blue while she collapsed. He cradled her in his arms and sat on the floor.

“You–you bit me.”

He lowered his face into the crook of her neck and began to tenderly lick the wound his canines had left. Shivers ran down her neck spreading to the rest of her body, but she felt him shudder, too.

“No, my beautiful mate,” he whispered in a deep, husky voice. “I Marked you. You will never leave me again.”