In Reach?

Alpha’s POV

Shit! We finally came to a stop as we roll down the slope of the river. I’m breathing heavily, with the running, this cold ass water, the tumbling and rolling around, and all because of her. Making me go through all this in the first hour of meeting her, she really is a troublesome one. And that’s when I realize, she’s still and quiet, in my arms. I look down, and dammit, she looks just as gorgeous all wet and covered in dirt. But her eyes are closed, is she hurt? I get a slight panic at the thought and hold the side of her face wiping the wet hair clinging to her face away. And I see it, the red dripping down the side of her face. Shit! She must have hit her head.

I waste no time and jump up, take her in my arms bridal style, and walk back to the pack house with a quick pace. I need to get her to Aiden so he can have a look at her. This wound of hers looks bad. Why is it still bleeding?

My wolf and I are so conflicted right now. So much has happened in our pack in the last week, and I have been so stressed out trying to do damage control from all ends. Hearing about our hostage, I was ready to just have her killed, but I wanted answers. Why was she there? But I also knew that whatever answer she gives, she still had to have played a role in it all. So many people died, she died, and this mystery in my arms was there. How else could she explain why we found her in the middle of a massacre and yet she was the only one found alive, with not a scratch on her.

My wolf is angry at me for having tried to harm her, but I’m angry at him for being so ludicrous in thinking that she can be our mate. She can’t possibly be, I already found my mate. I’m annoyed that he was so quick to forget that. It pissed me off so much, that I somehow channeled that anger at her. She’s not real. She can’t be our mate. There needs to be an explanation for this. Witchcraft maybe,…. definitely. Just the thought of her working with those pagans has my blood boiling. Witches do nothing but use blood for their pointless delusions they call magic. She’s just an illusion, right? She can’t be real.

My wolf even had the nerve to refuse me to shift, to chase down this beauty. A man needs to be blind to not notice her and her long flowing chocolate-brown hair. What makes it even more frustrating is that she smells like chocolate too, but mixed with a hint of raspberries. F$#k! I’m losing my resolve just being near her. No, my wolf is.

She is nothing but my prisoner, a murderer, a trickster. After getting her looked at, she’s going to the dungeons, where she was supposed to be all along. What was she doing walking about the house in nothing but this shirt on anyways? Grrh. It annoys me to think that she walked around the house like this with so many men around, especially un-mated males. Ggggrrrrhhhhh!!. And she dared to look at me with those honey eyes that held so much innocence, so much hope. She’s just a temptress. Most likely a rogue sent as a spy. I will find out who sent her, why she is here. She won’t get away from me. Not if I have anything to say about it.

I reach the front of the pack house. The others seem to be waiting for me,…..for us, on the front porch. They look at me with curious eyes as if asking me what happened. I’m sure they definitely didn’t expect me to come back completely drenched and covered in dirt. But I can’t help look at them with annoyance, and slight amusement just looking at the state they’re in. Aiden is sitting on the porch chair, with toilet paper stuck up his nose, probably still trying to stop the bleeding. That eye of his seems somewhat swollen, with a little cut under his eyebrow. Mason looks angry, and almost disbelieving as he leans against the wall next to the doorway, eyeing the woman in my arms. He has a huge and almost dark bruise on the side of his temple, which most definitely looks like it should be painful. I can tell it is as he keeps clenching his jaw, he tends to do that when trying to hide his pain. Noah on the other hand is sitting in the other chair, busy trying to put ointment on his hands and face, on the red tracks the hot water left behind. He looks shocked and angry at the sight of his hands. There isn’t a sight of humour in his features though, and I must say, I haven’t seen him this serious since that lying bitch of a high school girlfriend played him. I actually missed this serious side of him a little.

This little firecracker in my arms sure knows how to handle herself, especially when pushed into a corner. I practically have to hide the urge to smile, feeling quite impressed by her.

I can still feel the punch she gave me to my left cheek. I can’t believe she did that without even blinking. But her actions none the less intrigue me. She’s small and quiet, like a fragile and lost girl. But she attacks like a determined and agile fox.

My encounter with her on the dining table still has me quite bothered. Her scent drew me in, and it calmed my wolf. But the moment she kicked us away, he was pissed. He didn’t like the distance she was so eager to put between us. This angered me even more. How can she have such an effect on my wolf, for someone that’s just an illusion? Whatever forces are at play here, are clearly more dangerous than I thought possible. All this anger is bringing back memories I preferred to have been kept locked away. But these memories remind me of the mistake I made last time. I shouldn’t wait, I should just kill her now before she ruins more lives. I can’t let history repeat itself.

That’s why I approached her full force, pinning her down with my body’s weight and strangling her. This needed to end. I’m doing the right thing. I kept telling myself this, I probably had a smile on my face to convince my body that this is right. But her body is so delicate, it will break easily. I tried to not think of that and moved my gaze to her eyes. There was something, like time stopping. I could even hear my wolf whimper in my head, looking at her struggling for life. She had fear in her eyes,..... fear for me? No, it can’t be, everyone is afraid of dying. But the tear that fell from her eyes distracted me from realizing she grabbed something above her head. She swung her arm up, underneath my arm and hit me with something in my arm pit. It was such a sudden, sharp and strange pain, that I immediately retracted from her trying to gain my thoughts on what just happened.

I heard a clank sound and saw the bloody steak knife that fell to the floor. Did she stab me? I rushed to look under my arm and look at the palm of my hand I held there to try and ease the pain. But there was no blood. What? How? But there were traces of blood on the base of the blade. This didn't make sense. Did she hit me with the hilt? This would mean that she held the blade to hit me with its hilt. Why would she hurt herself to get away from me, when she could have hurt me to do that?

This confusion is just fueling my anger. What game is she playing at? I didn’t waste time to chase after her out the front door. I could already see her entering the woods. And I couldn’t help but feel a bit excited at the idea of chasing her through the woods. This was between me and her, so I called the others off of her trail. She is mine. That entire experience with her has taught me so much about her.

She’s quick to act and not afraid to hurt, but she still manages to evaluate her surroundings and control her attacks. A skill many of my strongest warriors still struggle to achieve. She is certainly no novice when it comes to tactics. I can’t help but wonder of all her other secrets.

I reach the steps of the front porch and get a sense of discomfort. These men in front of me, whom I know like the back of my hand, don’t seem to be directing their anger at her,…..but me? Did I miss something? They all stand up straight and walk closer to me. Are they seriously going to try and challenge me right now? Looking at her bloodied head, Mason reaches out his hands and says, “Let me take her in”.

What the f….? I give him an annoyed look and brush past him, through the doorway. “Meet me in the infirmary”, I say looking to Aiden. He jumps up and walks ahead of me towards the door under the staircase. He’s quite young, but he has a talent for healing, not to mention how he doesn’t question me. In fact, since when does Mason act that way towards me? He’s always so ingratiating towards me. Always asking, rather than saying.

I follow Aiden downstairs to the infirmary, and lower her down on one of the beds. “W-what happened to her?” Aiden hesitantly asks. I can see the gaze he has over her body to check her bruises. It annoys me, but I stand down knowing he has to do his work. I’m still not liking the idea of him looking at her all wet in that T-shirt. Whose fucking T-shirt is this anyway?! Now that I'm more focused there is no use trying to get a scent from it, since it got all drenched. My wolf is urging me to rip it off of her. But my lack of control may just lead to a lack of control from the other male wolves. I just have to trust Aiden, right? I know he is not the type, but he is still a man. F$#k! Why should I care what happens to her anyways? I try to control my breathing, but hearing movement upstairs, I’m reminded of what I have to do.

I practically jog up the stairs taking this damp shirt off of me. I see Noah and Mason sitting in the living room in silence, and I know they are already waiting for me. “I’ll be right back”, I say as I jog up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. I don’t waste any time in my room as I change into fresh clothes. When I come downstairs, they are still sitting there with serious looks on their faces. I go and sit down on the edge of this L-shaped couch, to get a good look at the both of them.

“Is there a reason for that attitude of yours?”, I ask tilting my head to Mason. He is quiet for a few seconds and clenches his jaw. “What happened out there?”, He asks me. And I must say I am getting quite annoyed with the sudden interest they are showing towards her.

“I asked you a question Mason.” The nerve of him trying to avoid giving an answer.

“Liam, you told us to restrain her”, he looks up and straight into my eyes, a little too long for my liking. I raise one of my eyebrows. He lowers his head, but still maintains eye-contact. “But why did you try to kill her?”, he puts emphasis on the word ‘kill’ as he waits for a reply.

He notices the frustrated huff I release, and quickly continues, “The moment you found out about the attack, when you found out about her, you rushed back here. You said you wanted, no you needed answers. But the moment you saw her, you had death in your eyes, and you tried to kill her. Why? Do you know her?”

That’s when I give a quick glance to Noah, realizing he didn’t tell them anything. I know he heard me, well he heard my wolf, when he mumbled “mate”, the moment I saw her. But he himself seems to be giving me a confused and serious look.

“No, I don’t know her”, I reply short but vaguely. But with the continued silence I know I have to give them more. “But something tells me she isn’t here by accident.”

Mason and I turn our heads to Noah the moment we hear a slight snicker from him. Oh crap, here it comes. When Noah is in his serious mode, he doesn’t like to hold back. “You don’t say”.

He now looks directly at me, with no smile whatsoever, “So tell us then, why it is you called out ‘mate’ the moment you saw her” I can see Mason’s head shoot up in my peripheral view at this statement. And that’s when Aiden pops up and stands behind the couch but between Mason and Noah. Aiden has shock on his face, most likely from what he just heard.

“Why were you so angry that you basically wrestled her, that you literally tried to strangle her to death on our dining table? Why did you come back from the woods, with her limp, bruised and bloodied body in your arms?” He’s starting to breath heavily now. “What did you do to her?”

That question gets a fire in me burning, as I realize where this conversation is going. But then again, I did try to hurt a woman I barely knew. Shit! This doesn’t look good.

These men trust me, and I trust them as well. I need to prove that to them. I lean back into the couch and say, “There is something I need to tell you all”. They all go stiff with their shoulders, waiting for whatever answers I am to give to them.