The Alphas’ P**n Star Mate

Miles POV

"No. It's okay," Chloe said in a quiet tone, not lifting her eyes from a catalog on her desk. "I'm not really hungry."

I looked away, rubbing a hand down my face and scratched my stubbled chin. "You need to eat lunch, Chloe. You skipped it yesterday too."

It's been like this for the past two days. Chloe hasn't left her office for anything during the day. From morning until late evening, breakfast to dinner, she stays quietly in here, and won't even leave for lunch. Everyone has been getting worried. When she needs to go to the restroom, she asks Emily to go with her, and makes sure Jamie knows where they're heading. It's a complete attitude change from before.... And I hate it. "Then talk to her about it!" Ivar snapped, feeling as frustrated as me. "You both never talk to her!"

"I tried to talk to her. I thought we were fine!"

The morning after we felt the border breach, and Mick suspected that her ex-mate had tried to sneak into the pack, I woke up to find Chloe sitting next to the window, staring out of it with a vacant look on her face. She had her knees pulled up to her cheek, and looked so sad in her reflection on the glass that it hurt me to see.

I was so mad when we got back to the pack house several hours before. We tried to track the scents we found to no avail, and even sent teams to the towns within a hundred-mile radius of the pack to check for scents, but found nothing. Kai and Beau said there was no activity at the resort either, so we were lost on what to do. We just knew we could risk Chloe's safety any more. Not after losing her and thinking she had been taken.

Then the whole shit that happened in the basement the night before. I still have no fucking idea what that was about. I was shaken by that, and worried about what the reason behind it could be. At first, I thought I had pissed her off by not going long enough or something stupid like that. That was so out there, but it's the first thought that came to my head. I still get insecure at times about her past and my brother's experience, and then there was the way that she tightened her legs around me, holding me in place. She didn't want me to pull out of her. But then Ivar mentioned the pups thing again, and I wondered if that was the problem.

I still haven't really asked.

When I saw her sitting by herself, sad and forlorn, I got up to talk to her. Whatever I did wrong, I wanted to get past it. I knelt in front of her, and she turned her face to stare down at me. I asked her if we could talk about what happened, but she just smiled tightly and said, "No need. It must have been the magic. I was acting out of line, and I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

And it hasn't. She's been too agreeable with us, but not in a good way.

Mom and Nonna said she hadn't been eating lunch while Mick and I were off searching the different towns for some sign of her ex, and Emily confirmed she hadn't wanted to leave for anything. Not even to train with the witch sisters. Even Jamie was looking at her with worry. I made sure to come back just to take her to lunch, and now she's refusing even me.

"I had too much at breakfast."

"Chloe," I growled, which finally made her look away from the supply catalog to look at me. "I came home just to take you to lunch. Please." My tone might have come out stiffer than I intended. I got that trait from my dad. When he's frustrated, he sounds cold when he is really concerned or worried.

Chloe's eyes tightened at their corners slightly, but she managed a meek smile and pushed away from her desk. "Okay."

Okay? No argument? No telling me to stick it where the sun doesn't shine? I saw her irritation. I felt it. Why isn't she showing it? She's just going to ignore that and give in?

"I guess I'll see you after lunch," she told Jamie as we passed by. He still had on that worried look, and I was feeling this throbbing irritation at this whole situation.

When we were alone in the hall, I snapped. With a fierce growl, I grabbed Chloe by the back of the neck, turning her to face me and bent down so my face was as close as it could be without touching. Her fresh sage and mountain air scent filled my nostrils, making them flare. "What the hell is wrong with you," I snarled, my frustration making me sound cold again. Ivar was muttering for me to cool down, but this was my fucking mate, and I wanted to get to the bottom of this. Chloe scoffed. "I've been wondering the same thing."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She stared up at me, her deep brown eyes tinged with freckles of purple hues. The more I stared, the more those flecks of color started to glisten, and I realized too late that her eyes were filling up with tears.

My heart stopped, and my entire body went cold. I let go of her neck, sliding my hand down her back. "Chloe?"

"It's nothing, Miles." She blinked and looked away.

"It's not nothing," I tried to hug her, but she remained stiff.

Her breath hitched as she stared at the ground between us, and I knew she was gnawing on that bottom lip. "What's wrong with me?" she whispered in a raspy voice.

"That's what I'm asking, baby." I tried again to hug her, and this time she let me. I pulled her against me and held her close. When her breath came it shuddered gasps, it was like a stab to the heart each and every second.

"No," she shook her head. "What's wrong with me? Why.... Why don't you and Mick want to have pups with me, and why....." She took a ragged breath, and my heart continued to tear to pieces. "Why do I never feel like enough?"