The Alphas’ P**n Star Mate

Mick POV

Startling growling echoed in my head, but that was soon overlooked by the information I had just heard from my brother after getting to the scene of the confrontation.

"She was shot?!" I shouted. I knew I felt something, but she acted like all was fine. Well, not really fine, but she sure as hell didn't act like she had just been shot. She said she was just scratched. "Yeah," Miles grumbled, looking pissed off while staring at the dead shooter on the ground.

"It was just a flesh wound," Jamie rolled his eyes. "We all saw it happen. It just grazed her. She's not that soft."

Miles let out a menacing growl and I glared at Jamie. Jamie is usually insensitive. This is nothing new, but it still pisses me off.

"What would Rodger say?" Lenny hit Jamie in the back of the head.

"Ow! Stop it you lunky double o seven," Jamie whined. "Rodger isn't here."

"Oh, yes I am," Rodger suddenly walked through the trees to the clearing. He was wearing his rough sack pants, the kind he uses for his intense rituals, and no shirt. The old man had hair sticking up every which way and a thick layer of sweat all over his body. His bloodshot eyes told me he had been up all night doing some form of magic. He must have rushed here. He never lets outsiders see him like this. "Where's Chloe?" he asked, looking around at all the blood and the two dead humans. Beau and Dez took the living human back to interrogate him once he woke up.

"She went back to the packhouse," Jamie said. "I guess she had to wash off the blood from her- OW!"

Lenny hit Jamie on the back of the head again, then grabbed a chunk of his hair and twisted his face to stare up at him. "Shut. Your. Hole."

"Okay, jeez. It's the truth."

Rodger looked at me. "She was shot?"

I nodded, then Miles added, "She was grazed by a bullet."

"She was protecting me, sir," Lenny said solemnly, lowering his head. "I'm sorry."

Rodger paced around the area worryingly, his hands tense, resting upon his head. He was looking at the scene around, and the blood spatters that I knew were Chloe's. Every time I get a whiff of the crimson wetness thickening on the forest floor, the voice starts to growl in my head. The first time he growled, it shocked me, but then the shock of hearing my mate was shot and didn't tell me overshadowed anything the parasite could do.

"Your sisters," Lenny said, "Can they help to make a stronger barrier around the pack?"

"Barrier?" Miles looked concerned, as did I. This is the first time I have heard of it. "What barrier?"

"A barrier to alert you whenever someone crosses onto your land," Rodger said. "Both of you. I've been trying all night to put one up, but my magic must not be strong enough."

"You just used a great deal to remove any trace of any of us from the club, sir," Lenny replied. "You needed time to recover."

"Maybe, but we don't have time," Rodger sighed. "I'm not going to let her get hurt. Not again."

He wasn't just talking about the gunshot. I could tell by the far-off look in his eyes.

"She won't be hurt again," Miles said. "I'm going to be keeping guards on her at all times. And, if she leaves the packhouse for any reason, I'll try to be with her. Especially if Mick can't be." He then looked at me. "I'll convince her."

"You could both protect her easily if you just told her to accept him," the voice muttered, exasperated and angry.

"I told him," I replied, just as exasperated. "Did I not tell him to go for her?"

"But what about her? She's got her guard up. Probably more than ever," Rome muttered under his breath. I didn't really know what he meant by that, but he continued before I could ask. "She won't do anything to hurt you, and she will not like the guards on her pretty little tail all the time. If you don't smooth things over between them, and be the one to open that gate, she won't let him through."

"Chloe isn't someone easily convinced," Jamie mused. "She doesn't listen to anyone unless she whole-heartedly agrees. We used to get in fights with her over stupid things because of it."

"Like the time we told her not to go to the beach on her own. She tried to kick Alexi's ass when he followed her anyway," Lenny added.

"She has to be protected though," Miles argued. "It's non-negotiable."

Chloe wouldn't listen to Miles, but she might listen to me about this. The parasite is right. "I'll talk to her," I said. "She won't turn me down as easily as you."

"I thought you said it was on me," Miles said.

"It's on us," I said, taking his shoulder in support. "She's our mate."

Chloe POV

"What are you two doing here?" I asked, walking into Mick's childhood bedroom we had been sharing. Riley and Winnie were sprawled out on the floor, Winnie with a tablet and Riley with a manga book.

"Hiding," they said at the same time, not even looking up. I was butt ass naked after shifting back, but neither would give a rat's ass about that. I walked past them to the bathroom, glad they didn't care because the wound on my shoulder looks nasty right now. It's closed, but it's bruised pretty back. The coloring turned greenish black in the time it took to go from where it happened to here.

"What are you hiding from," I asked as I started to clean around my nasty bruise with a face towel, gingerly wiping the dried blood away.

"Nonna," they said at the same time. "She is trying to get us to help with breakfast," Winnie added.

I scoffed, "Why won't you?"

"Because she touches my cheeks too much," Winnie grumbled. "And the stupid dogs in this place all want to sniff me. I'm not a damn house cat."

"Well, I'm just lazy," Riley shrugged. "Dave helped. I loaned him out, so I think I should be off the hook."

"That's not how that works," I laughed, turning on the shower. I left the door open so we could still talk. I wanted to be alone, but Winnie and Riley aren't bad company.

"That's exactly how it works. Dave plowed my ass until two in the morning. He can be the one to make me breakfast."

"He's helping make it for the entire packhouse," I said, wincing over the tender spot on my shoulder when the water rushed over it. "Not just you."

"I'll be eating it. That's what matters."

"Is he making the hollandaise sauce?" Winnie hummed hungrily. "I love his eggs benedict."

"Waffle I think," Riley said. "Aw, I wanted eggs benedict."

"I'll tell him for next time."

As they talked about breakfast, I was quietly hissing and groaning over my sore and tight shoulder. The muscles were locked in place, making it impossible to lift that arm to wash my hair. It was hard to do anything one-handed, and I know I still have blood on most of my body that I couldn't reach.

Suddenly, the curtain moved to the side, and Riley was standing right there. "What happened to you?" He asked, staring at my shoulder.

"Nothing," I lied. I tried to turn away so he couldn't see it, but he grabbed my good arm to keep me still.

"Wow, that's ugly. Who did that?"

"What?" Winnie asked, coming into the bathroom behind him. Winnie grimaced at me being naked, but then his eyes filled with concern when he saw my shoulder. "Who was it?!"

"No one. Well, not anymore. Lenny killed him."

"What?!" they said together.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Help me get the blood out of my hair and I'll explain."

Riley helped wash me. Winnie refused to touch me, which I figured he would. He doesn't like being close to women. He did sit on the vanity and listened as I told the story of training this morning, going out for a run afterward and finding humans in the forest. I tried to describe the gun as best I could, and they agreed that it wasn't a typical hunting rifle.

"So you got shot?" Winnie asked deadpan.

"I got a scratch from a bullet."

"That's still shot," Riley scoffed, squeezing the excess water from my hair. "What did Mick do?"

I bit my lip. "I didn't tell him the extent of it."