Fated To the Alpha by Jessica Hall
Chapter 80
Kora shifted and Ares kept his back to us until she bit his tail making him spin around.
“Race you” She says before shoving him over and darting toward the treeline.
It felt good being in this form, Kora was carefree and loved the feel of the earth under her feet, the way the dirt kicked up behind her as she zipped in and out of trees and jumped over fallen logs. The breeze ruffled her fur and D*mn was she fast and lithe on her feet.
She slows down looking for Ares, and we could hear him catching up to us when everything suddenly falls silent, before he pounces, tackling Kora. Ares jumps off her and darts away and her giving chase and I could see she was excited for the game they were playing.
“She seems excited to be out” Mateo mindlinks me.
“Yep s*cks she can’t shift much” I tell him just letting her go and do what she wants while she can.
“You still want to go swimming or do you want to wait for Ezra?” He asks me and I shrug before remembering he can’t see that through the link.
“Either I am not fazed, and Ezra was fine with it?” I ask him.
“Said he was, let me add him to the link” Mateo says and I feel a weird rippling before Ezra’s voice comes into range and it was strange having a three-way conversation. I have had orders barked at me through the link with everyone connected but never just three people.
“What’s up, I am nearly done here” Ezra says.
“Do you want us to wait to go swimming?” I ask him.
“No, I won’t be long anyway we are just packing up” Ezra says.
“You sure Maddox won’t be angry and get the wrong idea,” Mateo asks and I could hear he was nervous about Ezra coming over while we were both n@ked in the water.
“No, he is fine with it”
“And you’re fine with it?” I ask confused, Sh*t was I fine with it?
“Kat, I am fine with anything you do as long as you’re safe and only with Mateo” He says, cutting off the link to him. What the F*uk did that last part mean?
“Now I’m confused, I am not sure I am comfortable swimming Mateo”
“Yeah I feel the same, Ares thinks Maddox is going to K*ll us” Mateo chuckles but his laugh sounded nervous.
“Come on we can just run until he finds us” Mateo says and I focus back on Kora who was still playing with Ares as they zipped through the forest. When it was nearly lunchtime though I told Kora to head toward home Ares falling in line with her as they walked back towards the packhouse when we heard movement in the forest.
Ares lurched forward in front of Kora who rolled her eyes at the protective stance. Ares relaxes when he picks up Maddox’s scent only to be tackled and Koro whimpers before knocking Maddox off who falls on his side before l*cking her face, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and Ares jumps on him.
“I thought you were going swimming?” Ezra asks us as Maddox chases after Ares, Kora chasing Maddox as they all play fight. Biting and tugging on each other.
“Dude what’s wrong with Maddox, I‘m not sure if he is playing or trying to hurt me” Mateo says as Ares gets tackled again.
“He’s mucking around,” Ezra says.
“Well that’s a first since Kat arrived,” Mateo says.
“He used to muck around with Ares all the time,” Ezra says.
“Yeah but he hasn’t in ages” Mateo says. Kora lays down watching them and resting her head on her paws.
“You still want to go swimming, or do you want to do something else?” Ezra asks and Maddox comes over flopping on his side, he nips at her ear tugging on it until she becomes annoyed with him and nips him making Ezra laugh.
“You guys go swimming, I still need to try to fix my car” Mateo says and Ares turns around only for Maddox to grab his tail and jerk him back.
“Come swimming, Ezra can help you later” Maddox gravelly voice says through the link.
“You okay?’ Kora asks him, l!cking his face.
“Yes, kitty” He purrs at her and she nips his face, eyeing him suspiciously and so was I. Did he have a brain transplant? Did his alter ego drop dead? Ares turns around sniffing him and I along with Kora nearly ch*oke on our own spit when Maddox l*cks his face.
“Yeah don’t do that again Maddox,” Ezra says. Ares l!cks Maddox cheek back.
“Okay that’s it give me control back you black B*stard. I am not watching you l*ck my friend” Ezra says.
“Hey you were the one that has been curious, not me,” Maddox says as he shifts back, both me and Ares looking at him while Ezra’s face turns red.
“I am not curious, he just took it out of context” Ezra says and Kora jumps up putting her paws on his chest, he ruffles her fur.
“Do you have any idea what’s going on with him?” Mateo links me and Kora turns her head looking at Ares before looking back at Ezra.
“No idea” I tell him, his actions so out of the ordinary when Kora jumps down before looking at Ares again, she sniffs him before l!cking him.
‘Kora!’ I shriek to her horrified she would do that, especially with Ezra right there. Ares steps away from her before he suddenly shifts back and Mateo stumbles backwards away from her. I try to f0rce control back but she shoves me back and just looks at Ezra who sits down on the gr@ssconfusing me and poor Mateo.
“That isn’t funny Ezra” Mateo tells him.
“I’m not trying to be funny Mateo, it is what it is” Ezra says with a shrug. I try to pull on the veil and take back control before she does something she can’t undo. Or gets Mateo K*lled by Maddox when she jumps up at Mateo, her paws going to his chest and brushes her fur while looking at Ezra confused. I could practically see the cogs turning in his head and they were spinning violently in mine.
When she embarra*s*singly shifts back in front of both of them, I hate shifting in front of people, no one wants to be seen shifting back. I stepped away from Mateo suddenly feeling very exposed as I covered my bre@sts and this suddenly felt indecent. Mateo must have thought the same thing because he covered himself.
I feel Ezra’s chest press against my back making me look up at him, my heart hammering in my chest as Mateo watches him cautiously.
Ezra’s l!ps going to my shoulder, before he k!sses below my ear. “I know you love him and that is good enough for me” Ezra whispers before gripping my wrists and pulling them away from my chest. I become overwhelmed at the situation I was in, and how he put me on the spot like that and I wanted to run.
I step away from them both. “Kat?” Ezra calls when I start walking away.
“No, Ezra. All day I have been trying to figure what the hell has gotten into you and then you throw me under the bus, throw Mateo under it too” I tell him my eyes brimming with tears at the embarra*s*sment and what if Mateo didn’t want this, he was also put in an awkward situation.
“Tell me you don’t love him then” Ezra says and I see Mateo look at me. Kora whines in my head but I ignore her.
“You already know I do, but I don’t know what you were trying to prove by doing this” I tell him, turning around and heading for the house.
“I’m not trying to prove anything Kat, I am saying you can mark him if he wants you to and if you want too” Ezra says and I stop looking at him. Mateo also turns, staring at him like he just grew three heads and pair of bat wings.
“You could have asked first instead of doing this” I tell him before walking off. I heard him sigh and I felt terrible walking away and hoped Mateo didn’t think I was rejecting him but I just couldn’t deal with the way this situation was handled. Ezra could have asked, or just said something to us instead of just throwing it out there randomly.
I head inside and run up the stairs toward the bedroom. ‘Kat Calm down, Maddox is fine with it’ Kora tells me.
‘He didn’t even ask Kora he just put me on the spot and what if I wanted to say no or Mateo did, do you have any idea how awkward things would become’ I tell her.
‘He could have handled it better I admit’ She says and I walk into the bathroom turning the shower before remembering the door and quickly locking it.
“Kat?” Mateo mindlinks.
“Yes, Mateo,” I asked as I stepped into the shower.
“I swear I didn’t know he was going to do that, I never asked him to”
“I know that” I tell him suddenly feeling guilty I walked away from him.
“Mateo.. I” He cuts the link abruptly, my head becoming my own and I am smashed with guilt, smashed with emotions I couldn’t understand.