Fated To the Alpha by Jessica Hall
Chapter 152: Andrei POV
It was a nice day today as I helped Ezra start the barbeque. I started chopping onions while he cooked when Mateo and my father walked out to join us with beers in their hands. My father offers me one but I shake my head.
“Can’t I have to drive” I tell him and he shrugs before sitting at the outside table next to where I was chopping onions.
“Sage is quiet” He says and I look over at him. “Yeah she isn’t used to people” I tell him.
“Is she adjusting ok, Kat said she was scared of you, she seems fine around you now?” My father asks and I bite my tongue to stop from snapping at him.
I would happily talk about anything with him but her and our relationship, though when Ezra asked I knew I had no choice but to answer, they seemed to have a keen interest for some reason that unnerved me.
“Yes, she let me sleep in the bed with her the last few nights, she marked me by accident which has helped ma*s*sively because she can feel everything I do” I tell them with a shrug. I see Mateo look at Ezra funny, making me suspicious.
“What?”
“Nothing, we just want this to work out is all, she seems nice. Timid but nice” Mateo answers and I change the subject not liking their interest in my love life.
“Did you have a pack member named Lyle that recently passed away in the last few months?” I ask looking over at Ezra. He stiffens, his lips pressing in a line before he swallows, his eyes darting to Mateo making me look over at him. Mateo rubs a hand down his face and sighs. Looking back at Ezra he looked gutted making me wonder if they were close.
“Sorry bro, I didn’t realize you were close with him” I tell him, passing him the chopping board of cut-up onions. He scr@pes them on the burner before handing it back to me.
“I wasn’t close to him, I barely knew him, he was new to the pack” Ezra says while flipping the steaks.
“Is there a reason you are asking about Lyle Wesson?” Ezra asks me.
“Yes actually he was Sage’s first mate, I wanted to take her to visit his grave if he was buried here” I tell him and Ezra flinches and grips the barbeque not realizing where he was grabbing and puts his palm half on the hot plate, he drops the tongs in his hands before burning himself again as he goes to retrieve them from the hotplate.
“You right, here let me take over” I tell him, taking the tongs from his grip. My father gets up moving so Ezra can sit down and Mateo leans over to look at his hand.
“It’s fine” Ezra snaps at him but Mateo growls at him and grabs his hand j*rking it towards him.
“Seriously it is already healing just f*uc*king leave it” Ezra says his eyes flickering to Maddox. Mateo ignores him before leaning down and running his tongue over his palm and Ezra growls at him but lets him, knowing Mateo wasn’t going to back down from him. I always found witnessing their relationship interesting. Ezra was the Alpha Male over them, and Kat softened him sort of.
But Mateo, despite being his Beta, also had influence over him. Mateo never backed down from him and I think sometimes Ezra likes it, likes having someone to order him around and scold him though I am sure Kat gives them both hell, but Mateo was the balm to Ezra’s stressors, someone to take control when he didn’t feel like it even if it was just simple things most of the time. I could see Ezra liked when Mateo made decisions for them because it meant he didn’t have to make them himself.
“I didn’t know Lyle had a mate, Maddox didn’t mean it” Ezra says.
“Yeah Sage said something along those lines” I tell him and he looks over at me.
“Huh, what happened with Sage?” He asked and I could see the confusion on his face like he was trying to figure out some hard math question. “When she stumbled across him, he told her his Alpha attacked him but he didn’t mean it”
“Maddox only attacked him once and that was when Maddox K*lled him”
“K*lled him? No, he was still alive, Sage tried to heal him, the rogues K*lled him in front of her” I tell him wondering now if we were talking about the same person.
“Maddox seems pretty sure he K*lled him, that was the night I marked Kat and absorbed the darkness from her, making Maddox blind with rage. When did Sage meet him?’
“A few months back, they stumbled across him just over the border and brought him back to camp, she said he was nearly dead and she healed him or tried to, but then the rogues realized they were mates when he tried to free her so they ripped him apart, then tossed him back where they found him just on your borders” I tell him. Ezra seems to think for a second before walking off inside and I see Mateo mindlink someone, his eyes glazing over.
“Is he alright?” I ask Mateo who shakes his head.
“No, he locked his wolf up after that night and rarely shifts now because he is afraid of K*lling his pack members” Mateo says when Kat and Sage step outside.
Sage still had Eziah and Mateo reached behind him with his arms out. I watch Sage place Eziah in his arms, yet Marabella wasn’t with Kat.
“She is asleep. I put her down for a bit” Kat says, answering my thoughts. Ezra returns with a dark expression on his face with a photo in his hand.
“Oi what’s wrong?” Kat asks him, but he shakes his head instead approaching Sage who steps back from him, confusing his expression for anger yet I could see K*lling Lyle was eating at him.
“He won’t hurt you, Sage,” Mateo tells her,
touching her arm. She swallows and Ezra hands a photo to her before sitting down next to Mateo and reaching for his son. Sage stares down at the photo before swallowing, her eyes turning glassy.
“Lyle” she breathes before biting her bottom lip.
“You know him?” Mateo asks her. She nods her head staring down at the picture in her hands which appears to be some Pack ID photo.
“Yes he was my mate, the rogues K*lled him” She says softly and Ezra lets out a breath and I see Kat run her fingers through the back of his hair. Ezra leaning into her touch like she would make him feel better.
“I didn’t K*ll him” He breathes out.
“No, rogues did, they tore him to pieces” She says before offering the photo to him. He shakes his head pushing her hand back toward her.
“Keep it” He says and her eyes dart to me. I could see the question in her eyes, wanting to know if she was allowed to or if I would be offended if she did.
I suddenly felt guilty about earlier and my overreaction to her looking at Ezra. Now she was worried about me getting angry over her dead mate, I realized how foolish I was.
“Keep it” I tell her but she shakes her head.
“No, it’s ok” She says, still trying to give it back yet I could tell she didn’t want to.
I reached over, taking it from her and looking at the man in the picture, he would be her age, with Dark hair and soft features. Looking back up, I found everyone staring at me, but Sage was looking at the picture in my hands like she was scared I was going to do something to it and was fighting the urge to snatch it from me.
I place it in my pocket. “We can put it in a frame when we get home” I tell her and she lets out a breath. My father pats the chair next to him and she walks around the table before sitting next to him. My father had been quietly observing and I knew he was burning to ask me questions.
I could practically see the cogs turning in his head. I plate up the steaks and sausages before placing them on the table. Kat walks inside before returning with salad and plates and bread.
“I was actually wanting to speak to you about something” I tell my father looking over at him as I sit down beside Sage.
“What’s that?’ He asks, turning his attention to me.
“Wanted to see if you would come over home a for a bit, I need help with some Pack issues, and my new Beta could use some pointers on the sh*t he is supposed to do”
“Not Beta blood?” he asks .
“No, Gamma. But he struggles with the responsibilities, he is used to being their friends and not their boss, they run all over him forgetting he is now my Beta” I tell him and he nods.
“Sure, I can head over tomorrow if you want, how long should I pack for”
“However long you plan on staying, I need your help so if I can steal for a week or so would be good, if Kat doesn’t need you” I tell him and he smiles like a kid on christmas.
“Sounds good” He says, biting into his sausage sandwich.
“I’ m good, I have Mateo and Ezra to help with kids” Kat says looking just as excited as our father at the idea of him staying with me for a few days.
Hopefully he will be able to help with the rogue issue, I could use a fresh set of eyes on the situation, preferably one that won’t cause issues with Sage, she didn’t understand the danger we were in of losing everything, and I won’t let anyone walk in and take my Pack so I am willing to do anything to keep them Safe even if she doesn’t agree with my ways.