Fated To the Alpha by Jessica Hall
Chapter 153: Sage POV
Lunch was nice with Kat and her family and I found myself not wanting to leave, liking having another female around, someone I can kind of relate to. Derrick Andrei’s father said he would be over tomorrow sometime to help Andrei with whatever Andrei asked of him and eventually we left.
Walking back to the car I climb in the passenger seat and Andrei gets in the driver’s seat and starts up the car.
“Seat belt” Andrei growls, making me realize I hadn’t put it on. I roll my eyes but clip it place and he reverses before turning the car around and driving down the long driveway. When we reach the end instead of turning toward the highway he turns heading into town and I look at him
questionably wondering where we are going now. As much as I didn’t want to leave Kat’s, I kind of missed home. The town was small as we drove through it and I could tell it consisted of only werewolves.
A few people on the streets nodded to Andrei as he drove past despite him not being their Alpha and I knew it was out of respect for Kat. Andrei drove towards the edge of town before pulling up at what I first thought was a park with its picnic areas and bench seats and giant trees creating shade along the edges of the white fence that surrounded the place.
The lawns were well maintained and I realized we were at a cemetery. Andrei parks the car under a tree and stares out at the gravestones letting out a shaky breath.
“You ok?” I ask him before reaching over and grabbing his hand.
“Yeah, I just haven’t been here since her funeral” He says, staring out at the cemetery. I could see a man in the distance tending to some of the graves and cleaning them and figured he must be the graveyard keeper.
Andrei squeezes my fingers before opening his door and getting out. He walks around the back of the car to the trunk and pops it open and I climb out of the car to see what he is doing. He places a cardboard box on the ground before shutting the trunk. He picks it up with one hand before
reaching in his pocket and pulling out a piece of paper and opens it and reads it.
I noticed each row of graves was marked with a number and Andrei grabbed my hand and tugs me along the rows, careful not to step on anyone’s
grave before stopping next to a black headstone with silver writing on it. I looked down at it and read the name expecting it to be his mate Angie but instead it read. Lyle Wesson and his date of birth along with the picture I had in the car.
“He is younger than I thought, ” Andrei says, looking at the headstone.
“Yeah he is three days younger than me” I tell him and he nods before kneeling. He rummages in the box before handing me a cloth to clean the dust from the headstone and I wipe it over while he continues pulling things out.
I wipe the headstone over which was pretty clean before sitting next to Andrei on the gr@ssand he hands me a small plastic pot with colourful pansies in it. I stare at the flowers and Andrei digs a small hole in front of his headstone with his claws and hands.
“Want some help?” Says a voice behind us and I look over my shoulder to see the keeper. He was in his mid forties and was wearing overalls and a wide brimmed hat.
“No, but can you take that box to Angie’s grave please, I will be over there in a second” Andrei tells him and I could tell they knew each other. The man nods and bends down, picking it up.
“I will make sure they both stay well-watered Andrei” The man tells him and he nods. I turned back to Andrei whose hands were now covered in dirt.
“There now you can plant it, I wasn’t sure what flowers you like but they looked pretty” He said and I nodded before carefully removing them from the pot and dropping them in the small hole. I push the dirt back over it before patting the dirt around it.
Andrei then opens up a water bottle and pours some on the soil watering it. We sat there staring at the grave. Andrei was a man of few words yet I didn’t feel uncomfortable and he didn’t seem mad that he was visiting my mates grave. After a few minutes I got up. I missed my mate yet I barely knew him.
“You want to go already?” Andrei asks and I nod.
“Yeah, let’s go visit Angie’s now” I tell him, looking for the man with the box but I couldn’t see him. I offer Andrei my hand and he takes it letting me help pull him up before tucks me under his arm leading me to yet another grave.
This one was all white marble and covered in flowers and pictures, tedd*ies and even a necklace hung on top of the grave. I find his mate was only 18 when she passed away but she was pretty and in the picture she looked lively and happy. Her grave
also had beloved daughter, sister and Mate written on it. Looking at Andrei his eyes darken and I sit next to her grave before opening the box and rummaging around it while he was frozen in place staring at it.
I pull a small pot of lavender out and place it beside me. Looking up at Andrei he was no longer looking at the grave but watching me with a strange look on his face before his eyes lost focus and he growled, making me jump. Yet he didn’t seem angry but
like he wasn’t exactly present either and was reliving some memory he didn’t like. I reach up tugging his hand and his eyes refocus and he shakes his head. Through the bond I felt fear which I thought was odd.
“Are you going to plant her flowers?” I ask him, ignoring the feeling I was getting through the bond. When he doesn’t answer I start digging a small hole next to her grave. I didn’t want to disturb the other things on her grave that were placed and there wasn’t much room.
“Here I will do it, you will get dirty” He says kneeling beside me and pulling a bit more dirt out. I hand him the pot of lavender and he takes it, pushing it in the hole.
“Angie liked lavender” He said and I nod seeing another one on the other side of the grave that someone planted. I unscrewed the lid of the water bottle and hand it to him before carefully wiping her headstone with the cloth which looked like it was regularly cleaned and maintained by her family.
“Her family was all from this pack” I ask Andrei.
“Yeah she had five brothers and her parents here and I think an aunt but I never met her” Andrei says and I nod sitting beside him.
“Argh Angie hated those flowers always made her sneeze, ” He says pointing to some gardenia’s on the grave next to hers.
“Lavender was her favourite and pink roses” he says,patting the soil down and watering the lavender.
‘What’s your favourite flower?” Andrei asks me while sitting back and rearranging some of the things on her grave that had fallen over.
“Some would call it a weed” I chuckle and he raises an eyebrow at me.
“What is it then?” He chuckles.
“Dandelions” I tell him and he shakes his head. “That is because it is a weed” He chuckles and I shove his shoulder.
“Why dandelions?” he asks.
“Because they are a rogue unwanted plant and grow freely” I tell him and his smile slips slightly yet I didn’t mean it to upset him. I just liked that you couldn’t control where they popped up.”
“My father hated them when I was kid and was always pulling them out of the lawn and said it ruined his gra*s*s” I tell him with a chuckle.
“So you did live in a community before being rogue” Andrei asks and I nod.
“Yeah, we were not part of any packs but for a while we lived amongst the human communities before a pack caught us and kicked us out, then after that we moved around everywhere, joined a few rogue camps but never stayed long until those rogues caught us and K*lled him” I tell Andrei.
“Well you never have to worry about that again, you have a home now, you just have to put up with me” Andrei says before laughing.
“You’re aren’t so bad” I tell him and he stands smiling to himself before offering me both hands and I take them, letting him pull me up. He bends down grabbing the empty box off the ground before grabbing my hand and lacing his fingers through mine.
Both our hands are covered in dirt as we walk back to the car before he stops discarding the box in one of the bins next to a picnic table with bench seats.
“Hold your hands out” He says and I do and he pours water on them so I can clean them. I do the same for him before tossing the water bottle in the bin. Andrei dries his hands on his jeans and I walk over to him wiping mine on his shirt to dry them.
I could feel the hardness of his stomach and the bulk of muscle under it making my face heat. We showered together but I never really touched him, tending to stick to my side of the shower. Even in bed I never really touched him, let alone run my hands over him like that.
It was comforting knowing he was there while I was exposed. I knew he wouldn’t let anyone hurt me, and I trusted him not to either.
“You right there” he asks amused at me drying my hands on his clean shirt.
“Yep” I chuckle.
Andrei grabs my wrists when I pull away wrapping them around his waist and stepping closer before wrapping his arms around me.
I let out a breath resting my cheek on his chest and inhaled his scent, loving the warmth radiating off him. I feel his nose in my hair as he does the same. His scent was intoxicating and his closeness soothing.
“Come on, we should head home before it gets too late” He says and I look up at him. His eyes flicker to Donnie for a second and I smile up at him. “Hi Donnie, ” I tell him and he smiles before his eyes flicker back to Andrei’s hypnotic eyes. He leans down pressing his lips to my forehead and my heart skips a beat.
“Come on” He says letting me go and I walk to the otherside of the car waiting for him to unlock it before hopping in.