He’s My Alpha by Cassandra M (Jake & Clair)
Chapter 54
Jake
I heard rustling in the bushes and a muffled sound from a small animal.
By the smell of it, I knew there was a nearby rabbit. Echo began to move slowly and carefully towards our prey, weighing each step before he leaped to catch and sink his fangs into its neck. He snapped it dead in a second. That was an easy catch.
I let the rabbit hang in my teeth while I walked lazily towards the packhouse, still in my wolf form. It was almost noon, and I’d been running for the last two hours. There was no intention of hunting, but my sudden craving to snap some necks overpowered me when the opportunity knocked.
Sleep alluded me last night, like the other nights since she almost rejected me.
The heaviness in my chest seemed to never disappear, even after days had gone by.
This morning, I let my wolf out. We needed air.
My Beta told me everything Clair said to him about me yesterday. She must have really hated me now if she felt that way. I had no one else to blame, but do I have a choice? She made it sound as if I was enjoying all this.
I miss her, but I was disappointed that she thought I was playing her. Maybe it looked like that, but it was never my intention.
Side chick? What the f*uc*k?! The moment she walked back into my life, I didn’t even consider having other females around me. The only one she was competing with was me and the curse that was hunting me. But I knew I needed to make amends soon. This ordeal was taking too long already.
I now knew what I could do with this dead animal I had just caught.
A smile tugged at my mouth as I shifted into my human form and gripped the dead rabbit by its neck, walking straight to the packhouse fully n*ake*d.
No one was usually around the packhouse around noon, and even if they were, it didn’t bother me.
I was lost in my own thoughts, not minding my surroundings as I trod the path at the side of the house when I heard someone shriek, followed by stifled laughter and murmurs. My brows furrowed at the noise, but before I could turn my head toward the direction of it, her scent hit me.
As soon as I tilted my head to my left, I saw Clair frozen in her spot. Several colored paper lanterns lay around her on the ground. She must have dropped those when she saw me — n*ake*d.
A c*oc*ky grin crossed my face as my d*ic*k started to come alive at the sight of her. I did revel in the innocence of her reaction.
My sweet innocent mate.
Her cheeks were flushed, but before I could say anything, she turned to face the females giggling a few feet behind her.
“Turn around!!!” She commanded them, her voice laced with anger and jealousy.
Chloe and Glaiza turned their backs immediately and proceeded to continue doing what they’d been doing as they stifled their laughter.
Clair turned her attention back to me, her chest heaving and her cheeks still flaming red.
I made no attempt to conceal my smirk as I approached her, but she stepped back, creating a big gap between us. She was bothered by my n*ake*dness.
She tilted her head and refused to look at me. “You need to go. It’s very indecent to walk around n*ake*d even if you’re the Alpha here!” Her voice was croaking as she swallowed hard.
“Everyone around here walks n*ake*d from time to time. We’re shifters. Do you think it’s indecent or do you just not want them to look at me?”
She snapped her back to look at me, tilting her neck up so she was just looking straight at my face. “ Think whatever you want to think! Now go!” Her finger pointed towards the pack house while she glared at me.
I shrugged my shoulders in defeat and laid the dead rabbit at her feet before walking away. “It’s for you, “ I told her, without looking back.
“What? What am I supposed to do with this?” I heard her call after me before running footsteps came behind me. “Take it away. It’s bloody dead!”
She grabbed my hand and turned me around, only for her to realize I was indeed n*ake*d, my manhood pointing at her.
“Oh, my Goddess! Can you go now?! Go!!!” She walked away immediately, but not before I was able to see her cheeks turning scarlet red again.
I snickered an easy laugh before I sped off inside the packhouse.
At least I saw her today and I hoped she realized what I meant when I left her that dead rabbit.
Clair
The day started early for me, Chloe, and Glaiza. We’ ve been all over the place to make sure we got everything we needed for Dad’s party tomorrow night.
At least I had something to occupy my mind. The only downside was that the place we were prepping up was exactly outside the packhouse and I knew, at any moment, I might see him and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to face him yet.
The girls and I were untangling the ropes for the paper lanterns that we wanted to hang around the tree branches within the area, and after successfully fixing some, I left them and took four paper lanterns with me so I could start hanging them while they continued to untangle the rest.
While I made my way to the next tree, I heard movement in the bushes a few feet away. I heard the leaves rustling and approaching footsteps, but I just ignored them. Warriors come and go the whole morning, and I thought it would be the same case this time.
Only it wasn’t.
With my head low, the first thing I noticed was a barefoot man with a dead rabbit dangling by his side and his intoxicating scent. And I knew who he was even before I saw him.
I took a deep breath before tilting my head up to finally have a glimpse of my mate, only to be surprised.
He was completely n*ake*d before me and oblivious to my presence as he continued to walk toward the pack house.
I didn’t even get to see his face thoroughly. My lustful eyes darted immediately towards his c*oc*k as I made an involuntarily spring backward, at the same time giving a surprised shriek. This was not the first time I saw it, and I knew it was huge and mesmerizing, but seeing it in broad daylight in a very public place was still shocking to me.
My sudden shriek caught Chloe and Glaiza’s attention, earning murmurs and stifled laughter from them. A scarlet tint crept into my cheeks, more of jealousy than embarra*s*sment at seeing him n*ake*d.
How dare he flashed his n*ake*d body around? And he seemed to enjoy the attention.
In the end, he walked away after I told him to fix himself. But he left me with a dead rabbit and I swear to the Goddess, I almost vomited at the sight of it.
I knew we are wolves and this might be an ordinary thing, but I lived with the humans and I’ve never had a dead rabbit in front of me. It was bloody and smelly.
I haven’t even had a chance to let Rain go out to
hunt. This was really disgusting and I had no idea what he was playing at. Was he mocking me?
I stared at the dead rabbit and thought of ways to dispose of it. I knew Dad would love to cook something out of it, but there was no way I would carry this home.
“Oh, my Goddess! The Alpha gave you a dead animal!!!” Chloe shrieked behind me, her hands gripping my shoulders as she glanced over the dead rabbit.
“What’s exciting about that? You can have it if you want.” I rolled my eyes and picked up the lanterns I dropped on the ground.
“It’s wolf’s ways of courting the female they like, more of the old ways. Not really practice nowadays. Maybe because people just hit it off or because, you know, mates.” She explained, shifting her eyes from me to the dead rabbit.
“What do you mean? I don’t get it.” My nose scrunched up in confusion.
“Hunting was sacred for the wolves. It shows our supremacy over other wild animals, and the animals killed were like trophies.” She explained further, moving this time to help me hang the lanterns in my hands.
“The fact that they offered it to the female they liked means they put the female on a pedestal higher than the trophies they get. It’s an honor to receive one, especially from an Alpha.” Her eyes beamed as she captured my eyes. “I need to ask Matteo to hunt one for me!” She added giddily.
“Oh, my Goddess! The Alpha wants you, Clair! Do you like him? I can’t believe you’ll be our Luna!” Glaiza came and attacked me for a hug, jumping up and down like a kid.
Still confused, I let her continue with her actions while my mind tried to decipher their words. Did he mean it that way, or did he just want to get rid of the dead rabbit?
I bit my lower lip and tilted my head towards his bedroom window, not sure what I would find there. But he was there, watching me – like he was staring straight through my soul while goosebumps and tingles ran along my skin as if he was touching me with his eyes.