The Cursed Alpha’s Mate by Moon Flood
Chapter 47 (VALENS)
“They are not best of friends but they sure are friendly,” Clover said. I nodded absently at her report. I wanted to know all about my little wolf’s relationsh*ip with Lucien but something plagued my thoughts.
This morning, I woke to my mate smiling down at me. She was usually asleep when I left for work but not today. Not only did she wake before me, but she also didn’t move. She stared down at me with a sweet smile. She said good morning to me with a honeyed voice and then she k*issed me sweetly. Then she climbed atop me and gave herself to me in the gentlest way.
She walked me to my car when it was time to leave and her eyes grew really sad when I got in. I had to tear myself away from her because my wolf was feeling overly protective with the way she looked at us this morning.
I picked up my phone and stared at it. I didn’t know what I was expecting but I kept checking it every minute.
“Are you listening to me?” Clover asked.
I was good at listening while distracted so I knew what she had been saying. What I did not know was the relevance of this discussion. I told her to befriend Lucien and report everything he did to me but Lucien was irrelevant to me that afternoon.
“Why do you think he would trust you enough to tell you what he has planned?” That was assuming the dimwit had enough b*rain cells to come up with a plan.
For someone who was to become the Beta of a pack as strong as Redville, Lucien was a joke. He was not very smart. The man blatantly went after my mate despite knowing what I could do to him. It was as if he did not care for my wrath or he lacked enough sense not to know what I was capable of.
“He thinks I am in love with you so we have a mutual ground strong enough for friendsh*ip.” She tossed her hair behind her shoulder.
“And are you? In love with me, that is?”
“I love you like an omega loves her Alpha.” My brows shot up. “I love you the way every other pack member loves you but I appreciate you more because of what you have gone through for me.”
“Good.” I didn’t want any attraction from her end but I knew she was smarter than that, anyway. “You will find your mate soon.” The curse had been broken so my people should begin to find their mates soon.
We would only know the curse was completely broken when I sired a child and someone from my pack found a mate. It was the sign the first oracle told us to watch out for.
“His relationsh*ip with her scares me.” I snapped back to attention when she said that.
“Why? Does he plan to hurt her?” I should crush that man once and for all.
“No, but I fear you will be hurt in the end.” Interesting.
I may not be as unt*ouchable as I was when under the curse but I had years of battle under my belt. No one in this pack or any pack for that matter could t*ouch me. I was still very much invisible in battle.
“She loves Lucien too much. I don’t think she would be able to love you.” The side of my lips pulled up.
“He rejected her. She does not love him.” I recalled how vehemently she spoke about him. He left her broken and now wanted to claim her because he was a jealous asshole. His desperation made me laugh.
I would leave him to chase after my mate knowing he could never get her. I wanted her to get her revenge against him without even knowing it. I laughed out loud at that realization.
The second I heard Lucien was Aysel’s ex-mate, I should have banished him from the pack or had him locked up somewhere he could never lay eyes on her again. It surprised Jabari that I let him roam free. It surprised me too but I now knew why.
He was the fool that hurt my mate in the past. He was the fool that let such a treasure go. An idiot whose loss I now profited from. I wanted him to see her every day and be tortured by the knowledge that he would never be able to have her. I wanted him to run mad from the desperation and regret of losing someone like Aysel. I wanted to punish him.
“They were best friends. She can’t hate him all that much,” Clover countered. I had no fears but I did not trust Aysel not to be lured back into Lucien’s arms.
“I am no longer interested in your reports from Lucien. I know what he wants and I know he cannot have it.” She opened her mouth as if to defy me but she regained her senses in record time.
The Oracle had advised we had to understand each other for our mating to be blessed. I would not understand Aysel if I did not communicate with her. I would not understand my mate if I did not listen to her.
As a man used to getting all I wanted using cunning strategies, I found it hard to believe I could understand Aysel just by talking to her. Spending time with her these days, I noticed she was not as complex as I once thought. She was merely a girl who had been let down by her pack and her Alpha, a girl who had forgotten her worth and developed trust issues on the way. I understand that side of her because I spoke to her.
I found out that I liked talking to my mate. By no means would I be qualified as a chatty man. My words were few and they were the law but with Aysel, I wanted to talk as much as she was starting to.
Weeks ago, she never spoke to me. She only answered when I spoke. It frustrated me because her voice calmed the raging beast inside me so I wanted to hear it often. I was not chatty myself so it was difficult to draw her into a conversation. Now, I did not have to try. She was letting her walls down for me to enter. All that was left was for me to let my walls down for her. These walls, I e*rected over a hundred years ago and they had turned to iron with time.
“You are my Alpha and – and my friend.” I nodded to speed up her words while I checked my phone again for a message.
Aysel had never once texted me since I got her a phone. Come to think of it, I’d never seen her with the phone. Had she lost it?
“I don’t think the relationsh*ip between them is what you think so if you don’t mind, I would like to follow up on the matter a little longer.” Before I could reply to her, a sense of calmness washed over me and I grinned. Clover, thinking I was encouraging her, smiled at me.
“My mate is here.” Her smile faded as she looked behind her at the door but saw no one.
“Valens –”
“You can leave now.”
“Yes, Alpha.” She picked up her bag and walked out.
I pretended to go back to work but my head kept lifting every second as I waited for my mate to walk in. After five minutes without seeing her, I wondered if I hallucinated her presence.
I stood from my seat and went to the door to peek into the hallway of the floor I occupied alone. I opened the door just as she raised her hand to knock. Without thinking, I grabbed her by her waist and pulled her in, slamming the door shut. She gasped in surprise at the suddenness with which I grabbed her and slammed her against the wall, attacking her lips with mine. I k*issed her like a starved man, one hand on her neck and the other on her back, pressing her to me.
“You did not call me.” My words were an accusation when I finally pulled away from her.
“W – what?” Confusion and lust thickened her words. “I – I don’t –” Her eyes widened in realization. She looked cute with wide eyes, a reddened face and thoroughly k*issed lips.
“Oh, goddess!” Horror painted her face and I became worried then. “I lost the phone you bought me. I am so sorry.” Tears filled her eyes in an instant and it made my skin prick.
“There is no need to cry. I will get you a new one.” Money did not matter to me so I could get her as many phones as she could misplace.
“No, I have to find the one you bought me. I haven’t seen it since – since –”
“You lost it the day we got it, didn’t you!” Guilt painted her face and I knew I was right. “We will get a new one tomorrow. If you pay for it this time, you will not lose it so easily.”
“But I don’t have any money, though.” She looked away from me with reddened cheeks.
“You will have enough money as my secretary and you can start work tomorrow.” I smirked at her.