The Alpha's Other Woman by Vielle Nye (best fiction books of all time .txt) 📖

“See that he finds his way out—subtly,” I ordered Randy, and he shifted and began to slink through the underbrush, the other warrior on his tail.

Once he was out of sight, Carrie stepped forward and took the card from my hand. She held it up and inspected it. “It appears to be excellent quality. This was pricey.”

“Definitely got that impression.” The vampire had a pretentious air, but more aloof than the typical alpha way I was  used to dealing with. He seemed like he was—or thought he was—above all the difficulties of mere mortals. Randy linked me that the vampire was off of territory, and we turned, and began walking back towards our home.

“I don’t know much about vampires. This was the first time I’ve ever seen one. I don’t remember any contact with them in my old pack, and surely I would...”

I waited for her to say more, but she caught herself and stopped talking. The way she danced around her old pack I imagined that she had been tossed out for something extreme. What could make her so hesitant to tell her mate what had happened? Maybe she’d accidentally killed someone, or something equally severe.

When she spoke again, she changed the subject again. I was disappointed, but I pretended not to notice the diversion. “Anyway, he seemed to fit the vampire stereotype well, didn’t he? Pale skin, nearly scentless, those slow controlled movements masking lightning fast reflexes, handsome in a statuesque sort of way...”

“Wait, you thought that bloodsucker is attractive?” My wolf was instantly up at arms with irrational jealousy, but I didn’t truly feel threatened. Most of the time it was easy to keep control of my instinctual half. Compared to other wolves in alpha positions, my wolf seemed fairly chill, even with the pack energy thrumming through him. I didn’t know if it was inherent personality, or because my pack was modest in size, or because I didn’t grow up with the power of pack expectations constantly thrumming through my veins. Whatever it was, my job was easier with my wolf in line.

But when it came to all-things Carrie, my wolf was anything but relaxed.

She laughed, either knowing that I was joking or enjoying the show of jealousy. I didn’t care which, I loved the sound.

Her smile remained after her laughter had faded. “Only in an academic sense. Already told you vamps weren’t my thing.”

“No?” I pretended not to believe her.

“None could ever hope to measure up to you.”

I didn’t need my wolf’s influence to like the sound of that.

We arrived back at our home a short while later, leaving the cool darkness behind for the sweet smelling warmth and light inside, like it had been ever since the first time she had stayed there. Now that we were harmonious, it felt as welcoming as my instincts believed it to be.

She walked down the hall, clearly as at home here as if she had lived with me for years. Maybe spitefully digging through my things had this effect, I thought with amusement.

The shower turned on, and I followed a moment later, only to find her pulling off her bra and stepping into the shower. As if the visual wasn’t enough, the bond strummed between us, reminding me of what had earlier been interrupted. She spotted me, and smiled welcomingly. That was good enough for me, and I tossed my clothing onto the floor to join her in the shower, wasting not even a moment in closing the distance between us. I wanted to devour her, and she enthusiastically let me.

Once we finished our long drawn out shower, we went to bed. Normally my head would have wandered through vampire problems, and security concerns, and the pile of papers sitting on my desk just waiting for me to deal with them tomorrow, but instead my mind wandered back to her.

The vampire had left the territory, the papers would be there in the morning, and the security was as tight as was possible with our limited number of pack members. Once the numbers increased we could cover more territory, but for now, it would suffice. She had quickly become my consolation for the stress of my position. I hadn’t understood why anyone would want to be an alpha, but now I understood it was the luna that made it all worth it.

Or maybe it was just mates that made life worthwhile. There were a lot of theories about the origins of the bonds, but the one I found most convincing was that it was for the propagation of the species. Since I’d found Carrie, I was nearly insatiable, so that that theory seemed especially convincing now.

Who cared if the bond messed with my free will, when the reward was this woman at the end of it?

Now that I had my mate sleeping peacefully in my arms, it felt like it had taken too long to find her. But what if I had found her younger? She, as likely as not, might have been killed along with the majority of my original pack. Waiting had sucked, but that miserable period without her had kept her safe. We both clearly had our scars, but what mattered is that I had her now.

Sure, we had to resolve the past and think about the future.

But I wasn’t going to disturb her tonight when she was so peaceful.

We would talk about all the important stuff.

Later.