The alpha's last chance

Chapter ten: Working girl

POV: Markus

He drank her in. There was no other way to put it.

As she was standing with her back to him watching the girls get back to work, he could feel Napoleon prance around inside him. "Mate!" he said. "Mine".

Markus wanted to bolt in, grab her from that place and take her home, to the pack. But he just stood there, looking at her, longing.

The bond pulled at him with enormous strength, he had the feeling he could almost touch it. Involuntarily, he reached out.

Barbara stirred a little, and turned around with a friendly smile, looking over her shoulder.

"What was that?" Markus gasped. "Did I just touch you with my mind, my love?"

At that point Barbara looked at him. He could feel his muscles tighten and sweat formed on his forehead. Her eyes, they seemed to pull him in, inside her soul. Or was it his soul? He couldn't say.

Like with a blade, the connection was cut when she turned away from him. It hurt like hell. Napoleon whimpered.

And Markus felt more alone than he thought was possible. He was panting.

"We need to come up with a plan, Napoleon", Markus said. "The plan is simple, Markus. We go in, take our mate and go home. There we will love her until our dying day." Napoleon answered in a matter of fact way.

"Since when did you get so talkative", Markus dismissed Napoleons remark, not really expecting an answer.

"Since we found our mate, Markus", Napoleon answered to Markus' surprise. "She makes us stronger than before, and we need her".

Markus decided to wait until Barbara came out. He figured a work day couldn't last forever, right? He remembered vaguely the human behavior lessons from school, but to be honest, he didn't pay that much attention to them, as it didn't interest him at all. All he cared about at that time was having fun with his friends, girlfriends and trying not to fail the year. He felt a pinch of remorse.

His patience lasted until shortly afternoon.

He couldn't stand it anymore. What if she left by another exit? What if something happened to her? What if she was never going to leave?

Growling to himself, he entered the shop. Her smell hit him like a sledge hammer. It made his head spin. She must spend a lot of time in here, he thought.

After standing there for a short while, a man approached him. Although he was shorter than Markus, Napoleon let out a soft growl. There was no reason to assume it, but he may have some relationship with the Luna.

Markus gave a stiff smile and unnoticeably sniffed his odour.

"Hello sir, my name is Shawn. How can I help you today?" The man said in a friendly, yet fake voice.

His smell didn't have a hint of Barbara's and Markus relaxed slightly.

"I'm just looking around", Markus said.

"That's ok, sir. Are you looking around for something in particular?" The man continued.

Markus was absolutely looking for something in particular, but even he remembered enough from school to know better than to admit he was looking for a person in a shop.

So he said in a friendly voice: "I am looking for something warm.".

Apparently, humans didn't say things like that, because Shawn looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. "Erm, that's ok sir, let me escort you to the men's section to show you what we can offer you."

As Markus moved through the shop, it was hard to pinpoint Barbara's smell. It seemed as if she was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Suddenly, he heard giggling, and a quick glance showed him a head of curls with twinkling eyes and a lovely smile to accompany them. "Sorry sweety" he thought, "those days are over". But he winked at her nevertheless, earning him another burst of giggles.

In the mean time, Shawn was making a good effort at explaining him why wool was warmer than polyester. Markus faked to listen, nodded every now and then and tried very hard not to show that he was trying to catch a glimpse of Barbara.

"She's here", Napoleon suddenly said.

Markus glansed over Shawns shoulder, and although he couldn't see her, he knew she was standing at the end of the aisle. He could feel the bond pulling, and her smell was overwhelming.

Suddenly, the bond faded. "She must have run away again", Markus thought, confused. Why did she keep doing that?

"So sir, what do you think?" Shawn suddenly asked. Markus had no idea what he was on about.

"Would you prefer the blue or the gray?" Shawn looked at him with a look of acceptation. Either the client took it, or he didn't.

"Em, the gray would do just fine", Markus replied, with no clue what he was on about. But as gray was the colour of his pack, whatever it was, it should be fine.

Following him to the register to pay the wool sweater he apparently bought, he tried to catch another glimpse of Barbara. But the only glimpse he caught, was that of a head of curls.

"Damned", he thought. And left the shop.

With no idea how long her shift would take, Markus waited for Barbara a bit out of sight of the shop. At certain point, the curly head, together with a blonde, and the guy who sold him the sweater left the building. A few others followed. But no sign of Barbara yet.

Again, Markus started to worry. "Was she ok? Why didn't she leave yet?"

He couldn't stand the wait anymore, and anxious about her whereabouts, he rushed towards the door, ready to intervene if the situation required him to.

As he reached the entrance of the shop, to his relief, he saw Barbara closing off the door. "At least she has the sense to apply some security", he thought to himself. He stopped in his tracks, mentally preparing himself to finally talk to her. He could swear he could hear Napoleon purr.

As he took a step towards her, she suddenly turned and bolted his way, colliding with him frontally. A jolt of emotion rushed through him as they made contact.

Barbara however, as a human, was not built to withstand a werewolf torso. She bounced off him, landing on the ground with an uncomfortable "thud".

Markus' stomach fell to his feet.

"O my love", he said worriedly, "are you ok?" and hurried to pick her up and put her back on her feet.

How he loved the sense of his hands touching her body. He looked down on her with a heart filled with love and lust.

Although she was tall, she was still a considerate bit smaller than he was. He smiled at her, she was so cute.

But his heart stopped when he realized the way she was looking back at him. The emotions on her face told him, the feeling wasn't mutual.