Taming The Alpha's Daughter

Taking Bets

Once I explained my idea to Shawn, he kissed me and basically told me good luck. He went back out to football practice to deal with the wrath of Bentley. I went ahead anyway because I felt bad that Danielle didn’t have anyone else to check on her here.

Yeah, I know. Heart of gold right here.

I peeked in the nurse's office and saw Miss Trish, the school nurse. I asked if Danielle was there and gave my best Alpha smile and said I was deeply concerned about a visitor to our pack territory that was unwell.

Yeah, I know. Alpha of the year right here.

When she brought me back, my heart broke for Danielle. Her face was red and swollen and I could tell she had been crying a lot. Like A LOT a lot.

“Danielle? Its me, Xan. I know you’re not feeling well and you may not want to see anyone but-”

Danielle jumped up and ran and hugged me and immediately started crying on my shoulder. I was stunned and a little uncomfortable. I could feel a mix of tears and snot on my arm and I had to ignore it to be a decent she-wolf for once in my Goddess-forsaken life.

“He…….was so……...mean………..to………...me”  Was about all I could make out between sniffles and sobs. If Bentley wasn’t already on the top of my shitlist, it would have pushed him into first place.

I sat her down and got a box of tissues, not just for her but for my limbs. I also got her a bottle of water. Once I was able to calm her down I decided to make her an offer she couldn’t refuse.

Ok, so I’ve been waiting forever to use that reference. Give me a break.

“Danielle, I think that maybe you and Bentley are just moving really fast. Maybe you can stay in Dark Moon but not have to stay at his house?” 

I plant the seed first.

“But where else would I stay? I don’t know anyone else there. And my family doesn’t have the money for me to stay at a hotel for the rest of the school year.” Her eyes are starting to well up again. 

Ugh, get it together long enough for me to manipulate you into my plan, will you?

“Hm, let me think here.” I tap my chin like in the movies and look up like I’m thinking. Its cliche but makes the point. “Maybe you could stay with one of Bentley’s friends?” 

The seed is now watered and the sun has been shone down upon it.

“I don’t think any of them like me that much to be honest.” She looks down at her hands and fidgets.

“Oh! You know, I have plenty of guest rooms at the Alpha house. You could always just stay with me! It would be like sleepaway camp every night! Plus we could have some girl bonding time and I could show you around Dark Moon, since Bentley is a lazy piece of s**t!” 

GROW MY SEEDLING! MAKE YOUR PLANT MAMA PROUD!

She smiles bright. “Really? You would be ok with that?”

“Of course Danielle! I told you how excited I was to have you here! I want you and Bentley to work out. I just think you guys need to bond but not be in each other’s faces all the time. Even me and Shawn need time apart.” I smile sweetly.

Yeah right. We only need time apart because I would never be able to get anything done without having his d**k stuck in one of my holes constantly.

Ok, that was crude. I should be more ladylike.

“I’ll swing by Bentley’s tonight and pick you up! Is that ok?” I ask.

She smiles and nods enthusiastically.

“Ok, I’ll see you then!” I say.

I walk out of the office and get right down to business.

I mindlink Mar. ‘Ok, I’m taking Danielle under my wing and she’s coming to stay at my house for a while. This is deemed Operation Bitchface.’

‘Why? She’s hopeless. Bentley is better off just hittin’ and quittin’ with girls like he always has.’ Mar links back.

Mar has a great point. 

‘Ok, good point. We’ll give it 2 weeks. We try to fix her for our dear friend. If its a fail in 2 weeks, its a lost cause and we just encourage him to reject her and go back to playerhood.’ I link her.

‘Alright. What’s that plan then? Corruption? Bentley wants a Xan #2. The only way to get her to that standard would be flat out corruption.” Mar says.

‘Haha. You’re just so funny Marilyn. I was thinking more along the lines of a makeover and throwing a party. Toss in some drinking. Get Nicky to give her some good stuff? I would say human city stuff, but she’s too much of a risk.’ Mar and I sound like a crackhead Alpha /Beta team right now. Thank Goddess for mindlink so no one can hear this absurdity.

‘Makeover and party sounds cool. Drinking and drugs she’ll say no to. She’s a goody two shoes, Xan. 2 weeks won’t be enough time to convince her.’ Mar links.

Hmmmm, oh really Mars Bars.

‘Care to a wager a bet on that Miss Mar? I bet I can get Bitchface drunk out of her damn mind by the end of 2 weeks. Easily.’ I link.

‘You’re on. No way. That girl has probably never even slept with her makeup on once in her life. Did you see her top? Not even a wrist exposed. You are setting yourself up for failure. What’s the stakes?’ Oh, Mar is getting cocky now.

‘You think she wears makeup? Anyways, loser has to dress in lingerie at the lunch table for the whole lunch period. And act like its no big deal. No matter what anyone says, you have to literally just act like you have no idea what they’re talking about.’ Inside there is an evil person laughing maniacally, rubbing their hands together.

‘Now you’re going to lose on purpose just to piss off Pete, Xan.’ Mar laughs. I laugh too. Hard. She knows me so well.

‘Meet me at my house tonight at 8. We will begin Operation Bitchface.’

When the bell rings I meet Shawn at his Jeep. He’s already showered and changed and looking extra sexy. His curls are wet and I want to play with them. 

He says he needs to talk to Tim so he sits in the driver’s seat and I sit on his lap. My dress is too tight to straddle him without pulling it up, so he’s disappointed. But we keep the door open and I turn my body as much as I can towards him and I get to play with his curls. I just can’t get enough of them.

“What is your obsession with my curly hair?” Shawn smiles.

“Its sexy! Just like the color of your hair! And your freckles! And your nose! And when you blush! And your muscles! And your lips! And the way you make your eyebrows do this when you’re thinking.” I make a face.

Shawn blushes and laughs. “So you just like everything about me then?”

“NO! I LOVE everything!” I attack his face with kisses.

“Did I come at a bad time? Or are there enough for me too?” Tim says grinning. He snuck up on us.

“Xannie’s lips are for me only. Have you not seen?” Shawn proudly points out my mating mark and beams with pride.

“Wow! So when’s the pups coming?” Tim says laughing. He goes to touch the mark but Shawn slowly moves his hand away.

Shawn getting a little possessive there.

“I think pups will need to wait a while. Graduation first. Then pup talk.” I say smiling. If it was up to me there will never be pup talk, but I’m mated to Mr. Breeder over here who wants to repopulate all of Dark Moon apparently.

“Xannie, I still remember when you were just an innocent virgin. Now you are mated to Pine Springs biggest playboy. Well second biggest behind your Bentley.” Tim laughs.

Shawn doesn’t laugh. I try to smile but its very awkward.

“Oh come on, Shawn. You know before you had Xannie poo here, you played the field at parties more than football.” He laughs again.

Wow. What the hell is this?

“ENOUGH, TIM.” Shawn startles me and Tim. I nearly fall off his lap and Tim jumps back.

“He’s under a lot of stress right now, Tim.” I say quietly. I want to say its stress from me but I don’t.

Shawn has a hand on his steering wheel and he’s staring down at it, breathing hard. His eyes aren’t black, but they’re darker blue than normal. Tim pissed him off and overstepped a boundary. 

“Here.” Tim puts a gym bag into the back of the Jeep and walks off.

“Xan, please get off my lap and get in your seat.” Shawn mumbles.

This feels so strange. 

“Do you want me to see if Mar can bring me home?” I ask quietly.

“Get in your seat.” He says clenching his jaw.

I’m a little afraid of him. What in the actual f**k is going on here?

I get out of the car and walk around to the passengers side. I open the door and look in. He’s still just sitting there looking forward like that.

“Shawn, baby. What’s wrong?” I ask. I don’t want to get in the car yet.

He doesn’t say a word for another minute or so and then its like a snap.

He turns to me with that boyishly handsome smile, “Ready to go Xannie baby?”

Um ok. Am I supposed to ignore that you just had your own little episode there?

“Are you ok? You’re scaring me, Shawn.” I tell him. I still don’t want to get in this car until I know what the hell is happening.

He takes a hand and rubs his face, as he does a lot. Its adorable. 

“Its just my wolf, Xan. Sometimes when I get pissed, he wants to take control. I have to fight him on it. I’m fine, baby. I promise.” He smiles. I can’t help but smile back.

I go ahead and get into the Jeep and buckle up. 

This happens to all werewolves. Sometimes when we get to a point of such rage, our wolf fights to make an appearance. Its like they want to show what true carnal rage really is. The problem is, it tends to lead to shifting, which leads to fighting. It gets ugly fast. We have to learn to control it in our teens and early 20s. Some never learn to control it. Mostly rogues. Hence rogues are dangerous.

I reach over and gently run my fingers across his cheek. My poor baby. Tim was pressing his buttons and set him off. I wonder what that was all about? 

I mean, its no secret that Shawn was a player before we were mates. I’m not stupid. He’s incredibly handsome and strong and very popular. He’s one of the star football players and was blessed with the gift of charm. If I hadn’t been mated to him, he probably would still be out there with Tim charming the panties off the ladies. But it didn’t change how I felt for him. I loved him. He was a different person now. Right?

“Do you want to talk about what Tim said? You seem pretty upset about it.” I ask him.

He looks out the window.

“I know you used to be a player, Shawn. I’m not stupid. It doesn’t change how I feel about you. I still love you. That was before we were mates.” I smile at him.

He looks over at me and tries to smile and bites his lip. I can read his face. There’s more to this. 

But what? What else?

“Please talk to me, Shawn. I’ve told you stuff about me that I’ve wanted to bury and forget. You told me not to shut you out. Please don’t shut me out either.” I give him pleading eyes.

He turns the car and heads down a side road and heads to the woods. He parks near a clearing, and gets out of the car and comes around to my side of the car. He opens my door. He takes my hands and kisses me over and over again, his eyes look teary.

“What’s wrong, Shawn? You’re scaring me.” Now my eyes are getting teary. I can feel myself getting shaky and sweaty. I hate sweating. Have I mentioned that?

He takes a deep breath and lets it out. “Ok, I need you to understand that I was stupid before we were mates. I did a lot of stupid s**t and made a lot of messed up decisions because everyone on the football team was doing it too.”

Oh Goddess, I already don’t like where this is going if it involves the entire football team.

“You remember the night of the party by the lake? When Tim and I followed you to the dock and then we brought you out to the woods?” He’s looking into my face now. I shift very uncomfortably at the mention of that night. It makes my belly hurt a little remembering it.

“Um, yeah.” I say.

“It was a bet, Xan. Tim and I did it because of a bet. It was f*****g stupid and I really did like you and I felt really bad afterwards. I don’t want you to think that I just used you and never wanted you afterwards because that’s not the truth. After I touched you, after I saw you and kissed you, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. And you would come to our practices every day, I couldn’t keep my hands off you. I fell in love with you. I never touched another girl after that night with you. And then we found out we were mates, it was like a f*****g dream come true.” A tear falls from his beautiful blue eyes. Many have already fallen from my green ones.

“I was a bet.” I say, looking ahead at the forest in front of me. I’m trying to understand this. “What was the bet?”

“It doesn’t matter, Xan. It was stupid.” He said, bringing my hands to his lips.

“What was the bet, Shawn? Tell me.”

He sighs. “Every guy on the football team wanted you. Whoever got you first. That’s why Tim asked if you were a virgin. We didn’t want to take it from you.”

“Wow. How chivalrous.” I said,  chuckling. My tears coming even more frequently. “Tell me, what did you win? Besides being able to brag about my t**s and ass in locker room.” I pull my hands from him.

“Please, baby. You have to understand. I was different. I love you, Xannie. I love you so much. I would do anything for you.” He’s crying now.

“What did you win, Shawn? And how excited were your teammates when you told them you took my virginity as well?” I turn to look at him.

He searches my eyes, not understanding my sudden cruelty. He doesn’t understand that I have lived in a world with no mother and barely any father. I have never had to give my heart fully and  willingly to anyone. I could give it to you and take it back just as easily, mate bond or not.

“What did you win dammit? Tell me right now, Shawn.” I demand.

“Tim and I won $100. We split it.” He says looking down.

I laugh at him. I shake my head, tsk tsking him.

“I don’t know why I would ever expect anything different from someone so f*****g common. Take me home. Now.”

He looks at me shocked now. The hurt is only an after effect. f**k you, Shawn.

“But you’re m-”

“TAKE ME HOME NOW.” I say folding my arms and looking forward. My tears are gone now. I’m not going to cry in front of him anymore. He got his $100. I got my humiliation.

He closes my door, looking down in defeat. He walks to the driver’s side and gets in. As he buckles his seat belt, he looks over at me. “You don’t have to forgive me, but I love you, Xan. You’re my mate. You bear my mark now. We will have to work this out.”

I scoff and look out the window.  “As if marks cannot be removed by witches.”

He pauses and stares at me, I can feel his glare, but I refuse to look at him.

He drives me home and when we arrive, I get out and go in without a single word. I go right to my room and lock myself in my room. I fall onto my bed and let myself cry. I cry harder than I have since the dock that night after being insulted by Dustin.