Mated with the Alpha's Daughter

Chapter 10: Walking Nightmare

***MICHAEL POV***

    Beautiful.

    That's sugarcoating what I thought of this angel.  Just simply beautiful.

    Legs for days.  Unblemished skin.  No makeup.  Cute button nose.  A small handful of freckles on her face that I wanted to memorize where they were on her face.  A smile that I could feel was melting my heart.

    Yep, I'm marrying her, I thought to myself.

    Then her boyfriend walked up and put his arm around her waist, and I felt my heart sink.  Oh well.  If she's just a friend, I'll at least have my foot in the door.

    "Michael!"  Kristy yelled in my ear.  I then realize that she was trying to get my attention and explain who this woman was.

    "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!  I didn't mean to be in my own thoughts so much!  Oh goodness!  Who in the world is she?" I apologized to Kristy.

    Kristy laughed.  "Yep, I can already tell the crush on her is strong.  That's okay!  You can absolutely look, because she's coming over here soon.  Her name is Mira Callahan.  Her friend-boy is Phil Jessen.  All of us grew up together, and we're bringing you into our circle."

    "Friend-boy?" I asked, extremely puzzled.

    "He is trying desperately to get into her pants, and has been for a long time, with no luck at all.  It looks like he's getting somewhere tonight, though.  Who knows?  Maybe he's softened her up," she replied.

    "Then let's hope that's not a bit true," I responded, without a clue where my confidence was coming from.  "Her and I are going to get to know each other very well.  Justin better have developed "best friend" ESP, because he's going to need to run interference."  With that, I stood up and approached the future Mrs. Bartholomew.

***MIRA POV***

    Guys, he feels the mate pull.  Phil, get ready to act pissed.  Justin, run interference.  Mira, get ready to meet your mate for the first official time, Kristy linked to us.  It looked like this plan was working to perfection.  Without missing a beat, Phil turned to have a conversation with me, and I started laughing at something that was supposed to be funny.  Without missing a beat, Michael slid right in between us to order something at the bar.

    "Scotch on the rocks, plus whatever the most gorgeous thing on the face of the planet that takes the shape of the lady standing next to me would like," he said, with the left part of his face curled up in a confident smile.

    Sweet Baby Jesus, this guy is trying to have me mark him right here and now, I thought to myself, and could smell the party in my pants start to come together.  Phil tried so hard to scowl, but I could tell by looking into his eyes that he was trying his damnedest not to laugh.  This made quite the show.  I couldn't help but laugh at both of the guys.

    Michael then turned to face me.  "I hope you don't mind me saying so, but I don't think I did you justice, because you're the prettiest sight my lonely eyes have laid on in some time," he said, just oozing confidence.

    "Why, thank you, sir, but a lady has to know the name of the gentleman that's laying on charm that thickly," I responded, shyly tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear while taking in the scent that had become my favorite thing on the planet.

    "Michael Wayne Bartholomew," he responded, holding out his hand to shake.

    "Mira Joy Callahan.  It's nice to meet you, and if you don't mind me saying, I know that guys prefer to be called handsome, but you're gorgeous," shaking his hand, feeling the sparks dance around in our palms.

    Michael could feel the sparks as well, and his eyes lit up a bit, confused as to what was going on but still not moving away from the mate pull.  "I prefer the term 'dashing', but gorgeous works for me," he laughed while brushing his hair back, making his strawberry lemonade scent overwhelm me.  I unconsciously licked my lips as I took in his scent.

    "See something you like?"  he jokes, calling me out on my unconscious flirting.

    "Yes, yes I do.  Where are you sitting?  Are you here with Justin and Kristy?"  I asked.

    "Yes I am.  You're Kristy's best friend, aren't you?"

    "Indeed I am.  We met in preschool and have been inseparable."

    "Then by all means, let us head over there," Michael responded, and held out his arm with the goofiest smile I think I had ever seen.  I laughed the hardest I ever had in my life and took his arm, and I matched his strides perfectly as we walked over.

    Guys, he's perfect.  I'm in love.  Kristy, we're having more pups than you.  Deal with it, I linked the group.

    We'll see about that, Mira.  Justin responded in a tone that made me blush so hard I thought my face was sunburnt.  Kristy laughed, got up as quickly as she could, and came over and hugged me.  I hugged her back, and giggled softly in her ear.  She could tell how happy I was.

    "First one to 10 pups gets steak on the other family," she whispered.

    "You're on," I responded, and sat down, with me right next to Michael, and I put my hand on his leg as Michael scooted closer to me in response.

    "Well, Michael, I see you've pried Mira away from Phil.  I didn't think that was going to be possible," Kristy laughed.

    "I'm glad Justin ran interference.  The guy you called Phil is a full four inches taller than I am, and I think Justin had told me about him at school because Phil looks like he was a lineman for the San Jose Hogs back in the day.  I can play cool and cocky, but I was chasing an angel so I manned up a little bit," Michael responded, with a satisfied smirk on his face.

    Last call to ride on the Phil Train to PleasureTown, Cuddle Muffin, Phil linked the group, which timed perfectly with Kristy's laugh.

    No thanks, I responded, just as the boys sat down, and I could feel Michael start sweating.

    "So, you stole my girl away, didn't you?"  Phil asked with a mean mug on his face.

    "I didn't see a ring, so you can't blame a guy for taking a shot," Michael responded back with an even expression on his face.

    Phil laughed and held out his fist to pound.  "Philip Jessen," he stated.  "Nice to meet you.  I'm not into handshakes with friends, so a fist bump it is."

    Michael physically relaxed and I could hear him sigh faintly.  "Michael Bartholomew," he stated and pounded back.

    Just then, our waitress came and we all placed our orders, while settling into a long night of laughter.

***MICHAEL POV***

    Knowing that it was only two days of school and we had a long weekend, I decided to cut loose and relax.  It felt like I had known Phil for years, and we were both football fans and followed the St. Paul Conquerors closely.  We went from me potentially stealing his girl, to becoming fascinated with each others' stories quickly.

    We decided to head back to my place for a night cap, where I had leftover dips from the previous night.  I decided to whip up some good cheese dip as well, so we snacked and drank more together.

    "Jesus, Justin!"  I said, as he took half of the remaining buffalo chicken dip immediately after I took it out of the oven.  "You just ate a 20 ounce porterhouse and a Caesar salad.  How are you still hungry?!"

    "Phil and I both have insane workout routines, so we need the calories to keep up, otherwise we'd be skin and bones.  Our metabolisms are also insane.  We're probably going to swing around for another hot DINNER (he emphasized that word, referencing our conversation from the previous school day which made me laugh) when we leave here, which--I hope you don't mind--won't be anytime soon," he replied.

    "I don't care at all!  Stay as long as you want, overnight if you'd like; I've got plenty of space, especially in my room," I said and winked at Mira, clearly trying to charm her pants off, which made her blush at the same time and that made Justin and Kristy laugh.

    "We're not that far yet," Mira said, playfully hitting me in the leg.  I had to remind myself that it was playful, so I rolled with it for right now.  "As for staying here for the night, if I have any more of this wine, I'm going to have to," she added, pouring herself her fourth glass after having two at the restaurant.

    "Drink up!"  I said, pouring myself another Scotch, and slid closer to Mira in the process.

    "So, Mikey, what made you move out here?  A guy like you could be president at this point,"  Phil asked.

    I sighed and shook my head.  "Long story short, I had two horrific relationships back to back, and I just desperately needed to start over.  I wanted to move as far away from those issues as possible so I could just cleanse myself and move on."

    Phil nodded.  "I'm glad you did that for yourself, but what were they like?"

    I snorted.  "Think of every crime show ever, where the guy is horrible to the girl, and everything that goes along with that, and you've got those two.  And I mean EVERY. THING," I quickly explained.  "I'm sorry if that's not a lot of detail, but I told Justin and Kristy the whole tale last night, and I don't want to do an encore performance of it, not when I could make this gorgeous girl smile and laugh," I added, putting my arm around Mira, who--to my surprise--snuggled into me.

    "Fair enough," Phil stated and laughed.  "I'm getting another brew, anyone else need anything?"

    "Nope," Justin replied for the whole group.  "We're good."

    Phil stood up to go to the kitchen for another beer, when there was an aggressive knock on my door.  Mira looked at me funny.  "You expecting anyone else tonight, Mike?"

    "No, I'm not," I said with a confused look on my face.  "And I haven't been in town long enough to piss anyone off."

    "I'll get it," Phil said.  "Maybe it's just someone trying to prank you."

    Phil strode to the front door while the rest of us made small talk.  We then heard Phil state, "Hello there!  Can I help you?"

    And then, one of two voices I dreaded most in the world answered, "yes, you can start by pointing out where my stupid, weak-willed, cowardly boyfriend is before I slap you down a peg because you're a man and did something to deserve it."

    It was a voice I wanted to forget about and one that haunted my nightmares for six weeks after I left her.  Phil responded, "well, there's no one that I would accuse as being weak-willed or cowardly in this house right now, and the fact that you're as big around as you are tall, I'll take my chances in that, so you've clearly got the wrong house.  Have a nice day," and attempted to shut the door, only to be followed up with a buzz and a shout, with angry footsteps coming toward the living room.

    To my horror, my biggest walking nightmare, Maggie Dominaska, stood before me with a stun gun in her hand.

    "Hello, Michael.  You couldn't ever run away from me, you pathetic man."