The C.E.O. Alpha's Fated Invitation

Chapter 4: Her Home

Chapter 4: Her Home

POV: Aiden Schade

“Hey, I brought donuts and coffee. Where’s Isla? I would have figured you’d try to keep her here.” My sister bursts through my front door with a box of donuts and coffee in hand.

“She’s in the shower, and when she is ready, I will take her home.” I shrug. I’d rather keep her here with me, but that wouldn’t go well in my favor.

The spray of water from the shower rings in my ears as if I were in the room with her. With my supernatural hearing, I can hear every step my mate makes.

“Well, that is surprising. You’re normally Mr. Control Freak.” My sister teases. I growl in protest. I like things to be a certain way. That does not make me a control freak.

“Why are you here? I only needed clothes for Isla.” I roll my eyes. “Oh, I’m here to talk game plan. Isla is my friend, and you’re not going to screw that up, human or not.” My sister says shifting herself to a more serious manner.

“Sage, I know, and I would never do that. However, Isla is my mate, and I will not have you getting in my way. I don’t care that she is human.” Everything I say is true, especially the last part.

My mate, being human, does not bother me in the way most wolves would think. A human’s safety isn’t our first thought, typically. It’s more about image and our safety. Humans can be dangerous to our world. There is a long history between humans and werewolves, not all of it is good.

Me, I worry about Isla’s safety in this world. Rejection is not even a thought. Anyone who dares to defy Isla as my pack’s Luna will be forced to face me and suffer the consequences. No one will get in my way.

“Sage?” Isla’s voice sings in my ears. I had been so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed she had already finished.

Isla stands at the bottom step of the stairs, looking confused by Sage’s presence. “Hey.” My sister offers Isa a friendly smile.

“I was just making sure my brother had been on his best behavior, Sage smirks in my direction. “A perfect gentleman, mostly.” Isla winks at my sister. Sage laughs, “Excellent, I can’t wait to hear all about, minus the gross parts.”

Even though I’ve assured Isla that nothing happened last night, a slight panic still shines on her face. “Nothing happened,” I say more for Isla than my sister.

“Whatever you say.” Sage teases. I growl in annoyance and almost snap at my sister when I catch Isla’s reaction. She takes one step back up the stairs.

“You’ll have to forgive my brother, Isla; he’s been under a lot of stress lately from work. I’ll see you later, Aiden’s taking you home, right?” Sage is quick to distract Isla. My mate nods her head, seemingly uncertain of my reaction to my sister.

Thankfully, Sage is on top of it. “Did you have breakfast this morning? I’m sure Aiden wouldn’t mind stopping for coffee.” Sage says. I have a feeling Isla doesn’t want any kind of food for a while right now. Her face turns to one of disgust every time food is mentioned.

“No, please shut up about food.” Isla all but begs. “Aw, you poor thing. Well, soon Aiden will have you home, and you can lie down.” Sage walks up to Isla and hugs her gently.

“Thanks, Sage, for everything. Especially last night. I don’t know why I put myself in that position with Robin once again.” My mate offers my sister a thankful smile. Sage and I frown, not at her but at the situation.

Robin is my beta female and should be acting as such. Werewolves may not be trustful of humans, but that does not warrant us to be bullies towards them. I’ll be having a very serious conversation with her about this. No one will ever speak to my mate that way again.

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault. Robin just doesn’t know when to keep her mouth shut.” Sage assures Isla that nothing about Robin’s behavior is in any way, shape, or form her fault.

“I know, I know, it’s just I said what I said too,” Isla says. What did she say, I wonder. ‘Isla didn’t say anything wrong. She’s noticed for a while that we’ve been keeping secrets. We know her family, but she doesn’t know ours. When Robin mentioned Enzo, Isla mumbled something about it. It was not her fault but ours.’ Sage explains what Isla is talking about through mand-link.

“It doesn’t matter what was said, Robin shouldn’t have said anything. She wasn’t being a good friend.” I grab Isla’s hand, giving it a gentle and reassuring squeeze. Her quiet gasp does not go unnoticed.

It pleases me to know she feels what I feel. Sparks jolt through my hand and up my arm from touching her. It’s the most amazing feeling ever. It also goes unnoticed that she doesn’t pull away. Instead, once the shock of the sparks passes, a quiet sigh escapes her lips.

It’s as if my touch was something she needed. Getting lost in the feeling, our eyes meet. It’s almost as though I can see everything she feels- her uncertainty, every insecurity, curiosity, fear, and hope.

“As much as I would love to watch you two gaze into one another's eyes all day, you two should be going.” I groan at hearing my sister’s voice. She smirks at me, knowing full well what she’s done. “I’ll be here when you get back.” She says before walking away to disappear into the kitchen.

Isla is suddenly admiring my white marble floor with pink-tinted cheeks on her face. Could she get any cuter? “Come on, let’s get you home.” I lift her chin up so she looks at me.

I find myself hating not having her eyes on me. I want her to hold her head up high and proud. She is my mate and Luna, my equal.

Five minutes later, we’re in my car, driving to her house. I still hate that she lives just outside my pack’s borders, but what can I do about that now? If I force her to stay, I will alienate her against me, and that’s the last thing I want to do.

Isla stays quiet for most of the ride to her house. I know she’s hungover and not feeling well. I don’t push her to speak.

‘Alpha, are you taking Isla home?’ I’m halfway to Isla’s house when I get a mind-link from Sienna. I confirm that I am indeed taking her friend home.

‘Ok, Alpha, I should warn you before you get there then.’ Sienna links. Worry fills me at her sudden warning. What could it be?

‘Isla has a step-mother, Hazel. She’s a lone wolf, not a rogue. Her father is Hazel’s mate.’ Sienna eases my worries. I admit that I am surprised to hear what Sienna has told me.

It makes sense now why Isla would live so far out of the way. They live just far enough not be considered a threat and close enough to be safe.

‘Hazel is no threat. Isla doesn’t know anything about what Hazel is. I’m unaware of what her father knows, though he is marked, so I imagine he knows just enough.’ Sienna mind-links again.

‘I understand.’ I sent a quick mind-link back before cutting the connection.

I understand what Sienna was telling me. There is a big difference between a rogue wolf and a lone wolf. A lone wolf is a werewolf that has left the pack of their own accord. Wolves leave the pack for many reasons, most of them are personal.

In Hazel’s case, it is likely personal. There have been many cases in packs where they won’t allow a wolf to have a human mate. Had she stayed in her pack and accepted her human mate, the alpha likely would have kicked her out anyway and deemed her rogue.

Originally, alphas would strip a member of their pack of any rank, making them a rogue. This only ever happened if they were a criminal or offended the alpha in some way. It was meant as a punishment or sentence. Being named a rogue was a way to let other alphas know not to accept this wolf into their pack- they are bad.

This method is still used, but people become rogue of their own choice now. There are those who don’t believe in pack life, so they leave. Being rogue was never supposed to be a choice. The evolution of rogues has taken away from what it was meant to be: a punishment. Now it’s more about a way to wage war and wreak havoc.

A lone wolf leaves the pack of their own choice. They are open to joining another pack if they want. Wolves have a heightened and very sensitive sense of smell.

Scents have layers to them. You can tell a lot about a person from their scent, such as rank and what pack they belong to. It can be overwhelming at times to separate each layer in a person’s scent.

“Do you like to hike?” I’m brought back to reality when Isla suddenly speaks up. “Yeah, I go hiking sometimes,” I answer. I don’t hike in the traditional way she’s thinking. As a wolf, a lot of my life is spent outside.

Curious as to why she would ask me this, I ask her, “Why?” I glance at her to see if I can get a read on her. She seems to be thinking. She blushes and turns to me. “If I tell you, do you promise not to make fun of me?” She asks.

Now I have to know. “I promise, nothing you say will ever make me make fun of you.” And it’s true. I might tease her in a playful way, but I’d never make fun of her or hurt her.

“It’s just I’ve never had to plan a date before. So I’m just thinking of things people do on dates. I don’t know, it’s stupid. I mean, I just got out of a thing. Drake never liked to do any of the things I liked to do or wanted. Oh, I never thanked you for last night for bailing me out of my lie. So thanks for that by the way.” Isla nervously rambles on.

I chuckle at her nervous rambling. “You said you wouldn’t make fun of me.” She pouts. I can’t help but smile; she is so cute. “I’m sorry, it’s just you were rambling,” I said before clearing my throat. My tone turns to a more serious one. “So that i***t is your ex?”

The thought of her with anyone else sends anger through me. If I ever see him again, he will pay for hurting her. “Yeah, I should have known better. Turns out I was only meant to stroke his enormous ego- another notch in his belt.” She says sadly. That tells me all I need to know about that bastard. It was only about him.

“Isla, I’m not like that. I will love doing anything that you plan. Your happiness is what’s important to me.” I tell her. I mean every word of it. She is what matters most to me. I don’t care about me as long as she enjoys it.

I could take her out to this extravagant, expensive restaurant and order the most expensive bottle of wine, but would she be comfortable in that setting? She would feel completely out of place. She wouldn’t act like herself, too afraid to embarrass me in that type of setting. Isla can have the reins to show me who she is.

“So If I said let’s go get matching manis and pedis, you’d do that?” Her eyes hold a challenge in them. She’s testing me. Normally, I’d discipline this challenge, but because it is my mate, my equal, I will allow it.

“Whatever you want.” Despite being challenged, I would do this for her if it made her happy. “Seriously, just like that, no argument, no, I’m the man stuff?” She asks in shock.

What the hell did that i***t do to her? “I might be the man, but that doesn’t mean I have to be the one to plan and do everything.” I am very comfortable with myself and have the confidence and ego to not be offended if a girl is running the show.

Before she can reply, I turn the car down a long gravel driveway, and standing in the middle of the driveway is a rooster. “Ugh, you stupid Chicken, I’m going to throw you in the pot and make chicken soup out of you if you don’t get out of the way!”

Next thing I know, Isla has gotten out of the car, yelling at said Rooster. I remember the girls mentioning a rooster last night. I just don’t remember what it was about. The rooster begins to charge at Isla.

Isla runs around the car to my side, screaming. “Oh, that’s it. Come here! Fred, get your feathery butt over here right now or you’re going in the pot!” My mate yells, now quite literally running around my car, chasing after a chicken.

“Should we help her?” River asks. Never in my life have I ever chased a f*****g chicken down before. I groan and step out of my car. “No, you should just stay in the car, trust me, Fred will try to dominate you,” Isla says.

I’ll be damned if I allow a chicken to boss me around. I’m the alpha here. The rooster comes running around the corner of my car and charges right at me. “No, Fred!” Isla yells. Running back around the car.

Before Isla can get back around and see me, I bring River forward and allow my eyes to glow red at this stubborn rooster. This rooster thinks he’s the boss here, but he’s never met me before.

He stops dead in his tracks. “I could eat him in one bite.” River laughs. “Come here, Fred.” Isla grabs the chicken from behind. “I am so sorry. He didn’t get you, did he?” My mate asks in concern. “Nope, he never even touched me.”

Fred struggles to get loose from Isla’s arms. “No, stop it. I’m going to feed you to wolves if you don’t stop.” The chicken went still at Isla’s words. “Works every time.” She chuckles to herself.

“Shall we?” I ask Isla, nods, and walks over to the fence that lines the driveway and literally tosses the chicken over it. “Sorry about that. Fred thinks he’s the boss and can go anywhere he wants. He’ll go back to all his girlfriend chickens now.” Isla apologizes.

“It’s fine.” I shrug. I drive Isla the rest of the way up the driveway.

I’ll be honest, it’s not what I expected, though I’m not really sure what I expected. It’s not as big a property as I thought it would be. I would have thought it’d be bigger with all the animals, but it seems a little cramped. It has to be at most five acres of land.

The driveway was about a quarter mile. The house is average in size. The one notable thing about this house is the color. It’s painted bright hot with white trim and a turquoise door.

On the right of the house is what looks to be a chicken coup and chickens all around. Then on the left are stable with three horses and a few other things here and there that have animals and a garden with a few vegetables.

An older-looking woman walks out of the house just as Isla and I exit the car. “Isla, your father has been…” The woman begins to speak, only to be cut short when her eyes land on me. She visibly tenses up at my mere presence but soon relaxes when Isla speaks.

Her scent evades my nose, and I know exactly who she is. This must be Isla’s stepmother. The woman is a werewolf and a lone wolf.

“Hazel, I’m fine. Dad can stop worrying. I’m home now. This is Aiden. He’s uh, my new friend.” Isla introduces me. “Nice to meet you, al-Aiden.” Hazel looks at me with an apologetic look.

I give her a curt nod. “Anyway, I guess I will see you later. I’ll text you the details.” Isla says before heading towards the house. It almost kills me to let her walk away, but somehow I manage to force myself back into my car. Soon she will know everything and be mine.