Rescued by the Alpha

CHAPTER2

“ Calm down girl, you're excitement is almost making me agitated, stop squirming would you?”

“ I'm sorry, I just want to see him.” I replied as she applied the last stroke of mascara to my lashes.

“What do you think?” Luanne asked. Already packing up her instruments of medieval torture while I scrutinized my looks in the mirror. I don't know what she did or how she worked that miracle but I looked so much better. A giggle made its way out of me.

“I love it. Thanks Lulu, you're the best friend I could ever hope for” I said, lips puckered as I went in for a kiss on her cheek. She gave me a smack on the head for that, pushing the curlers and a few pins into my skull. “Owww! You could have just said I shouldn't touch you” I cried.

“Hey don't put this on me, I'm not the one who's been all kissy faced since I met my mate” she said. “ where's that calm face of disinterest when you need it?” I ignored her and all her ramblings to focus on my thoughts. Thoughts of my mate, so long had I loved him from afar but today, it would end. I would go to the party and he would take me in his arms, spinning me around. I would be his and he would be my protector. “Who would have thought your mate would be Joel?” she began anew, swiping a pink tipped brush across her eyelids, paused for a minute to admire her work before continuing “ I mean you've had a crush on him since that day in middle school and its taken all this time for the bond to manifest?”

“These things take time Lulu”

“I'm just saying I don't think you should go all lovey-dovey all of a sudden, he's hardly given you a second glance since that day and now you want to hook up with him and have his little alpha babies” she said. “ you should be careful Rena, perhaps play a little hard to get or something?”

“He's my mate for goddess sake and besides just because I'm going to see him at the party tonight doesn't mean we're going to do anything” I said rolling my eyes at her then with a casual shrug continued “ we could just talk”

She let out a snort before turning to me the words within her laughter died as soon as she looked at me “you don't believe that do you” a brow raised in question “ you are so naive, Alphas don't just talk Rena. First they keep you locked up with all that neandethral bullshit and then you gotta pop out babies like a f*****g breeder, in fact all these males want is freaking babies everywhere. Not that they do anything to help raise them” she scoffed

“Joel is not like that Lulu, he protected me”

“Yeah he did, one day so many years ago, get over it already.”

“It doesn't matter now, he is my mate now, that's all that matters.”

“I'm happy for you sweetheart, I just want you to be careful” she said

“Just like I want you to be careful with that professor of yours” I retorted. She sighed, rolling her eyes while we made our way to the car. She got in and opened the door for me.

“He's just a good human professor, no need to make a big deal about it”

“Your professor who keeps leaving hickeys on your body.” I said, hoping that it would end the conversation, we didn't have to argue over things like this, she was my best friend why couldn't she just be happy for me. For a little while, it actually worked

“He's harmless and I have it under control, besides I love being a TA.” She concluded just as we parked in front of the pack house. With a quick tease to her voluminous hair and a side glance at the mirror we exited the car into the party. Many of the pack members, mostly the elders spaned across the driveway drinks in hand, chatting away. My toes grew cold, having so many pack members around was not my idea of a good time, my fingers wringed together nervous while waiting for her to turn around the corner.

“You ok girl?” She asked.

“How do I look?” The quesiness in my stomach threathened to burst forth to my lips.

“You look like you're ready to meet your mate," she said “having second thoughts? I could get you that red dress you passed over and he would for sure eat dirt when he sees you.”

I snickered

“You look gorgeous Rena now let's go, I wanna get plastered” I gave the crowd a quick scan, hoping to see Joel while Lulu tugged me along until we got to the back of the large house where the rest of the pack was, majorly the young ones plus a few adults. They had divided themselves into different sections to do some weird stuff.

Chug! Chug! Chug!

Someone had a keg of beer in hand while others cheered him on while some girl had dudes licking alcohol out off her cleevage. Ughh! Are these how parties are? I followed lulu quietly as we weaved between the sea of bodies. The stink of sweat and beer hung high in the air, messing with my senses.

“It stinks!” I called out to lulu just as we finally stood by the dink table. She snagged two red cups, offering one to me. Loud awful music thumped away In the background as people moved to the rhythm.

“Parties usually stink” she replied. I sniffed at the cup, to find that its contents were putrid enough to make my eyes water, with care not to spill any of it, I passed the cup back to her with a shake of my head. Do people really drink this stuff? Lulu must have been sick of my s**t then cause she gave me another cup, this time it smelled fruity. I took a tentative sip to find it sweet.

“Is this punch?” I asked but she wasn't there anymore, I couldn't spot her admist the writhing bodies in the distance either, the crowd having swallowed her. I sighed, taking another sip of my punch. I needed to find my mate before the stench f****d up my nose more, that was the last thought I had before I went back into the crowd to find my way out. I could feel him, the bond tugging consistently at me he was close but I couldn't smell him. With a lot of difficulty, I found my way out of the crowd eventually, only to discover myself even further out from the pack house. Thankfully the stench had lessened enough for me to pick his scent immediately, he was here. My heart fluttered loudly in my chest, the sound reverberating in my ears, enough to drown out the sounds of the raging party. All I could feel, and smell was him. His delectable scent of oak and sandalwood wrapped around my heart and tugged at it, it called to me and I followed, deep into the park and away from the prying eyes of our pack members.

Perhaps he knew I would be here and he wanted us away from prying eyes I thought or perhaps he just wanted to think. The weight of being the future alpha must rest heavily on him. I would help. The thought appealed to me, I would do anything for him, my mate. He could come home to me when the pack wore him down and I would be there, to love him, soothe him.

The dried leaves and twigs crunched under my boots as I trudged through the expanse of trees behind his house, using his scent as a beacon.

“Joel?” I called and received no reply, the echoes of my voice carried into the night. s**t! I hadn't meant to go so far out from the pack house, the music had faded into a low thud in the background, giving way to the symphony of the night bugs. I sniffed, gathering as much information as I could from my surroundings, hands caressing the bark of a tree, his scent hung thick around the area accompanied by

“Serena?”

I whirled to face him, eyes zeroing in on the shirtless expanse of his chest. Good lord he was gorgeous, my eyes followed a bead of sweat as it made its way down his neck, through his chest and into his shorts. Gulp.

“What are you doing here”

“ I was searching for you”

“You shouldn't be here”

“I just wanted to talk” I replied. The nightime was perfect, the air carrying on the smell of s*x and slick, it almost made me heady with

“What are you doing here, you were supposed to be home tonight”

“Diana?”

My gaze switched between them quickly, taking in the sight of her undone jeans and the sweat across her brow. She followed my gaze, placing a hand across her barely covered boobs.

“Joel and I were just___”

A red haze clouded my vision in that instant, she stroked his bicep on the way to clasping his hand. How dare she place her hands on my mate? the smell of s*x slammed into me once again.

“Leave Serena”

“What the hell Joel?” She asked

“I said leave, now!”

“Wait a minute I am talking to my sister. Don't talk to her in that tone” Diana retorted.

“Leave serena”

Tears welled behind my eyes when the realization dawned on me then began a quick decent down a flushed cheek. How could he? He was supposed to be mine and with her?

“Babe is there something going on here?”

“Serena why the hell are you guys acting so wierd?” She stomped her feet behind him impatiently while I continued to watch him. He couldn't possibly be having s*x with her when he had me!

“Tell me what's going on Joel” I pleaded. This had to be some sort of misunderstanding, he wouldn't betray me like this and not with my sister. I needed him to tell me something, anything to cease the pain seeing his hand in hers caused my heart. He took a deep breath, it expanded to fill his chest as he squared.

“ I Joel Kingston of the riverrun pack reject you Serena Nolan as my mate.”

Everything stopped in that millisecond, well the world continued to go but my heart didn't. It ceased to work even as my lungs caught on fire. He had to be joking right? Getting a fated mate is as rare as it gets and he rejects our bond? Me?

“What the f**k are you talking about Joel?” She screamed. It was the last thing I heard as I felt the light inside me die, the bond that tugged me to him snapped. It screamed at me, reaching for him once more then everything went dark and all that remained was the noise of the kettle boiling over.

Serena! I heard, the sound distant and faint, as though it came through running waters, It took the feel of icy cold hands on my face before I realized it was mother, the sweet aroma of the her nightly lemon and honey tea teased my nostrils, it centered me, brought me back from wherever I had been. I noticed the door and the swingset. I was home. How did I get here?

“ Are you ok baby? I kept calling you but you didn't respond, what's wrong” she asked hands moving from my cheeks and down my body in a brief inspection. I felt numb, the sensation of her hands on my skin barely registering as I continued to stare forward, inside the house the lights flickered, I just wanted to go to sleep.

“ Did someone do something to you? Touch you? Why is your mascara all smeared?” She continued. I didn't answer, I couldn't, the words wouldn't come out even if I tried.

“Maybe you should go to bed now” she offered, leading me up the stairs and to my bed where the sheets sang to me, invited me into their embrace and I went in willingly. Wanting the solace of my bed to take away the image burned into the back of my eyelids, it didn't work of course but I tried, pressing my face into a pillow as the burning feeling of an incomplete bond swept through me, it consumed everything in my thoughts, ate at the very centre my heart until all I had left were the ashes and the scream that wrung itself out of me and into my pillow.