FORBIDDEN ALPHA ROMANCE

Chapter 2

Caleb flopped next to me, using my decorative pillowS as a back rest and propping his head on my shoulder. For a couple hours we flicked through listings, hoping that one of them would respect my limited experience and basic college education. He told me to try for higher paying jobs but I was already so sick of rejection that I would've taken anything to boost my confidence at this point. When we were finished I had sent away six resumes and deleted the handful of rejection emails I and deleted the handful of rejection emails I had received.

"Something will pop up," he soothed. "With a pretty face and a body like yours they would be dumb not to hire you."

"What about my personality or my education?" I laughed, smacking him on the chest.

"Oh, that too," he added with a cheeky grin.

"Come on, let's put on a movie and relax for a bit, I'm wiped out."

Everything felt normal for the first half of the cheesy film I picked. His head was Cradled on my shoulder and I was leaning my weight against him. It was all just how it always was. Sure, maybe we weren't mates, but this was perfect. This was all I could ever want.

Until I felt something brush against the side of my neck.

For a moment I stayed perfectly still. It felt like he had kissed me, like aleb had pressed his mouth against my neck. But that was impossible. I must've wanted it so badly that my mind was now playing tricks on me. I took a deep breath and tried to focus back on the movie, convinced I was imagining things.

But then his hand slid up the front of my Sweatshirt, moving towards my breasts. And something soft and warm touched the place where his lips had been.

"Caleb," I whimpered, hardly able to speak with the sensation of his tongue on my skin consuming my mind.

He said nothing, He just let out a muted moan and shifted so he was pressing his body up against me. I could so easily feel the hardness beneath his jeans pressing against my hip. And, as he peppered my neck with more kisses, his hand slid up higher until it cradled one of my breasts in his hand.

God, I wanted it. I wanted him. I had been denying myself of this for so long. He was my soul mate. I was supposed to love him.

He was created to be my mate; something had just gotten mixed up along the way. I was sure of it. I had been waiting years for this moment. Since we were mates there was never any way to know if he felt the same way about me. That pronounced erection told me everythingI needed to know. He wanted me just as badly as I wanted him.

But I couldn't.

"Caleb," I repeated, my voice coming out a little stronger this time.

"Charlotte," he groaned back, now moving to get his hand under my shirt.

"Stop," I whispered. The word felt foreign and wrong in my mouth. How could I want this to end? I had dreamed of this moment for years.

"What?"

"Stop."

Caleb peered up at me through his eyelashes. Concern was written all over his handsome face. "DidI do something wrong?

I thought that you wanted me. I'm sorry if I read the signs wrong, it's just..."

"I do," I admitted. And it hurt so much to tell the truth, to know that it wasn't possible. It was almnost enough to bring me to tears right then and there.

"Perfect." A perfect smile overtook his face and he moved like he was about to kiss me again.

"No," I managed, "We can't."

"But- "

"I know. It's not about me not wanting you or anything like that. God, how could I not want you? You're perfect."

"Then what's the problem Charlotte? I love you. I love you so damn much and I want to show you."

God, didn't he know how much it hurt me when he said things like that?

"I know, I know all of that. But we aren't mates. I know that you are going to say that it doesn't matter but it does. Mates or not I will never feel any differently about you, but I could never forgive myself if we took this too far. What if you find your mate and you can't stand to look at me anymore? I want to be a part of your life forever and that can't happen if your mate finds out that I was your first and she wasn't. I can't take that away from her, whoever she is."

"We are both over twenty, the chances are so low," he argued with a shake of his head.

"I know, I know. But, if I've waited this long, I can wait another year or so just to make sure that we aren't hurting us in the long run."

Caleb took a deep breath and ran a hand down his face. I just watched him pensively Scared of what might come out of his mouth.

There was a big chance that, through trying to protect us, I had hurt us even more.

"Okay," he finally said.

"Okay?" I repeated.

"I can wait a year," he agreed, but then a devilish smirk took over his lips. "But, just know, that on this day next year I'm not going to be able to help myself. You're going to be on a bed under me."

My face flamed. "That sounds amazing."

I couldn't stop smiling when I put my car in parkand leapt out onto my driveway. The knee length dress that I had on twirled around my legs a I darted up towards the house. It was my first interview and it had gone wonderfully. After all those rejections I was finally getting somewhere and if this job didn't work out it was no big deal because I had another interview lined up for next week. Finally, after being the mateless girl stuck with her parents for so long things were finally starting to go my way. I would geta real job, not just babysitting, then, after I had saved up, I could move intO my own place.

And in the back of my mind I kept thinking about the promise I had made to Caleb. One year. One year without either one of us finding mates and we would finally put all those pent up feelings into action. If I moved out of my parents house there would be no one to stop us, no one to tell us it was Wrong.

But just as I reached the front door of my home it was flung open. My father came barreling out with a heaving chest and wide eyes.

"Dad, my interview."

"Get inside," he barked out.

"Is it rogues?" I asked. There were few times that I had ever heard my father use this kind of a voice with me and it never ended well. I could feel my teeth and nails elongate. I wasn't going to let my father fight this alone. I was strong and had been trained well, I would be by his side.

"It's worse, much worse," he called out, already starting to run away from me. Along with him, I saw a few of my neighbors also leave their homes, sprinting away from spouses who were shouting questions at them.

But they weren't shifting, If there was any kind of werewolf threat the best way to fight was to be in wolf form. Our teeth and claws were the deadliest weapons we carried. Seeing my father plow into what I assumed was a battle with shifting was suicide.

"Dad!" I screamed, then I was running after him.

He wasn't in the right state of mind and clearly needed my help. But, in my dress and useless flats I was falling behind. And what I sawW as I drew closer didn't make any sense.

There were a couple things that were to be expected when someone ran headlong into a werewolf battle. Usually you could hear it for miles. There were violent howls, screams that would make your ears bleed and whimpers that would make your heart ache as wolves passed away from gruesome injuries and extensive blood loss. And could also see it. We were big creatures who used up massive spaces to fight.