Summa Alpha Prophecy

Chapter Three

COREY POV

As soon as we enter the bathroom to wash up, Tate locks the bathroom door. Turning abruptly, he whisper yelled “She’s your mate, isn’t she, the short chubby human?” I stared at him for a minute before answering.

“Uh yeah, I guess so.” I had no idea I could even have a mate and I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be a human. I am an orphan Alpha-blooded rogue.

My parents left me as a child in a small-town orphanage with an envelope that had my name and a note saying it could be opened once I turned sixteen.

After leaving the orphanage at sixteen, I took care of myself, doing odd jobs here and there just to keep me busy. As I had discovered, I was beyond rich and I didn’t need the money. As a rogue with no known family, I liked to travel and meet people.

I had always wanted a mate but believed I would never get one, especially given I turned thirty on my last birthday.

“So, what are you going to do about it? You are an Alpha-blooded rogue with no fixed address, and she is a human visiting from another country.”

“I honestly don’t know, I guess I have a month to work it out. I will spend some time getting to know her and see where it goes. I don’t care if she is from another country, nor do I care if she’s overweight. Turning her would help her with that, but I just need to take it slow” I sighed heavily.

“OK, we better get out there before they get suspicious.” Tate says, turning to unlock the door and walking out. He really is a strange man, he is actually a warrior from the local pack here in Arizona. He was sent to ‘Keep an eye on me’ just in case.

They were being cautious as I have the potential, as both a rogue and having Alpha blood, to cause problems for them. When I told them I was just here for a ranch job, they insisted on sending a warrior to work alongside me.

As we all sat down to eat, I noticed that I had been seated next to Raylee, her overwhelming scent of blueberry pie surrounded me, it made me feel both calm and horny at the same time.

She avoided eye contact with me as we ate but happily engaged in small talk. Just as I was about to ask her some questions about herself, a young girl aged around ten or eleven walked up to her. “Mum, finished.” she said somewhat awkwardly, and handed her plate to Raylee.

“Good job bub, mum will get you some chocolate once everyone else is finished, OK?” she said, smiling at the young girl. I stared shocked, with my fork halfway to my mouth, is my mate already married? She has a child who appears to be hers, so it makes sense.

As she turned back to her lunch, Raylee glanced over at me, noticing my shocked expression, she quietly muttered “That’s my daughter Jada, she’s eleven and has autism, that’s why she talks like that.”

“Oh OK, she’s really pretty” I replied, not knowing what else to say.

“Yeah, her name means ‘beautiful woman’ in Arabic, and as much as I’d like to say she gets her looks from me, she’s actually a spitting image of my ex-husband.” I sighed in relief and a small smile made it to my face.

My mate isn’t married anymore, which means she is free for me to claim. Her having a child does not bother me at all now.

“That’s a beautiful meaning to her name.” Sensing the tension between Raylee and me, Maz starts making small talk with us guys, trying to get to know us better. Soon the tension is gone, and we are all chatting freely.

Raylee jumps up suddenly, making us all flinch. “Sorry.” she giggles, noticing our reaction.

“I just remembered I made a cake for afternoon tea, but if you want, you can have some now with a coffee, before heading back out, there will still be enough left for afternoon tea as well.” she spits out all in a rush and disappears into the kitchen before anyone could reply.

Boy, could this girl talk. She reappears with what looks like a carrot cake complete with cream cheese icing, my favourite.

“Oh is that carrot cake?” I asked excitedly, eyeing the cake.

“Yeah it is, it’s all I could find in Maz’s cupboard… It’s a packet mix.” She leans in and whispers the last bit like it’s a secret, before giggling at her own antics.

“Well, I won’t tell anyone, I promise.” I whispered back with a grin. “and I’d love some please, carrot cake is my favourite!”

After cake and coffee, Tate and I stood up to leave. Raylee smiles at us and reminds us to take some cake for afternoon tea. We both thank her and leave to start work in the barn.

“So, what a shock, huh, your mate having a kid already.” Tate said, whilst eyeing me for my reaction. I grinned at him.

“Yeah, it doesn’t bother me, she seems like a cute kid. I was just concerned she had a husband that I’d have to kill, but thankfully, he’s already out of the picture.” Tate stares at me for a minute in shock, then shrugs and gets to work moving hay.

RAYLEE POV

After the guys left to get to work, Maz and I cleaned up the lunch dishes. “Glad to see you’ve recovered from your earlier awkwardness, but if I didn’t know better I’d think you might have a crush on a certain Viking looking hunk.” I dropped the forks I was collecting at her statement and they clatter on the ground.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…, I don’t have a crush on anyone…, plus I just met the guy and he wouldn’t be interested in me…, and I’ve just come out of a crappy marriage. I’m not looking for another relationship!” I all but yelled at her in a rush.

“OK OK” she says, holding her hands up in surrender, “if you say so, but if you asked me the feeling was mutual, the guy couldn’t keep his eyes off you all lunch.” she says, shrugging.

“What? No way.” a blush crept up my face. “Like he’d be interested in me. He looks like some Norse god and I’m…well me.” I said, indicating my whole body.

Was he really interested in me? I wonder. I mean he did look a little disappointed when he saw me with Jada and I felt compelled to all but tell him I was single. He looked relieved?

I shook my head and continued clearing the table. Once we had the dishes done, Maz asked if I wanted that tour of the property now.

“Yes, that’d be awesome, just let me put my runners on.” I said, racing off.

“Jada, shoes on, we are going walking.” Jada’s excited humming follows me into our room, and she happily gets her shoes on.

We spent the next few hours checking out the property. Every now and then I’d catch a glimpse of the guys and almost always my eyes would find Cor already looking at me. I’d just smile and look away.

The property was gorgeous even though it was in the desert. Maz introduced me to her menagerie of horses, donkeys, an Alpaca, seven dogs and an old grumpy barn cat.

The kids had a ball getting into everything and before long it was time to prep dinner. Maz explained that the ranch hands stayed on the property in a bunkhouse off the barn and they had their meals supplied by her and it all came out of their wages.

I got a little excited at the thought of sharing a month's worth of meals with Cor, then I scolded myself for it. I had to remember a few facts.

One: he wasn’t interested in me.

Two: Even if he was interested, I’d have to be at least twice his age,

Three: I would be going home in a month, so there was no point even thinking about starting anything.

Maz said she would get everything organised if I wanted to have a bit more of a look around and enjoy the afternoon. So Jada and I continued to wander around the property.

We wandered up and down hills checking out the different flowers and bugs and, eventually, we started to make our way back to the ranch house.

As we rounded the corner of the barn, I once again walked into a wall of flesh and once again I bounced off and was caught by strong arms. This time, however, the arms didn’t release me straight away.

“Are you always this clumsy or do you intentionally do it so I can catch you?” Cor purred in my ear. I jumped back stunned and walked away without saying anything, not sure what to say to that.