The Love Between Us

The Alpha and Me

Previously:

He pinned me to the ground at the base of the tree and growled. I snarled back but didn't bother to struggle. The amount of strength I could feel him pinning me down with was impressive. He shifted back, never letting the pressure change, and smoothly said, "That was fun, but I already had my morning workout. Now, little leopard, since you didn't comply with my reasonable requests, we will be escorting you to –" He didn't finish his sentence, nor did I care. With him this close, we finally got a whiff of each other's scents. And when I smelt his smoky, musky scent, my instincts screamed MATE.

Chapter 2

"M-mate?" the Alpha stuttered out, jarring me from my own revelation. I looked at his surprised face, watching the wide, green eyes, the flush in his cheeks from both the brief run minutes earlier and from our new situation. I can only imagine what my leopard face must look like.

He leaned back, releasing me from my pinned state. He kept his hands resting on my shoulder and haunches, but released all of the pressure keeping me down. "Please, please shift. I have been waiting and searching for you for nearly ten years. Please, let me see you." he begged softly. This time, I couldn't stop myself from shifting to my human form.

I saw tears in his eyes as he watched my white, black, and grey fur recede into nearly pure white skin. I felt my bones mold back into that of a human but I had enough practice that it no longer hurt. The Alpha watched as my muzzle melted into a pair of pale pink lips, a button nose above them. High cheekbones and a slightly pointed chin lent an elvish appearance to my face shape. My large eyes didn't help. An icy blue pair that took up nearly half my face, framed in black and gray lashes that matched the knee-length hair flowing out of my head. It looked a bit strange in my opinion, but I could tell my mate thought I was beautiful.

He was speechless, simply looking at me, until I leaned forward and bumped his chin with the top of my head while nuzzling into his chest. More of that warm, smoky scent invaded my nose and I breathed it in until I felt high with giddiness. This was my mate! My one true love, the one that Khonshu the Moon God grants each shifter in the world. The one who would protect me, love me, and give me the affection I had always been starved of. In return, I was the one who would give him a family to fight for, a source of support and love, a safe place to run to when he needed to.

We are mates.

And by the way he was cradling my body in a hug of his own, I would assume he was thinking the same. His arms felt so strong around me, full of love for me already. How much our love will grow as we get to know each other is unknown, but I hope it will know no bounds.

"Little leopard, don't fall asleep here. We have to get back to the packhouse first." my Alpha mate stated with a gentle smile. I opened my eyes, though I hadn't even noticed that they were closed in the first place. I smiled up at him. "My name is Luc." I said softly, with a somewhat sleepy tone. A rumble went through my mate's chest, the vibrations going straight to my own and I started purring. "Luc-"I purred harder when he said my name"- my name is Tehran. I am the Alpha of Pack Blood Moon. I sent the others home already. Are you ready to go?"

In response, I bumped his chest with my head while purring like crazy. He smiled and bundled me into his arms. None of my blankets or pillows were especially sentimental, though...

"Wait!!" I said quickly, right before Tehran started on our trip. I wiggled until he set me down then raced to my cave. Once I was in the sleeping cave, I began rooting through the mess of fabric for my one special possession.

Tehran followed a second later. "What are you looking for, little leopard?"

"I need my collar!" I told him, moving to another corner.

He drew in a breath. "What?! Why do you need a collar? Why do you have a collar?!" he demanded. I know that most shifters frowned upon collars because it marked them as lesser than humans or other shifters. It was a sign of obedience, cowardice, and enslavement to many, but not to me.

"This is a special collar to me. It was given to me by a family that loved and cherished me, the first people, shifter or human, that cared for me. Once they found out that I was a shifter, they chose to let me go, even when I didn't want to. They thought was evil and terrible to-" Tehran cut me off. "To own a shifter?" I growled at him, angry. "No, they thought it was evil and terrible to own another human. In their eyes, I was part human, so I was being enslaved by them even though they thought me a normal leopard when they adopted me. I told them and told them, but they just couldn't let go of their wrongly guilty consciences. Everyday after that, it was just awkward to stay. They looked guilty every time they saw me, sometimes pitying. I couldn't take it anymore, so I left, but I took the collar to remind me of the life I had there." I sniffled and wiped away the tears that had gathered as I told my mate about my past. I shifted a blue pillow and there was the collar.

It was a light blue that matched my eyes, with two silver tag and one gold tag. The first silver tag read 'Hi! My name is Luc!' on the front, and had their address on the back. The second was my rabies tag, along with another shot that I forgot the name of. The gold tag stated that I was a domesticated leopard and the state of Minnesota recognized that. There was a little tear near the buckle that I would have to fix, but the collar was in pretty good shape for being nearly 14 years old. "I was adopted as a cub-going-on-adolescent leopard at age 10. They found out about me only 7 years ago at age 17. Since then, I have been traveling west at my own pace. I'm 24 now." I rambled to Tehran, who had wrapped his arms around me and was looking at the collar in my hands.

I gathered my thoughts and emotions. "Well, we don't want your packmates to worry, so we better get to the packhouse before they organize a search and rescue team." Silently, my mate picked me up and we started on the trail to our new life.