Her Second Chance Mate

Ignoring the Pull

Nikki’s POV

“Charlie! Where are they? I wanted to be on the road by now.” Nikki asked Charlie as she walked into the kitchen.

“I’m sorry Alpha, Jacob said they’d arrive around 10. Unless they had a late start. I’m not sure.”

“Who is his Alpha again? Connor?”

“Yes, Alpha Connor. He’s a few years older than you, 4 I think…” My mom Nancy stated as she walked into the kitchen. “Nikki, don’t freak out. Everything will work out for the best. The welcoming ceremony doesn’t start till 6, it’s 10. We’re 2 hours away. Plenty of time.”

‘I’m not in a rush to get there, mom. I’m just…”

“Nervous.” Stacey said just below a whisper as she walked into the kitchen as well.

“Stacey, how are you holding up? Are you sure you want to come? I know seeing Carson will be hard for you.”

“It’s been 2 years and I’ve ignored all of his letters...I think it’s time I see my son. My baby boy. I love him, still...but I will leave this pack. All of your have been my family since I mated with Jackson. Whom i miss so much. I could never leave this pack and his grave behind.”

I gave Stacey a sad look, she had gone through so much. The death of her husband and then her son leaving the pack because he wouldn’t be Beta. He was selfish and only cared about himself. I had to keep reminding myself of his selfishness and the many times he betrayed me. 

*Alpha, the Red Moon pack is here.* I got a mind-link from patrol at the main gate.

*FINALLY! Let them in.*

“They’re here.” I said to the room. “I need to run up to my room, please Charlie, meet your friend Jacob. I can’t see them staying here for long. We all should be hitting the road soon.”

I ran up the stairs to the 5th floor grabbing my headphones that I realized I forgot to grab. As well as doing a quick freshen up. This would be the first time I’m meeting the Red Moon pack. If rumors were true, they’d be fierce looking and stand offish. Which is kind of hard to believe seeing as how Jacob and I have had communications with each other for the past two months and he has been very vocal on how caring his Alpha is. 

*Max is pretending to be you...not sure the Alpha, Beta and Gamma of Red Moon are either in hysterics or in shock.* Jake mind-linked me.

*Excuse me?!* 

*Charlie heard from his buddy Jacob that a rumor was going around that you were super manly.*

*The f**k!?!*

I ran down the stairs, to hear Max trying to have a girly voice while talking to whom I would only imagine to be the Alpha of Red Moon. His back was to me, but hot damn he had a great ass.

I saw Hannah grabbing Max’s hand, trying to get him to stop as I stepped up behind the three guys. 

“I’m sorry Alpha, I told him to stop. But you know you’re brother. He’s an idiot.”

“You could say that again.” I said as the three strangers turned around, all three of them dropping their mouths open. 

“Hello, Welcome to Blue Ridge! I am Alpha Nikki and this i***t is unfortunately my brother but also my Beta,  Max.” I said to them with a smile on my face. 

Holy s**t. I thought to myself. All three of them are wicked hott. From the smell and marking on one of them she knew that he was mated. 

“Alpha...Nikki…” One of them said taking a step forward and reaching his hand out. “I am Alpha Connor, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

I reached my hand out and instantly felt the flow of electricity to shoot up my arm.

MATE!!! Rose screamed in my head. 

How? We already had a mate.

We’re getting a second chance!

I...i’m not ready for this.

I pulled my hand out of his, pretending that I didn't feel anything. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well Alpha Connor. I have heard a lot about you and your pack. But it seems that you may have a better rumor mill than I do. I took a few steps to get closer to my brother and away from Connor. His face was blank, almost like he didn’t know what to do with me pulling back from him. 

“Uh...I’m Seth, his beta. And this is our Gamma Josh.” the man standing next to Connor said. Connor seemed to be frozen in place, his eyes stuck on me.

“It’s a pleasure.” I said reaching out to shake their hands, as a growl came from Connor. I looked at him with my eyebrows raised. 

“You as well.” 

“Alpha Nikki!” Charlie called as he and, whom i can only imagine, Jacob to be walked over.

“Think is Jacob! He brought this for you.” 

“Hello Jacob! It’s great to finally put a face to the voice!” I said to him as he wrapped me in a hug. Another growl coming from Connor making everyone look at each other and back at him, while I tried to ignore it.

“You are quite beautiful Alpha, if I may say.” Jacob said, causing me to blush. Clue another growl.

“You okay Connor?” Seth whispered to him, but got no response.

“Thank you Jacob!” I said to him, “So Charlie said you have something for me? I would love to be able to sit down and chat with you without a time limit. But, I’m sure your pack is egare to get back on the road.”

“Aw yes, ok yes, let’s not hold them up.” He said, smiling at me. 

“This, Alpha, is a present for you. It was one of the furs you so graciously donated but seeing it’s beauty and all the help you’ve spread these past few months I had to hold it back and give it to you. The meat that you also provided to me as payment for my services has helped stock up my home so we are all set for the winter and my family and mate couldn’t be more excited. So this is from us.”

I opened the package, seeing the blackest of black bear fur. “Oh, it’s beautiful!” I said as I glided my hand over the fur. “I will make sure to have this in a special place within my home, perhaps on the wall. Thank you so much!” 

I wrapped Jacob in my own hug, again causing a growl to come out of Connor.

“Jake and Max stood close to me now. Realizing the growls came from Connor every time I made contact with one of his pack-members. I knew the reason, but I would keep that from them for as long as possible. 

“Oh Jake, this is Alpha Connor, Beta Seth, and Gamma Josh of the Red Moon Pack. They are here with Jacob who wanted to drop this bear fur off as a thank you for all the work he’s done from our hunting training.” 

“Aw, black bear...your favorite kind of rug.” Jake said with a wink. 

My eyes quickly shot to Connor, whose face looked to be 10 shades darker and an angry scowl. 

“Thank you again for stopping by and bringing this to me!” 

I stepped back to Connor, “It was a pleasure meeting you. I have to gather my pack, and start making our way.” 

“We could wait for you.” He said, a little bit of hope in his voice even though his eyes never left Jake.

“I feel it may take us longer to gather, as some of our members are feeling a little reluctant to either come or let our Alpha go.” Max said. 

“Why?” Seth asked.

Max looked at me, and I nodded my head. No sense in hiding what most likely would be outed. 

“I would prefer that this stay between us.” I said looking towards the three leaders, all of which nodded their heads in agreement. 

“Alpha Carson…” Max started, “was once a promising member of our pack before he left two years ago.”

“Why did he leave? How did he become an Alpha?!” Josh asked.

I smiled, lost in my past memories of Carson.

“His father was our father’s Beta. He trained with me every day starting at age 14, he was 16. When he turned 18 he found his mate, but decided to ignore the pull because his mate had yet to reach the age of shifting.” I stated.

“When our Alpha shifted, at 16, she too found her mate.” Jake added in.

“Wait, what?” Connor’s breath was stolen from him.

“The night of my 18th birthday we were attacked. While fighting, Carson couldn’t be found anywhere. And we still have no idea where he was, but we do know what he was doing.” I said sadness filling my voice.

“What do you mean?” Seth asked. Connor elbowed him to keep quiet while he kept his eyes on me.

“Nikki and I were given a command by the Alpha at the time, her father, but while following through with it Nikki lost consciousness due to an overwhelming pain that she felt in her chest. The pain...we realized was caused by Carson having s*x with someone else.” 

“He was your mate?!” Seth whispered and gasped. 

Connor’s face was filled with anger, sadness, and worst of all pity. I didn’t want his pity. I didn’t want anyone’s pity. 

“When I came to, my father as well as Beta Jackson were both dying in the hospital. When I walked in, with Jake, Carson was already there. Sitting there with tears in his eyes as if he actually cared about this pack. Long story short, my father gave me a choice. Have Carson be my Beta as we had trained, or pick someone else. Max was young being 16, but I knew his strength and he’s hella smart.”

“Someone get that on record? Strong and smart. She said it.” Max interrupted, causing me to smile at me.

“So” I continued, “I named Max as my Beta and rejected Carson all in the same breath.”

“Wow, that’s...that’s crazy!” Seth breathed out. 

“The pity…” I glanced at Connor, “The pity that’s in your eyes shouldn’t be pointed towards me. I chose to reject him, I chose to name my brother as my Beta. He caused this and got what he deserved. How he became an Alpha of his own pack beats the hell out of me...beats the hell out of everyone in my pack. But we will not back down, so Alpha Connor, Beta Seth and Gamma Josh I truly hope that you and your pack-members bring your A-game because we plan on kicking everyone’s asses at the tournaments.” I ended with a smile. 

Connor smiled at me, stepping closer causing the pull to make me want to step closer to him.

Get it together, we don’t have time for this.

Nikki, he’s our MATE!!!

Rose, please we’ll figure it out after. But not now. Please.

UGH! Fine.

Rose huffed and put her block up, helping to limit the effects of the pull. 

“Alpha, everyone is ready.” Shane, our head trainer came to get us. 

“Ok, perfect. Thank you Shane. Well, looks like we’re all ready. It was great meeting all of you. We’ll see you again at Black Moon.” I said to them, shaking their hands again.

Connor took my hand in his, pulling me towards him and embraced me. His face going into the croak of my neck. “I know you feel it. But I won’t force you. I don’t pity you, I respect you. As Alpha to Alpha and mate to mate. I’ll be here when you’re ready. Always.” 

I was shocked by Connor’s pledge to me, also completely turned on from having his voice in my ear and his breath on my skin. 

“Thank you.” I quickly said to him, turning red and removed myself from his embrace. 

The three men walked away and boarded their bus. I could feel his eyes on me as Jake walked over to me. “Why are you turned on? Turn it off. I won’t be able to sit with you in that closed in bus for two hours and not touch you.” He whispered to me, as Max caught a whiff of my arousal. 

“SERIOUSLY, Nikki for f***s sake control your hormones!” I quickly walked over to Max and smacked him upside the head. 

“Get on the bus you i***t!” I turned and saw Connor laughing. “Great,” I mumbled out.

“What’s going on?”  Hannah asked me.

“Hannah, he’s...Alpha Connor...he’s my mate. My second chance mate.”