The Alpha’s not-so Human Mate

17. Wolf’s bane

"Keep your hands off my mate!" Alpha Kaiah yelled.

Jace grew furious at his words and pushed him off. "How dare you call her your mate?!" His eyes flashed purple as his bones started rearranging. In no time, he transformed into a ginormous silver wolf with glowy purple eyes, totally different from Tai, Jace's actual wolf.

What the hell is going on? How did Jace transform into a different wolf?

In response, Alpha Kaiah's bones cracked loudly, which caught my attention. I looked in his direction and watched him transform as well. But his wolf... his wolf was familiar.

"Tai?" I whispered. He heard me and looked at me. Those eyes held so much warmth and softness in them. I gathered the courage to walk down to him, but he did not move. His eyes watched me intensely but lovingly. I lifted my hand slowly and placed it on his head. "Good boy," I said without thinking. His eyes flashed with what seemed like amusement. Is he laughing at me?

I patted his head and stroked his fur, he snuggled into my arm. It amazed me how such a 'monster' could let its guard down around me.

A growl behind me made me flinch. I looked back and saw the other werewolf jealous of our contact. It bared its teeth at Tai, but I stood in its way. "Please, stop."

He howled angrily and lunged at us. Tai pushed me aside to protect me. They both fought aggressively, tearing out each other's fur, and clawing each other's faces. It was clear that Tai wasn't trying to hurt Jace's new wolf, but the latter wanted blood.

“Stop it, you two!!" I screamed, but none of them paid heed. I ran out to the hallway. "Help, Ross!!!" I called for Jace's beta.

The doors down the hallway swung open, and pack members ran out. The betas and gammas took the lead as they headed for mine and Jace's room.

The sound of shattering glass was the next thing we heard. We ran inside the room to see that both wolves were gone, and the carpet was filled with pieces of broken glass from the window.

“An outsider is attacking our Alpha!" Ross said in a loud voice. "Fred, you take Henrick and Steven, go get some wolf's bane!” He ordered the gamma, who left immediately with two other men.

The rest of us ran downstairs and to the open space in front of the pack house—where the two stubborn beasts were fighting.

“Jace!!" I called out to the silver wolf, but my heart was very much worried about Tai. I don't know how he became Alpha Kaiah's counterpart, but I don't want anything to happen to him.

The beta and delta transformed and tried to separate the two. Tai moved back and bowed his big head, indicating that he had surrendered. But Jace's wolf was still adamant and even injured Ross’s wolf just to get him out of the way.

Eventually, they both transformed back into their human forms; the two naked men stood glaring at each other, breathing heavily.

Alpha Kaiah's eyes connected with mine, and he began walking toward me. "Esnie, listen to me, I am Jace, not him-"

“Seize him!" Ordered Jace.

Ross, the Delta, and two other men grabbed Alpha Kaiah's hands, but he did not put up a fight.

The gamma appeared. He had on a pair of hand gloves and was holding a bottle containing a green liquid—which I presumed to be Wolf’s bane. He sprayed some of the liquid on Alpha Kaiah's face. The area it touched started to burn, and was accompanied by a sizzling sound, with steam escaping the burning area. He screamed in agony and fell to his knees.

Jace snatched the bottle from the gamma and emptied the remaining contents onto Alpha Kaiah's chest, causing a more intense reaction.

“Please stop!" I begged Jace, but he did not listen to me. I was crying, but my tears did not move him.

“Get more wolf's bane, Fred!" Jace ordered his gamma.

“Stop it, Jace!!" I yelled at him. "Haven't you had enough?"

Jace snapped his head at me. That was when I noticed the blood on his lips. I went close to him to check his wound.

“Don't touch me! This is all your fault, always so f*****g sentimental." He turned to the men. "Lock him up, boys, surround him with so much bane".

The men chorused an answer and dragged Alpha Kaiah inside, while the other pack members hurled curses at him.

I turned to Jace and found him glaring at me, his forehead held a menacing scowl and his eyes held no kindness in them. He took intimidating steps toward me, making me move back subconsciously. "Tell me, Es, why did you pet his wolf and not mine?"

I could feel the burning stare from everyone else on me. I found myself stuttering out a reply. “Di-Didn't you recognize Tai? That was Tai..."

“Shut up, you stupid b***h!” He barked. “If you're gonna eye-f**k someone else in front of me, at least be smart about it". He spoke without caring how his words made me feel.

He shoved me out of the way and marched inside. Fiona, as well as the others, were hot on his trail, leaving me behind. Rowena stood back.

“Don't pay heed to what he said". Rowena cooed from beside me.

“It's fine". I bit back my tears and forced out a smile.

She placed her hand on my arm. “Let's go make dinner, hmm?"

I sighed. “Maybe another time, Ro, there is something I need to do first.”

“Okay, she answered and went inside.

I stood in the same spot as the wind blew through my hair. Something didn’t feel right with Alpha Kaiah’s wolf. Since when did he and Jace exchange wolves? I didn’t know what to make of all this.

I heard a commotion coming from the pack house and I ran inside to see what it was about. The noise was coming from the backyard so I went out there... Jace was speaking with Ross, Fred, and the others. Fiona stood beside them, listening.

When Jace saw me, his face turned sour and his gaze turned into a glare. “What do you want?” He barked.

I shrunk from the harshness of his voice. “I--I just wanna know what’s going on.”

“Your lover has escaped!” He yelled, his glare unwavering. What have I done to deserve his hatred?

“My ‘lover’?” I asked in merely a whisper.

Fiona butted in. “He means Alpha Kaiah, the one you chose today.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t choose h—”

She cut me short. “Yes you did, we all saw you! What kind of Luna are you?! You chose an enemy over your mate? Shame on you!”

I stood there, utterly confused. How could she accuse me of such a thing?

“Jace,” I walked up to him. “Do you think I chose him over you? That is not true-I’m sorry if it seemed that way.”

He ignored me completely. Everywhere turned so quiet that you could hear a cricket noise. Thankfully, Rowena walked in, deflating the awkward silence. I saw genuine concern in her eyes when she saw what was going on, but I understood why she couldn’t say anything, since it wasn’t her place. She went over to Fiona and whispered something to her.

Fiona then announced loudly. “Dinner is served, let’s go eat.”

Ross asked Jace. “What about Alpha Kaiah?”

Jace grimaced. “Don’t bother looking for him, he will return soon enough. Fiona is right, we should eat.”

They started walking to the dining table and I followed them. But Jace gripped my arm. I looked at him with shock written all over my face.

He said in a menacing voice: “After what you did today, the best punishment for you is that you stay the hell away from me!” He pushed me away. “That means no eating at the dining table.”

Tears filled my eyes as I watched everyone’s condemning gaze on me. My heart broke and so did my voice. “Okay, I’m sorry.”

Without saying anything else, I turned away and walked out in shame.

I stood outside the pack house, my head swollen with unshed tears. Why is this happening to me again? Why is Jace treating me with so much disdain?

Alpha Kaiah’s words kept on ringing in my head: ‘My mate’, why did he call me that?

I wiped my tears. There is only one way to find out. Now that I had become an outcast amongst the pack, there was nothing holding me back.

I took one step in front of the other into the woods. It was getting dark, and I knew the trauma that the night held for me, but I needed to take that leap.

I must find Alpha Kaiah.