The Alpha's Protective Mate

25

Robert Montgomery

“So, why did you want to meet me for lunch?” Aisha Wolfguard studies me curiously. “Not like you to want to order in at home. You always want to go out.”

“I just felt like it.” I pick up a slice of the pizza and munch on it. It’s from one of my favorite pizzerias in the city, and yet it seems tasteless right now.

“Just felt like it, huh?” Aisha raises a brow. “Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on? You’ve been acting weird for a while now, more so this past week. You haven’t been paying attention at work. We nearly lost a major pitch yesterday, Robert. We can’t function like this, with you spacing out half the time. Whatever’s bothering you, just spit it out, and we’ll deal with it.”

Aisha works with me in my company. It makes sense that she’d notice I haven’t been myself lately.

A small yip from the doorway has me looking over to see Zeno falling over his own feet in an attempt to get to the pizza. I set the plate with my half-eaten slice down on the floor so he can have a go at it.

“I still don’t understand the puppy. I never knew you liked dogs.”

“Neither did I,” I murmur, watching Zeno play with the pizza slice.

“He’s chewed most of your shoes, Robert,” Aisha points out.

“I can get new ones.” I smile and lean down to scratch Zeno’s chin. He gives me an adoring look, and I sigh internally. I guess I have become a dog person now.

Aisha shoots me a bewildered look. “Be honest with me. Are you doing drugs?”

That gets my attention, and I scowl at her. “Of course not!”

“Then what’s going on with you?” she demands. “I know you, Robert, and this isn’t like you. Brooding, adopting puppies out of nowhere, letting them chew on your prized shoe collection. Just tell me. I won’t judge.”

I did call Aisha here to talk to her. I need to discuss this with someone, someone I can trust not to betray my confidence or judge me almost instantly. While I do have friends I trust, Morris and Adam are both Alphas, and they would frown heavily upon my actions. I know what their initial reaction would be, and I need an unbiased one.

For the past week, I’ve stayed away from Charlotte. My wolf has been deeply unhappy about this. That’s what shakes me up even more.

Why is my wolf so obsessed with her? It’s never shown any sign of interest in any female before. I’ve always known I’ll never be with a woman. My scar has prevented any woman from approaching me. I’ve seen myself in the mirror long enough to know how ugly I look because of it. It’s a fact I accepted after years of struggling with my new reality.

It’s not like I can’t get a mate and bear a child. Ever since I became the Alpha and the pack has begun to prosper under my rule, many high-ranking families have been trying to get their daughters into my bed. A few of the pack elders have introduced the girls in their families to me in the hopes that I would fall for one of them.

But even with the girls playing nice with me and flirting heavily, I see nothing but greed and disgust in their eyes. They want the power and the riches, but they know they’ll have to let me into their beds to get them. My wolf isn’t immune to being disliked and viewed with prejudice. He’s never shown an ounce of interest in those women. Although, to be fair, he’s never shown any interest in a female before Charlotte.

The thought of Charlotte has my wolf wagging its tail happily.

Charlotte looks at me with shy eyes that can turn fierce at any minute.

Whenever her eyes are on me, I feel normal, as if my face is like any other, void of deformities. When she talks to me, it’s almost as if she is blind to all my faults. The biggest problem she has with me is that I’m a wolf shifter. And the further away she tries to push me, the more desperate I am to pull her into my arms.

I’m the Alpha of a pack. My friends would be telling me to think with my head. But logic goes out the window where this woman is concerned.

“Why do you think there would be something for you to judge?” I give Aisha a half-smile.

She doesn’t waver, folding her arms across her chest. “Because if there weren’t, you would be talking to Morris. Clearly this is something you don’t want him knowing, or it’s something delicate. Something to do with a woman?”

I can hear the teasing edge to her words, but when I don’t laugh or shrug it off, her smile fades. She leans forward, her arms dropping to the table. “Robert, are you serious?” She’s both shocked and excited. “You found someone?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?” I give her an irritable look. “Just because I look like a monster doesn’t mean—”

I don’t get to finish the sentence because I’m slapped upside my head. “Excuse you? You’re the only one who thinks you look like a monster. Don’t bunch me into your i***t category.”

I rub my head where she smacked me, wincing. “Why are you so strong? And stop hitting me. You’re a married woman. If you want to beat someone, you’ve got a husband for that.”

“My husband isn’t the one spouting garbage from his mouth right now, is he?” Aisha scowls. “Who’s the girl? Do I know her?”

“Slow down.” I lift both my hands. “Before I say anything, I’m talking to you as my sister, not Morris’s mate or the Alpha Female. So, whatever we discuss here stays between us.”

Aisha grows serious at my words. “Of course. But is it really something that needs to be kept secret?”

“For now, yes,” I say slowly. “You know the coffee shop across the road from our office?”

“Yeah?”

“She works there.” I study Aisha’s face. “She’s also the one who rescued me from the attack a couple weeks back.”

Aisha blinks. “What? But Harry said the woman he met was a vampire.”

When I don’t say anything, realization dawns on her, and she goes still. “Robert, the woman you like…she’s a vampire?”

I nod.