Broken Moon

Chapter 6- the meet

Altics POV

I had not even made it half of the way to the academy from the airport before the situation had escalated from a threat to the Strongbourns to a robbery. I was dropped up to wait for my teammates to pick me up and fill me in on the mission. Apparently, I was to be on the same team as James Strongbourn. This to me was a bad pairing. In general, the mood was always tense when two or more alphas were in the same room. We only did it for boarder disputes, and the forming and maintaining of alliances. But all the actual teamwork was done by the betas, gammas and omegas. It just came more naturally to them. Admittedly, many betas tend to be of alpha blood. Somehow though, the forming of the official beta bond suppressed their alpha blood.

But now two alphas to be were supposed to spend all day together. I could imagine how much pent-up adrenalin I would have when this was over. I should already be looking up gyms and boxing rings. Maybe just hang out in a bad part of town and wait for someone to take offense at something I do.

Behind me, I heard a window being rolled down. A female says:

“Here.”

Maybe James brought his girlfriend. I turned around, not even bothering to plaster on a fake smile. The window is being rolled up but not before her scent hits me. And Shadow just loses it.

“Mine! My mate! Star has my mate in his car.”

He is practically tearing through all my defenses, prepared to fight James to the death to claim his mate. I stand completely still, breathing heavily and pouring all my power into resisting changing on a crowded street in front of people. Finally, I knock on the window, which is slowly rolled down.

“Move into the back. Do it now.” I say using an alpha command.

The female looks at me and frowns. After a moment’s hesitation, she stands up and moves to the side. Clearly, she is an alpha too or she would have moved much faster and also have gone to sit in the backseat.

“Please, take my seat. I’ll walk,” she says, clearly uncomfortable. Her smell is one of pine trees and spring water. It is quite pleasant. Unfortunately, it is caked by a layer of fear. Is she afraid of me?

Her hair is black and her eyes are forget-me-nots blue. She has great curves and a muscled body. But something is clearly wrong. If she was my mate, my blood would currently be boiling. I’d be completely unbalanced. I would not have been able to stop myself from at least throwing some punches at James. I would definitely be thinking only of taking her home and claiming her. I had seen my friends meet their mates. I had laughed and been really curious about how I would handle it. And the answer apparently was to order her around and stare at her while uncomfortably confused. f**k.

“Hello, my name is Altic Bonecrusher.” I stretch out my hand even though I am worried about the contact that is likely to ensue.

“Oh, I remember you. My name is Lizzy. Lizzy Blacktail.”

My hand drops. The panic almost getting the better of me. This is the girl the moon goddess chose for me. The monster able to disable armies. Uncle Malek, the alpha of the Bonecrushers, would be trilled. He had wanted for her to move to our lands after the incident. He said that among us she would be treated like a warrior queen. But due to the lack of familial connection, his request had been denied. Now he had his chance. I secretly had been thrilled she never visited our lands.

I see how sad her eyes get at my dropped hand and change the movement accordingly. Strangely, I pull her in for a hug and that feels perfectly natural. But again, I feel no fireworks, no magnetic pull. I simply wanted to comfort someone who seemed very sad. Unfortunately, James did not seem to think this hug was a good idea at all. Or he was already angry with me for dropping my hand. I see him running towards us and his eyes leave no doubt as to his intentions. I pull Lizzy behind me and face him. This apparently upset him more as I see his arms staring to spout fur.

“Calm down!” I shout and prepare to capture his arms.

Fortunately, Lizzy runs forwards and put her hands on him. This seems to work but it also makes Shadow start hyperventilating again.

“Lizzy, step back and we will both be able to calm ourselves.” We stand there staring at each other. What on earth is going on?