The Heart of The Alpha King

Chapter 8

I take deep breaths to calm myself down because all I see is red. There’s so much red that I see myself shifting right here in Blake’s house. If I don’t calm myself, there will be a homicide. My wolf Ace wants to take control and shut this whole damn party down. I don’t know what the f**k Jayda is doing, but if she doesn’t stop winding her hips and get the f**k away from that lone wolf, he’s gonna go on home to be with the ancestors.

My aura seeps out of my pores into the atmosphere, causing everyone to pause, placing everyone in a chokehold, making it hard to breathe. Zach and Jaylen turn towards my direction, fighting my aura to see what or who has caused my aura to slip out.

The wolves that were dancing were all cowering and kneeling. The music stops abruptly, like a record scratch on a DJ’s turntable.

The only thing I hear is the loud drum of my heartbeat as the blood pumps through my veins, reminding me I’m watching my heart outside of my body betray me.

I’m livid and torn between snatching Jayda’s ass away from him or tearing that fool’s arms off his body. Never have I felt this level of anger before.. over anything.

Aside from the anger that’s coursing through my veins, there’s a foreign feeling that I am in denial about. I have no reason to feel this way.

Why would I need to be?

‘It’s called jealousy’ Aces declares. ‘Because you see our mate dancing with that i***t. I don’t feel jealous though. I know whose name Venus and Jayda will be screaming when the time comes. You have some work to do with Jayda. Venus says she’s upset with you.’

‘I’m not jealous, jackass. I don’t know why Jayda is upset with me. It’s not like I did something wrong.’

‘Are you trying to convince me or yourself that you’re not jealous? You’re such an oblivious clown when it comes to females. You’ll figure it out soon enough.’

I can’t think of anything that Jayda could be upset with me about. When I left for training, we were on good terms and I told her to wait for me.

I fix my eyes on the carefree look on Jayda’s face, even though I wish it was me she was dancing with.

Ace urges me to take action. ‘What are you doing, dummy? Stop standing there like an i***t. Go over and get our mate from that asshole’.

Turning to the off-looking pair, wolves part like the red sea as I stalk over to them. Sensing my presence, Jayda’s firm curvy body stops dancing as I approach her. Her eyes are wide with shock and she nervously shuffles her feet. Good, she should be nervous.

“Um, Evander, you’re back”. It comes from my mate’s mouth in a half question, half statement, as if she is trying to convince herself that I’m standing in front of her.

“I am. Looks like you’re having the time of your life. What’s going on here?”

She recovers quickly from her shock with a sarcastic response flowing from her mouth and she waves one in front of her. “Well, it’s Blake’s birthday, so we’re all celebrating,” Jayda replies, acting as if I’m supposed to know what she’s doing here. As if I wouldn’t think there’s anything wrong with her being here with another wolf dancing and grinding on him. Like I’d be okay with seeing her all over another man.

Feeling a tug, someone tries to mind link me. ‘Ev, let up on your aura, man. We can’t breathe,’ Zach links me. It seems he’s finally broken out of whatever trance he was in a few minutes ago. I let up on my aura and everyone relaxes a little. The music starts playing again, but no one starts dancing.

“We need to talk”, I took her hand, leading her away from all the prying eyes.

I turn to walk down a private hallway so Jayda and I can have a private conversation away from the nosey-ass prying eyes and ears of the other pack members. Before I can take another step, a figure comes out of nowhere and jumps onto my back.

“You butthead! Why didn’t you tell me you’re home?” Imani screams in my ear. I hug my sister and ruffle her hair, which earns me a punch to the arm. Zuri walks over to us and hugs us. Behind me, I hear a low growl, which is interesting given the wolf it’s coming from. Ebony stumbles in from the backyard, out of breath. Moments later, my cousin Tyson and his beta Odell walk into the party.

As the members of our friends’ group greet one another, Jayda grabs Noah’s hand and backs away slowly from us, trying to escape. Nope, not gonna happen today. If she was bold enough to run around with that lone wolf and shake her ass in this party for everyone to see, then she can use that same boldness and face me.

‘Oh no you don’t, sassy wolf. Come with me now,’ I mind link and her eyes go wide with an “oh s**t I’m caught” expression on her face. I refuse to give her the chance to run off.

Taking her by the arm again to walk her away from our friends, Jayda suddenly stops and looks behind her. Noah grabs her other hand so that she won’t walk away with me.

“Jay, where are you going? We’re not done dancing.”

“Um, I’ll be right back. Gotta take care of something real quick”, she says as she turns to walk away with me.

With a look of disgust, Noah looks at me up and down while still holding Jayda’s hand. This fool can’t read a situation and if I wasn’t trying not to lose it on him, I’d take his observation and dismissal of me as a challenge.

“With him?” he asks, his voice full of disgust. “Why do you need to go somewhere to talk with him?

Not liking his tone with Jayda, I take a step toward Noah to stand between him and Jayda. One thing he or anyone else will NOT do is talk to her in any kind of way.

“Dude, you better back off. This conversation is between me and Jayda. Mind your business and hope she comes back when we’re done talking.” As soon as the last part of my sentence leaves out of my mouth, Jayda’s head snaps in my direction as she scowls at me while narrowing her eyes.

“Jayda’s my girlfriend, so whatever you’ve gotta say you can say it in front of me,” the i***t says as he grabs her hand to prevent Jayda from leaving with me.

I know this motherfucka did not just call my mate “his” girlfriend. My body begins to shake, and I can feel Ace trying to take over. Sensing Ace’s presence, Jayda places her hand on my arm to calm me down and take my attention off of that b***h, Noah.

“Girlfriend! b***h, you have no idea what you’re talking about. You better back the f**k up and mind your own damn business before I embarrass you in front of everyone”.

Now that my voice is raised and we’re almost chest to chest, everyone is watching our interaction and I don’t give a f**k.

“Ev, calm down. Don’t make a scene. I’ll go with you.” Jayda leans into Noah and whispers into his ear, then kisses him on the cheek. Jayda grabs my arm and yanks me down a hallway to talk in a spare bedroom.

Did she just kiss him? Hell no, she’s got me f****d up if she thinks she’s gonna keep doing that in front of me.

‘You should’ve knocked his head off his body when we got here, like I told you,’ Ace yells at me through our connection. He is fuming while pacing back and forth in my head. “Ace, shut it!”

Jayda drags me away, and we enter a spare bedroom in the house. My mate stomps into the room, reaching for the doorknob to slam the door behind her but so she can reach out I have her pinned up against the wall with my hand gripping her waist while my other hand is pressed against the wall by her head. A small squeak leaves her lips as we stare at each other. Her jasmine and rose scent fills my nostrils and for a moment I’m paralyzed as I look at the female who has held my heart since we were kids.

We stand there for a few more minutes until Jayda breaks the silence. Jayda puts her hands on my chest to push me away so there’s some distance between us. I take a step back, granting her the space she needs, but not too much, because I need to be near her since I haven’t calmed down enough to not go back out there and beat the hell out of that dickhead, Noah.

“So what was so important that you needed to make a scene and drag me away from Blake’s party? You can’t just come back and start making demands, you know,’ Jayda asks with a roll of her eyes, folding her arms across her chest and tapping her foot on the wood-planked floor.

“What the hell are you doing with him? I told you to wait. I come back home and I see you’re here at this party with another wolf!”

Jayda’s head rears back as if I smacked her in the face. Something I’d never do to a female, by the way.

“What do you mean, what am I doing with him? He’s my boyfriend now. You left. I called you. I CALLED YOU! I texted you. After the first few weeks, the responses dwindled to nothing. I gave up after two months and, since, you never responded to me.”

“Sass, I told you to wait for me. We were starting something. You could’ve tried harder to wait and get in touch with me.”

That was not the right thing to say at that moment.

“You may be the future Alpha and my supposed best friend, but you are an asshole. What guy thinks he can go away for a year with no communication with the girl he wants to be with and thinks she’s gonna wait? Oh, I know, an i***t, that’s who.”

“Hey now, training was busy. I didn’t ignore you on purpose. The training was brutal on me at the beginning. They singled me out every day and by when it was time for bed, every day I was done.”

My explanation is not what she wants to hear as she balls her hands in a fist in front of her eyes and pretends to be a baby crying. “Oh, cry me a river. You’re an alpha, right? You’re supposed to deal with it.” Jayda paces back and forth waving her hand up and down towards my body. Her eyes briefly stop on my tattooed arms.” You weren’t so busy that you had time to get tattoos and spend time with another alpha female.”

I cringe because she noticed the tattoos. She’s right, I had time to get them done, but I don’t know what female she’s talking about.

Although my sassy girl is not done laying into me yet, my anger with her dissipates.

“You think because you’re some alpha that every girl is gonna lay at your feet and jump all over you as soon as you show up and walk in a room, but I’m not those girls. You don’t get to tell me all those things you did, not call me while you’re away and play with my emotions. No, alpha or not, if you want me, you show me and prove that you do. I’m not your hoe to toy with.” Biting her bottom lip to prevent herself from crying, Jayda steps back from me and heads towards the door.

“Sass, I didn’t mean to ignore you. I”, Jayda holds her hand up to cut me off, letting me know she’s done with our conversation.

“If I was important enough to you, then you would’ve contacted me. A simple ‘hey’ text back would’ve been something more than nothing. But I’m done.” She puts her hand on the doorknob to open it before she does she turns back towards me. “When you pull your head out of your ass, come talk to me. Until then, I don’t want to see you. I’m going back to my boyfriend.”

Jayda exits the guest room and slams the door.

Not her mentioning that fucker Noah again. She chose him over me.

I can’t believe she left me here to go with him. Before I can think twice about it, my fist punches two holes in the wall and I pick up a chair and throw it across the room. There’s a knock on the door and Zach enters the room, catching a lamp before it hits his head that’s thrown at the door.

Knowing about to lose it, Zach grabs me by the shoulders, preventing me from leaving the room. I’m pissed that she chose him over me and Zach is Noah’s saving grace because I’m about to take my anger out on him for her leaving me. If it weren’t for Zach, I would stomp Noah out. “Bruh, you need to calm down. Go take a walk.”

Zach and I exit the room and walk back into the main party area. Glancing back over at Jayda, I pull my keys out of my pocket and hand them to Zach. I cannot be here and watch her with him. Knowing that she’s with him is killing me. Ace howls in my head over her rejection of us.

I push past everyone and stalk out the front door.

As soon as I get down the street, I run to the edge of the woods. I tug my shirt over my head, kick my shoes off, and allow Ace to take over. I don’t care where he’s going as long as he gets me the hell away from this party.

With the way I’m feeling, a run is the only thing to help me with the pain in my heart.