The Demon Alpha

Unexpected

Jake's POV

The summit was tomorrow and Thorn hadn't spoken to Eric in three days. Ever since she found out about her mom and his mating partners, she has refused to speak to him in any capacity other than as his future Alpha. I can't say I blame her. He was the only person she truly trusted and he betrayed that on two levels in one day. She was exhausted and angry and he did nothing to help that.

This summit was bound to be eventful. I found out that Alpha Lucien is hoping for Thorn to find her fated mate at this conference and she very well might considering her birthday was also tomorrow. We were all heading up to Red River Pack today to get settled in before the summit started tomorrow. The Alpha had ordered me not to let Thorn out of my sight at this summit and I planned to follow through on that, whether she liked it or not.

As we were climbing into the dark SUVs to get on the road for the five hour road trip, there was suddenly a last minute adjustment to the seating arrangements and Eric was removed from my vehicle and replaced with Thorn. She had a determined look on her face as she climbed in and I was worried. She never got that look unless she had some kind of plan.

We rode in silence for the first two hours until she suddenly turned around, looked at me for a moment, and then crawled into the farthest back seat with me. She was too close and her sweet coffee smell was suffocating me. She settled in, looked at me again, and began to speak. "I want you to be my Beta Jake."

My jaw dropped and a million emotions came over me at once. I looked at her questioningly until I could think of what to say. "No."

She looked just as shocked as I was. "What do you mean no? You're better suited for Beta and I want someone in my corner who I know will have my back even when it might not be what keeps me the happiest." She looked down at her hands and for the first time, I realized that this wasn't a spur of the moment decision that she was making because she was angry with Eric. She had thought this out. She had been thinking about this for a while, even before I talked to her about her mother. She was serious.

"Listen Little Wolf, if we make it through these next few days and you still feel that way, we can talk to our fathers about it. Deal? I want you to be sure." She brightened up a little bit and nodded. She was quiet for a few minutes and then she looked at me, absolutely puzzled.

"You haven't called me Little Wolf since we were kids Jake. Now it seems to be more common than my name. Why?"

I nearly choked when she brought up the nickname I gave her when we were kids. She had always been smaller than the rest of us and it had been funny growing up. Now I thought it might get under her skin, but it seems like it may have had the opposite effect. She seemed to like it. "I'm not sure. It seemed like the right thing when you were angry. But it also seems like all you have been is angry ever since. So it just kind of stuck."

If I didn't know better, I would have thought I had seen her blush. Not Thorn. She's not one of those cheesy girly girls. Right? She moved back up to her own row of seating and settled in with her head against the window. I could almost feel her mind racing, but what was going on in there.

Thorn's POV

After speaking to Jake, my mind felt lighter, but there was still so much going on. I didn't speak the rest of the way to Red River as I pondered on everything the last few days had brought. I had learned that my mother had been another pack's Luna, my best friend knew and didn't tell me, he also didn't tell me he was gay, and the man I was convinced hated me had not only become my biggest ally but had also resurrected a childhood nickname that made my heart skip a beat.

Once we arrived at Red River it was like having a six foot eight, gigantic shadow. Jake was never more than arms length away from me. He even escorted me to my room and cleared it first. We weren't like a lot of other packs who relied solely on their werewolf senses, when Jake cleared my room, he used a gun. He cleared it to his standards and told me not to leave without him. Little did he know, I had no plans to go anywhere. I would be showering and then going to sleep. It wasn't very late, but I was exhausted. Plus, tomorrow I would officially be eighteen and the counsel might actually take me seriously.

The next morning when I awakened, something immediately caught my attention. The sweetest smell I had ever encountered. It smelled like rain water and the ocean and sandalwood. It smelled masculine and sweet and it was the most incredible thing I had ever inhaled. I threw on a sweatshirt over the shirt and shorts I had slept in and followed the scent. Down the hall, down a set of stairs, down another hall, and directly into a conference room full of Alphas, Betas, and Gammas.

Alpha Ezra noticed me first. The Alpha of Black Forest pack leered at me until I heard a deep growl emanate from the rear of the room. The growl brought my attention back to the scent I had been following and I began pushing through the leaders and future leaders of all the packs in the area. Alpha Ezra had followed me, and before I noticed he had grabbed me by the back of my neck and begun pulling me back towards him. Once he had me against his body I could feel his length pressing into my back. He was going to take me as retribution to my father.

Alpha Ezra began to attempt to pull my from the room until a massive growl erupted from the back of the room again. This caught Alpha Ezra off guard and gave me my opportunity. I ducked low enough to elbow him in the stomach. I followed that with a stomp to his foot, I grabbed the wrist that had been holding my neck, twisted it backwards and shoved down at the same time. Alpha Ezra hit the floor just a half second before Jake was on top of him and dragging him into the back yard of the pack house.

Jake threw Alpha Ezra to the ground and kicked him. Beta Kyle and Gamma Tyler grabbed Jake by the arms and pulled him off of their Alpha. As Ezra stood from the ground, he landed a punch to Jake's ribs and I felt my side burn. I moved quickly and placed myself in between Jake and Ezra just as Ezra threw another punch. I grabbed his fist before it connected and this time I squeezed and twisted until the hand and wrist were broken. I stared at Kyle and Tyler and they released Jake and hurriedly went to check on their Alpha.

As I turned to Jake I reached out to touch where he had been struck. As soon as my hand brushed his skin, the sparks errupted. I inhaled deeply and discovered that the sweet smell from earlier was emanating from Jake. The breath caught in my throat as I growled out a single word.

"MATE."