MATED TO THE COLD ALPHA

Chapter 13

Sera POV

The woman entered the house and moved within it as if she were its owner.

She was more beautiful than I imagined, only five feet six inches tall. But she carried herself with such an air of superiority that she dominated the room she was entering.

The Alpha's jaw clenched immediately.

"God damn, Zerk." She said. She walked against the marble floor in her high heels, looking him straight in the face. She examined the Alpha from top to bottom with such indifference. "You look like hell. When's the last time you've actually slept?"

"You address me as Alpha." He replied coldly. His words cut through the air.

Kira took a step back and looked at him in surprise, giggling, like he'd said something ridiculous. "I'm family. I don't need to call you Alpha."

"In this house, you do."

"In this house, you're still my aggressive cousin who cried like a baby from a horror movie while we were kids." She turned from him without waiting for an answer and noticed me standing near the door, my jacket still wide-open, my hair an absolute mess.

There was something in her gaze, not of disapproval, more like an interest. Then a small smile appeared on her lips.

"Well, well, well. Whom do we have here?" She asked, turning back to him with genuine curiosity.

The Alpha's face went completely blank.

"That's none of your business." His voice was flat. Clinical. The way he spoke with no emotion in his tone.

Kira raised an eyebrow. "Whaaaat. Why not? Are you hiding something from me?"

"Good, then leave it alone."

"You're being unexpectedly secretive." She studied him for a moment. The set of his shoulders, the way his hands had curled into fists at his sides. "I'm finding this pretty interesting, because I've never seen you affected by anything like this before."

"Drop it, Kira."

"Or what? You'll kick me out of your house?" She smiled, not mockingly, but with genuine affection underneath it. "We both know you won't do that. I'm not leaving either way. What's happening here, and who is she?"

For a moment, they just stood there, the Alpha and his cousin, gazing at each other. Then the Alpha turned away.

"She is not of your concern." He said coldly. She is… a guest. That is all you need to know."

Kira's smile widened slightly. "A guest who looks like she's been through war. A guest with messy hair. A guest who looks very frightened even when you're trying very hard to pretend she's invisible. Seems to me something went down between the two of you."

"Enough!"

"What's her name?" Kira pressed, ignoring his tone completely.

A long silence stretched between them.

"Sera." He said, his voice indifferent. "Now stop asking questions."

Kira nodded, stepping away from him. "Alright, Alright. I'll stop asking." She turned toward me with that warm smile still in place.

The Alpha's jaw tightened so hard that it made the lines look sharper.

"Hi there." She said, crossing toward me with her hand extended. "I'm Kira. You must be the reason why my cousin looks like he wants to murder somebody."

I stared at her hand for half a second before taking her hand. Her grip was firm and warm, and completely unlike anything I'd expected from someone related to the Alpha.

"I'm Sera." The words came out uncertain.

"Sera." She repeated my name like she was tasting it. "That's a beautiful name. Where are you from?"

"A… Ashbone Pack." The words were barely a whisper. Before I could think about how much information I should really be giving to her.

Something shifted in Kira's expression, a shift in focus, like a thought had occurred to her and she was turning it over carefully. But she didn't push it, just smiled warmly and squeezed my hand once more before releasing it.

"Come. Let me make you some tea. You look like you've had a terrible night." She linked her arm through mine like we were friends already, and I found myself being gently steered toward the side of the sitting room I'd never seen before.

Behind us, the Alpha's voice cut across the space.

"Kira. You don't even know who she is, and you're already treating her like family." His tone was sharp, carrying an aura across the entire living room. "She is a trespasser on my pack."

Kira stopped and turned back to look at him, amusement dancing in her eyes. "Is that what this is? You're worried I'm going to be deceived or attacked by her?" She shook her head. "I can read people, Zerk. It's part of my natural talent. And?" She glanced back at me. "She doesn't seem like a bad person or a threat."

"That's not your decision to make."

"Actually, it is. I'm family too, which means I get to make my own judgments on who deserves kindness in your home." She turned back to face him fully. Her chin tilted up. "And I think she deserves kindness. Whether that matters to you or not."

The Alpha's hands clenched at his sides. His eyes, those golden brown eyes that had been so cold moments ago, flashed red with something darker. But he said nothing.

"We'll remain in the sitting room if you need us," Kira said cheerfully, already steering me away before he could respond. "Try not to frown too intensely, ok Zerk. It gives you wrinkles." Giggles.

A sharp growl rumbled in his chest. Then he walked across the floorboards. A slow, crushing rhythm that sent chills down my spine.

Kira led and sat me down on a cream coloured sofa that probably cost more than ten times my own allowance. She disappeared for five minutes and came back with a brush.

"Let me fix your hair." She said gently.

I looked down and realised that my palms looked scraped. Little bruises already forming on my knuckles where I'd hit the wall earlier.

"Did Zerk do this?" There was no judgment in her tone, just a factual question.

"Yes." The word came out too fast. "He is so aggressive and mean."

She cleaned my hands carefully, her touch nothing like the Alpha's brutal grip. This was gentle. Motherly almost. And it made something inside my chest tighten in a way that made me feel relaxed.

"He can be… very difficult at times," Kira stated. Wrapping my hands softly. "He has been like that ever since a rogue pack killed his parents. People talked about the attack, about the trauma the child they left behind, but it runs so much deeper than just grief." She looked up at me. "That's why he destroys anything that comes in his path. He handles things almost without an ounce of mercy. Because to him, mercy is just another word for weakness.”

I said nothing.

Because what was there to say? He had already made it clear that the bond meant nothing to him. That he'd pinned me against a wall and still called me an inconvenience. That I'd felt his heartbeat racing just as fast as mine, and he'd still rejected it, rejected me.

Kira finished wrapping up my hands and stood up, adjusting her dress like she hadn't just said something that made my understanding of the Alpha more true.

"I should go talk to him." She said, "He's probably furious and angry right now that I called him Zerk in front of you. He likes to keep his real name a secret. He's very strict about the rules he sets in his pack." She smiled at me warmly. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Sera. We'll continue to talk later."

She left me sitting on that cream coloured sofa with my treated hands and my whirling thoughts. I heard her footsteps disappear down the hallway toward his study room.