Secrets of his Mate

Thirteen

Roman

    He was a complete i***t. Attacking me was the biggest mistake he could have made. He may have been my Alpha, but I was not one he wanted to f**k with. We were no longer children. I was no longer the young warrior who wanted nothing but to serve this pack and make everybody proud. I had accomplished just that yet received absolutely nothing in return. I remained grateful and kept my spirits high through it all. I stood by Alessandro's side countless times whether right or wrong. I defended him and protected him. All of that was for what?

    "I'm fine! I shouted at the guards assisting me inside the pack house after shifting back to our human forms. One of them brought me a change of clothes. "You can go now," I instructed once dressed. They took off respecting my wishes. I limped to the conservatory where I often went to clear my mind. There I found Elana staring blankly out of the glass. She turned looking at me a bit confused.

    "What happened to you?" she asked with concern looking me over.

    I glanced at my shirt and noticed the blood that caught her eye. "It's nothing. It's already healed."

    "What do you mean? You're bleeding."

    "No. It was bleeding. The wound is not there anymore. Werewolves heal a lot faster than humans." I took a few steps and sat on the bench beside her showing her my shoulder.

    "What happened to your foot?" she asked as she watched me limp.

    "It doesn't matter. It's almost completely healed too."

    "That's good, but something must've happened to you." She watched as I thought about what to say. "Tell me." she urged.

    With a deep sigh I said, "I got into a fight with Alessandro."

    I stared as her expression changed to surprise and worry. "Are you serious? He hurt you because of me, didn't he?"

    I looked at the floor unsure of how to respond. "I shouldn't have been down there in the first place." I remembered walking into the arcade and her position on the booth table. A sight I would always remember and regret seeing it at that moment with Alessandro.

    "That was an accident. I told him to let it go!"

    She was partially correct. The truth was that I was on my way to find a way to disturb their time together.. I didn't want them growing closer. The only accident was walking in on them having s*x. I froze and wasn't sure how to react after that. I knew Alessandro would retaliate. "That's not something he's capable of letting go even if he tried."

    She rolled her eyes. "Why is he like this? Why is he such a selfish, egotistical control freak?"

    "He's an Alpha. That's all he knows." Just by looking at her, I knew something was running through her mind. I did my best to calm her. "No matter what though, he will never, ever hurt you." It made me sick coming to his defense, but I didn't want her to worry.

    "Do you really believe that?" I nodded my head. A scoff came from her. "Well that's a lie. He's already hurt me."

    That triggered alarm bells in me. "What do you mean? Did Alessandro hit you?" I almost shouted in anger. She shook her head and looked at the ground. I wanted to protect her now. I wanted her to confide in me and tell me everything going through her head. "What did he do to you?"

    "You mean besides kidnapping me?" I gave her an apologetic look. She took a deep a breath before saying, "I don't want you to make this a big deal or go after him, okay?"

    Frustratedly I agreed. "Fine."

    "After you left and I told him to leave you alone, he yelled in my face and choked me. His teeth and claws were showing for a second before he calmed down and apologized. Please I don't want him to know I told you though."

    I was furious. How did she expect me not to go after him knowing what he did? That was no way to treat a mate. I began pacing back a forth in the room thinking of all the ways I wanted to tear him to shreds. I was done being his faithful yes man. "He doesn't deserve you, Elana," I admitted sitting back down beside her with tears building as my heart broke for her.

    "What do you mean?"

    Without a second thought, I leaned in and brushed my lips against hers. It felt so soft and smooth. There was an intoxicating taste that left me wanting more, but I stopped when I realized she wasn't returning the kiss. My heart sank knowing the feeling wasn't mutual. I should have known that. She was Alessandro's mate, but I hoped she could fight it and choose me instead.

    "What was that for?" she asked confused.

    "I'm sorry. I just couldn't hold the urge any more. I shouldn't have-"

    "No. It's okay," she reassured me. "I just don't know what I should be feeling right now. You're Alessandro's best friend."

    "Was," I corrected. "I'm not sure if he'll ever forgive me and right now I honestly don't care. What he did to you was so wrong. I would never do that to you."

    She gave me a small smile. "I know you won't. I just don't wanna start any drama. I'm not worth it."

    "Are you kidding me? You're worth so much more. I can give you that. We should run off together. I know I'll be a rogue wolf, but I can protect you and we'll-"

    "Roman," she stopped me in my tracks. "You know we can't do that. I belong to Alessandro whether I like it or not. That's just the way it is." I felt my soul sinking bringing any hope I had with until she spoke again. "Unless we work together to take him down."

    My head perked up. "Are you sure you want to go against him?" She nodded her head. "How do you want to do this?"

    Her eyes seemed to flicker red as she spoke. "You're going to make him think you're still loyal to him and make him trust you."

    "Trust me, he'll believe we're still friends. Are you okay though? You're eyes looked kind of different just now."

    "Don't worry about that. I think I'm just a bit tired." Her eyes flashed red again. "You're going to tell me everything he does and what he has planned even if it doesn't directly involve me." The redness disappeared from her eyes.

    "That's not a problem, but when do we attack him?" I asked eagerly.

    She flashed me another caring smile. "I'll let you know when the time comes. You just have to trust me, okay?" I nodded. "No one else can know about this."

    "I won't tell a soul."

    "Good. Now I should probably get going before he starts getting suspicious." I gave her a hug and kissed her forehead before watching her walk away.

    I couldn't believe this was really happening. I felt butterflies inside my stomach. Elana was really on my side. Alessandro was going to be put in his place once and for all. After he was finally out of the picture, we were going to run off together. It was like a twisted fairytale coming true.

    A few hours after speaking with Elana, I made my way to my room where I thought about everything she said. I was hoping I could pull off faking a friendship with Alessandro. It was all I was counting on to succeed with her plan.

    As I laid in bed, a knock came from the door. Tony entered announcing, "Alessandro is ready to see you in his office now."

    "I'll be there in a moment." He left and I thought about how badly I wanted to fight him for what he did to her, but I controlled myself for her sake and made my way to his office.

    He was sitting on his chair behind his desk twiddling a pen in his fingers. I sat in one of the chairs across from him. The air was still. The silence was deafening. The tension could be cut with a knife. Minutes passed before either of us said a word.

    "Why don't you tell me why you were in the arcade before I strangle you?" he stated suddenly.

    His words alone made me want to lounge at him in that moment. I thought of Elana and resisted against the thought. "I told you already. You've got this all wrong. I didn't know you two were down there all alone."

    "When I give an order to not disturb us, I mean it!"

    "I didn't get any mind link from you saying that." I spoke slowly so he could digest each word.

    "No one has ever missed one of my mind links before." He stared at me intently.

    "I've always answered your orders haven't I? Didn't you think something was off when I didn't?"

    He sat quietly in thought for a moment. All of a sudden he looked to the door and froze solid as if he'd seen a ghost. I turned to look and caught a glimpse of Alpha Ethan roaming the halls. "What the hell?"

    "Get him!" Alessandro roared. We raced out the door to find nobody in sight. We looked at each other puzzled. We ran towards the direction he was heading, but still couldn't find any trace of him. In a flash we were down in the dungeon to find him chained in his assigned cell. It seemed we had woken him from a slumber.   

    "Did you guys miss me?" Alpha Ethan smirked.

    Alessandro and I looked at each other more confused then before. Out of no where we broke out into laughter together. We both knew our fight was starting to make us go crazy and see things that weren't there. I knew it wasn't much, but it was the start of us putting our situation behind us and going about our friendship as usual. At least that's what he thought.