The Alpha and Her Secret Mate

Threats

Taylor doesn’t look up from the papers she’s reading when I come in. “Did I see you talking to Alex down there? We could really use his help on this.”

“NO!”

She looks up in surprise.

“I mean, yes that was Alex. But no, he won’t be helping us on this.” I sit down at my desk, hoping Taylor will take the hint and drop it.

“Did something happen between you two?” she asks, eyeing me cautiously.

“No,” I say immediately. Too fast, really, because Taylor’s curiosity is not satisfied at all. “It’s nothing, and I don’t want to talk about it.”

“So it’s nothing?” she says with a thoughtful frown. “But also, it’s something that you are insistent about not discussing.”

I glare at her, trying to infuse some of that Alpha authority that I sometimes get.

“It’s just no thing that your ex boyfriend, who you only broke up with because the two of you discovered he wasn’t your mate, is now sulking around and making you upset. Oh and he has a history of being involved with the rival that tried to kill you barely a month ago! Did I miss anything?”

“Taylor!” I say with a sigh. “And he was only hanging around Alan because he was so upset about breaking up with me. He’s fine now.”

Taylor raises her eyebrows at me. “That does not make it any better, and also, don’t think I didn’t notice how you ignored half of what I said. I knew he was upsetting you!”

“Yes, fine, whatever. He’s upsetting me. I still don’t want to talk about it.”

I glare at her with all of the Alpha power I can muster and she glares right back with some hidden depth of Beta power that I hadn’t noticed before.

For a moment, I consider telling her about Alex. That I know he’s my mate, and that the thought of living without him makes me feel like I can’t breathe. I consider confiding how scared I am that publicly having a mate will threaten my authority, particularly when it’s Alex. Before, when I was unable to shift, Alex was considered as a potential Alpha. I don’t know if I can bear to have the pack defer to him over me. I’m about to say something. I love Taylor, and I’m sure I can trust her.

But then I remember Alex’s eyes in the forest that night. His predatory grin, and the way he seemed so unfamiliar to me. The memory of that fear cools my blood, and I don’t know how to talk about any of that. To anyone.

“Please,” I say.

She stares at me silently for a minute in a clear battle of wills. “Fine,” she says finally. “But you have to promise to tell me if he becomes a threat. In any way.”

“I promise. Alex is not a threat,” I lie. I turn away so that she doesn’t notice me blushing with memories of last night.

“Great, let’s get started, I have some thoughts on the Rogues you accepted into the pack, and I asked Dan, and there doesn’t really seem to be a policy in place for accepting new members who aren’t mated to an existing member. Huge oversight!” She keeps talking about what she’s found, and I skim over her notes. She’s identified a few potential security threats, but nothing substantiated. Just suspicions and speculation. “I have a few more things to write up in my report, and then we can make a game plan for the investigation.”

I nod quietly, and she’s already returned to making notes. I watch her work and consider again telling her about my mate. But then I’d need to explain why I hid it for so long, and that prospect is too much to deal with this early in the morning.

I wander over to the bookshelf in the office. All the books here are still the ones that Grandpa had selected to keep close by. I’d always loved the recessed shelving, built into the walls, and painted to seamlessly be a part of the room. Now I study the titles he picked to keep here. There are some modern titles, best sellers, a Stephen King title. Then some older books from the human world.

I skim my fingers over a copy of the complete works of Shakespeare bound in a beautiful green linen. “Wait! Was William Shakespeare a shifter?” I blurt out as soon as I have the thought.

Taylor looks up at me and blinks a few times, then silently shakes her head.

I’m embarrassed for even thinking it, but I quickly move on. There are a few books in a language I don’t recognize, so I skip right past those. Then there’s a full three shelves that appear to all be shifter history.

The Shifter Wars, a Critical Analysis.

Tales from the Shifter Wars.

The Battle of Gargoyles.

I glance up at Taylor at that one, and wonder if the fact that gargoyles are real is news to her too.

The Goddess’ Plans and Western Expansion.