Fated Mates: The Alphas's Choice

Jocelyn: Chapter Four

I had been so excited for Elena to finally come home. She was my very best friend and the only wolf I knew that didn't just see me as the Beta's daughter. She saw me as just a regular she-wolf that she didn't have to bend over backwards to be around.

She was the type of wolf that would bring me back from being an insufferable b*tch to anyone that messed with what was mine and also made sure I got through school without failing. She was the smartest wolf I knew and having her back home felt like a weight had been taken off of my shoulders.

Finding out a few months ago that I wasn't fated to Matt took a toll on me. That, coupled with the fact that she had to leave for the summer to go see her dad and his new family just had me feeling depressed most of the summer.

The only other wolf who could make me feel better was Matthew. I had to admit, time alone with Matt had been heavenly, but I always had the thought of us not being mates stuck in the forefront of my mind. We had promised each other to reject our mates for each other, but I honestly didn't know if I could do it.I had seen how fully and completely my parents loved each other and I knew that that's what I wanted for myself. I knew Matt loved me, but if there was someone out there who was made for me , could I give him up?

Lainey squeezed me as tightly as she could and I almost laughed. At five feet and three inches tall Lainey was one of the smallest wolves in our entire pack. She had been bullied about it whenever we were pups, which is how we became amazing friends.

She looked up at me with her mossy green eyes wide with wonder and a giant grin on her pouty lips. She leaned back and I grinned at her, confused at the weird look on her face. I asked her what was up with her because she was acting really strange. I walked back to my bed and made a comment on her behavior.

Her smile dimmed a little and she walked over to me, tip toeing up to meet my face. She nuzzled my neck and I felt myself stiffen. We were close friends, but not that close.

"Sorry Joss," she said in a breathy voice. "You just smell..." She continued to sniff at me and I placed my hands on her shoulders. "Good. You smell really good. New perfume?"

She pulled my hair to her nose and I giggled and pushed her away. She smiled up at me but I could see her concentrating on something really hard.

She stroked her hand through her short blonde hair and I could see the gears turning in her head. I made some stupid joke and watched her worriedly. I sniffed my hair and the air around me, but I couldn't smell anything new. We talked a little, but I could tell there was something bothering her. It made me wonder if something had happened to her over the summer.

Lainey hardly ever got bothered by anything. He was always calm and calculated about everything she did. So seeing her look so uneasy made me feel kind of uneasy. Her responses to me were strange. I wondered who's a** I'd have to kick for her to return back to normal.

It wasn't until Matt opened my bedroom door and I saw her face that I realized what was happening. I watched his smile fall and he glared at Lainey and then she gasped at him and looked at him like she wanted to jump his bones. I had never seen my best friend lust for anyone. Lainey wasn't like that. She always just kept to herself and just laughed when the males around us would compliment her. I honestly thought that Lainey was asexual. She didn't look at anyone with any type of interest. Until now.

I felt my heart shatter as I realized what I was witnessing and couldn't wrap my mind around why. I felt this rage as I watched both of them stare at each other. She tried to touch me but I backed away. I felt my whole body shake as I huddled up against the headboard of my bed.

"GET OUT!" Matt yelled at her. I felt myself submit to his Alpha voice, baring my neck. I felt like crap as I watched him grab her arm and hurl her out of my bedroom. He slammed the door and then stood there, breathing hard and staring at the bedroom door with longing.

I wiped my eyes groaning as I noticed he had a hard on. He didn't look away from my bedroom door until we heard her charge out of the Beta quarters of the pack house. He took a few deep breaths like he had been under water and ran his hands over his face and through his dark hair. His eyes were clouded with tears and I reached out to him.

He glanced at me and shook his head slightly, holding his hand up for me to give him a second. He bent over at the waist putting his balled up fists on his knees and shaking his head quickly."

"F*ck!" He growled and wiped his eyes quickly.

"Is it her?" I asked him quietly. My voice shook. I didn't know how to make it so that he didn't feel bad. He swallowed hard and nodded. He shook his head and walked over to me and laid his head in my lap. I wrapped my arms around him and closed my eyes, feeling his heart beat erratically in his chest.

I loved him so much, but I was so mad. Why Goddess? Why her? She was my best friend! And the way they had looked at each other! I gagged internally. How could this happen? And where did Lainey go? How was she? She had just gotten back! Why?

I rubbed Matt's back, feeling him shake with sobs in my arms. This was the first. This was the only time I had ever seen his so emotional. Ever.

After about half an hour, I lifted his face to mine and pressed my lips gently against his. He moved back quickly, grimacing and putting his hands to his swollen red eyes. He didn't kiss me back.

Was this part of it? Could he not kiss anyone else now that she was his fated mate. Could he not be with me until he rejected her? My throat felt tight from emotion and my eyes couldn't seem to control themselves.

As if he had heard my thoughts, he crushed his lips to mine and kissed me hard. His tongue moved over mine and I moaned into his mouth. He moved slowly down my neck then stiffened. He inhaled deeply and I knew he could smell her. I knew that when she had nuzzled me she had probably left her scent behind like a giant neon sign. Elena was here!

He growled and backed away from me. "Why do you smell like her? Why is it so strong there?" Matt's eyes were black and his voice was distorted from his wolf trying to take control.

I wiped at my neck quickly and sighed. She must have smelled him on me. That's why she had been acting strange and sniffing around my neck and hair. "She smelled you on me." I whispered to him.

He closed his eyes, his jaw clenched and his hands balled up into fists. He took a few breaths and opened his eyes. He was back in control. His ocean eye looked over my face and he laid back on my bed looking tired.

"H-How does it feel?" I asked him. I wasn't sure if I really wanted an answer, but I knew that we needed to try to talk it out. I wasn't sure if we were even together anymore.

"Which part?" he asked tiredly.

"Everything? Is it like she had said? Like, how everyone have said it feels?"

He looked at the ceiling with his hands on his stomach. I could see him thinking and I waited.

"It's like everyone says. It's an insane urge to want to be around her. I can't...,"he swallowed hard, shutting his eyes again. "I can't stop thinking about her. I feel like sh*t."

I felt a stab to my chest , hearing him say that. I hated that he wanted her and I knew it wasn't their fault, but it hurt.

"Why?"

"Because I love you, but I can feel the pull towards her."

"You still love me?"

He clenched his jaw, then nodded. But I could see something in his expression. I wondered if he was lying to me. I wondered if what he was feeling for her was taking from his feelings for me.

"Are...are you going to reject her?"

He sighed and punched the bridge of his nose.

"That's what I intended to do," he whispered. Intended? Like, he wasnt going to do it anymore?" I felt guilty as I thought of Lainey and then of her mom and everything they went through with her dad. But he was mine. I wouldn't be able to be friends with her if I saw them together. And besides...she couldn't be Luna. She was horrible at being social. No one would accept her. She was a runt. She would make small, weak pups. No one would follow Matt if he made her his Luna.

I clenched my jaw, the guilt of feeling hate towards Lainey eating at me.

"Are you still going to?"

He sat up and I could see his jaw set tightly.

"I need to go."

"Go where?" I felt panic set in. What if he marked her? What if he went to look for her and couldn't stop himself. "Answer me." I took his hand and he tore it from my hands. He ran his hand over his face again and shook his head.

"Do you love her?" he asked me quietly. I furrowed my eyebrows. What? Why was he asking me that?

"Yes. She's my best friend. Why?"

"Because she could die if I rejected her."

I shook my head quietly. I. school we had learned some of this stuff, but it didn't happen all of the time. There were even statistics on how likely a mate would die of rejection. Lainey knew all of that information by heart.

"No. Not always."

"Elena would." he said plainly. I could see the pain in his face as he said it and I placed my hand on his back.

"Why do you think that?" I asked. I tried to think of Elena being gone and felt my chest tighten. I may be pissed off, but I didn't want that.

"Because she's a tiny, weak Omega." He sighed and glanced at me. My poor baby looked like he had aged a year since this morning. He looked bad. He patted my hand and stood up. He walked to my bedroom door a d I followed him.

"What are we going to do then?"

"I don't know, Joss. I really don't. I need to go up to my room and think sh*t through."

Think sh*t through? My stomache dropped. What did that mean for us?

" Are we still together?" I hated that I sounded so whiny and clingy. I always made fun of those type of girls with Lainey.

"Yes." was all he said before he left. He didn't even give me a kiss good-bye.