The Fury Pack Alpha's Secret Mate

Chapter four-Denial

My son.

Adam's words echo through me with the force of a blow, and I swallow, my nerves turning to sheer panic.

Fix this! Do something. Don't just stand here and listen to him! Smell? What the hell does he mean he can smell that Jackson is his son?

My mind races, tossing out the implications, and I shudder. I'm not doing this. I'm not going wherever this lunatic is trying to lead me. All I know is, I can't let him stand here and lay claim to my baby. I won't. I've spent four years being Jackson's mom. He's my life. My reason for breathing. He saved me. When I found out I was pregnant, it was a new beginning. He gave me a reason to keep going even when my heart felt like it couldn't, didn't want to, keep beating.

So no. I'm not about to let this asshole walk in after five years and lay claim to my child. Or worse, take him from me.

“Okay, so… what? You think we used the same shampoo?” I mumble, stiffening when Adam growls.

Like, actually growls at me. From his chest, while his eyes flash with something animalistic and so otherworldly, I freeze.

Okay. Seriously. Get a grip. I know you’re panicking and stuff, but people don’t growl like animals, and his eyes aren’t swirling like liquid silver. You’re being silly, Rogue.

“What the f**k was that?” I snap, narrowing my eyes and puffing up my chest when he does it again.

“You really don’t know?” Adam asks, his expression going from rage to a bewilderment that makes me blink and doubles my emotional chaos.

I narrow my eyes.

“Know what, Adam? That apparently you’ve developed a throat condition that makes you sound like a pit bull? That you’re staring at my kid and sniffing people like a creep? No. Enlighten me.” I snap, squirming when he stares at me for what feels like an eternity before he shakes his head and sighs.

“I’m not human, Rogue.”

I blink. And then I snort so hard I almost choke on my own spit.

“Oh, my God. You’re doing the ‘I’m secretly a vampire’ thing. This is a s*x cult, isn’t it? You guys do blood oaths and bark at the moon while wearing leather chokers.” I huff, but it’s a reach, and I know exactly why I’m doing it.

Because I know. I know something’s been wrong for years, and I don’t want to accept it. Think about it. Even acknowledge what could be hanging in the air. No. Just no. I’m not up for this s**t. Adam’s eyes flash silver. Actually flash. Like something lights up behind them, and I stop laughing when he leans forward so close I catch another whiff of him.

“I’m a wolf shifter. Alpha of the Fury Pack. I met you six years ago, and I knew you were mine. I fought it. I ran. But I left something behind.” He says softly, his eyes filling with regret when they flick toward Jackson.

I open my mouth. Then close it before I clear my throat and get a grip on the emotions bombarding me.

“What the hell are you saying?”

“I’m saying,” he says, voice deep, “we’re bonded. Mated.”

“Is this... a Twilight role-play thing?” I ask. “Do you have a tail? Should I pet you?”

Adam groans.

“Rogue—”

“No, I’m serious. Because if you’re a werewolf, does that mean I’m a—?” I stop.

Think, and my brain goes straight to the one thing I’ve been too scared to talk about out loud.

The voice.

The ache.

The way my body burns randomly, like I’m going into heat. As if some feral thing inside me is pissed off and horny at the same time.

“Oh my God,” I whisper. “You did infect me.”

Adam blinks.

“What?”

“You came inside me. Is this one of those times when the guy finds all of his past flings and tells them he has an STD!” I yell, my mind racing so fast I feel like I’m losing it a little. “You infected me with crazy. Oh my God! Like...herpes?"

Adam stares at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“What? No! Jesus, Rogue. I didn't give you an STD. It doesn’t work like that. I turned you.”

“Says the man who thinks he’s a dog.” I fire back.

“Wolf.” Adam snaps, sounding so offended, I snort.

“Whatever, Cujo.”

“Rogue, you’re not fully human.”

I freeze.

“What the hell did you just say to me?” I yell, lowering my voice when Jacky looks up and frowns before going back to his game or book.

He sighs, running a hand through his hair.

“I left because I didn’t want to drag you into this, because I knew you weren’t a suitable mate, but I must have…fully mated you when we slept together. I’m sorry, but I think my DNA…changed you.”

“Suitable…fuck you.” I hiss, my eyes stinging with unshed tears of hurt, before I manage to blink them away.

“I did. And I apparently changed you.” Adam says softly.

“I don’t know what kind of mind-f**k you’re playing at,” I say, “but I’m not a shifter, or a wolf.”

“You’re something, Rogue. Your symptoms are the result of an incomplete mating bond. You’re in constant heat. That voice you talk to? That’s your animal.”

I open my mouth. Close it again.

“...No,” I whisper, swallowing a scream.

“It explains everything. Why no other man satisfies you. Why you’re in pain. You need to complete the bond.” Adam says, sighing when I step back like he just pulled out a wedding ring made of barbed wire.

“Oh, no. Hell no. You do not get to disappear, come back, claim you turned me into a s*x-wolf, and then tell me the cure is marrying your possessive ass.” I rage in a violent whisper of denial.

Adam shrugs like it's obvious.

“Actually, it’s mating. Not marriage. The wedding part’s optional.”

I blink at him, taken aback for a second, and then I curse so violently, Adam flinches and narrows his eyes at me.

“I would rather light my ovaries on fire than marry or mate you.” I sneer and though my body protests and the voice doesn’t sound happy, I ignore it all and turn.

You know what, I have more important things to do than stand here and entertain this lunatic. I have a waffle to make, I have a business to run, and I have a lawyer to call just in case this asshole tries to do something.

What I don’t need to do is pay attention to the way my p***y clenches or the ache that’s settled deep in my womb, as if just having Adam Fury here is enough to awaken a body that’s been in dormant need for years.

“Rogue—”

“Don’t. Don’t say another word. I can’t deal with this right now, Adam Fury. You have no right to come back after five years and lay all of this on me as if I just have to…believe it. Accept. Take your word for it. You sound like a f*****g lunatic and, frankly, I don’t care if half of the things you’re saying sound true! It’s taken me five years to find some semblance of normalcy and to control the raging agony you left me in. You have no right to just walk in here after five years and demand anything from me.” I hiss, turning back to drill a finger into his chest. “You—”

“I’m not leaving.” Adam snarls, cutting me off and leaning down to stare into my eyes.