Beyond Fate

Walk of shame

(Alisha’s pov)

After our steamy shower I made Lucas get out so I could shower alone and actually get clean. He stood by the sink watching me refusing to leave the room while I was wet and naked telling me it was a waste of a view if he wasn’t there to watch. I could see his eyes going black with lust just at the sight of me but I wouldn’t give in, smiling smugly at him. When he realised I really wasn’t going to give in for round two he left to get dressed.

Whenever we showered together we always ended up more dirty than when we got in, I wasn’t complaining, in fact I’d never enjoyed showers more than I had the past month. Mom and dad may have been happy to stay at the pack but had concerns when I had moved into Lucas’s room in the pack house a week ago. If I was honest the first night I’d moved in I’d almost packed my stuff and gone home.

I thought back to that night I’d gone down into the kitchen alone. I was on a high from moving in with my boyfriend and actually being happy for once when Nathan had come at me out of nowhere. He was going crazy the first time since I’d known him he’d actually scared me. He’d called me a w***e telling me I’d proved my point sleeping with lucas and had his attention. The arsehole was actually more delusional than I realised.

Nathan thought I was with Lucas to make him jealous. When I told him I wasn’t with Lucas because of him he’d gotten nasty and said lucas would soon get board of his pity f**k and leave me too. It had hurt but instead of crying I’d smacked him across the face shocking myself and Nathan, not even my wolf had scalded me for that.

Lucas had come in just after so no more had been said and I hadn’t seen him since. Apparently our new alpha was serious in his word to change things not only had he been making sure no one hurt me again he had also begun making changes to the pack itself which meant nathan was getting a taste of what real Beta life is like, more to the point alpha Mitchell was modernising our way of life, a decision that hadn’t been welcomed by a lot of the pack.

I came out of the bathroom wrapped in my towel Lucas was sat on the bed reading one of the many spell books from the pile on the table next to the bed we’d been compiling over the past weeks, so far we hadn’t found anything concrete to help remove the mate bond unless I wanted to risk my wolf dying. Lucas always offered to just remove Nathan from the situation completely and I had to admit sometimes I didn’t think it was a joke which worried me. I hated Nathan for the things he’d put me through but I didn’t want him dead I just wanted him to let me go. It seemed I was destined to forever have Nathan strapped to me like the leech that he was.

Honestly I couldn’t be concerned with any of it, my new relationship with Lucas wasn’t just causing problems with Nathan. My family were having reservations about this whole thing with Lucas too, Johnny hadn’t warmed to him any more in the past weeks since we had started dating and dad was even worse he barely engaged in conversation with him, Lucas tried but accepted that my family were just worried. At first I’d been worried that they all knew about Nathan until my mom had pulled me aside excitedly asking if Lucas was my mate. Once I’d told her no she seemed just as concerned about our relationship as the boys were. I put it down to Johnny already having to take a chosen mate and they were obviously worried I’d have to do the same thing.

Despite all the obvious obstacles Lucas had been amazing and I was beginning to really fall for him but it was always at the back of my mind that he hadn’t found his mate yet and of course we still had Nathan lurking round every corner waiting to strike lucas has always been one step ahead of him and if I wasn’t with lucas I was with alpha Mitchell although he still had no idea Nathan was my fated mate having him around seemed enough to detour Nathan.

As I put on my bra adjusting the straps on my shoulder I felt strong arms snake around my waist. Lucas dipped his head kissing my bare skin.

“ What were you thinking about?” He whispered in my ear.

“ you” I smiled over my shoulder at him. Things with Lucas had been great but there was this sort of elephant in the room that was becoming harder to ignore. I could never put my finger on it but it always felt like he was avoiding something, we seemed to have skipped over the getting to know you part of the relationship and fallen straight into a domestic routine.

In the month we had been together I hadn’t learnt any more about Lucas’s life than I did four weeks ago any time I tried to learn more about his life back home he’d always change the subject I didn’t know the name of his pack or which part of the U.S he was from all I could get out of him was that he wasn’t close to his family any more and he moved around a lot so he was never really home. To get that out of him had caused an argument so I found just not asking any more was normally easier but it was beginning to whein on me a little that I didn’t know anything more about my American stud outside the bedroom than when he’d first come here my family and Jasmine would ask about him and I’d get embarrassed when I didn’t know the answers it was becoming apparent to those around us our relationship was based on a very specific area, not that I was complaining that side was pretty f*****g Ace he hadn’t been joking when he said he was going to teach me everything he knew and id been a dedicated student but you can’t base an entire relationship on s*x can you.

The things he would say were inconsistent and I could tell it was frustrating him especially when he couldn’t keep up with his lies he had already told. He would get angry and just say he didn’t have a good family life back home and preferred to leave it.

When I asked where he’d travelled he’d tell me he’d been just about everywhere that’s why he had so many contacts throughout the supernaturals. All of my questions about him were met with vague answers or he’d just shut them down completely. After four weeks of being together I didn’t feel like I knew him any more now than when he’d first arrived.

Maybe I was just reading too much into it. I mean it had only been a few weeks, it wasn’t like I had the best track record when it came to relationships. The only experience I had was the toxic asshole Nathan and his abuse of the mate bond. Maybe I was setting my standards too high,I was being a silly little girl again living for this idea of what a relationship should be like. I’d always looked at my parents seeing how completely in love they were and what a great team they made in every sense of the word. That’s what I’d always imagined when I’d thought about finding my mate and falling in love but that wasn’t always the case.

I was being stupid worrying I was sure given time Lucas would relax a bit more, he was wonderful but he was kind of a lone wolf, if ever there could such a thing it was Lucas. He didn’t really engage with others apart from the basic’s he came across initially, friendly and laid back but he kept his distance never really forming any friendships with anyone besides Mitchell.

I guess he was just used to being alone this whole thing wasn’t just new to me either Lucas had told me he didn’t really do relationships I was pretty sure I was his first girlfriend and we hadn’t exactly been taking things slow we slept together five minutes after he told me he was falling for me and after three weeks we were officially living together. talk about fast.

“ I have to go Mina will be awake soon” I rubbed his arm moving out of his embrace to finish getting dressed. Mina and I had slipped back into our old routine only now I was splitting my time between being Mina’s carrer and helping out at the pack school mina was attending three days a week now and she had taken to it like a fish to water. She even had a few little friends which was wonderful to see.

I’ll admit things hadn’t been quite so smooth for me, for a start my position at the school had been arranged by alpha Mitchell as a way to ease Mina into the nursery some of the older kids and teachers whispered and stared at me, apparently a reputation was easier to destroy than rebuild but the nursery teacher miss Phillips was a lovely woman older than me but still young she had shoulder length light brown hair she always wore pretty floral dresses even in the winter she always reminded me of miss honey from Matilda sweet and loving every kids idea of the perfect teacher and Mina loved her almost as much as me. She’d been the only one to make me feel welcomed my first week working at the school but once people realised I wasn’t going anywhere things had eased I was done hiding I couldn’t believe that I had hidden myself away to make them feel better all that time so they had better get used to having me around.

I went to the wardrobe grabbing my usual pair of jeans and t.shirt some things didn’t change but I had started taking a bit more care in my appearance since having a boyfriend, now I wasn’t invisible any more I didn’t want to give anyone anymore reason to wonder what the hell lucas was interested in me for. I applied a bit of makeup and fixed my hair instead of scraping it into my usual ponytail. I kissed Lucas quickly, dodging his attempt to get me back into bed. I'd fallen victim to his tricks a few times so I’d learnt to kiss and run.

Leaving mine and Lucas’s room I headed down the hallway to Mina's. I went straight in not seeing anyone. one of the other things alpha Mitchell and I had agreed on was no more night nannies, Mina wasn’t a baby anymore and we had agreed now that alpha Mitchell was in the room next to her and Lucas’s was only down the hallway Mina was old enough to mindlink one of us if she needed us so for the past two weeks she had been sleeping by herself. I was more than happy to not have to deal with any sulky omegas first thing in the morning. The females were not taking my snatching up the hot mysterious American the second he’d arrived too well. I had pretty much upset the entire female community with that stunt, not that I cared it was pretty satisfying getting to flaunt my hot lover around the pack but it hadn’t really done much for my popularity even Heather had been avoiding me I guess she hadn’t had chance to have the fun she’d been hoping for with lucas before I came along.

Going through to Mina’s bedroom my eyes went wide to see her bed was unmade but there was no Mina there, I was about to mindlink her when I heard voices coming from the bathroom. Opening it I saw Mina sat on the toilet lid while Mitchell was bent down in front of her helping her pull her jumper over her head. I smiled leaning against the door frame watching them Mina was inspecting her clothes while alpha Mitchell was now tying her shoelaces on her sparkly converse.

“ morning you two” they both looked at me, Mina’s face lit up and alpha Mitchell gave me a half smile.

“ You're up early” I sated wondering if I’d forgotten something. Normally Mitchell would meet us for breakfast and we would walk Mina to the nursery before he started his day.

“ I have back to back meetings this morning so I can’t walk with you ladies today, I thought I’d pop in and dress her instead” I couldn’t help but smile at how sweet he was, he hadn’t been lying about proving himself he was doing everything he could to be the best dad he could be.

I’d like to say things had been great between myself and the alpha since our little heart to heart but that would be a lie, we were fine when working together we had found a nice balance and his relationship with Mina was improving a lot. It seemed to just be my new relationship with his friend that he didn’t like he hadn’t said anymore about it since that day he had asked me to stay but it was obvious he still has speculations about my character and didn’t want me around his good friend I’d tried to hang out with him for Lucas’s sake but it was tense at best I got the impression alpha Mitchell didn’t like the pack omega being with his friend. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t upsetting, no matter how much of an amends he wanted to make he clearly didn’t approve of me.

“ Morning, morning, morning, my gorgeous ladies, do I have a story for you” I heard jasmine's voice singing through the rooms seconds before she came slipping into the bedroom. My eyes widened in horror at seeing she was still in her bright pink party dress from last night, her hair was a mess and the mascara from her makeup was all smudged around her eyes.

Mina jumped away from Mitchell bonding past me and jumping at Jasmine. Since she had come back Jasmine had been following me round everywhere to make sure I didn’t have another episode, and by episode I mean go all psycho on the new alpha, Jasmine's words not mine, sticking my nose in other people's business that were nothing to do with me. She had become my own personal chill pill. Mina had become obsessed with her; she thought I’d brought her, her very own princess Jasmine from Aladdin. As you can probably guess, Jas had been made to wear one or two tiaras since her return.

Jasmine hugged Mina dropping her six inch heels on the floor with a clang so she could swing Mina around. I watched them on edge at what Alpha Mitchell must think of Jasmine's state of undress. As if on que I felt his presence behind me he was so close I could feel the heat from his body but I didn’t dare turn around. When Jasmine stopped she looked straight over my shoulder to alpha Mitchell giving him her best seductive smile.

“ Hello Mitchell, you're looking good this morning. I do love a man in a suit” she said undressing him with her eyes.

“ yes Jasmine I’ve heard” he stated emotionlessly but I could tell there was an edge of annoyance to his voice that Jasmine wasn’t picking up on,as she beamed at him, in her world all she’d heard was the alpha was talking about her to others. She wiggled her eyebrows at me as if he wasn’t watching us.

Told you he wants me. She said in my head. I just rolled my eyes.

“ Well I think I’ll head for the shower just in case anyone should fancy joining me, my rooms one floor down” she winked in my direction. I looked at her like I might die of embarrassment. I felt the alpha tense behind me knowing he hadn’t missed Jasmine's invitation. Black hole, swallow me up.

Jasmine bent over her dress barley concealing what was underneath to grab her shoes, the girl had no shame she lived her life like a male werewolf her favourite saying being, ‘why the f**k should the guys have all the fun’.

She walked out of the room swinging her hips as she went. Mina had already lost interest and was thankfully playing with her dolls on her bed. I went over to her and began making her bed just for something to do to move past the awkward moment.

Seriously jaz why the f**k would you do the walk of shame in here, infront of the alpha.

Relax he was fine and yes by fine I do mean hot as hell in that suit.

That’s not the point jaz, he’s our alpha now, not my big brothers friend your crushing on and we agreed no females in Mina’s nursery. Now it just makes me look like a hypocrite.

I’m not one of his female’s babe unless he decides differently in which case I’m climbing that giant muscle bond godlike slice of alpha male and as much as I love you my golden goddess if you get in the way I WILL use my claws.

I shook my head jas was still the party girl, never sticking to just one man, always making her intentions clear she’d basically spelled it out to everyone including Mitchell that she had him in her sights and if I knew jas no one could stop her when she wanted something and she’d made it very clear she wanted Mitchell.

I finished making the bed and went to turn back to the bathroom when I collided with a large hard chest.

“ oooff!!” I stumbled back almost falling but a large arm wrapped around my waist pulling me back. My hands instinctively reached out to stop myself from colliding with his hard chest again but as my hand touched his torso he stiffened under my touch making his muscles even more defined. I slowly tipped my head up seeing him looking down at where my hand was resting on his chest, his eyes hooded and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

I scrambled away feeling beyond awkward dipping my head trying to hide my red face. “S..as….s.sorry alpha” I stuttered without looking at him. He didn’t say anything and I felt relieved when he moved past me.

“ I thought we had an understanding about females in the nursery” he asked and I looked up at him. He had his arms folded causing the sleeves of his suit jacket to pull tight around his biceps making the suit look even better on him. Jasmine would be going nuts right now if she was here.

“ I apologise alpha I’ll speak with her it won’t happen again” I said quickly hoping this moment would end.

“ be sure it doesn’t, I know she’s your friend but if she’s going to be a bad influence I’m not sure I can allow that around my pup” he said sternly, Mina threw down the doll she had been playing with and came over to us.

“ No!! don’t take my pwincess Jasmine” Mina whined the little monkey never missed a thing she was always listening. Mitchell sighed heavily, shoving his hands into his pockets looking at Mina who was now giving him her best puppy eyes, I had to hide my smile because she already had the big bad alpha wrapped around her finger. He would learn but I wasn’t going to help him after all what little girl doesn’t have her daddy wrapped around her little finger.

“ Just be sure she is acting and dressing appropriately in front of Mina '' he said sternly to me and I nodded apologetically. Without another word he walked away and I felt myself sigh in relief. Thanks jaz thanks a lot.

“ you in trouble!!” Mina sang dancing around me once her dad has disappeared, I finally smiled looking at her bending down to her level.

“ You are trouble” I chimed, bobbing her on the nose with my finger making her giggle. I had noticed the subtle change in her the past weeks. She finally had her dad and she was so happy.

We headed down to breakfast as usual though we were a lot earlier than usual with alpha Mitchell’s help, so it was no surprise to find no one in the kitchen. I sat Mina on the stool at the island and went about making something myself. As I went through the fridge I found fruit salad already made so I gave Mina a bowl full to pick at while I made her scrambled eggs, toast and bacon. I heard footsteps coming into the kitchen turning to see jasmine's freshly showered form enter the kitchen.

“ Sure, now you dress appropriately” I whined at her as she sat next to Mina at the island picking a piece of apple out of her fruit bowl. She was wearing a pair of high waist wet look legging her killer black knee high boots with an animal print silk blouse; it was actually one of her more conservative outfits. Her black hair tied back in a high ponytail.

“ what?” She frowned looking at me, giving her the death stare.

“ any of that for me?” She eyed the pan as the sound of the toast popped up. Without a word I turned back to the pan plating up everything making sure I made them into smiley faces with one as a frowny face taking it over to the counter and putting them in front of the two of them.

“ hey how come mine is moody?” Jasmine complained looking at her plate. I sat on the stool across from them and began eating my own breakfast, minus a face.

“ Ali’s in twoble,” Mina whispered to Jasmine as if I couldn’t hear. then started giggling.

“ alpha Mitchell wasn’t pleased about the state you turned up in the nursery just now, did you really have to come straight from your booty call?” I whispered the last part hoping Mina didn’t hear I don't normally talk that way infront of her but I was so mad at the position Jasmine had put me in. I was still trying to get my life back on track but jasmine's antics could send me backwards with alpha Mitchell I needed to stay on his good side now I was finally on it.

“ baby girl I’m sorry…” she exclaimed actually

looking guilty for a moment then I heard her in my head.

…but we don’t all have a super fine s*x god waiting for us at home, some of us have to go looking for it.

I smiled at her but it didn’t reach my eyes. Even though in jasmine's world mine and Lucas’s relationship had all the required elements for something healthy. Good s*x basically.

Something still felt off with us, it bothered me I didn’t know basic things about him, I didn't even know his last name the one time we had talked about it he told me he was like John snow from game of thrones and that in his pack his last name was recognised as a bastard so he avoided using it. But his story made no sense. I was certain he’d told me his parents were together and fated mates so how would that make him a bastard.

Sometimes I couldn’t help but notice Lucas seemed to use s*x as a way to keep us from talking about anything real we only really talked about ways to break the mate bond and not much else the cracks were becoming harder to ignore and it was apparent Lucas was keeping me at arms length on purpose but if I told any of this to jas she would likely go running to Lucas to chew him out.

“ ….I had the most crazy news this morning and I had to come and tell my girls straight away” she all but shouted waving her arms about.

“ go on then what’s your news” I shook my head smiling at how dramatic she was.

“ Mrs Coleson died” my eyes went wide and Mina gasped tears already filling her little eyes. Mrs Coleson was the pack elder; she was probably the oldest werewolf in existence, at least that’s what she would tell everyone. No one knew for sure how old she was exactly werewolves aged a lot slower than humans she looked about sixty so she was probably well into the hundreds, She was the nicest little lady who always smelled like candy canes even though she claimed to hate sweets suspiciously though her home was always full of treats. Mrs Coleson was the pack seamstress she made the most beautiful clothes and ironically had been making outfits for Tammy and Johnnys wedding, apart from Tammy and her bridesmaids of course, not because they hadn’t gone straight to her the second Johnny had popped the question. Nope, because Mrs Coleson had flat out refused even when Tammy's mom had offered her twice her usual rate. Mrs Coleson didn’t take any crap from anyone.

“ mrs cwolson die!!” Mina looked up at Jasmine, tears streaming down her face now. Jas wrapped her arm around Mina while I grabbed some tissues.

“ awww don’t worry huni she’s with the moon goddess now” Jasmine cooed, squeezing Mina to her side while I wiped her face.

“ like mommy?” Mina asked looking at me her little face looked so sad.

“ Yes baby, remember I told you about it” in hindsight telling Mina about my experience probably wasn’t the best idea but it was becoming very apparent the only person I could ever truly talk to was a three year old pup and at the time I hadn’t realised how much everything had been affecting my emotional state. I’d told Mina about seeing her mommy when I was poorly, I’d told her about the beautiful green trees and all the array of beautiful flowers that decorated the lush forest that were brimming with wildlife and her mommy and I talked while she petted them. I shouldn’t have told her that really but it had been playing on my mind and Mina just thought it was a nice story about her mommy.

It was after that I decided to take alpha Mitchell up on his offer to see the therapist he had suggested to me when he’d presented the contract. I’d been meeting with DR Wez, despite my earlier reservations he was actually brilliant a man in his late fifties with a bald spot and looked like a physics professor with his little glasses and tartan jacket with patches on the elbows and everything but he really knew his stuff, in the couple of weeks I’d been to him he’d really helped me to deal with my grief.

I’d started off with Rose seeing at that was the most obvious problem he said I was suffering from PTSD or something, the trauma of witnessing Rose’s attack and then not being allowed to mourn her death had caused me to suppress the grief instead of dealing with it and moving forward the lack of closure meant I was subconsciously keeping Rose alive in my head. I hadn’t accepted her death.

When he had told me that Rose’s words had come back to me she had told me to let go, to let her go. I didn’t know if that was something I was ready to do yet. I clung to the memory of her like she was a life raft and I was adrift without her. Accepting her death would mean having to learn to swim with the sharks by myself.

I still had a lot to get through. I couldn't expect everything to change overnight but I as much as I hated to agree with him alpha Mitchell was right it had helped having someone to say these things out loud to.

Seeing Colton’s true colours at the hospital had made me realise that I had to be careful about who I could trust, just because he was being nice to me didn’t mean he was my friend he’d tried to apologise to me but I didn’t want to hear it there was no excuse for him helping Nathan keep tabs on me all this time he had known Nathan was my mate and what he had been doing to me but Colton had been looking out for number one. Shocker another pack member only interested in their rank.

Colton dipped his head retreating out of the room as the omegas came in to start making breakfast for the rest of the pack house. I cleared away our breakfast taking the plates to the sink when one of the girls I didn’t recognise smiled taking them off me offering to clean them. The three of us left the kitchen so the others could work and We all went back upstairs to get Mina’s stuff ready for school.