Challenge the Alpha

Chapter eighteen - What's Mine

Indie;

I awoke to find my already stiff limbs even harder to move.

Everything felt heavy, but I was getting too warm and I needed to unbury myself from the duvet and get some air, some room to breathe.

I tried to kick away the covers, but found my legs had very little effect. With a grunt, I wriggled towards the edge to slip out of the bed and onto the floor.

I sat for a moment, my back leaning against the bedframe. The cool air felt nice on my skin, in my nose and throat but still, I grew warmer. I reluctantly pushed myself up, a cool shower might help loosen my joints out too.

I peeled my clothes from my body on the way to the bathroom, leaving a trail along the floor. I stepped into the large shower cubicle and twisted the tap, cool water cascading over my burning skin.

I listened as the water trickled down the drown, the warmth slowly seeping from my insides. My mind wondering to what I was meant to do with my day, what did I really have to get out of bed for, what was my purpose.

Luna. If I really was Rollos 'mate', being a Luna was going to be my purpose. This pack was the reason to get up every day. I felt a prickling sensation in my chest and a panic stirred within me like a monster waking from a slumber in a deep, dark cave.

I pushed my head under the falling bliss, trying to down the anxiety. I was a loner, I had barely managed to keep myself going and now apparently I was responsible for a community.

After another minute, the hot feeling had died down, the anxiety monster was at bay and my aching joints were slowly fading. I shut the water off and twisted my hair to drain as much moisture as possible.

I didn't even bother reaching for a towel, I was enjoying the way the air felt against me. I brushed my teeth and headed to the wardrobe.

The second I stepped back into the bedroom, I realised my mistake. I heard Rollo growl and I jumped back, squealing, grabbing at anything to shield myself which wound up being a big, yellow throw blanket.

But it was too late. Before I could even scream or shout at him, he had trapped me against the wall, his mouth barely an inch from mine.

I felt my heart thump hard in my chest, almost as if trying to crash through my ribs. I tightened my hold, my head spinning, I wasn't even sure if this was really happening. A now familiar heat began creeping up as I felt the space between my legs ache.

Then I thought of him with her.

I choked back a small, hurt-filled whimper and turned away from him. He wasn't going to get to see me cry.

"Indie ..?" He reached a hand to my chin and the very second his skin touched mine, I was electrocuted. Sparks erupted and hotter burning followed.

I pushed him and stormed towards the wardrobe.

"Indie, wait," he grabbed my wrist, "I can help.."

I had no control over my next move, I suddenly spun round and swung a closed fist that landed square on Rollos jaw. The whole thing threw him off guard and his head snapped to the side on impact but he dropped my wrist instantly.

I stood, wide eyed and terrified just staring at him. His eyes were closed, he was doing the angry tongue thing that for some reason I loved. He looked so mad in that moment.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know what.."

"Don't," he breathed, "Don't worry about it."

He nodded and looked at his feet, "We need to talk, Indie. You can't come back and not talk to me."

"I just need some time."

"I gave you time! You left, you f*****g left and I gave you time."

I was livid. I had always avoided confrontation but I realised this was a fight I was game for.

"I went home. I prepared a funeral and buried my best friend, I made damn sure his mother was looked after, I packed up my apartment and gave notice on my tenancy. You refused to see me before I left, I didn't hear from you, I didn't know if you even wanted me to come back"

"Of course.."

"I'm not finished!" My confidence right now whooped the hell out of his from a second ago, "I wasn't even gone two months and I spent the whole time tying up loose ends to come back here to you. How long exactly did you wait before you decided to start f*****g Josie again, huh?"

I stared him down. He had no right to make me feel like I did anything wrong. He looked back to his feet and huffed, mostly to himself.

Turning round, he went toward the door. But I wasn't having it, I wasn't done. I felt a surge of power like last night and he picked this fight, I was damn well finishing it.

"I asked you a question."

He froze immediately. I could see his shoulders tense.

"Come on, Rollo, you're so quick to throw shade my way. Tell me again how understanding you were, how considerate, how much time you gave me while I buried the only person I'd ever been able to rely on and re-rooted my whole life for you."

I wasn't sure what I wanted. Did I want him to tell me about it, would it make me feel better to know? Did I want him to cry, beg for me to forgive him - hell maybe, I just wanted him to fight me so we could really get it out of our systems.

"I didn't sleep with Josie after you left.."

"Then what did you do with her?"

"Indie ..."

"She was here, half naked, boasting to me about needing a break. You did something."

"I didn't sleep with her."

"Even if I didn't have s*x, how would you feel if I invited another man into my bed?"

He growled and finally turned to face me.

"I'd kill anyone that dares to touch you."

"Seems unfair, I invited him, what did he do wrong.."

"He touched what's mine!"

My jaw popped open. Here we were in the middle of a fight and being claimed as his had the fire in my belly alight all over again.

He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Indie. There's some stuff you need to know because I can smell it on you and it'll make life harder for us both for a while."

"You can tell me while I get dressed."

I made my way to the wardrobe, half shutting the door behind me but left enough open that he can still talk to me.

"I'm sorry, about Josie, for not ..for not seeing you before you left, for not coming to see you after you did, for not being there for you while you went through all that stuff. I wish I could take it back. I should have been there, I should have understood. I was being selfish."

I scoffed, 'too right you're sorry' I thought to myself as I pulled some pretty blue pants on.

"...I also should have told you some other stuff about you, about us."

I pulled a Rob Zombie tank top on and stuck my head out the door, "is it about me being your soul mate or whatever?"

He had sat on the edge of the bed like the last night I'd seen him when I was leaving. He blinked his surprise back.

"Did ...who told you?"

"Does it matter?"

His brows furrowed together, "I suppose not. What did they tell you?"

"Not much," I went back to the clothes, looking for some leggings, "they said we were mates but I still don't know if I get what that even means, they said it had something to do with people calling me Luna."

"It means you were made for me, Indie."

I wrapped my hair in a towel and pulled the door open, "they said something like that but I think I need to work out just what it means for myself."

"I couldn't ..I couldn't do anything with Josie," he had found a loose thread on the duvet to play with, "just touching her or her touching me, felt wrong, made me ..made me nauseous. I hated it. I just wanted to feel better about you not being here and I was stupid to try and fill the hole you left with her. But I never slept with her, I would instinctly pull away when she tried to kiss me, I just... didn't want her and it showed."

I didn't know how to feel. I wasn't ready to forgive him.

"I can't stop picturing you with her. It's all I could think when you touched me, it's why I .." I hesitated but he chuckled,

"It's why you punched me." He smiled, he was sat on the bed smiling at the thought of me punching him.

"I know I'm a wimp but you don't need to laugh at me for it."

"No, no, that's not it," he smiled more, "it wasn't a bad hook at all, I was thinking about how surprised I was but really it's completely you, my sassy little brat, putting up the fight I'd expect." He tilted his head to the side and our eyes met. My blood boiling in my veins again.

"That's why I brought this up, Indie. The hot flushes you're getting, its the matebond."

"What? No, wait, that doesn't... what? How did you even know?"

"I can smell it on you. Like you smell really, really good anyway but it's a whole other level when you start to warm up. It's a thing that happens, admittedly I didn't imagine it would to a human, but it's your body reacting and trying for get to the ..the mating part of the matebond."

The confusion on my face must have been obvious and I must have been quite the picture because he laughed again.

"I can help, Indie. Skin to skin contact with me will make it feel better."

"Sure," I scoffed, "like I haven't heard that line before."

I wanted something to eat, I had no idea how long I'd slept earlier, but as I opened the door, Rollo pushed it shut again. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck and I shivered involuntarily.

"I mean it, baby girl," his lips grazing my neck, "I could help."

My knees gave in and I felt myself start to fall only to be caught seconds later by strong arms.

"f**k, Indie, are you okay?"

The room was unsteady and my head was pounding. I tried to catch my breath, to step away but he wouldn't let me go.

"Oh, I don't think so." He flung me round and picked me up against his chest like the night he'd saved me.

"I don't know what happened," I mumbled, "everything just seemed to fall away."

He dropped me onto the bed, and cupped my face, forcing me to look up at him. His features etched with worry.

"It's so easy to forget you're human sometimes, I think the bond and the Luna commands you keep pulling on me are waring you down."

He traced a line across my bottom lip and I felt my insides throb. My mind was drowning in him, my body consumed by fire. I wanted him to touch me all over.

"You said you could help.."

His expression changed. He wasn't sure what to do. I must look so weak, so pathetic.

"You just basically fainted when I got too close I ..."

I grabbed the front of his tshirt pulling him down towards me and our lips crashed together. I gripped his belt and yanked him onto the bed on top of me, wrapping my legs around his waist trying to stop him from from pulling away.

He groaned as he failed at his attempt to back away from the kiss, his tongue invading my mouth and wrestling with mine.

I forgot everything. I forgot Josie, I forgot the fight, I forgot how to breathe. I was driven by the burning inside me and I needed him.

I tried desperately to hold him closer to me, my wondering hands finding their way under his top to feel his muscles. I hated to admit it but he was right, feeling his skin on mine really doused the blazed.

I felt his hardening member as he pushed his hips forward into me. I rubbed myself on him in response and he groaned into my mouth.

"Guys..."

Rollo threw a quick glance at the door and then back to me. He rested his forehead on mine while he tried to catch his breathe.

"...it's great that you're working things out but something's come up .."

Rollo grunted and moved away from me, "You're damn right something came up." He mumbled as he stood up and adjusted his jeans.

He looked down at me still lay, blushing and panting from our little make out.

"I need to work," he muttered as he pulled the door open to a beaming Marcus and let it shut quietly behind him.