Page 28 of Fated Alpha Protector

“Son?”

Mother’s voice is gentle and calming, yet it has alarm bells of its own attached to it. The potted plant was something Mother carved herself and placed strategically outside the front door.

Grimacing when she opens that door to the horror of the crime I’d just committed, I say nothing. She looks up with eyes growing wide, green depths searching my soul for answers.

“What in the Moon Goddess’s name…?” she murmurs, lifting a hand to cup her mouth as she gapes in shock.

This is definitely not the homecoming I should be giving her. Heck! I hadn’t even planned a welcome for my parents.

And this right here isn’t going to work.

“Mom, I’m–”

“Don’t,” Mom shakes her head, dismissing any excuse with a hand in the air. Imitating Mia’s rejection of the truth, I’m reminded why I’d lost my temper in the first place.

It’s uncalled for – I know that much. I also know that I can’t be angry at either woman. It’s unfair of me. I’d just ruined Mother’s favorite potted plant.

And I’d also singlehandedly disrupted Mia’s entire existence.

Mother looks at the broken pot while shaking her head in disappointment. Soon, Anastasia and my father join us outside on the porch.

A flurry of questions comes crashing on me. All three of my family members prod me for a valid reason for my outburst.

And I have no intention of answering their questions. Angrily huffing a breath, I spin on my heels and make my way back toward the forest.

The invitation of the hooting owls in the treetops is accepted as I shift into wolf form to escape.

Not that it helps my dilemma. In fact, it makes it much worse. The heightened senses of the Alpha wolf raging through my veins only serve as a reminder that I am no longer on my own.

I form one half of two parts that make a whole. Forged from the great fires of the Moon Goddess’s source energy, this orb of energy that powers my being was once twice its size.

And the other half exists in Mia’s being.

Together, our two polarized energy fields make a whole. The fated mate bond binds us through lifetimes. This current timeline is where I exist as Alpha Theo Marrock. And she, Mia Alverez.

Our paths crossed by fate itself, as if Destiny tied the loose ends together and had us meeting on opposite sides of the river. The destination my paws seek now as I tread through the forest.

A faint signal enters my mind, but it’s barely audible enough to make out. It’s like the connection isn’t strong enough to carry the message over. Frowning, I slow down my jog and try to focus.

‘Theo! Please!’

I freeze on the spot immediately, hearing Mia’s mental communication for the first time. If there ever was confirmation for the mate bond, it’s this. The mind link that is only ever shared between members of the same pack.

It’s a form of communication that extends to fated mates of different packs.

‘I need you!’

It’s those three words that spur me into action. I’m bolting out ahead, sprinting forward as quickly as my paws can take me. Crushing stones and dead leaves beneath my cushioned soles without remorse.

‘Where are you?’ I ask urgently through the mind link, though I’m running on pure instinct. Cutting through the forest as I make my way toward the direction where I’d left her in the woods.

‘The river…’ Her mind-link response comes as a whisper. She’s afraid. I can feel the tension rising through the hairs standing at attention on the back of my head. Like a radar, it signals that she’s in grave danger.

And every step that takes me forward fuels my need to protect her. Rushing out from under the fallen willow, I burst through the air with a magnificent roar.

The sound is enough to startle the perpetrators who stand across the river. I knock into both, sending them hurtling into the nearby trees.

A thunderous roar belts from deep within my chest as a warning to the men wielding weapons.

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