Page 88 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

I glanced back at him and couldn’t stop the laugh that spilled from my mouth at the frown on his face as he glared at my hand on the chair. I rubbed my hand over my face and shook my head.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t know why I reacted that way. It’s just—“

“I’m not blaming you or upset with you for your reactions when it comes to her,” he said. “You’re very protective of her. As any alpha would be with their luna.”

I swallowed and shook my head. “I don’t even know if she’s my mate yet, though.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he replied with a shrug. “You and your lycan have decided she’s yours, mate bond or not. If she does end up being your fated mate after her birthday, then that instinct will get even stronger. And even if she isn’t, well…” He paused for a moment, glancing over at a framed picture of my mom on his shelf. Then he shook his head. “Even if she isn’t, that instinct won’t go away. As I said, you and your beast have claimed her. It would go against your nature to intentionally hurt her.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with me choosing her?” I asked him again, even though we’d already discussed it.

“As long as it’s her choice too,” he said. “Once her birthday passes, if she’s not your mate, we’ll contact the king and the council to get permission to reveal ourselves to her so she can decide for herself,” he reminded me. “For now, just make sure you don’t let anything slip and you’re careful with her.”

“What do you mean, careful?” I asked.

“You know what I mean, Wesley.”

“You mean don’t have sex with her,” I grumbled, resisting the urge to roll my eyes again.

He groaned. “I’m not saying don’t sleep with her. I’m saying be careful if you do. I can feel the tension in your aura. I know you’re holding back from her. Which is good. With as strongly as your lycan feels about her, we don’t want to risk you marking her.”

“Yes, I know,” I replied. “Because she’s not twenty-one yet.”

It was illegal to mark someone before they were twenty-one, because there was no way to know if that person was your mate. Once both partners were over that age, however, it was fine to mark a chosen mate as long as it was not a forced marking.

It was why Nolan hadn’t marked Rachel yet. He wanted to, was ready to settle down with her as his chosen mate. After Kimberly rejected him, we were worried he’d just give up on a mate altogether, but Rachel helped him find peace. But she wasn’t ready to be marked again yet. Understandably so. And since Nolan respected that, he was willing to wait until she was ready. Even if it was never.

“That, and she’s human,” Dad said. “Marking a human is different, whether or not they’re a fated mate.”

“Shit,” I muttered, scratching at my beard. “Fuck!” I sighed, clenching my fist again but remembering to not punch the chair.

“Exactly,” my dad said, raising his brows and giving me a brief nod. “So if you don’t think you can control your lycan, don’t risk it.”

I wanted to kick myself. I hadn’t even thought about the most important aspect of marking a human mate—that you had to do it under the same moon phase as when they were born. If you tried to mark a human mate under any other moon phase, they likely wouldn’t survive. And that meant potentially waiting even longer to claim her after her birthday.

And it meant holding back from her for longer. The thread on my restraint was already thin, short, and frayed, and I didn’t know how much more of her teasing and scent I could take before it snapped altogether.

“Don’t stress yourself about it right now,” he reassured me, sensing my spiraling thoughts. “There is still some time before her birthday, so we will worry about it when we need to.”

I nodded as I breathed out a sigh, then I stood up. “I need to get ready for the performance tonight,” I said.

“Will you tell Haven? About her parents?”

“Matthew and Melissa, you mean,” I corrected him, then I said with a firm shake of my head, “No. Not yet, anyway. She needs to stay focused on her dancing. I’ll tell her after this weekend is over.”

Dad nodded as he also stood and followed me out of his office. “Thank you, by the way,” he said as he closed his office door behind him.

“For what?”

“For trusting me to look into this and find answers,” he replied. “You could easily have gone ‘behind my back’ and used your own connections and methods to look into the Wainwrights, but you didn’t.”

“I could have,” I agreed, sticking my hands in my pockets. “But you’re still the alpha. And I respect that, and you. Not just as my alpha but as my father. I may not agree with the decisions or like them, but disrespecting you in that manner wouldn’t be showing strength, showing unity to our pack.”

We paused on the landing—him to go up to the alpha suite and me to go to my house. He clapped me on the shoulder. “And that’s how I know you’re ready and will be an effective alpha for our pack when you take over soon.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Will you drive yourself to the ballet tonight, or will you ride with us?”

“I’ll drive myself,” I told him.

“I figured as much.” He laughed. “We will see you there.”

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