Page 42 of Unexpected Alpha's Claim

“Yeah, but Helena was with me,” he said.

“And that makes it all okay?” I asked.

“You’re angry.”

“You think?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Monica, it’s okay. We went to Louisville to track down that vampire clan. I needed to make sure my sister would be safe.”

“You didwhat?!” I shouted, pushing off the counter.

I couldn’t believe that he would do something so monumentally dangerous without the backup of his family, much less without even telling me. What if something had happened to him? How would I ever know except that he never came home? My anger is over ridden by fear. Fear of him disappearing and never returning because he did something this stupid.

“It’s okay,” he said, a half-smile forming on his face. “We did it. Their Alpha’s dead. The threat is neutralized.”

“He’s dead,” I say, amazed at how calm my voice sounds. I push off the counter and pace around the table, shaking my head. “You know, it amazes me how easily you talk about this. No big deal, Mon, just a little murder. Yet you say it like it’s something as trivial as taking out the trash.”

The smell of the brewing coffee fills the air but today it’s not pleasing like it normally would be. Instead it feels more like its promised caffeine is hitting my bloodstream through smell alone. My nerves are jangling as if I’ve had twelve cups and I can’t stop pacing around the table, staring at the floor, the walls, anywhere but him.

What am I doing? With him? With us?

“Monica, I assure you it’s not trivial,” he said, “but I am summarizing. You don’t need the details. Really, you don’t want to know. Besides, I’m too sleepy to give you a blow by blow.”

I stop dead in my tracks and slowly turn to stare directly at him.

“You’re missing the point, Raul,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “It’s not details that I care about, it’s you. You’re not so good at trusting people, are you? You’ve been risking your neck out there, and I didn’t have agoddamnclue. First you fought your Alpha without a word to me and now you went all the way toLouisvilleto take on a bunch ofvampires. Which, by your own words, was one of the most dangerous threats a shifter can face. Deadly, in fact, but you didn’t think I should have atleastknown aboutit?”

He turned around and met my glare with one of his own.

“I killed Brad for us. You know that. If I hadn’t you and I couldn’t be together,” he said, eyes flashing amber with anger. “It was the only way to keep you safe. And as for Louisville, Helena saw mysister’s death in her orb and that vampire clan was responsible. You think I was going to stand by and let that happen? Play a game of wait and see? Let’s get this straight right now. That’s now who I am and I think you know it.”

He was pissed but so was I. I took a step closer, one hand on my hip, passingly I realized that this is exactly the way my mother acted with my dad when she was angry, but I didn’t care. I needed to get this through his thick skull.

“And I don’t have a problem with you wanting to protect,” I said, raising my voice to outmatch his. “Hell, I’m grateful for it. You want to protect your sister, I get it. I admire it. None of that is the point, Raul. Not a damn bit of it. I need you to get this, when you’re with someone, youtrustthem. Trust me. Don’t keep me in the dark. Ever. Especiallyabout things that could get you killed.”

“Where is she?” he growled, which did nothing to appease me. Neither did the confusion in his eyes.

“Where’s who?”

“The woman who saved my ass,” he answered, taking two steps closer. “You know, the mellow, caring woman. Because you’re not her.”

“That’s nonsense,” I said. “This is me. This is the real me. If there is going to be an us you need to know that I get upset when I’m being left out.”

He was close, staring me down. His eyes narrowed as his mouth twisted into a frown. Then his shoulders dropped, relaxing, and he exhaled heavily.

“I understand,” he said. “But Monica, I have a feeling you’re not telling me something. What is it?”

And just like that my own anger was gone. Blowing away like dust on a wind of logic and reason. It left me empty. Worried. Concerned. I didn’t want to say this. I didn’t want to admit it. I knew I had to, but have to and want to are nowhere near the same.

“You’re right,” I admitted with an involuntary shudder.

I didn’t say more though. The words were there, on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t say them. It was as if my mouth refused to do it’s job. Raul placed his hand on my shoulder then ran it down my arm in a reassuring gesture. I looked up into his eyes and saw the kindness, love, and loyalty that attracted me to him in the first place.

“It’s okay,” he said, barely a whisper.

I pursed my lips, nodded, and then forced the words out.

“It’s this whole… ‘mating’ thing,” I blurted out.

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