Page 44 of Alpha
I was still stunned by the slap and the realization that I’d found my mate. Scarlett stood unmoving as I watched her struggle with the emotions coursing through her.
My cheek hurt. As small as she was compared to me, she’d slapped me hard. Anger flowed in me and I struggled to keep it under control. Slapping an alpha was never a good idea. We had tempers and that type of action would set us off without thinking.
“Fuck,” Blake said and I noticed him standing beside Scarlett. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her behind him.
Even though logically I knew he was protecting her from me, I couldn’t stop the jealousy that stirred in me at the sight of his hand on her wrist. A possessiveness I’d never felt before took over and I wanted to rip his hand off of her. She was mine.
“Get your hand off her,” I warned in a deadly tone, fisting my hands to stop myself from attacking my best friend for touching my mate. He was my best friend, but she was my mate. She outranked him—hell, she outranked everyone. To me she was the most important person.
Knowing I was about to lose it, Blake released her wrist and held up his hand to show me that he wasn’t touching her.
I watched as Scarlett stared back at me. She was mine and I needed to touch her again. With my eyes still on her, I took a step toward her, but Blake refused to move.
“Calm down and I’ll get out of your way,” Blake tried to reason with me, but he didn’t understand. It was the fact that he was in my way that angered me.
I closed my eyes for a moment and took a shaky breath to try and control the anger building up inside.
“I won’t hurt her,” I whispered, meaning every word I said. I opened my eyes and fixed them on Scarlett.
She was mine and he couldn’t keep her from me. I wanted to reach for her and pull her close. I wanted to touch her so bad that I felt a physical pain at not being able to. She looked at me the same way I looked at her. I was hers and she was mine. We belonged to each other.
“Get out of my way,” I warned Blake, not moving my eyes from Scarlett. “You’re keeping me from what is mine.”
But Blake didn’t move. He had no right to keep me from her.
“He won’t hurt me,” Scarlett assured him as she stepped around him, but Blake grabbed her arm to stop her. Seeing him touch her made the rage grow inside of me again. No one was to touch her. I growled at Blake again to warn him and he released her. If he touched her again I was going to go ballistic.
I watched Scarlett take a tentative step toward me. Her eyes held mine as she took another step closer. With every step closer I felt the anticipation of touching her grow.
Blake remained behind her ready to spring into action if I lost it. He hadn’t found his mate yet so he didn’t understand the connection I’d just formed with Scarlett. There was no way I could hurt her, she was a piece of me. Hurting her would be like hurting myself.
She took one more step and she stopped. We were so close. I could see the uncertainty in her eyes. She was used to being in control and I could see something deeper than she understood pulled her to me.
My hand lifted to her face and I trailed my knuckles down her cheek. Her skin was so soft. She closed her eyes at the feel of my touch. I felt the anger begin to disappear and I felt complete. She was the other half of me and when I touched her, I felt at peace. Nothing I’d ever experienced was even close to what I felt at that moment.
My eyes drank her in.She is mine.
She is my soul mate.
She opened her eyes and tilted her face to gaze up at me. I could see she felt the same as I did, complete. I wanted to feel her skin against mine.
Slowly I threaded my hands through her soft, silky hair as I pulled her closer. My eyes flickered to her lips and I leaned closer. The smell of wild daisies was intoxicating. I’d wanted to kiss her since the first time I’d met her.
The moment my lips touched hers, I felt an overwhelming desire to hold her close and never let her go. She gripped my arms as I moved my lips against hers.
No one else existed as I tilted Scarlett’s face up to mine to get better access while my lips moved against hers. I needed to taste her. My tongue swept across her bottom lip; her lips were so soft. Her grip on my arms tightened and she opened her mouth.
The first taste of her as I touched my tongue to hers was addictive. I twirled my tongue against hers and I felt her pull me closer. I wanted to keep kissing her and touching her, but then I remembered we were kissing each other with an audience that included Blake.
She groaned when I pulled away, ending our first kiss. She was breathless as she still held onto my arms. I liked that I had this effect on her.
I rested my forehead against hers as I struggled to catch my breath.
“We need to get out of here,” I whispered to her. We’d just found out we were mates and we needed time by ourselves to figure things out. I half expected her to say no, but she surprised me by saying, “Yes.”
I turned to Blake who was still watching us from the sidelines with a smile.
“We need time,” I said to Blake who was still smiling as he watched me put Scarlett’s hand in mine. “I’ll be in touch later.”
