Page 15 of Alpha's Claim

“Cora… Cora no, I could never hurt you.” He sounded genuine too. “Never. When I found out you were hurt-”

“How did you find out?” I interrupted him, chewing at my lip gently. “Nobody in my pack knows we’re mated. They couldn’t. Why would they smell you here on the estate if you weren’t here, Weston? Promise me you didn’t do this,” my voice sounded low and desperate to my own ears.

“I promise. I swear to you on my mother’s memory that I didn’t hurt you. I will never hurt you. I can explain everything if you give me the chance.” He sounded so distressed.

“Not right now. I need a chance to think. I’ll contact you when I’ve had a chance to process all of this.”

Chapter fifteen

Weston

Eventhoughshewasquestioning whether or not I could have gone out in the middle of the night and found her just to wound her I was so relieved to hear from her. It eased the ache in my chest just enough to make it possible for me to deal with my day-to-day tasks. The paperwork and assignments I had for my pack were piled up because I’d missed work too often in the past few days. Maybe they were right- maybe I was too young.

I pushed out the intrusive thoughts. It wasn’t like I was out doing nothing. I had found my mate and she’d been hurt. There was nothing wrong with losing some time in this situation. Once I was able to announce the mating it would make sense to my critics. Plus I was still getting my feet as the Alpha. I hadn’t found my rhythm yet and I really didn’t think anyone could fault me for that. My mother, the woman who birthed, loved, and raised me right, had died just over a month ago. She was murdered. I wasn’t ready to be thrust into this position so quickly- I thought I would have more time to prepare for her death. It would never have been anything but a violent punch to my gut, but she was killed so young. It took all my will not to spiral into painful thoughts and memories. There was so much to be done. Grief could wait. I would have the rest of my life to mourn, but I had to focus on work.

After a while, I got into a groove and was able to actually get a lot done. I had everyone’s strengths and weaknesses laid out in front of me so I could distribute people based on those strengths. I had just stacked up the profiles of the people I wanted to be where when the front door opened and slammed shut. I recognized that slam as Yari’s- it was a habit she’d never broken to hurl a door back into place after getting through it.

I heard the rubber soles of her boots heading toward my office and I started filing away the information I’d spent all morning on so I wouldn’t lose all my work before I got it into a conversation with my friend.

“Look at you actually doing the boring paper stuff.” Yari said, her voice sounding like a mom complimenting their child’s terrible drawing.

“Shut up, Yari,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m trying to work and just… deal. All of this stuff has got me out of my head.” I explained, leaning back in my chair as she plopped herself down into the chair across from me. “To what do I owe this intrusion?”

“I just wanted to see what’s going on. I am supposed to be here to help you, you know. I thought maybe I’d help rather than do your job for a few hours.” She joked, and I shook my head.

“It’s really not a good time for me to be joking around right now. Not after last night.” I said, resting my chin on my hand. I was trying not to look through her; I wanted to be present. I didn’t want to hole up in my head and sulk.

“She’s safe, Weston. She’s at home. She’s alive and she’ll recover just fine; you know that.” Yari sounded a little hurt, honestly.

“I’m sorry, you’re right. I even got a call from her this morning. She’s definitely alive and coherent, but we’ve got to be on our toes here. She told me that her father thinks I did this. Cora even seemed to be half convinced and I hate it. How could she think I could do that?”

“Oh come on, Weston.” Yari said, putting her feet up on my desk. “You have to know that you two barely know each other, mates or not. Like think of it from her perspective, right? She’s out there alone and she’s attacked. She’s hurt, probably really hurt. Weston we were out there that night.” I was listening intently now, trying to put myself in her place. “You were out there. You told me that you found a trail that led from the attack site to their house. You were at the scene of the crime. Surely someone was out there and smelled you. You encountered the leaders of this pack- they know what you smell like.”

“I genuinely didn’t think of that.” I said softly, tapping the top of a pile of papers on my desk.

“You don’t realize what kind of graces you’ve grown up with being raised as an Alpha. The rest of us have to think about things from a different perspective. You’ll figure it out with time so don’t beat yourself up about it but you really need to force yourself to think past your emotions and think about what things look like from another perspective. Don’t get all up in your feelings.”

“Damn. You’re right.” I said.

“Yeah, I know I am. So what’s the plan?” She asked, rocking back in her chair casually.

“Plan?” I asked, feeling again like I was missing something. Knowing me it was probably something obvious.

“Yeah, the plan. How are you gonna fix this situation? Especially with Cora because I can see you sitting there with your heart all splayed out on the desk.” This time I did chuckle at her joke. I immediately felt better that she was here and talking to me.

“I don’t really have one. I figure she’ll reach out to me when she’s ready.” I replied, and she scoffed at me.

“Oh come on, Weston, don’t be like that. You’ve got to do something, she’s your mate! You’re really gonna let her sit there thinking you might have tried to kill her? Don’t be stupid.” Yari sounded so annoyed, and I was a little offended by that. Why was she annoyed at me?

“You don’t have to be a jerk,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “You could support me in this.”

“Uh, I am. Obviously. You’re just not getting it. She’s probably sitting there afraid that her mate is a monster who wanted her dead. She doesn’t know you, Weston. You’ve known each other for less than a week. This is something you have to face, okay? Besides, you’ve never acted like this before. Get your confidence up and just go talk to her, oh my God.” She said, rolling her eyes at me. I was silent and staring at her, trying to process how right she was about this. I stood up and shoved my phone and wallet in my pockets.

“I’ll be back. You’re right. I’m going to go talk to her.” I said, moving to leave the house immediately. Once I made it to the woods I stripped and shoved my clothes into a backpack I could carry so I wasn’t rolling up into the danger zone completely naked.

I made good time through the forest. It wasn’t like the night before- there wasn’t that urge, that fear that she was dying. There was no reason to push myself to the limit today, especially because I was going straight toward an estate full of rich and powerful people to talk to the daughter of the man who was convinced I had tried to kill her. I might need to run or fight if I were caught.

I slowed to a stop at the edge of the woods, dressing before I was out in the open. I pulled my phone back out of the backpack and called Cora again. Silently I was praying that she picked up. I needed to see her and talk to her, I needed to explain what had really happened to me last night. She picked up.

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