Page 3 of Alpha's Fate

“Practice makes perfect,” I teased, looking up at him. He laughed and smoothed my hair down as I had done for him. “Every time we have sex we learn a little bit more about one another, babe.” I ran my fingers over his chest slowly. His skin was smooth and flawless, pale to match his hair and eyes. It made him look like a marble carving, muscles seeming to be made from stone. He was like a Michelangelo, so cut and strong. When I took control in the bedroom I was well aware of that. My hand wandered down his abs slowly, moving to wrap my arm around his waist gently.

My own body was more tan and soft, more like the veiled women carved in ancient Greece. I was well aware I was beautiful. Everyone had told me my whole life and I thought I had a good handle on what I actually looked like rather than what I sometimes saw in the mirror in moments of self-consciousness. I’d had the feeling a few times recently with everything that was happening with our packs.

“I desperately needed that,” I smiled. Tonight was nearly perfect.

“Glass of wine?” He asked, and I nodded. Now it was perfect. “Red or white?”

“Sweet red. There’s a blend in the cabinet.” I replied, looking up at him. “You know what, I’ll just come with you. I’m not going to sleep for a while anyways, not after that.” I grinned and he smiled wolfishly back at me.

“I don’t know how this energizes you, but I’m glad it does. I’m not ready to let go of the sight of you yet.” He pushed himself upas I did, letting me climb out of the bed before he followed. There were no clear windows on the way to the kitchen and I thought I saw the blinds closed in there so I simply walked naked down the hallway and into the desired room.

“In the cabinet, you say?” He asked, walking over to the wine cabinet we’d had installed when I practically moved in with him. It was one of the few things I’d insisted on. Weston had thought it was ridiculous, but the clear glass made it easy to pick out the wine we wanted so eventually he admitted it was nice to have around.

“Where all the wine goes, yes.” I teased him and he rolled his eyes a little but he opened it to find the correct wine on the middle shelf.

“This one?” He asked, and I nodded. He was getting better at this. Before he never would have figured out which one was the blend without checking each red individually. Weston was starting to be able to pick out my favorites as well. It was nice. Just having him know these things about me because he wanted to know these things about me was so nice. Nobody had ever really tried like this before. Not that I’d ever really dated, I’d just brought men back to my apartment in Philadelphia with no intention of ever seeing them again.

“Hey, I’m getting good at this.” He grabbed the corkscrew and began to work the cork out of the bottle. One too many times he’d pulled it too hard and spilled half the bottle on the thankfully tiled floor. He didn’t know his own strength.

“You are, my love. Very good at this. At everything, really.” I gave him a grin and walked over to put my hand on his back. “It’s wonderful, really. And I am proud of you in an unironic way.”

“Well, thanks. It’s actually been hard to learn about this because I really only ever drank beer before you.” He admitted. I knew his affection for craft beer- for his birthday I had bought a year’s subscription to some beer box so he’d have plenty totry from around the world. I’d been thrilled when he unwrapped the box and saw what it was. Everyone kind of assumed that I’d spend a lot of money on him, though I didn’t know why. Weston wasn’t the kind of man who would try to get expensive things out of me and his tastes were simpler than what I was used to. Honestly I liked it. I preferred his warm, inviting home with the plaid blanket over a comfortable blue couch than my own suite with a full living room set just to fill up space.

“I know. I still know nothing about beer other than you like the Autumn editions the best.” I laughed. “The beer equivalent of the pumpkin spice latte everyone secretly loves.”

“It really is. That’s why it’s so good.” He grinned as he poured a glass for me then one for himself into the stemless glasses we’d bought just for this. We found the ones with stems were in for a rough time if they wanted to stay intact when Weston had accidentally knocked two over. Honestly the aesthetic was better anyways.

“I’m glad you admit it.” I laughed, leaning in to kiss him before I took my glass and sipped at the deep mahogany liquid inside it. The red blends were my favorite and I would go out of my way to find the ones I liked best. “I really love you, you know. For everything. This is the best night I’ve had in ages. Makes it so much easier to focus on just living.” I explained softly. “Thank you. You really know how to make me feel better, even if it’s just a purely physical need. And I love how you make it intimate even when we’re playing a little rough.”

“Well, I need that closeness.” He answered simply. “And sometimes sex is the best way to work out some tension and nervous energy. I figured it would help tonight.” He smiled at me and I grinned back, nodding emphatically.

“Absolutely correct.” We finished our wine like that, just talking about our love and what we liked. Once we were done and the wine was stopped up and in the refrigerator we headedback to bed, where I fell asleep on his chest, sleeping through the night for the first time in a long time.

Chapter four

Weston

We had training the next afternoon. Cora and I had set up a large obstacle course outside and she already had a huge indoor gym inside the mansion. Of course, they did. I’d laughed at that the first time I saw it, finding it so typical of their home. It was lucky on days like this because we always started up with warmups on the machines before we headed outside to do actual team building exercises. Those made for good vibes betweenthe packs- we were learning to trust one another. If we were to successfully blend together that was crucial.

Notably absent were the elders, although I wasn’t surprised. They made a point of never having anything to do with Cora and I trying to set the pack up together. They hated me anyways, trying to insult me in their insufferable, dry way. It didn’t bother me too much. They made the mistake of thinking I was too stupid to understand I was being insulted. Cora was actually far more bothered about it than me. It didn’t matter, ultimately, because however much they moaned and complained Cora was still the Alpha and I was still her mate.

The unfortunate thing about it was that she and I would have to actively protect the old dodders if it did actually come to pack warfare. I hoped it didn’t, but hope wasn’t all that helpful in this situation. Training was helpful.

I was glad to see that a good chunk of our under sixty crowd was there when I stepped into the gym. They were all stretching or hitting the weights with a couple of people running on the treadmills. It was great to see. The smell of sweat and the mingled scents of our pack were heavy in the air. With that in mind I went ahead and began my own regiment, focusing on arms and chest that day. Once we were sufficiently worked out the fun would actually begin.

I ushered everyone out of the gym and out into our forest clearing where everything was set up. We had it done up to where the best way to get through quickly was to team up with a group of at least three. Cora picked the groups so that they were a nice blend of the Onyxfangs and Silverstreaks. Everything was set up and ready to go. With the word go, the groups began to tackle the obstacles.

Everyone was doing well. I was appreciative of the efforts everyone was putting into it- this just proved that what we were trying to do was perfectly possible if people wanted to put in theeffort. Cora and I paired off with one of her own, heading into the obstacle herself. Halfway through we paused at the top of a wall.

“Wait,” Cora said softly. “Did you see that?” she asked, staring off into the forest. Something about her tone had me nervous, peering into the forest with her. She searched with her eyes, staring between the trees. I tried to see what she saw, her body language letting me know she was unnerved. “There!” she whispered, and I’d seen it that time.

There was a shadow in the forest. Something moving in the darkness between the trees. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. There was something out there watching us. It only took a moment after the shadow disappeared before another appeared in a different location. There was more than one of them. I pulled Cora to my side slowly, wanting to be able to protect her, though in the back of my mind I knew she was fully capable of protecting herself.

“There’s more than one,” I whispered, and Cora nodded silently.

“What is that?” One of my pack called up to us. “You see it too?” I looked down. He was looking in a completely different direction and that freaked me out even more.

“Group up!” I called down, and immediately the crew down on the ground circled up, each looking in a different direction just in case something happened.

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