Page 12 of The Alpha's Bargain
“I’ll announce it to the packtonight.”
Niko looked around to my neck. “She’s notmarked.”
“And she won’t be until I decideit’stime.”
“What’s going on here?” Jonas questioned, and I felt my bloodpressurerise.
Luca didn’t miss a beat. “Caleigh and I have known each other since we were pups. We are mates, and nothing else needs to be saidaboutit.”
Jonas rubbed his hand over his face. “Alpha, are you sureaboutthis?”
Sadly, I took that as a direct hit to my self-esteem. It almost sounded like he was disappointed Luca had chosen me to be his mate. I’d never had any problems with Jonas during my times here, but I’d never been in the fold, either. There were many circumstances surrounding this bargain, and I had a feeling it would be blown on thefirstday.
Alpha waves filled the room. “You daredisobey?”
Jonas lowered his head. “Of course not, Alpha. I just want what’s rightforyou.”
“Caleigh is what’s right. End of discussion.Leave.”
They both gave me a look then sauntered outthedoor.
“Well, that went well,” I murmured, pulling out of Luca’s arms and giving us a bit of distance. “This is how it’s going to be for everyone. They aren’t going to believe we’remates.”
“I should mark you.” He said those four words like they were causal and not something that would totally entangle my world into hisforever.
If he bit me, there would be no going back. At least, not on his end. On my end, if I didn’t mark him, we could still break, but it would be more difficult for him to sever that link. We’d be partially bonded in a way that would be painful to sever. It wasn’t impossible, but it’s so rare that I didn’t know if this would be goodforus.
Not only that, would it impact me finding my true mate later after this deal was over? Then why did it feel so right at the same time? That thought scared me the most, because it shouldn’t feelright.
“We need to think about that.Youneed to thinkaboutthat.”
He stepped closer, confidence radiating from him. “I’d mark you right now and notlookback.”
The world around me fell away, leaving only him and I in the middle of an empty space. We gazed deeply into each other’s eyes. I wasn’t sure what I was searching for. Whatever it was, it was powerful. It was something that struck me deep from within. This strong alpha wanted so badly to tie himself to me that he would mark me and take on that pain when the six monthswasup.
A knock on the door and a swoosh of it opening put all the pieces of the world back together again, breaking our moment as Sagewalkedin.
“Care to tell me what’s going on?” She didn’t address her brother. Sheaddressedme.
“We’re mates,” I announced, like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Hell, one day around Luca and I was already doing histhing.
“What!” she screeched, her eyes darting back and forth between her brother andmyself.
“Calm down, Sage,” Lucaordered.
Her assessing eyes went to him. “Calm down? I tell you what’s going on in her life and now you’re mated? What’s up with that, Luca? Are you blackmailing her?” Her nose twisted up indisgust.
“Watch how you speak to me, Sage,” Luca warned from deep in his throat. “What Caleigh and I have is between us. You are not to say a word to anyone about what you know. It stays between the three of us, and thatisall.”
“Are you going to tell me what this is?” she charged, putting her hands on her hips and angling out her foot. From many years of being friends with her, I knew this was a position of don’t fuck with me and she would getanswers.
Luca wasn’thavingit.
“Yes. That’s all you needtoknow.”
“You haven’t marked her. No one here is going to believe she’s your mate if she’s not marked. Let alone, we can’tsmellit.”
I’d forgotten about that—the smell of mated pairs. Once the pair marked each other, their scents became mingled and entwined with one another, creating their own unique scent. The only way to start this process was themarking.Crap.
