Page 4 of Wolf's Claimed Mate
“Now listen—” Aidan began to snarl, but Fenrys held up a hand.
“I’m working with you for the safety of our packs and towns, but you’re on my turf, Tyrone. Play nice.”
Aidan battled with wanting to defy the order as alpha and doing what was right. I dared to step closer, but Fenrys put his arm out to prevent me from going further. Thinking of Aidan’s taunt of keeping up with them and following orders, I tore away from the two alphas and retreated to the other side of the gym. I piled up forty kilos of weights on the bench press, gritted my teeth as I lay down, and began my reps.
Sasha walking away.
My brother coming back into my life.
Two alphas.
Two towns.
Our enemy’s pack returning.
Fuck. I wanted tobemore, do more, prove my place. I was strong—Fenrys had had me at his side all these years for a reason, but I couldn’t change my DNA. I was a beta, through and through, even if I had the temper of an alpha as well as the desire to be one.
A horrible, nasty thought entered my mind:would Sasha have walked away from me if I was an alpha? Someone more important?
I’d spent the last couple of months telling myself that she hadn’t walked away out of a lack of interest but more so that she’dheldherself back, something personal, something I didn’t yet know. But that nasty voice continued to talk:it was because it’syou.
I grunted as I pushed the weight up and down, letting my biceps curl and stretch. My arms shook, having upped the weight from the last time I was here. I just wanted to do anything to ignore the sight behind my eyes of Sasha walking away from me,her lips swollen and bitten red from our clashing, passionate kiss.
I took a one-minute break and then got back to it.
If Kato’s pack became a bigger threat—and Fenrys thought they would—I needed to be able to protect those I loved and cared about. My alpha, my Luna, their cub. The rest of my pack. Sasha. I didn’t love her, not by any means, but I cared about her. She was a lost soul wandering around Silverlake Valley, the only leopard shifter, unable to join a wolf pack but unable to fit anywhere else.
Where would she even fit with you? I asked myself. I let the weighted bar clang down with a bang and sat up for a proper breather. Across the gym, Aidan was darting back and forth, his wrapped hands punching at a bag suspended from the ceiling. How had he done it? He was an asshole. Word on the street had it that he’d bullied his own mate. Fenrys had outright rejected his and became his mate’s target. That rejection almost got us all killed over a year ago.
I respected him and would have defended him against Thalia during his Mating Games, but they’d come out on top, mated. Aidan and Dakota, mated. Betas didn’t mate the way alphas did, but…
Fuck.
I still wanted someone. Someone as close as a mate would be. But Sasha wasn’t a wolf, and leopards couldn’t run with wolves.
I sighed. Aidan caught my eye and nodded, a silent peace offering. I shrugged, lay back down, and continued pressing.
It was nearing three in the morning. None of us had the best sleeping pattern ever, and over the last couple ofweeks, since Dakota had returned to the Silverlake Valley pack with Aidan, and his pack in tow and the two alphas had announced this tentative alliance, these gym sessions had become somewhat routine. Dakota mostly lived in Oak Hill with Aidan but often asked him to take her to visit Silverlake Valley and Thalia.
When she visited, they stayed in Aidan’s old house, which he’d started to renovate with, rumor had it, Declan and Jason’s help. Declan, my brother who had always flinched at DIY, not wanting to hurt his fingers, a wimp as a kid, was now knocking down walls and piecing a home back together.
At last night’s gym session, Fenrys and Aidan had discussed the possibility of two packs in Silverlake Valley, but Aidan was adamant about remaining in Oak Hill. He just wanted to have a place for him and Dakota. Now, the house was empty save for the three men whenever they worked on it.
I still didn’t trust Aidan Tyrone as far as I could throw him, but he’d been a friend once. I could see where his anger had come from and understood it. We had all been forced into silence when his family had been ousted from town when he was younger. Not speaking up for him was something we’d all quietly regretted.
Now he was back around and seemed hellbent on making me never forget how I betrayed him. Apparently, he could forgive Fenrys because of some alpha mutual respect, but he and I would never be friends again.
“What’s the deal with you and Declan, Conall?”
“There’s no deal,” I muttered.
“No, seriously. He’s part of my pack, and his attitude of being around you stinks up my house in Oak Hill. I want you two to sort it out. Fight it out like pack brothers.”
“But we’re notpackbrothers,” I snarled. In a quieter voice, I muttered, “He’s myactualbrother. We shouldn’t… You know.”
Aidan shrugged. “I’m not your therapist. Just sort it out.”
I rolled my eyes and flipped him off, lying back down on the bench to finish my reps while Aidan went to pound the shit out of the punching bag again. Fenrys was doing leg day, but he caught my eye and beckoned me over.
