Page 4 of Becoming the Alpha

“Lily!”

I turned back around. Laura was walking up behind me. She looked exhausted as well. Her hair was slightly out of place and her face was full of tears. I frowned, glancing at Amara, who looked uncomfortable. “Hey, Laura, are you okay?”

“I’m as okay as I can be considering I just lost my mate. I need to find my brother. Have you seen him?”

“Laura…slow down. What do you mean you lost your mate? Who?”

Laura grimaced, running her hand through her long, thick hair. She reminded me so much of Jason in that moment that it caused me to feel a pit of longing open up in my stomach. I internally rolled my eyes at how cringy and cheesy I was becoming. “Um…so, I guess Jason didn’t tell you, did he?’

“He hasn’t really had the chance. We came straight here from the Challenge. We haven’t really had a moment alone. What would he have told me?”

Laura shook her head, her cheeks hearing. “Nothing.”

I gave her a pointed look, staring until she sighed in defeat.

“Alright, well, my mate just died. He was…um…Callum,” Laura cringed. My body froze and shock raced through me. I opened my mouth, not really able to say anything to that. I couldn’t imagine being bonded to him. I didn’t know what to say. Laura looked uncomfortable, shifting her weight and crossing one arm across her body and glancing around us. “So…do you know where Jason is?”

“H-he’s in the infirmary. He needed his injuries from the fight tended to, so Dean and I got him settled in with the doctor. Amara and I are heading to get cleaned up in his room. We need to talk about this. Come join us?” I asked. I jerked a thumb over my shoulder, hoping she would take me up on my offer.

She shook her head. “I need to go see my brother. I’ll get cleaned up in my own room later. We’ll have to discuss this another time. Everyone needs some rest and then we can deal with the craziness of all of this. I promise, I’m okay though. I didn’t actually want to be bonded to that man anyways, so I’m counting my blessings.”

I nodded sharply. Laura turned and walked toward the infirmary. I glanced toward Amara, sighing. We linked arms again and made our way to Jason’s room. We slipped inside and I locked the door behind us. I turned around and stared at Amara. She wrapped her arms around her waist, looking lost and overwhelmed. I cleared my throat. “Alright, you jump in the shower first. I will get some clothes ready.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded. Amara turned on her heel and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door softly behind her. I walked over to Jason’s dresser and pulled out a plain black shirt, a plain blue shirt, and two pairs of gray sweatpants. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling an urge of longing roll through me as Jason’s scent filled my senses. I shuddered as my core heated and I sucked in a sharp breath. My wolf rushed up, looking for her mate.

Mate.

He’s not here right now. He’s in the infirmary. You know that.

Go to him.

Let me get cleaned up first.

My wolf growled at me, but didn’t say much else. I ran a hand through my hair, grimacing at the crunchy texture under my fingers. I couldn’t wait to scrub this day off my skin. I felt like I had aged several years after everything that had happened. Amara exited the shower pretty quickly and I jumped in, grateful to feel the steady pressure of the warm water.

I settled in to take a long-ass shower.

5

Laura

I stared at the doorway in front of me, my heart feeling like it was ripping in two. My mate was dead. I didn’t know what that meant for me and my future. It wasn’t like I ever would have mated with him, but that didn’t stop my wolf from howling her grief as loudly as she could inside my head. I rubbed my temples, closing my eyes and groaning. There was an empty pit in my chest and I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was never going to be normal or whole again.

I sighed, straightening my shoulders. I vowed I wouldn’t let him turn the attention to me just yet. I didn’t want to fall apart right now. I wanted to make sure everyone was okay and safe before I even attempted to address my own issues. This vow may have also been my way of avoiding facing the question of why the Goddess Leto would pair me with someone like Callum, but I ignored it. I thought I had been a fairly good person. I didn’t know what I could have done to deserve that.

I shook my head. Those kinds of thoughts weren’t going to help and there was no way for me to figure out the answers, so I put them behind me. I took a deep breath, stealing myself, and pushed the door open, stepping into the infirmary.

6

Jason

“What are you going to do?”

I glanced at Dean, raising an eyebrow. He narrowed his eyes at me, not bothering to explain what he was asking about. I didn’t need him to - I was just hoping to have more time to figure out what I was going to say. The problem was that it didn’t matter if I had a hundred years to prepare for this conversation - I had no idea what I was going to say, much less what I was going to do. Lily was going to kill me and she would have every right to do it.

“I have no idea, man,” I replied, running a hand through my hair.

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