Her Alpha Mate 12

The stench was overwhelming, but Freya didn't know if she should be more worried that it wasn't a werewolf or that it was so close to the edge.

"Well, let's go see," Zack muttered, taking off his shirt. Her gaze wandered over his body before she quickly turned her head back to the window so he wouldn't notice her staring at him.

She was used to male wolves walking around naked because there were times when they couldn't find their clothes or didn't have them with them, but with Zack it was something completely different. She felt such a desire as she'd not have felt with any other male wolf.

"Are you coming?" he asked, standing right behind her to look out the window. Her she-wolf sniffed happily at his intoxicating scent as she tried to ignore the warmth of his body.

She pondered: Why did Zack have to be my mate? Why couldn't the Moon Goddess give me someone who'd accept me as I'm? Why did mates have to be naturally attracted to each other as soon as they met? Why couldn't they develop it over time instead?

"Freya!"

His voice brought her out of her daze and she saw out of the corner of her eye as he opened the door. Realization hit her and she quickly ran to one of the closets to retrieve her brother's old baseball bat.

Zack stared at the bat in confusion. "Why the bat? What happened to your wolf?"

"I can't turn yet because of the meds.
I've been taking. They make my wolf weak," she explained, rubbing the metal bat affectionately. This was her weapon when she couldn't transform, and it was the best weapon a girl could ask for. It was heavy, sturdy, and the perfect size for her. She couldn't even count how many wolves she'd knocked out with it.

He eyed her suspiciously, as if she wanted to beat him up instead, which she'd if he kept acting like an idiot. She marched past him with the bat on her shoulder, "We don't have all day, Zack. Hurry up."

He rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him as she continued toward the pack boundary. When they reached the line of trees in front of the border, she stopped and looked around as Zack's wolf sniffed the ground and his brown tail wagged furiously behind him. She looked down at him, and his ears stiffened and twitched as if he'd heard something. Her werewolf hearing was weaker, but she did her best to listen for the creature's sounds.

It was barely audible, but she could make out a rustling coming from the east, about a quarter mile away. She nodded to Zack and let him lead her through the forest, trusting that he knew the way better with his werewolf senses. As they got closer, the stench became almost unbearable, but she swallowed it and buried her nose in his sleeve. A few seconds later, Zack suddenly stopped, growling softly and backing away as if to protect her.

How cute, but really she didn't need protection at the moment.

Her eyes wandered over the many trees as she wondered why Zack stopped here.
There didn't seem to be anything here. She was about to ask him when suddenly a black shadow shot through the trees. He disappeared so quickly into the darkness of the forest that she almost thought she was imagining things.

But then there was another. And another.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and a shiver ran down her spine. She felt as if someone was watching her. She turned slowly and clutched the bat tighter at the sight.

A pair of yellow eyes with blood-red veins around the pupil stared at her.

She didn't even have a chance to see if Zack had noticed the creature, as it kept coming closer. It was strange that it was getting so comfortably closer.

Zack gave a loud growl and his eyes widened in horror.

There were four creatures coming toward them.

Her fingers clutched the bat tightly as her eyes strained to make out what the creatures looked like, but it was hard to tell in the dim light.

Suddenly, the creature facing her lunged at her with a loud hiss that made her heart beat faster. It charged forward, just like the other three, and Zack immediately threw the one to the ground.

It took her a few seconds to realize they were wolves, rogues to be exact, but their scent confused her. It was as if they'd lost their scent and had another one tailored to their bodies.

She swung the bat at the exact moment the rogue reached for her neck and slammed it right against his throat, hoping it would slow him down. However, the rogue's neck snapped in half and his head rolled away easily.

She thought: What the hell was going on here? It shouldn't be so easy to break a wolf's neck.

She didn't have time to think about it further, because another rogue attacked her from behind. She fell to the ground just as the villain was tearing her jacket and shirt.

But just as quickly as the rogue had climbed on top of her, it was ripped off her body in seconds. Zack's wolf roared and bared its teeth at the villain, who just hissed.

She pondered: Why did the villain hiss? I did not even know that was possible in wolf form.

She grabbed her fallen bat and swung it at another wolf who was trying to attack Zack from behind. He stumbled back from the force of her blow, and she used his moment of weakness as a chance to strike at his head.

There was a loud sound of breaking bones as he fell dead on his side.

It was as if their bones were made of marshmallows.

A loud growl sounded behind her, and when she turned around, she saw Zack fighting the last two villains with ease.
He had managed to inflict some really good wounds on the villains. She was about to interfere when he slashed the throat of one villain and tore off the ear of the other.

In seconds, he killed the other villain by digging his fangs into his neck. Zack transformed back into his human form and stared at the villains with disgust and curiosity. She noticed that he had a large wound near his hip bone, partially covered by his large forearm. She walked up to him and pulled his arm away so she could see the wound better.

"What are you doing?" he asked softly, his voice rough from all the growling and fighting. She looked at the cut and was startled by how deep it was. Luckily that was the only bad wound he had, the rest were small scratches. She let out her fangs and bit her palm, letting her blood flow from the small cut she had made.

She took her palm and stroked it over his wound, watching as her blood surrounded the broken skin and glowed.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Zack, watching his skin slowly heal as if the wound had never been there. He reached for her hand and stared at the small cut she had made. His eyes widened at the sight of the dried golden blood on her palm.

She shuffled uncomfortably as he looked back and forth between her face and her palm.

"The witches spoke of your blood. The golden blood," he said incredulously. She nodded cautiously, praying he would not get angry and go on a rampage. He pursed his lips and sighed, "We will talk about it later. But first..."

He startled her by gently licking her palm. The burning in her hand disappeared as he continued to stroke the wound with his tongue. She stared at him in shock as he let go of her hand and awkwardly scratched the back of her neck. "I guess no one told you that mates can heal each other."

She had no idea. She had never really questioned why some mates licked each other's wounds and bruises, but now it made more sense. She had just assumed it was a form of affection, which it kind of was, since they obviously cared enough to lick their mate's wounds.

Zack turned back to the rogues and kicked one of the bodies, "You should mind-link your father and tell him about the rogues. We need to get their blood tested to find out why they were so weak and why they smelled different. Maybe they were injected with something.

She exhaled and began to mind-link her father. 'Dad, we have a problem. There were four rogues right outside the barrier and they have a strange smell. They do not smell like wolves at all and they were very weak.'

It took him a few seconds to reply, 'All right, Freya, I'll be right there.'

"He's coming," she murmured, and Zack nodded, kicking his feet lightly. She could sense from his tense posture that something was bothering him, and it was not the villains. She opened her mouth to ask him when he turned and held her.

A gasp left her mouth as his hands gripped her waist tightly, pulling her against him until she was pressed all the way against him.

They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle.

He pursed his lips with an indecipherable expression and leaned forward to bury his nose in the crook of her neck. She shivered as he sniffed her skin, as if trying to reassure himself. Her breathing became erratic and her pulse skyrocketed as she felt his skin against hers. She felt a wave of desire wash over her as he nestled against her neck and lightly pressed his lips to her pulse.

"Sorry," he whispered, his warm breath tickling the fine hairs near her ear, "I did not mean to startle you. My wolf was about to go off and I could not calm him down."

He pulled back carefully and took a step back. His lips twitched at her stunned face.

She did not know what to feel. Happy?
Disgusted? Angry? She had no idea. It was all happening too fast for her to comprehend.

All she knew was that his touch set her nerves on fire and left her wanting more, which was dangerous since he had not accepted her yet.

"Freya. Alpha Zack."

At the sound of her father's voice, she turned to face the small group of wolves coming toward her.

"What is that smell?" asked Beta Damien in disgust, holding his nose.

Her father frowned and sniffed the air,
"Lucas."

One of the older pack warriors stepped forward, "Alpha."

"Perhaps, this smell familiar to you?"

Lucas sniffed the air again and closed his eyes as if searching for a memory. When he opened them, he looked worried and disgusted at the same time.

"Alpha, that smell belongs to the Griffins."