Her Alpha Mate 14

"I didn't think I'd see you," Bryant grinned, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree.

Zack emitted a warning growl, at which Bryant flinched in surprise. Freya didn't even notice Zack was standing so close behind her until his chest vibrated against her back.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to," she muttered, crossing her arms.

After she'd broken up with him, Bryant had been desperate for them to get back together and had tried every trick in the book to win him over. Of course, by then she'd already decided that she'd wait for her mate, so he wasted a lot of time on her. It got to the point where her father decided to make him a tracker and send him on a world tour so he could help their allies in need.

He only returned a few times a year to visit his family, and she made sure to stay out of his way so she wouldn't have to deal with his ass.

"Who's that?" asked Bryant, finally noticing Zack standing behind her. She sensed a hint of anger and jealousy in his tone, making her want to roll her eyes. He stepped forward and extended his hand for Zack to shake, "Bryant, the ex-boyfriend."

Zack stiffened even more, if that was even possible, and shook Bryant's hand very firmly. She saw Bryant wince at the firm grip of Zack's hand, which made Zack's lips twitch a little, "Alpha Zack, the mate."

Now she wanted to slap Zack. Why was he claiming she was his mate now? It took him so long, until her ex-boyfriend showed up, to even say that. She decided to wait until Bryant was gone to ask him about it. The last thing she needed was Bryant trying to use their strained relationship to his advantage.

Bryant seemed surprised by this information, "Mate, Alpha?"

"Yeah, is there a problem?"

She discreetly nudged Zack with her elbow, but he didn't even flinch. The two just stared at each other until Bryant averted his eyes when he realized he was practically challenging an Alpha. That was a smart move on his part, considering she was pretty sure Zack could make him into a nice puree if he felt like it.

"Not at all," he gulped, "congratulations."

"Thank you. We're very happy, too."

She stared at Zack in confusion, wondering if he'd run into a tree or something.

"Right," Bryant cleared his throat awkwardly, "Well, I'll see you two later."

He walked away like his ass was on fire, not even waiting for a response.

"Nice wolf," Zack remarked sarcastically.

She turned and glared at him, "What was that?"

"What was what?" he asked casually.

"Alpha Zack, the mate," she mimicked, deep voice and all.

"Oh, that."

"Yeah, that."

"I never said you weren't my mate. I just didn't formally claim you."

"Then what do you call that? You just admitted to a pack member that I'm your mate. No one here knows you're my mate except my family and Chance and Reece."

"Listen, my wolf was -"

"You can't blame your wolf for everything, Zack! I'm pretty sure he doesn't control your every move."

"He's afraid he's going to have to live with the chipmunks because of you!"

The scowl on her face disappeared for a moment. "Chipmunks?"

"Squirrels," he corrected himself, rolling his eyes, "but that's the same thing."

"It's not!" she exclaimed, "chipmunks are smaller and have stripes!"

He seemed surprised by her outburst, "Who cares? They're still running around trees collecting acorns."

Before she could correct him again, a new voice interrupted their conversation. "And here I was thinking you were having a serious conversation with your mate.
Instead, I come here and discover the two of you're fighting over chipmunks. Since when are these furry creatures more important than a puppy ready to enter this world?"

She turned and gave her mother an embarrassed look, "Sorry, Mom. I'll be right there."

"I'll end this argument for you. Chipmunks prefer to live on the ground, Zack. Now come along, Freya, Loveth is getting a little out of control and the other midwives need help."

Freya nodded and looked at Zack, who made a surprised expression when he realized her mother had just corrected him for her.

"Please go find out about these witches. We can talk later," Freya muttered, following her mother into the house.



***



Zack was still in shock. This was their second fight, and they were fighting over those damn creatures hogging all the acorns.

While he was a little pissed, his wolf was the exact opposite. Dickson wouldn't stop talking about how Freya looked like an angry puppy. Zack wanted to slap his hand in his face at the thought.

She was cute, Zack would admit, but that wasn't important right now. He'd more pressing matters to attend to.

'Would you stop? We've more serious matters to attend to now, and the cuteness of our mate isn't one of them,' Zack said.

Dickson froze and shook out his fur as he once again realized the seriousness of the situation. Zack was lucky that his wolf knew when to stop acting like a puppy and when to start acting like an alpha.

Zack took his silence as a signal to leave and made his way to the dungeons, where Alpha Nathan was tending to the dead villains.

"Alpha Nathan," Zack said, his voice echoing off the stone walls. He stepped out of one of the cells with an annoyed look on his face.

"Come with me. We'll talk in my office," Nathan muttered. They quickly made their way to his office, where he sighed and dropped into his chair.

"What happened to the villains?" asked Zack, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"One of the pack doctors tested their blood. Turns out they'd quite a bit of griffin blood in them, which made their wolves weaker."

"So they were either injected with the blood or somehow became part of a griffin."

"Maybe, but I also thought they might've made a blood oath with the griffins to show their loyalty."

"I don't think a blood oath would be enough to give them a lot of griffin blood."

They were silent for a few moments as they continued to think.

"Do you know of any other witches close enough to visit in a few days?" Zack asked, "The one up north is useless. I want to see if there's another witch who can give us answers, even if it takes a day or two to reach her."

Alpha Nathan scratched his chin, "How about this witch, Maggi?"

"You mean Margaret?"

"Yeah, whatever her name is. She lives in the eastern woods, right? If you hurry, it'll probably take you two days to get there."

Zack took a deep breath, "I don't know. The last time I visited, she was a little too focused on me."

Alpha Nathan gave him a dry smile, "I wonder why. You're not a pretty sight."

"To you, maybe. But the way she kept touching me, it seemed like she wanted to turn me into a statue and keep me with her forever," Zack said, almost shuddering at the memory of a few years ago.

Margaret was a very....joyful witch.

"Well, she's the closest I can think of, unless you want to travel to another state."

Zack sighed, "No, she'll have to do. I'm sure I can get by with her for a few hours. I plan to leave day after tomorrow and take Freya with me."

"Why? She's already in danger, Zack. I don't want her traveling around alone," Alpha Nathan frowned.

"I wasn't planning on letting her travel alone," Zack said, "I'll take some of my pack warriors with me. Margaret might want to see Freya for herself before she gives us any answers."

Alpha Nathan pursed his lips, but nodded reluctantly, "Fine, but if I find out that a single hair on her head has been harmed,
I'll come for you."

Zack rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the wall.

"I mean it, Zack."

"I heard you loud and clear, Alpha Nathan," Zack said, turning to leave. But the door slammed open and Beta Damien ran in frantically. He looked shocked and scared at the same time.

"Damien, what's wrong?" asked Alpha Nathan, getting up from his chair and walking over to the worried wolf. They exchanged a look as Beta Damien struggled to form words.

"M-my puppy, h-he."

"What about your puppy, Damien? Is he okay?" asked Alpha Nathan sternly.

"He has the blessing of the moon goddess. Nathan, he has golden blood."