Her Alpha Mate 43

Freya:

Zack drew his lips into his mouth as he pondered my proposal. I crossed my fingers and prayed he'd agree.

"I don't know, Freya. You could get hurt,"
He said softly and gave me a worried look.
I gave him a small smile and took a step forward to put my arms around him.

"Do you trust me Zack?" I whispered in his ear as he buried his face in my hair.

He groaned, "You know that's not my problem. My issue is that the Griffins are coming here to get you, and you want to be the decoy."

I pulled back and felt my heart warm at the concern on his face.

No one can ever get tired of someone caring so much.

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his lips, softening his face, "I'm a Luna, Zack. The pack is coming..."

His lips landed on mine before I could even finish my sentence. He slid his fingers into my hair and pulled me closer so that my chest was pressed against his.

He kissed me with an intensity I'd never felt before. I was overwhelmed by the emotions that flowed through the mating bond and sent my heart into overdrive.

I clutched his shoulders as I tried to stifle a moan. The way he practically devoured my lips was so....intoxicating.

I almost forgot where we were, but I quickly reminded myself that this wasn't the time to become an overly aroused woman.

There was plenty of time for that afterwards.

Zack let go of me for a second and eyed my swollen lips with dark eyes, making me gasp. I barely had time to inhale before he claimed my lips again.

"Mine," he growled, never once slowing the pace of his lips.

My she-wolf nearly fell over when she heard that statement, and I, of course, was just as shocked. He'd never expressed his possessiveness so bluntly before, knowing that I didn't really like it.

But I knew that what he was feeling at that moment wasn't the possessiveness that would kill any male wolf in the area. It was more like the "I'll protect my mate at all costs" obsession.

I felt giddy as he pulled back and looked at me with a much more tender expression on his face as we both tried to calm our breathing.

He leaned his forehead against mine and closed his eyes tightly, "I was hairy."

I nearly choked on my saliva at his statement. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Did he not like my hair before?

He chuckled and stared at me with a look that made my heart heavy, "I said I wanted a mate who'd a good heart and only the interests of the pack in mind. She should be strong and able to fight by herself."

Slowly, I realized what he was getting at and felt my lips twist into a smile. His eyes lit up with an emotion that I saw every time my father looked at my mother.

"Dear Moon Goddess," he whispered, "I must apologize. You've given a mate with a heart of gold to a wolf who sat on a horse as high as Mount Everest."

He bumped his nose against mine, "No pun intended."

I rolled my eyes playfully and felt his lips tighten into a smile on my cheek as he continued, "I should be grateful to you for all eternity, but I cannot. Not when I adore her more than I adore you."

I was partly in awe, partly expecting a bolt of lightning to twitch from the sky and burn him to ashes.

He'd such a way with words that you wanted to love and curse him at the same time.

"Freya," he said, stepping back to get a better look at me, "I'm probably sounding very dramatic now, but if there's one thing I learned from my father, it's to never go into a situation like this without telling a person how you feel." He swallowed hard, "Life is unpredictable. I want you to promise me that if something happens out there... you'll come back to me. I don't care if I die the next moment, I just want to see you."

"Zack,-"

"Promise me, Freya. I don't want to hear anything else."

His face blurred as tears welled up in my eyes, "I promise."

He kissed me on the forehead, "Go distract some griffins for me."

I slowly stepped back and gave hima bittersweet smile.

We hadn't said the three special words, but at that moment I knew we didn't have to. The look in his stormy gray eyes told all.

My heart skipped a beat as several feelings coursed through my body.

The most important of which was love.

And it wasn't just my love for Zack, it was his love for me.

The love he conveyed through the mating bond with wave after wave.

I turned and closed my eyes, sending my own feelings through the link, letting him know it wasn't just about him.

I loved him, too.





***





"Fireworks?"

"Check."

"Lighter?"

"Check."

"Masks?"

"Check."

"Underwear?"

I stopped straightening my helmet and gave Evelyn a pointed look. "Underwear?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Considering Alpha Zack decided to half-rape you in the middle of the field, I'd to make sure he didn't blow your underwear off."

"And you!" she turned her attention to poor Juilet, who was beginning to blush, "You disappeared into the house with Beta Reece, and came out with a snarl on your neck. Who knows what else happened there?"

Juilet tied her hair into a ponytail and proudly showed her mark, "Nothing. We didn't have time because Chance came knocking on the door."

I grinned and put the key in the ignition of the motorcycle, "Come on, Eve. We can discuss this later."

She was about to say something else, but a mind link diverted my attention. 'Luna, the Griffins are in sight now. They're marching about twenty miles from us toward the east and west borders.'

I pursed my lips and made a mind link to Zack, my father, Reece, and Chance.

'We're about to hit the road. Everyone is clear on the plan, right? Evelyn, Juilet and I'll herd the Griffins to the northern border so the rest of the pack can leave.'

A murmur of agreement passed through the mind link before I nodded to the girls, "It's time."

Evelyn got on the other bike and started the engine, "Get on Juilet. You've a lot of bombs to drop."

I eyed Evelyn's bump anxiously, "Are you sure about that?"

She rolled her eyes, "Babe, my mama armored that bump. If someone tried to hit my uterus, they'd break their damn hand."

I nodded in agreement and put on my mask,
"We'll take the path on the right when we get to the fork in the road, all right?"

Evelyn nodded and excitedly revved the engine, "Time to spill some blood and guts of those griffins.

"Sometimes you worry me," I muttered, hearing her laugh as I drove down the path.

Before I knew it, we'd left the border behind us and were racing toward the distant group of griffins. They hadn't noticed us yet, but that was probably because we were careful to stay behind the line of trees. As we got closer, I signaled Evelyn to slow down so we could time it right, and stopped behind a large stack of tree trunks.
I watched the griffins get closer and closer, and my eyes narrowed each time they took a step.

'Now!'

Evelyn came out from behind the tree and rushed back the griffins, who seemed startled at the intrusion. She crossed the path before they could blink, and disappeared behind the line of trees again.

"What was that?" snapped one of the griffins, looking back and forth in confusion.

The griffin in front, which was presumably Douglas sniffed the air, "Werewolves. We must be close to the border."

Juilet had mentioned that the griffins had gotten drunk the night before, and now that it was early in the morning, they were all hungover and couldn't fly.

As far as I could tell, they were still a little woozy, because they couldn't even smell the faint griffin scent on Juilet. All they smelled was Reece's scent on her.

I slowly stepped out from behind the woodpile and stared at all of their backs as they stared in the direction Evelyn had gone. I gripped the handlebars tightly and felt my heart pounding against my rib cage.

It was now or never.

I let my engine roar to life.

It was almost comical how all their heads turned to me so quickly.

I grinned a little and took advantage of their moment of shock to drive forward, circling the group at a speed that would make police officers swoon.

Behind me, a shout rang out, "After him!"

He just assumed my gender. How nice.

I heard their footsteps behind me and looked back to see some of them changing into their griffin form.

I slowed down, just to amuse them, and waited until they were a little closer before running again.

Soon enough, we caught up to Evelyn and Juilet.

'I'm behind you guys. Pick up your speed.' I said.

'You got it.' Evelyn responded.

Evelyn increased her speed just as I was a few feet behind them.

"Now!" I yelled, hoping Juilet could hear me over all the noise the griffins and motorcycles were making.

Luckily she did and lit the first Judas belt she'd in her pocket. As soon as the end burst into flames, she threw it as far behind her as she could.

I winced as the row of firecrackers began to explode.

I was about to go numb when this was over.

The fireworks weren't just to stop the Griffins. They were a signal to anyone who wanted to know we were approaching the northern border.

After a few more miles, Juilet ignited the next belt and threw it behind me as the Griffins tried to escape the sparks.

I began to get a better look at the area and smiled as I realized we were headed straight for the border.

Juilet threw one last belt behind her, sending the Griffins into a frenzy as we led them across the border and into our trap.

I didn't even get a chance to look behind me as orders came from all directions for the pack warriors to attack.

'Zack, I'll lead the rest of the pack out now.'

'There are a few pack warriors waiting at the border to follow you as you cross. Take care, Freya. I beg you.'

I sent a wave of reassurance through the link and raced through the pack to the group of werewolves waiting for their evacuation.

I stopped my motorcycle and called out to them, "Follow me! Your destination is about an hour from here, so we need to hurry."

I waited a few minutes until they all moved and followed the same path as before. When we reached the border, a few wolves joined the group to make sure there were no other signs of danger while we went to a neighboring pack.

We approached as the air around us suddenly became misty.

I slowed down and frowned as the fog became thicker. I looked behind me and realized that I could barely see the wolves behind me.

What the hell was going on here?

I felt my breathing slow down and my eyes grow heavy.

What had happened to the group? Was this a trap?

And then everything went black.