CHAPTER 15

"Well, you weren't thinking the trust was just going to spring up there from nowhere, were you?," Asher asked himself as he watched Shana storm past Adele out of the room. He wanted to go after her, to convince her all she had heard were the ranting of a jealous woman and nothing more. He wanted to draw her back into his arms and confess to her what she meant to him, what she had come to mean in the space of just meeting her.
All that held him back was the truth she did not know, the reality of what he was.
In his eagerness to see her after his long stay away from her, he had not stopped to think about what would happen when she finally found out he was a wolf. What if she actually rejected him? A true mate bond between a wolf and a human was rare and it was even rarer for a human mate to reject the wolf but it happens and he had witnessed something like that.
In the case of a wolf rejecting another wolf as mate, both wolves ended up suffering, even if one wolf was willing to go through with the mating. But in the case of a non shifter rejecting a wolf, only the wolf suffered from it.
It was the reason Adam had died disconnected from his wolf, suffering and raging while he was alive while his wife merely looked on unaffected.
What if Shana could not deal with the truth of who he truly was? What was going to happen then?
"She won't!," his wolf declared agitatedly. "She's ours! She wants us, you know it," his wolf growled, pacing about and blowing steam at him for even thinking it but Asher could not help the thoughts.
Shana was going to be shocked. Who was he kidding? She was going to faint from the news when she found out. She probably lived life believing it was all about working as a secretary without a bother about dressing up to look good, having a passport or having a phone. She lived life that simply and she would probably laugh in his face if he started any talks about other species roaming the earth.
She was most definitely going to laugh him off as a children's story writer, with the imagination of one, serenading as a CEO.
"She won't!," his wolf growled.
"Yes, I hope so mate. I truly do," he said to himself. But he was not going to have high hopes. Apart from his work, he had been disappointed everyday of his life especially when it had to do with relationships.
"Asher?," Adele whispered cautiously, bringing his attention back to her. She had watched him stare off after the woman and she had not liked the look on his face, not a bit. Asher was her man and he was supposed to only be sleeping with the woman, nothing more.
But the way Asher had looked at her, with feral possessiveness in his eyes and he had looked like he was going to go running after her. The look was so familiar, like she had seen it several times...
But she was certain such look had never been directed at her. Asher had never looked at her that way, like she was his..
Adele's senses snapped into attention as she looked right into Asher's eyes. "You are going to mate with her." It was not a question, it was her voicing out what she already knew.
That look, every wolf knew it. At least every wolf who has been around a mated pair. It was the look that said "I'll give my life and more for you". It was the reason the look had been familiar.
She had not needed his confirmation but Asher nodded nonetheless, and it broke her.
She was so going to tear her to bits when she laid her hands on her.
"Now you know there's never going to be anything between us," he said stonily as he crossed his arms over his chest, shifting his stance like he wanted to go into physical combat with her. Actually, that was exactly how Asher had felt when Shana flounced out of the room. He had wanted to deal with Adele, make her submit, bow and kneel to him as her Alpha. But when she had realized what he had not said out loud, he had decided to go easy on her.
That decision was only going to hold if she decoded his message well and took her leave. He was still willing to make her kneel for interrupting the intimate session he was having with his mate. He had not forgiven that part.
"No," Adele whispered, shaking her head vigorously in denial. "That can't be true. I know you love me. You do. I can see it in your eyes," she said moving to stand before him, all the cautiousness of him being lord over her gone as the realization of what she was about to lose hit her.
"By God!, are you even listening to me?" He could not keep the frustration out of his voice.
"I'm." She put her hands on his arms and she felt his muscles go stiff. "Look at me Asher. Is this your way of getting back at me for what happened with Dan years ago?," she said looking into his eyes crazily.
"Come on Adele," he said as he gently peeled her hands off him. "That has nothing to do with this. Can't you see?." He was beginning to reach the end of his rope and he knew he was soon going to snap if she continued with the show she was putting on.
"What if the pack does not accept her?," she asked hopefully, lashing unto that prospect like a drowning man clinging to a dry floating log.
"I don't see anyone having a choice in this. I'm the Alpha, my wish is the pack's command," he said resolutely, even though he knew he was going to have that to contend with, Shana being his true mate or not.
The elders loved to keep the blood pure and clean.
"All I see is you trying to get your revenge and I'm fine. Just promise me you are going to come back to me when you're done with her. I can make you happy Asher. She can't," she finished with a wild look in her eyes.
"What is wrong with you Adele?," Mark's voice boomed from the door, taking the exact words from Asher's mouth before he could say them. Mark drew his sister away and forced her to stay in his arms, shielding her from Asher's brewing wrath.
"Shana is my mate, my one true mate," he said stonily, his blue eyes turning steel cold as he levelled his look on the two siblings. "She's going to be my Luna and she'll rule by my side." The words were like molten lava as they settled into the mind of the two other wolves. It was more or less written in stone,declared from the mouth of the Alpha himself and no one dared say a single word against it as they both bowed their heads.
"I'm sorry Asher. I'll get her out of here," Mark muttered and steered his unwilling sister towards the door.
He said no word as they made their way out, not moving a muscle until he sensed them go into the elevator.
Then he relaxed his stance and took a deep breath.
He had not liked the look in Adele's eyes but he promised to ruminate over that later. After he found his runaway mate.
He looked around the office, her office to be exact, noting the subtle little changes she had made in the large airy space. There was a pot of plant on her desk and she had little sticky notes stuck on everywhere. He peered at them, picking up one for a closer look at her tiny scribbling when he felt her throw herself at him.
He did not have to go find her after all. The impact of her body sent fire down his nerve endings and he cautioned his wolf to keep his calm, instead of grabbing her.
"What are you doing?," she asked grabbing the piece of paper from his lax fingers and wrinkling it in her palms. She went ahead to gather everything up as fast as she could to stuff them away.
"If you didn't want anyone reading them, then you shouldn't have them lying around," he delivered gently, watching the guarded look entering her eyes. He had picked up the paper just out of mere curiosity but with the way she was fidgeting, he wanted more than ever to know what was written on them. "What are you hiding?," he asked as he moved closer to her, his hands in his pocket so she would not see him as a threat as he closed in on her.
"Nothing Mr Anderson." Her reply was too sharp to be true but he decided to let it go. Besides, he could understand if she was angry because of the scene she just witnessed. He reasoned he owed her an explanation but the decided he was not going to be doing any talking or apology. All that mattered was that she was his, as much as he was hers. No explanation beats that but she did not know it yet.
Before long, she was going to have nothing to hide from him anymore. He was going to be in her head, just as she was going to be in his.
"Mr Anderson?," he asked her instead. "If I recall, it was Asher minutes ago."
She did not say anything to that, only shrugged her shoulder.
"Well, I guess we'll have to start all over again." He dragged her into his arms before she knew his intent. "Where were we?," he asked in a husky whisper as his head dropped down to take her waiting and pouting lips with his.