Alpha Alexander

Chapter Eighteen

I woke to someone tracing patterns on my back. I opened my eyes and found Julie smiling softly down at me. "Hey, Bee."

I smiled, "Hi, Lee."

"How are you feeling?"

"I've been better. What happened?"

Julie hesitated. "What do you remember?"

Everything hit me like a freight train. "He claimed me."

Julie nodded slowly.

"He bit me . . . twice."

Julie gave me a sad smile. "The first was to claim you. The second was to satisfy the heat for a little while." She waited while I processed what she had said. "He came and got me the second you fainted." She gave a short laugh. "He's like a mother hen. I had to call Seth to literally drag him from the room."

"Why?" I frowned.

"He wasn't helping you by hovering over you." I must've looked as confused as I felt because Julie sighed and motioned for me to sit up. As I pulled my knees to my chest, she started to explain. "The only way to fully satisfy the heat is to do the deed. In order to put it off, you need his venom in your system, as a sort of replacement, so to speak."

The school lessons on werewolf mating did not cover this. I asked hesitantly, "A replacement?"

Julie chuckled nervously, scratching her temple. "Uh, so the birds and the bees, Phoebe . . ."

I threw a pillow at her, laughing lightly. "You're too late for that talk, Lee." After a moment, I asked another question, "Will I feel the pain again?"

Julie nodded. "Think of it this way: the heat is a disease and his bite is a sort of antibiotic but the cure is his di—"

"Okay, okay! I got it, thanks." I cut her off, my face flushing scarlet.

Julie laughed. "It was a good metaphor, you have to admit."

I put on a pair of black leggings and one of his large t-shirts before Julie and I went downstairs. It was only seven at night, a mere six hours post-claiming—which, according to Julie, was a record. She claimed that I was probably more dominant than most werewolf Alpha Females, given that I was human and came out of the "claiming coma" (Julie's words, not mine) within a day, let alone a few hours.

We entered the dining room, where several teenage werewolves sat doing homework and gossiping in low voices. Kellan and Jason leaped out of their chairs when their eyes found me and Julie standing at the doorway. Kellan's gaze fell almost immediately to my neck, a large grin spreading across his face. "Nice one!"

"That's what I said," Julie snickered.

"How are you feeling?" Jason asked.

I noticed those sitting at the table were no longer interested in their homework. Their eyes were focused solely on me and I forced myself not to fiddle my fingers through my hair in an attempt to discreetly cover the mark. That would be extremely disrespectful and if I was being honest with myself, I enjoyed their looks of awe and intrigue. It made me feel pretty damn good about myself.

I smiled and answered Jason's question, "I'm fine. Just a little sore and tired."

Kellan snickered, but was smart enough not to say whatever sexual innuendo came to his mind. Instead, he gestured grandly to the table. "Will you sit at our table, milady?"

I chuckled. "Of course."

I sat across from Julie but between Kellan and another boy I had a history class with. I was trying to remember his name—Cole?—when he turned to me and asked what topic I was doing for a presentation due later in the week. My eyes widened and I stood straight up, "Holy shit!"