The Alpha's Mate

2

I wake up the next morning feeling sluggish and disoriented as I try to remember what happened. After a few seconds I look and see Mady sleeping next to me and I was in her room. Almost immediately, flashes from last night surface in my memory. I start to remember everything.

Mady getting me to wear her dress.

Her leaving me for Jay.

Some random guy getting too touchy with me.

Max saving me.

I stop short after the last thought. Max. So many questions run through my head when I think about him. Why did he have that look when he touched me? Why start using his old nickname for me now? What's going on with everyone around me? But more importantly, what's going on with me? Why is my mind always full of that asshole lately?

My phone buzzes beside me, bringing me out of the abyss of questions running through my mind. I look to see who texted me. My eyes almost bulge out of my head as I see the furious texts from my mom flooding my phone.

Shit. I forgot to tell her and dad I was staying at Mady's and now I'm probably most likely grounded for a good while. At least on the bright side, Mady and Jay can't drag me to anymore parties for a good bit. I turn in the bed to face Mady and start to shake her until she starts groaning before sitting up and giving me a glare.

"What the hell Is?! I'm trying to sleep." She tells me as she rolls back over and buries her face into the sheets as I roll my eyes. "Mady I have to get home. Mom is angry and it is highly likely that I will face a long grounding because I forgot to tell her I was here last night." I inform her as I get up and change back into my clothes before standing and start heading for the door.

At the sound of the word grounding, Maddison shoots off the bed like a bullet. She looks at me with wide, dough-like eyes before she says what I figured she would say. "What?! Grounding?! No! There's another party happening in a couple of days, and you have to go! They can't ground you!" She almost yells to me as I face her with an acknowledged look on my face. "Let me guess." I start before placing my bag back down as I start to imitate other girls about the topic that I know she will bring up. "Max will be there!" I say in an overly excited girly voice before scoffing and grabbing my back again. "Yeah no. Hard pass, sorry Mads but one party is one too many for me to attend, especially one thrown for the jackass himself." I tell her before leaving her room and start heading downstairs.

As I make my way down, I pass bodies littering the floor as I'm guessing they all had one to many to drink. I slowly start shaking my head at how pathetic they all look before a voice stops me just before I reach the front door.

"Where are you going Belle?" Hearing his voice, I can't help but roll my eyes before turning to face him. "Where does it look like I'm going Sherlock?" I ask sarcastically as I see amusement pass through his eyes before giving me his arrogant smirk. "Why so eager to leave me? I thought we had a great time last night." Max says. Immediately, I can't help the bubbling laughter that comes as soon as he finishes speaking.

"Oh geez." I say between laughs, even going as far as to wiping a fake tear to overexaggerate how funny it was. "Yeah ok. If you consider being molested and then being walked to a room by you a great time, then yeah, last night was a blast." I say before turning back to the door. I vaguely hear him call out my name as I leave his house. I ignore him until my wrist is softly tugged backwards, causing me to spin around. "What the hell Max? I need to go home now before my mom gets even more pissed off at me." I tell him with irritation at the fact that he's stopping me from leaving his presence.

"You shouldn't walk alone, Belle. It's dangerous and Mady would kill me if I let you walk out of here alone and something happened to you." He states firmly with a slight growl in his voice. It was almost unnoticeable, almost.

Does he have some sort of medical condition? Why is he growling? I didn't think humans could growl.

Once again I roll my eyes before snatching my wrist back and spinning on my heels and walking away. I don't need him to walk me home like a baby. I've been through these woods countless times and nothing as happened. Why would today be any different? "Belle! Get back here!" I hear Max yell to me from behind but all I do is raise my middle finger in the air and continue walking. Like hell I'll let him go with me home. Last night, he had to save me, which was bad enough. My ego can't take another blow like him walking me home.

The walk through the woods seemed longer than I thought. Ten minutes into my walk, I realized I got lost in my thoughts and wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I lost my way. Damn it! Why did I let my pride get in the way every time it came to him?

Because you always have to prove yourself.

The voice in my head was right. Every time something had to do with Max I couldn't help but show him that I could do it. I don't need a man to coddle me through life. I certainly didn't need my best friend's annoying brother doing it either.

After a few minutes of walking I had finally brought it upon my self to call someone but who? Mady would surely be with Jay right now like she always is or back to sleep and Max was out of the question. If I called him, it would be admitting defeat and I sure as hell would never do that with him.

Hearing a twig snap from behind me, I freeze in my steps scared to even turn around. Maybe I should call Max? My life is more important than my pride, that I can deal with later.

Before I could do anything else, I feel something crawling on the back of my neck like air. After a moment, I realize what it was from the soft growling and snarling sound. An animal breathing down my neck. I slowly step away from the air rushing at me from behind. I turn slightly to see the most horrifying looking wolf I had ever seen. I didn't even know wolves lived in this area.

What was even more strange was that this wolf seemed to look bigger than normal ones. Maybe he just ate more meat?

Yeah, and you're its next meal.

After hearing that thought, my instincts tell me to run. I don't move an inch before the wild-looking beast suddenly pounces on top of me. It emits a frightened scream from me. So this is it? This is how I die?

My mind goes blank as I see the rabid look in this animals eyes as he keeps snapping his jaws in my face. I attempt to push him off, but the only thing that happens is his paws putting pressure down onto my arms. I'm afraid they would snap. As the wolf inches closer to my face, I turn my head to the side quickly and close my eyes. I wait for the beast to tear into me, but almost as fast as he was on me, he is suddenly gone.

I slowly open my eyes and sit up to see only Max standing in front of me. Had I imagined the wolf? Am I going crazy? "Belle? Are you okay?" He asks me as he slowly approaches me as if he would scare me off. "W-Wait...Where did-where did it go?" I ask shakily as he helps up off the ground. "Where did what go?" He asks as he gives me a confused look.

With wide eyes, I grip his shirt and frantically try to explain. "The Wolf Max! There was a wolf about to eat me! What do you mean what!?" I practically scream at him. I see a look of sadness in his eyes before they close and he shakes his head slightly before opening them again. "Isabelle. There was no wolf. I just saw you on the ground thrashing at air." He says softly.

His words. The tone of his voice. He sounded so sure. But, I know what I saw. I'm not crazy. Right?

"Come one let's get you home Belle." He says softly as I just nod before he leads me out of the woods and towards my house.

Max's POV:

I feel so terrible. A failure as a mate. I couldn't explain to her what happened without giving out the secret. I mean how would you explain a human scaring off a wolf? That's right you can't, not without secrets coming out. Secrets I know she's not ready to hear yet.

If only that damned rogue hadn't slipped past the border. Jay is going to get an earful the next time I see him about this.

Last night I knew. When I touched her, I felt the sparks. The signs were all there. Isabelle Martin is my mate. I always had a feeling she was, but never wanted to believe it, she was human after all.

My Human mate.

And I had just let her believe she was crazy. I just hope when the truth finally comes out, She will forgive me.