Blood Moon: Bought by the Mafia Alpha

Chapter 9: Protection

Adan

As I witnessed her straining under the weight of my Alpha timbre, standing her ground against me, I knew she was my Mate... my Queen. Only a woman of such strength could be mine. Yes, this was her, the woman I'd been waiting for all my life, yet she was refusing to submit to me, her Alpha.

"Mark my words, Brenna. You will submit to me before the Blood Moon and become my Mate," I growled as I yanked her hair back, now sitting in the seat next to me, wearing only my white Armani dress shirt.

She had shredded her clothes with her foolish stunt, trying to run. I had just enough time to strip before morphing into my wolf and narrowly catching her. But I didn't care if I had to chase her all night; she was coming with me. She was mine.

"Like hell I will!" she growled, folding her arms across her chest.

I was surprised that the humans were able to hold onto her. She was stronger than any other she-wolf I had ever encountered and much less willing to submit. But I like that in her. Other she-wolves fell to their knees before me, submitting to me willingly but not her. Not my Queen.

"Brenna, I know you've been through a lot. But now, you have to think about surviving." I turned left onto the long driveway leading to the Moon Shadow Pack Compound. "If I hadn't caught you back there, what would you have done? Where would you have gone? You would be nothing more than a Rogue Wolf, living off the land and at the mercy of other Rogues. You're too good for that. As the last of your Pack, you have no choice but to submit to me... for your own protection."

"Never," she grumbled, looking out the window.

"What I offer you," I continued, ignoring her defiance, "is a Kingdom. If you submit to me as your Alpha, then you will fall under my protection. And if you submit to me as your Mate, then you will be the Queen of my Kingdom... the Moon Shadow Pack. I suspect your father raised you to be a Queen."

I glanced over at her, and she was still staring out the window. "Leave my father out of this."

I let out a deep breath. "Just think about it before you cast me aside," I growled. "You may not know this, but I am respected among the wolves and the humans. And as my Mate, you will be granted my protection."

Her head snapped up. "I don't need protection from an oaf like you!" Her eyes cut daggers into my soul.

I chuckled, one corner of my lips curling into a devious smile. "Brenna, what you may not realize is that your resistance just makes me want you more."

"Well, tough!" she growled, sounding like a child.

I nodded, understanding. "Brenna, how old are you?"

She clenched her jaw. "Eighteen."

I nodded, understanding. "So, that was how you went through the last Blood Moon unscathed. You had not yet come of age." Then I thought of something. "The humans said that you were deemed pure. Is that true?"

She let out a deep breath, nodding. "Yes, but what does it matter?"

I shook my head. She was my Mate, so anything she did before me would be of no consequence. "No, of course not. I was just curious."

"Through the years, my father locked me up each time there was a Blood Moon."

I nodded. "Your father was a wise man." The Blood Moon didn't come around but once every two years, so she would have been sixteen at the time of the last Blood Moon.

"Yes, he was." She let out a deep breath, relaxing a bit. "How old are you?"

I let out a deep breath. "I am two hundred and twenty years old." I glanced over at her. "But as you know, we stop aging once our wolves appear. My wolf appeared when I was twenty-five. How old were you when your wolf appeared?"

She bit her lower lip. "Sixteen."

I nodded, understanding. "So, that was why your father locked you up."

She nodded. "It was horrible. I was in a room alone for twenty-four hours. No one was allowed in, and I was locked in, unable to escape." She looked away, ashamed. "Something inside me took over. Something primal. Anyway, I wanted to get out so badly that I tore up the room completely, but I survived with minor injuries."

I nodded, understanding. "Yes, the mating instinct in wolves magnifies during the Blood Moon. But don't be ashamed. You couldn't have controlled it if you had tried. That was why your father locked you up."

Brenna glanced over at me. "How did you go this long without finding a Mate?"

I looked straight into her eyes. "Because you hadn't been born yet." I looked out the front windshield. "Oh, I've had other women and have participated in the Blood Moon Rituals, but I never claimed a Mate."

She nodded, understanding, as she looked out the window.

"But know this...." I looked directly into her eyes. "I will not force you to become my Mate, and I will not take you without your consent." I smirked, arching an eyebrow. "I could take you this night and make you my Mate, but I'm prepared to wait until you're ready."

She laughed without humor. "Then you'll be waiting for a long time, buddy boy."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Sweetheart, I haven't been a boy in a very long time."

A smile lit her lips, and what a beautiful smile it was. "Okay, 'old man.'" Was she actually teasing me now?

I burst out laughing. "I'm not an old man, either." I shrugged. "Not in comparison." My smile faded. "My father was nine hundred and seventy-two years old when he was killed, and he didn't look any older than I do."

Her head snapped up. "He was killed? When?"

I made a left in the forest on a road that wasn't visible to just anyone. The green grass soon gave way to a dirt road and then to a concrete driveway leading to the castle. No one would know it was there if they weren't looking for it.

"He was killed a year ago." I glanced over at her, following the road in. "I killed the Alpha responsible for his death, and I plan to do the same for you. Mark my words: I will get revenge on your behalf."

She nodded once, a crease between her beautiful eyes. "But I want to be the one to deliver the final blow. I'm going to kill that son of a b*tch if it's the last thing I do."

"We shall see." I pulled my car to a stop in front of the Compound. "Well, this is it. Your new home."

Brenna looked up, and her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "You have a castle?" She had been staring out the window on the other side, thinking as we talked, and hadn't been paying attention.

I nodded, pleased by her reaction. "It's the Compound of the Moon Shadow Pack, and I'm the Alpha. So, yes. It's mine."