Alpha Mine

Chapter 8

He wrapped his hands over her much smaller ones and sighed. It looked like he had one hell of a mountain to climb ahead but it was one that he would have to do alone.

Slowly, he turned around so that they were facing each other and pulled her closer to him, needing to feel the comfort that only she could offer him.

“Talk to me,” she urged him, laying her head against his chest. “Is it Adam’s choice of mate? Is it because she is a turned?”

For a long minute Rafe just stood there with his chin propped up on her head.

“Rafe?” Tayla asked again. She hated the growing distance between them that seemed almost oceans apart. she wanted to help him but if he wouldn’t talk to her then there wasn’t anything she could do.

“I can’t allow the mating,” he said with a deafening finality, wincing when he heard the growl in his voice. “It just can’t happen. I won’t let it happen!”

Tayla felt her heart sink. She had a feeling that it was going to come to this even though she had hoped it wouldn’t. She carefully extricated herself from his arms and took a step back, tipping her head up so that she could look into his eyes. “Why?” She asked in a deadpan voice. “Dava is a good girl. She was raised by your best enforcer. She is his true mate Rafe.”

Hearing her say the words ‘true mate’ was like a kick in the groin. Dava was supposed to be his true mate, genetics be damned. He quickly forced himself to turn his back on Tayla. He could already feel his wolf struggling to be free so that he could exert his will over his son and demand that he retract his declaration.

When he didn’t answer her, Tayla stepped up to him, refusing to be denied. “Did you hear me Rafe?”

His back tensed and she reached out to him, placing her trembling hand on his shoulder, needing him to understand where their son was coming from. They were no longer living in the old days. The fact that Dava was a turned shouldn’t be of consequence. What mattered was the fact that they are true mates and that they found each other. It just doesn’t happen in this day and age anymore. How can they deny him this happiness. “Fate wanted them to be together Rafe. You know how rare true mates are. We have to support our son, it’s the only way.”

Rafe heard enough. His wolf was dangerously teetering on that very thin line of self-control that he had left. “No!” he ground out and rounded on his mate.

Tayla stumbled backwards and gasped when she found herself staring into hismate’s dark wolf eyes. His square lined jaw was set rigidly and his expression was fierce. She had never seen Rafe like this before.

“But-“she stuttered and was instantly cut off when Rafe slammed his fist against the granite countertop; the sound of the blow ringing in her ears.

“No but’s Tayla! I’m Alpha of this pack and what I say, goes. Adam will mate with Blake on the next full moon. No more talking and nomorewaiting. At the next council meeting we will present the mated couple as the future leaders of the Lumbee pack.”

Tayla opened her mouth to protest and Rafe cut her a glance that had her snapping her mouth closed. “I’m warning you to not argue with me on this Tayla. My decision has been made and what I say is final. I suggest that you begin to prepare for the ceremony; you have only two weeks to get ready.”

Feeling the last vestiges of his control begin to snap; Rafe haughtily pivoted on his heel and stomped out the back door. He had to get out of here and he had to do it now because the pain that burned so brightly in Tayla's eyes was about to damn near kill him.

The battle between his heart and his wolf was all too quickly careening into a tail spin that was headed for disaster. Rafe was at his wits end. His back being pushed to the way, he had to make a decision and he did. It was the only viable decision that he could make. It was the only one his wolf would accept and no one, not even his precious Tayla would be able to change his mind.