The Alpha and his Mate

Chapter Fifteen

When we got home both myself and Annabelle crashed straight away on the sofa, exhausted from the day. Who knew shopping could be so tiring?
 
"So Annabelle, did you want me to help you organise your wardrobe for you? What would you prefer, having everything organised into seasons, colours or styles?" Hannah jabbered on and I sighed in exhaustion, how did she still have energy after walking about a million steps?
 
I looked down at my mate to see that she was half passed out on my shoulder and I smiled, admiring how cute she looked. She was always ever so slightly tense when she was awake, like she was always preparing herself for something, but when she sleeps, she's so relaxed. "Hannah I think we're going to call it a day actually" I said, saving Annabelle from her. Knowing my little mate, she would battle through her tiredness just to make someone else happy. "I'm shattered and so is Annabelle so we're just going to go for a nap before dinner".
 
"Fine" Hannah huffed, obviously not impressed with our shopping stamina as she picked up a few of her own shopping back and headed towards the door. "Anna I'm just a mind link away if you need any help with anything or just want someone to talk to okay?"
 
She only got a hum in response from Annabelle before she walked out the front door, taking her few purchased items with her.
 
"Come on then, I think it's time for you to have a nap." I chuckled as her head kept slowly falling off my shoulder, shocking herself awake every time. I picked her up and carried her up the stairs easily, she was still so light.

I grumbled at that thought before shaking my head and walking into my room. All of Annabelle's shopping bags were in here, lined up against the wardrobe door and I smiled at the thought that the other side of my wardrobe would finally be filled with my mates' things. There wouldn't be just an empty cloths rail taunting me every time I walked into my closet to get some clothes.
 
I placed her down on her side of the bed and brought the covers up over her once I had taken her shoes and socks off. That's right, she officially had a side of the bed and I couldn't be happier.
 
I sat down beside her and stroked the hair from her face, I had gotten so lucky having her as my mate, I could not picture anyone more perfect.
 
In the end I had ordered takeout for dinner, I didn't think Annabelle would have been up for cooking tonight, even though that was what we agreed on. If she was that insistent on cooking dinner for me then she could just do it some other night when she wasn't so tired.
 
I went to answer the door to collect the pizza and Chinese style soup I had ordered for Annabelle, that's right two different types of food delivered in one order. It really did pay to be the Alpha. I clutched the food in my hands so as not to drop any of it as I stopped in the kitchen to get a spoon for her before heading back up to my room. Takeout soup probably wasn't the best thing for her to eat but it was the best I could do on such short notice, seeing as she'd finished of the last of the chicken soup this morning.
 
I walked into the bedroom, making sure the door didn't make any noise behind me, and smiled when I found her hugging my pillow close to her chest. She felt my absence even in her sleep. I walked over to her, putting the food on a nearby table, as I went past and sat on the edge of the bed. Goddess I was lucky.
 
I stroked the hair off her face and marvelled at how soft it felt, I could run my hands through her hair all day long and never get bored. I moved it slightly off her neck and stroked her skin down towards the area on her neck I would eventually mark. I couldn't wait for the day that I could call her mine, but I knew she wasn't ready for that yet. I would wait until the day she was ready, I'd wait an eternity if I had to.
 
She stirred in her sleep, causing the duvet to shift down her body and her shirt to ride up slightly and I was just about to look away when I spotted something that made me freeze. Across her stomach and back were small little lines covering her body, little scars that couldn't be seen unless you were looking closely. I ran my fingers over the few that I could see and growled as I felt the raised skin under my fingertips. Someone had hurt my mate so bad it had actually scarred.
 
I lifted her shirt up slightly further and I couldn't help the snarl that escaped my lips as I saw more and more scars the higher her shirt went. Someone had used an all manner of objects to injure her and the more I thought about it the louder my wolf got.
 
I was fighting for control, with both my wolf and myself. We both so desperately wanted to track down the lowlifes that dared to hurt my mate, but we both froze in our murderous rants with each other as we looked down to find Annabelle frozen on the bed with her eyes wide open, staring at me.
 
It wasn't the fact that she had woken up that made us freeze, but it was more the fact that the colour of her eyes were nothing like the baby blues I had come to love. I was looking into a pair of almost glowing pearlescent eyes that were staring at me in both curiosity and fear.
 
My wolf was going crazy in my head, he hadn't acted like this since we had first laid eyes on our mate in the woods. Who I was staring at right now wasn't my Annabelle at all, it was her wolf.
 
"Annabelle?" I whispered as I slowly removed my hand from her skin and held them up for her to see that I was unarmed and that I had no intention of hurting her. A little growl escaped her lips and before I could blink she was suddenly up in some form of crouch position, ready to defend herself from me if she needed to.
 
"Annabelle it's me, Jax, just calm down and I will explain everything". Her teeth and claws were slightly extended as she slowly started to advance on me, the growl not letting up even an inch as I tried to calm her.
 
I didn't know how to treat this, if this was a pup in my pack that was newly shifted I would just use my alpha control on them to calm them down. But this wasn't a young pup, this was my Annabelle. Not only was she not a part of my pack yet, she was also my mate and I didn't want to hurt her like that. I couldn't hurt her like that. She had already had some serious mind control put on her once in her life and I didn't want to break her trust in me by using it again.
 
My wolf was going crazy in my head and at first I was trying to block him out, not having enough patience to deal with him as well as Annabelle, but when he started shouting mate in my head I eased my control on him and started to listen.
 
Mate, mate! Let me out to calm down Mate.
 
I thought about it for a second, not knowing what would happen if I let my wolf out with Annabelle being so close to me, but at that thought my wolf growled at me.
 
Not to harm mate, never to harm mate.
 
I looked back at Annabelle again to see her still in her crouched possession on the bed, showing no signs of calming down.
 
Fine, but if you hurt her you're not come out for a run for a long time.
 
He just kept repeating the word mate in my head and that was enough for me to let him out. I was never a fan of letting my wolf take the reins when I was still in human form, I felt out of control and for an Alpha, that was a hard thing to feel.
 
As I let my wolf slowly surface I looked at Annabelle through my now golden eyes and she suddenly froze. She regarded me for a second with her head slightly tilted, unsure on how to process what was in front of her, but when she inched forward and sniffed the air slightly she sprang towards me and collided into me.
 
"Mate" she growled through her canines and tackled me to the ground, rubbing her cheek into my neck as if she couldn't get close enough. My wolf was extremely happy with her reaction to him and started nuzzling her back just as fiercely, trying to get just as close to her as she was to him.
 
"My mate... so perfect" my wolf growled through my lips and I suddenly because very jealous of how much attention he was getting from Annabelle, how come she never showed me that much affection.
 
Because mate loves me more my wolf smirked in my head and that little comment was the last straw for me as I forced him back down so that I was back in control.
 
"Annabelle...Annabelle can you come back to me little mate?"
 
I stroked her hair back from her face and behind her ear, hoping the action would bring her back to me. When she finally looked up at me I slowly started to see her eye colour shift from her wolf colour back to her normal baby blues.

I'm sure nearly everyone has read this story on Wattpad but I just wanted to post it here anyway as it's super amazing!

Today I'm recommending Chasing Red by @isabelleronin