The Alpha's Daydream ✔️

Chapter 53

The mark on her neck, his mark, was both a blessing and a curse. It claimed her as the Alpha's, warning others away, but it also pulled her closer to him, letting her emotions leak through the bond so they could torture him. His own emotions were growing too strong to handle, so the last thing he wanted was to feel hers. Feel how much he was hurting her.

"Harlow, we've got to keep our distance." The Alpha said when he found her sitting on the porch that wrapped around the Beta's house, and he stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets as he leaned against the front post.

Earlier, after going up to his room to speak with Ariella after their encounter tonight, he was surprised to find her stonewalling him. He hadn't expected she'd be so worked up about what happened. He had watched her, carefully approached the bed she seemed intent on claiming as her own, and seen the calm exterior she projected. But underneath it all, he knew she was fuming.

The strong glint in her eyes, the tenacity with which she protected her heart from him made him want to pull her into his arms and declare the strength of his feelings all the more, but he knew better. He had to keep things this way or risk something worse from happening.

"Clearly," Harlow rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, huffing in a manner that better suited a seven year old. "After that performance tonight from your crazy mate—"

"Don't ever speak about Ariella in that way," he growled and closed the distance between them, stooping to her level before clasping his fist tightly around her upper arm and yanking her to her feet. His breath came out cold and deadly between them, his words dripping with threats that matched the tension in his fingers. This anger that bubbled up inside him suddenly, the urge to slap her mouth for slandering Ariella, was strong and frightening.

Releasing his hand quickly, Malachi stepped heavily back off the porch and shook his head, watching her sink back to her seat with a paleness stealing across her face. Raking his hair through with a shaky hand, he cleared his head from the blinding instincts. "Sorry. I'm just under a lot of stress." It took effort to swallow the bile that rose in his throat, and he tried harder to steady his voice. "I'm sure you understand."

"Stress?" Harlow's voice came out brittle, then she gave a small toss of her head to regain her composure and stood from where she sat on the steps. Her approach was slow and calculated, and he bristled with the awareness of her. "You know, I can think of a remedy for that," pausing only a few inches from him, she walked two fingers down his chest before he quickly snatched them between his own.

"I said, distance. This has to stop." He pushed her hand down and dropped it in much the same way he'd arrested Ariella's hand when she nearly punched Harlow. Thinking back now, he should've let her loose to do what she wanted with this conniving shewolf.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he felt his pulse slow down, and then said, "This should've stopped weeks ago when I first met Ariella. I told you as soon as we found our mates, nothing more would happen between us."

Harlow tilted her head and regarded him carefully in the moonlight. Her glittering eyes reminded him of the lamyx creature his mother liked to pet. Cunning and shrewd. "But I haven't found mine yet," she whined, the sound grating in his ears. He wondered how he had tolerated her childish behaviour all these years. He used to adore her. But that was before he met Ariella.
She was everything Harlow was not.

"That's beside the point," he murmured, clenching his jaw and trying to remain civil. A lot of things were on his mind, and dealing with the crafty ways of this woman wasn't his idea of a nice evening.

She scuffed her boot on the wooden floorboards before sitting back down and cupping her chin in her hands. "Fine. I'll keep my distance, Alpha," she said the title with a little more than respect in her tone. Sighing and leaning back on her hands in a casual manner, she continued breezily, "I don't even know what Ariella was reacting about tonight. We weren't kissing, let alone touching. Why on earth did she try to rip my eyes out over the simple conversation you and I were having?"