“Alpha Mine”
Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved
Chapter 12
Adam felt his wolf getting restless, so restless that he was at the point that he didn't think he could control him much longer. Through the small bond that had already started to form with his mate declaration, he could sense that Dava was hurt. She was in a lot of pain and that same harrowing pain echoed through his whole body, fueling his frustrations because he didn’t know how to find her. He didn't know how to help her and he didn't know how to get to her. It was the most worthless feeling that he had ever experienced in his life.
“Did you feel that?”
Adam kept his eyes on the road and answered Logan. “Feel what?”
“Your father. I can sense something on the pack link.”
“What do you mean you can sense something on the pack link?”
Logan looked to his side. “You really can feel that?”
Right now, all Adam could feel was Dava’s pain and his own wolf’s frustration at not being able to be near her. “No,” Adam shook his head. “What does it feel like? Do you think he has found her?”
Logan closed his eyes for a minute and Adam pulled off to the side of the road. He studied his friend quietly as he watched him hone in on their Alpha’s emotions. After what seemed like forever, Logan’s eyes popped open. “Turn around,” Logan said quickly. “I can’t hear his thoughts but I can sense his feelings. I would bet you anything that he has found her but Adam,” he started and at the same time he reached out, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “It has to be something bad for him to be blocking out his thoughts like this. You might want to prepare yourself.”
Adam didn’t bother to respond. He didn't want to think about how bad it might be. All he could think about was getting to his mate and protecting her. Slamming the car into gear, Adam whipped the vehicle around so fast that the back end of it fishtailed in the gravel and when he finally managed to straighten the vehicle out, he narrowly missed colliding head-on with a van.
“Adam!” Logan warned. He had one hand firmly pressed to the ceiling and the other holding on to the edge of the passenger door. “You won’t do Dava a damn bit of good if you kill us both before you can get to her.”
Adam answered him with a snarl. His wolf had clearly taken over now. He felt his vision sharpen and knew that if anyone looked into his eyes at this moment, they would see his orbs glowing with the eyes of his wolf.
He would get to her, that much he was certain. She was his mate and he would move mountains to make sure that she was one hundred percent safe.
Tightening his grip on the wheel, Adam kept his focus on the road and held on with everything that he had in him to the small bond that had already formed between them. Mine! His wolf growled loudly in his head and this time, although the human was being held back, Adam agreed whole heartedly. Dava was his and he would protect what was his or else he would die trying.
Racing along the back roads at ninety miles an hour, Adam managed to turn what should have been a forty-five minute drive into around twenty minutes.
“Look over there,” Logan pointed out. It was the first time he had spoken since he felt the heavy aura of Adam’s Alpha wolf surround them in the car. “Isn’t that your dad’s car?”
All Adam could do was grunt. His canines were protruding past his lips and he hadn’t been able to pull his wolf back yet. Feeling Dava’s pain grow more intense, he knew she was near and all he could think about was that he had to get to her. Unable to stop himself, he pressed the gas pedal a little harder and slammed his foot on the brakes when he pulled up behind his dad’s car. He didn’t bother with cutting his own car off. Instead, he shoved open his door and jumped out of the car eager to see the status of his mate with his own eyes.
The instant he stepped outside of the car an array of scents hit him. Smoke, gasoline and blood. It wasn’t just any blood either, it was Dava’s blood. He lifted his head out of instinct and his wolf howled his anger because he had been unable to do the one thing that as her declared mate, he had been responsible for- protect her.
“Adam?”
Logan stood at the edge of the embankment and pointed down the hill. I can see them. They're down there, in the ravine.”
Adam took off towards the ravine and in one bountiful leap; he cleared the embankment easily, landing silently on two feet. Knowing that he was so close, he broke out into a dead sprint, slipping on loose rocks along the way. His legs were being shredded but Adam felt nothing; nothing but the pain of his mate.
And he didn’t dare stop now; he was so close and he was determined to get to her. The entire time he ran, only one thought ran continually through his mind. One thought that taunted his soul. Please let her be okay. He had just found her and he didn’t know what would happen to him if he lost her this soon.
When he reached the bottom of the ravine, Adam slowed his steps. The scent of her blood filled his nostrils, calling out his wolf. He saw his dad hovered over his mate. He could hear that he was talking to her but his wolf was so concentrated on her lifeless form that he couldn’t make out any of the words his father was saying. It wasn’t until he noticed his dad bent over Dava’s pale body, giving her what he thought was mouth to mouth that he was able to push his human side to the forefront.
“Dad?”
Rafe’s head snapped up and he glanced over his shoulder at his son. He wanted to growl and warn him away from the small, fragile girl laying in his arms- but he didn’t. He couldn’t. He couldn’t let anyone know what she meant to him.
Adam ran to the other side of Dava and grabbed her limp, bloodied hand. With as much tenderness as one would hold a newborn child, he brought her good hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss to her palm. “I’m sorry,” he whispered so softly that Rafe barely heard him. “Please, don’t leave me. I won’t fail you again.”
When Rafe looked up at his son, a trail of tears ran down his cheeks. The wolf in him wanted to break his son’s arms for daring to touch what was his but the father in him wept for the pain he knew he was feeling because it was the same pain that he, himself was feeling too. They had both failed Dava.
The conflicting emotions that warred within Rafe simmered at a dangerous level. The longer that Adam sat there, cradling Dava’s hand and touching her cheek, the more his own wolf’s temper started to win out. This was the exact reason that he had wanted to send Dava away to another pack. If they managed to heal her after this accident, he had no choice, Dava would have to leave.
He had no doubts that he would end up killing his own son if their bond got any stronger. And that just was not an option. The pack needed his son for their future and as current Alpha standing, Rafe had to do what was the best for the pack.
“Holy Shit! Dava, honey.”
Rafe turned around at the sound of obvious concern in Jared’s voice. He looked nothing like how the usual iron-tough Enforcer normally did. No, he looked broken as he fell to his knees beside Rafe and held his hands to his mouth. “Is she.. is.. is”
Rafe swallowed hard. “She is alive, barley. We need to get her to the healer if we want to keep her that way though.”
Jared’s head lifted. His gaze touched Rafe’s before moving to his daughters and then to his Alpha’s son who seemed to be in a trance. Adam’s eyes stayed locked on his daughter’s face and that was confirmation enough for him that Adam was indeed his daughters mate.
“Blood,” Jared said suddenly. “His blood. It should give her enough strength so that we can get her to the healer.”
“No! Absolutely not!”
For the first time since he settled by his mate, Adam looked away from her face and up at his father. “Why not?”
Rafe squirmed under his son’s intense scrutiny. He could feel his Alpha power rolling off of him in waves and that disconcerted him. He hadn't thought that he would have this much power yet, at least not until he fully bonded and mated.
“Yeah,” Jared interrupted. “Why shouldn’t he? If he is supposed to be her true mate, his blood could be the only thing that saves her.”
“I said no! We don’t know for sure that Adam is her true mate.” Rafe turned back to Dava and felt a little bit of his insides wither and die. Why hadn’t he thought of that? He could have given her his blood to help her but then a bond would have been forged. That was why the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. Without a bond, it was hard enough staying away from her. If there was one in place, it would be damn near impossible.
“Do it!” Jared turned to Adam.
“No!” Rafe reiterated. If he couldn’t have a bond with Dava then he refused to let his son have one too.
Adam was already preparing to ignore his fathers orders. Pulling his sleeve up, he used his razor sharp teeth to rip the sensitive flesh at his wrist. His own Alpha power seemed to swarm over the group as a whole. At first it had been so empowering that it literally choked the air from Rafe’s throat.
His wolf eyes were back, glowing brighter than ever. Determined, Adam made sure that he kept those sharp wolf eyes on his father while he gently lifted Dava’s head to his lap and proceeded to hold his wounded wrist up to her lips. With that one look, Adam was in effect daring his father to stop him.
Rafe was taken aback by the strength of the Alpha in his son. He had no idea that he was this strong or already had this much of a dominant in him. His son’s power very much rivaled his own.
At first, he had been so shocked by the revelation that he watched on helplessly as his son held his wrists to Dava’s mouth and using his free hand, he coaxed her throat into swallowing his offering.
Adam’s blood.
Just the mere thought of someone else’s life essence going into Dava’s body enraged Rafe’s wolf. No! He couldn’t let it happen, no matter what the consequences may be. If anyone was going to feed her, Rafe’s wolf wanted it to be him.
Losing all his human sensibility, Rafe let loose a threatening growl that emanated deep from his chest. He leaned up on the balls of his feet and was poised to rip the one that had dared to violate his mate away from her when he suddenly felt his body being flung backwards.
Rafe started to try and get up and found himself pinned by the hands of his Enforcer. Another angry growl ripped harshly from his chest. “Release me,” he demanded his voice raw and guttural.
“Get her out of here,” Jared yelled out to Adam. He felt a wave of Alpha power hit him hard in the chest and prayed to the Moon Goddess that he could hold his Alpha down long enough for the young Alpha to get his daughter far enough away. “Now!” he strained.
“I am your Alpha,” Rafe boomed. “Submit to me Enforcer or I will not be responsible for what happens.”
Jared looked up long enough to see the young Alpha carrying his daughter up the hill. “I’m sorry Alpha. I can’t do that. I don’t know what’s going on with you and right now, I don’t give a shit. All I care is about my daughter. You threatened her safety and if death is my punishment for saving her, then so be it.”
Jared heard the sound of a car speed away and knew that the young Alpha had left. He didn’t dare ease up on his grip though, not yet. What Jared couldn’t understand was why his Alpha had the sudden violent reaction? What did Rafe care if his son, Dava’s mate gave her the needed strength to live? Only a true mate would have that type of possessive, territorial reaction.
And then it him- the law of mates.
Rafe must be her first true mate. He must have denied her and the mating gene has been passed to Adam.
“Damn!” he cursed under his breath. How had he not seen it? All the avoidance, keeping her away from him and pack activities. It wasn’t because she was a turned, it was because he was rejecting the bond.
Rafe’s furious growl caught Jared’s full attention and the feral expression on his face turned Jared’s blood frigidly cold. He knew he was in for one hell of a fight. Whether or not he could survive the fight was the real question. He was a damn good Enforcer but Rafe was his Alpha for a reason. And now that he had kept him from what he considered belonged to him, he was also a very pissed off Alpha.
After five more long, torturous minutes had passed and Jared had managed to hold off his snarling Alpha, their eyes connected. It was clear that Rafe was all Alpha wolf now. His human side had evidently checked out. There was no sign of his human friend lingering in his soul.
Rafe pulled his lips back and showed his large predatory teeth. In one swift move that Jared wasn’t ready for, he flipped the both of them over so that he was now standing over his Enforcer with the upper hand. Leaning his head down to him so that his heated breath brushed Jared's cheek, Rafe hissed in a deceivingly quiet whisper. “You. Are. Dead!”