Chapter 11

(Kaeleigh’s POV)

I walked slowly down the bar and stood in front of Jensen. I avoided the burning gaze of the future Alpha standing right behind him.

“Kae,” he said and went to reach out, but a growl behind him stopped him in his tracks. He glanced to the side, a hesitant look on his face, but then looked at me again with a bright smile. He put his hand in his pocket and took it out, holding something that he placed on the bar carefully, so he wasn’t too close to me. I looked down at the object and saw my phone. I picked it up and sighed. I didn’t need to look to see that it was blank. I had wiped it days before. But with a pack like theirs, probably not quick enough.

“Thanks,” I said and turned to walk away.

“Kae,” he said again, and I stopped.

“No Jensen,” I replied, “Please don’t,” 

“We need to talk to you,” he urged, and I turned back to him to see both men staring at me with intense gazes. 

“Jen, I have nothing to say,” I looked at the man standing behind him, “To either of you.”

“Kae, please,” Jensen begged, and I couldn’t resist the look in his eyes. He looked sad, and maybe a little lost. I sighed and nodded to Bobby, who had been hovering nearby. He nodded back and backed off. It looked like he was going back to his own business, but I knew he would be watching in case I changed my mind. 

I nodded down to the edge of the bar, on the opposite end to the gathering of werewolves, and the Alpha who was pretending not to watch. I walked down slowly and Jensen and his Alpha followed down. I ducked under the bar end and waited for the men to come around the corner. This was as private as I was going to allow at this point.

“Kaeleigh,” the Alpha said as he stepped forward. I held out my hand and backed away. 

“No, keep your distance,” I said. I could feel the pull of the fated bond, and I knew the closer he got, the harder it would be to resist it. He looked hurt, but stopped at my request.

“My name is Chase Stone. I am the future Alpha of the Dark Moon pack,” he said, his voice held a formal tone. I stared at him like he was an idiot, and Jensen rolled his eyes.

“She knows who you are, dumbass,” he said, and I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

“Well, I don’t know how to formally introduce yourself to your mate, do I?” Chase snapped, and I raised an eyebrow.

“We are not mates,” I said, and he frowned at me. “We might have the fated bond, but I haven’t agreed to act upon it,” I said and he took a deep breath.

“Do you know how difficult it is to find your fated mate?” he asked, and I nodded. 

“I do. I also know that I have no interest in werewolf politics or hierarchy or any of that shit,” I said, “so don’t start peacocking your Alpha status to me either. At this point it’s a hindrance to you, not a benefit.” Chase looked like he was going to burst, although to give him credit, he was holding it in. Jensen, on the other hand looked like he was holding in his laughter.

“So what was so important that you pulled me from my work?” I asked, all innocently. I knew what was coming, but I could play dumb for a moment. Chase took another deep breath.

“You need to come to the Dark Moon pack straight away,” he said with a tone of command. “As my fated mate, you are in danger and I am sworn to protect you.” I rolled my eyes.

“I have been in danger for the past twenty-odd years,” I said, “And most of the time it has been at the hands of Alpha dicks like yourself. Why the hell would I trust you to protect me from anything?”

“Kae,” Jensen said, “He’s being serious, and I promise he is not like all the others that you have met. Chase is a good man.” 

“Ha!” I exclaimed, “Seriously, Jensen, not like the others? So I didn’t see him kicking ten bells of shit out of you for no reason the other day?” 

“That was different,” Chase snapped, “That was…”

“That was you being just like all the other self important egotistical, act first think never Alphas that I met,” I snapped back at him, “No thank you, I am even less interested in your pack rules and shit than I am in mating with a chauvinistic Alphahole like you,” 

I turned to leave, and I felt his hand on my arm as he spun me around and backed me against the wall. His body was so close to mine, barely touching. But it was enough. I could feel the sparks of the mate bond between us, trying to pull us together. The world narrowed down to just him. His firm, muscular body and the scent of fresh rainfall and oak trees invading my senses so strongly that if I closed my eyes, I could have been standing in the middle of a forest. I felt my breathing speed up as I looked into his eyes. From this close, I could see that the amber held a gold star in the centre around his dilating pupils. I tried to look away, but I was caught in the depths in them. I held up my hand to push him away and the sparks almost knocked the breath out of me as my hand connected with his rock-hard chest. He reached up and covered my hand with his and I could feel his racing heartbeat under my palm.

“Please,” he whispered as he gazed into my eyes, “I promise, please let me prove to you that I am not bad,” I wanted to agree, everything in me wanted to nod my head and give in to the bond. I wanted so desperately to let him in but I knew that if I did for just one second that I would be lost. I wasn’t strong enough to resist, and I needed to get away from him as soon as possible. I took a deep breath and pushed against his chest as hard as I could. I didn’t know if he let me, or if he was surprised, but he stepped back with my push, allowing me to put space between us. I shook my head and stepped back towards the bar.

“I’m sorry,” I said to the hurt look on his face, “I can’t.” I went to duck under the bar again but felt his hand on me again.

“I won’t give up,” he said. “You understand that, don’t you?” I looked down at his hand on my arm, the sparks warming my arm and sending shivers through my body.

“It won’t be an issue by the end of the week,” I said and pulled out of his grasp.

“What do you mean?” his face twisted in concern and I was about to answer, saying it was none of his business when someone else came ambling around the corner. 

“Hey,” the new werewolf called, “This is where you are. Hey guys, why are you hogging the hot rogue?” Both Chase and Jensen growled at him.

“Back off,” Chase growled, and I saw his eyes flash the Alpha gold.

“Seriously man,” the werewolf said, laughing, “I didn’t mean anything by it,” he then turned to me and grinned.

“If I thought you would have been entertaining sweet thing, I would have tried my luck weeks ago,” I would have responded with him having no chance, but Chase growled again and lunged at the werewolf. Another werewolf came flying over to help his friend against the furious Alpha, and Jensen soon joined in the rapidly escalating brawl. I took a second to watch in horror before ducking under the bar again. I noticed the Alpha at the other end of the bar waving to me as if a full on fight wasn’t happening right on the other side of the room. I headed down the bar with the odd look back at the fight. This Alpha threw me a charming smile as I got close to him.

“I thought it was looking intense for you down there,” he said, and my eyes widened in shock. I looked down and could see that he would have had a full vantage view.

“So I sent one of my men to create a distraction for you,” he smiled again, the charm oozing out.

“That was you?” I asked, and he shrugged. 

“You can thank me another time,” he said “But if you want to make your escape, now would be a good time,” I saw Bobby looking over and I mouthed an apology. He just grinned and nodded his head towards the back entrance. I nodded a thanks as he headed with the bouncers to wade into the werewolf brawl. 

“By the way,” the alpha said as I turned to leave. “My name is Asher Bowman, I am Alpha of the Crimson Shadow pack, if you need to hide from certain werewolves,” he nodded his head towards the brawl, “Then you are always welcome in my territory,” I forced a smile on my face as a thanks and nodded.

 I turned and headed into the back and grabbed my coat and bag. I had already slipped my now useless phone into my pocket and I pulled it out and put it into the bag before heading towards the back door. I was still slipping my jacket on as I left the bar. I headed down the alley way to see two werewolves standing there. They were both dressed in full black and were tall and wide muscled warrior types. I could tell they had a military air to them. They both stood at attention when they saw me.

“Miss,” one of them said in a deep voice, “Our Alpha has requested that you join us in the car. He stepped back to a black SUV type and opened the back door. Great, Chase had guys waiting for me outside. This was just like an Alpha. Can’t take it when someone said no.

“No thank you,” I said with a forced smile. The other werewolf stepped forward and grabbed my arm. 

“The request part was to be polite,” he growled. “It wasn’t a request, it was more of an order.” His hand closed around my arm and squeezed tight. He began to pull me towards the car and I panicked. I screamed for him to let me go, but he acted like he didn’t hear me. I did the only thing I could think of. I whipped my bag around as hard as I could and aimed for his face. I heard him swear as one of the buckles hit him straight on, but instead of pulling out of his grip I used I as leverage and swung around behind him. It twisted his arm back and he let go. I turned quickly and kicked as hard as I could, aiming for the money shot right between his legs. Luckily I was wearing my boots, so they made a nice impact. The warrior doubled over swearing, and I reached into my bag quickly and grabbed my body spray. I had it uncapped and sprayed it towards the other werewolf who was advancing on me. He screamed and covered his eyes as the spray hit him full on. I grabbed my bag and turned and ran down the street as fast as I could. I didn’t turn back to see if either of the brutes were following. I just ran. I had done some training with Jeremy growing up, but he had always said fighting dirty saved your life when you were against bigger and better opponents, and that was how he taught me. In this case, he was right.