Page 18 of Alpha Mates

Emitt rushes up, along with Julian’s beta, Beckett, both hurrying to stop an explosion from taking place as they gently prod us to turn away from one another.

It takes too much effort to turn my back on my enemy, and even more from my mate, but when I manage, I put all my attention into the people in front of me instead of him.

Focus on them, not him. He’s not there.

And that’s how it goes, with the two of us purposefully avoiding each other while our fathers push us through the entire ceremony. It feels like hours later that we’re being ushered into what smells like Michael’s personal office while our packs gather to run.

I envy their escape as I hear paws trampling the earth in the distance.

Dad waits until the door’s closed and we’re all settled in the dimly lit room before he asks, “So, how are you both feeling?”

“Cursed,” Julian offers flatly.

“What he said,” I mutter in response.

“Look, this obviously isn’t what anyone expected, but I’ve been thinking about this, and the best thing I think you can do is to treat this like any other pairing of mates.” We all look at my father as if he’s deranged, and he scowls. “I don’t see any other option.”

“I assure you, there are other options, Samson,” Michael grits out. My dad ignores him.

Looking solely at me, he inches forward from his chair. “This can be a good thing if you look at it from a certain angle.”

“How can this possibly be a good thing?” Julian grinds out, sounding just like his father.

“Well, if you two find a way to mate, the packs would have to merge, thatwould make us very, very strong. In time, it would give us the chance to become the strongest pack, not only on this side of the hemisphere, but in the entire world,” he explains carefully, like he’s not frothing at the mouth at the prospect. “Nobody would compare, especially with two alphas as leaders. We’d be unstoppable.”

“That is … true,” Michael says, his eyes twinkling with the type of excitement he only got whenever he saw an opening for more power. It makes him look manic, which makes sense because they’re clearly grasping at straws here. “This is an opportunity to extend our reach within the species.”

“Can you two please stop?” I groan as I rub my hands over my eyes as a familiar ache starts behind them. “Can you possibly manage not to plan our futures for one fucking minute?”

The mood plummets as my dad’s jaw tightens, but there’s no urge to submit. For the first time, it’s the opposite. I look him dead in the eye as I remind him of that. “What we decide to do is up to us, not you.”

My father stares at me for a long time, his entire body tense with resistance, but whether by force or instinct, he lowers his gaze respectfully.

“Of course,” he agrees through his teeth. “You ultimately will decide amongst yourselves what you wish to do.”

Pleasure blooms inside of me in a way that’s probably demented. I shouldn’t enjoy making my own father submit, but after years of following my parents’ bullshit, it’s nice to be in control for once.

“We’ll leave you two to talk it over then,” he says, his voice brittle as he stands. “You are alphas now. You’ll figure it out.”

It’s a petty response that doesn’t scare me. If he thinks he’s hanging me out to dry, then he doesn’t realise how long I’ve been handling shit on my own. Besides, we were looking for solutions, not ways they could profit off us.

Michael is slower to push to his feet. He looks pissed, but he can get stuffed for all I care. I watch his back the whole way out until they’re both gone, but it’s not until the door closes behind them that I remember who I’ve trapped myself with.

I glance at Julian, surprised to find him staring at me with those crystal-blue eyes blown wide open.

“What?” I snap, too on edge to deal with his judgemental shit.

He opens his mouth only to close it as his blank expression slips back into place. “Nothing.”

Pinning his gaze to the outer window, he slips a finger back between his lips, keeping his thoughts to himself. I eye the way he bites his nails, excepthe’s not actually biting them. They’re just resting there.

It takes me far too long to realise that I’m staring at him.

“I need a drink.”

I head for the liquor cabinet across the room and pick a decanter at random. Popping the top, I don’t bother with a glass and take a much-needed swig that warms my muscles and forces a shiver through me, and then I do it again.

“They’re right,” I say when I come up for air. “We have to merge the packs.”