Page 17 of Alpha’s Hated Mate (Shifters of Clarion)

W e’ve been lying here for hours. The sun outside the window has started to change to a deeper orange shade. Have we been making love all afternoon?

I look down at her shoulder, at the bite mark right in the crook of her neck. When it heals, it’ll signify her status within my pack . . . and outside of it. She has the mark of a Luna. My Luna. It’s not a decision that I planned, but once the moment came, it was the only one I could have ever made. To hell with whatever they say about Scarlets and Alphas. Fuck them.

When I look at Saffron, I only think that she’s mine. I’ll be with her from now into eternity. If anyone wants to challenge me, I’ll make them pay.

I brush a bit of her hair out of her face, and she stirs, looking up at me with a lazy smile.

“Want to go again?” she says, and I chuckle.

“You’re insatiable. You know that? We’re going to wear ourselves out if we spend the whole day in bed.”

“So what? All things considered, I’d rather be in here with you.”

She sounds like she’s joking, but she’s not. Not that I blame her. After that assembly, I wouldn’t want to go back onto campus again either.

“You’re my Luna now,” I say to her. “If anyone tries to hurt you, they know there will be hell to pay.”

She scoffs and lifts her head. “I just bear your mark. We’re not married. Not yet, anyway.” I give her a questioning look, and she asks, “What?”

“You are mine, Saffron. Regardless of any ceremony or ritual. By all rights, you are my Luna and I am your Alpha. End of story.”

She studies my face for a long moment. “Wounds heal,” she says softly. “Or can be hidden. If no one ever hears you declare it, no one would ever have to know.”

“You think I won’t declare it?”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re missing the point, Aydan. You can say you’re committed to me all you want, but . . . but you saw how they were at the assembly. Imagine that’s your pack or maybe even all of Clarion. Are you really willing to stand up against the whole world just for me?”

Her blue eyes darken as she looks away, her fingers moving to the strands of her red hair hanging over her bare breasts. “I used to dye my hair when I was a teenager,” she says softly. “I had been bullied so much in my pack that when I was ready to go through my ascension, I dyed my hair in an effort to hide among the wolves from other packs.”

“Didn’t work, did it?”

She chuckles. “Not really. No matter what I look like, other wolves still pick up that I’m not like them. It’s instinct. It just ended up ostracizing me even more. One day, a group of females caught me on a walk by myself, and they beat me up . . . bad. Spent about a week with the healers after.” She sighs, her mind lost in the terrible memories of her past. “When I got better, I decided, fuck it. I was just going to be who I was. Didn’t make much difference, anyway.”

“You had no one to protect you? What about your parents?”

She shakes her head. “My parents died sometime after I was born. Some flash flood took them both from me before I was even old enough to remember them. So up until my ascension, my grandparents raised me, who were far too old by the time of my ascension to challenge any of the younger wolves for my honor. And after they died, I was sent to live with others in my pack. I bounced around from family to family until . . .”

She stops for a long beat before continuing. “The point is that I had to learn to stand up for myself all on my own. I did that by leaning into their fears. As long as they thought I was dangerous, they stayed away from me . . . most of the time.”

“That sounds . . . lonely.”

“It was. It is . Over the years, I’ve found solace in other Scarlets from other packs . . . mostly ones here at Moonhelm. But most regular wolves don’t want anything to do with me. That’s why I’m so close to Yarra. She grew up as a human, so when I met her, she never treated me like a dirty Scarlet.”

My heart is heavy. Our upbringings couldn’t have been more different. I was raised to be revered, put on a pedestal by my pack as the presumptive heir . . . and she was made to feel like she was nothing. How is it that the Moon Goddess has chosen me for her?

“So,” she went on, “you may want me now, here at Moonhelm, but one day maybe ten or twenty years from now, you’re going to grow tired of fighting a world that doesn’t see me the way you do. And I don’t want you to waste your life with me, Aydan.”

She’s looking away from me, down at her hands twisting her hair. I reach out to her and brush her hair away, over her shoulder, revealing the mark that I’d just given her. Seeing it on her fills me with nothing but pride. There’s no one on earth that should wear it but her.

“I know what I’m facing being with you,” I say as my hand caresses the line of her jaw. “I’ve known it this whole time, and yet I can’t see myself without you. It’s fate that we’re here together.”

She snickers. “Don’t get all religious on me while we’re naked.”

That makes me laugh, and I say, “Okay, but hear me out. You’ve spent your life standing alone against a world that’s never felt it was meant for you. Maybe the reason we’re fated to be together is because it’s long overdue for someone to stand by your side. You don’t have to fight alone. Not ever again.”

“Aydan—”

“I am an Alpha. I was born to protect my entire pack. And now, that includes you. This is my life, Saffron. It would only be wasted if you weren’t at my side.”

A line of water appears in her eyes, and she looks away quickly. “Silver-tongued bastard.”

I kiss her, taking her in my arms again as she wraps herself around me once more. As we make love again, our connection grows deeper, stronger. I know I would give my life for her.

It’s morning, and it’s clear to me what needs to be done. We need to go into those woods and find the missing Scarlets and stop whatever is going on out there. But we’re going to need help.

When I told Saffron what needed to be done, she didn’t say anything at all. She just nodded and got out of bed to shower. As we dressed, however, she started adding in her two cents. “Dean Fowler,” she said. “We need to talk to him and maybe Chad and Yarra. We’re going to need more than just the two of us if we’re going to find them.”

So we’re on the same team. It feels good to have her by my side as we walk across the campus to the main building. I catch the glances of several students passing by on their way to class, but no one approaches us. I take her hand as we walk and silently dare any of them to step up to us.

No one does. We make it to the faculty building unfettered. As we approach the hallway where Dean Fowler’s office is, I spot Nadia standing by the posting of the dean’s list.

“Nadia?” It just hit me that I haven’t seen her since everything happened. As soon as I say her name, she looks over at me and smiles. Her eyes jump to Saffron, and her smile falters a little.

“Hey,” she says. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I—? Where have you been? Goddess, don’t you know what’s going on?”

She gives me a sore, apologetic look. “What are you so pissed at me for?”

“Nadia, I haven’t heard from you for a full day. I thought . . .” I stop myself. She looks healthy and whole. Wherever she was, it passed by her. “Where were you the night of the party?”

She shrugs. “I never made it. I was running late getting ready, and by the time I left . . .” She looks over at Saffron. “Needless to say, I stayed in my dorm and locked the door.” She pauses, her eyes still analyzing the both of us. “I thought all the Scarlets ran off into the woods.”

“Not all of them,” Saffron says. “We’re about to talk to Dean Fowler about a plan to go get them.”

She scoffs. “Just the two of you? Was this your idea, Saffron?”

“No,” I say, a commanding tone in my voice, “it was mine. Is that a problem, Nadia?”

She stares at me in shock, then shrinks back slightly. “Of course not.”

“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

I open Dean Fowler’s door, and we walk in. As soon as it’s shut, Saffron laughs. “I like it when you’re commanding,” she says. “We should have told her about me being her Luna.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s focus on why we’re here.”

“Right.”

Dean Fowler’s receptionist is sitting at her desk. She looks up from her computer. “Hello. Do you have an appointment?”

“No, but it’s urgent that we speak with the dean. Is he in?”

“He’s in a meeting with the Robertsons right now.”

“All the more reason for me to see them. Please. It’ll only be a few minutes.”

“Of course, Mr. Vaultmore. You can go right in.”

She seems pleasant, but I catch the look she gives Saffron as we pass by. I’m sure if it wasn’t for me, she’d probably never have let us through.

Dean Fowler is sitting at his desk with Professor Robertson, Chad, and Yarra gathered around him. Everyone looks up at me as I enter the room.

“Mr. Vaultmore,” Dean Fowler says, his voice raised in surprise. “Come in. Please.”

We both walk in, and the dean clears his throat. Yarra’s face lights up and she rushes past me to Saffron. “Oh, thank God,” she says, hugging me. “I was so worried about you after the assembly. Are you okay?”

“Better than okay,” she says with a sly smile, then a little softer. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

“We’re in the middle of a meeting,” Fowler says, “I hope this is important.”

“It is, and I suspect what I have to say is relevant.”

“What’s on your mind?” Chad said. He’s standing next to the desk with his arms crossed, but despite his body language, he actually looks more interested in listening to what I have to say.

“Whatever is being done about the Scarlets, we want to help,” I say. “I think I should head up a small team to go out there and get them back.”

“Mr. Vaultmore, you are a new Alpha,” the dean warns. “You don’t have the experience—”

“I am trained in tactical and defensive maneuvers—”

“But you are unproven. Listen, I appreciate your desire to be involved, but I would much rather not have more students in the infirmary thanks to impulsive action.”

I take a breath to keep from exploding in anger. “I’m not being impulsive. I am suggesting a plan of action. What are we doing to get them back?”

He’s glaring at me over his wire-rimmed glasses, jaw clenched. “We have security combing the woods as we speak. Things are being done to attend to this matter.”

“Then why are you all meeting about it? What more is there to say if it’s being handled?” I look carefully at the three of them, and Chad stiffens. A cold fear hits me in the chest. “Unless something’s gone wrong. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“We haven’t heard from the security team in a few hours,” Chad says. “It’s a cause for concern, but that doesn’t mean we’ve given up. We’re taking other plans into consideration—”

“Then why not mine? Or is this too much for a ‘Baby Alpha’ to handle?”

Chad’s face darkens, and he says, “Watch it, Vaultmore.”

Saffron’s hand squeezes my arm, but I’m not deterred. If Chad wants to challenge me, I’m ready.

“Aydan,” she says, and it pulls me back. “Let’s just go. Clearly, they don’t want our help.”

“Thank you, Ms. Kamaria,” Dean Fowler says, “for being sensible.”

Jean steps in and adds, “We are doing everything we can for the missing Scarlets, Aydan. You have to trust us.”

I hold my tongue, more for Saffron than them. They’re wrong. Something is happening out there, and we need to act sooner rather than later. The security team going missing is a sure sign of that.

I let Saffron lead me away. As we walk back out into the hallway, all I can think about is the fact that I don’t know what I’ll do if what happened the night of the dinner happens again. I barely handled Saffron’s change before. We might actually kill each other next time. We’re on our own, it seems.

Outside, on the steps of the building, Saffron says, “I think we need to take matters into our own hands.”

Of course, we’re on the same page.

“We can’t do nothing,” she goes on. “Whatever’s going on, it might happen again, and if it does . . . if it does—”

“I hear you. But we can’t go with just the two of us, Saffron. We’re going to need help.”

“Then count me in, too.”

We both look up to see Nadia standing near the door, her hands twisting in front of her nervously. Saffron immediately rolls her eyes.

“Now isn’t a time for jokes,” she says.

“Good. Because I’m not joking.” Nadia lifts her head confidently as she walks up to us. “Aydan is not just my brother. He’s my Alpha. And if he’s launching a mission, I should be at his side.”

As strange as this is, it’s also welcome. Saffron says, “He’s already got somebody at his side, Nadia. Maybe you should sit this one out.”

“Okay,” I step up, putting myself between them. “Saffron, Nadia is a part of my pack. If she’s volunteering to help, then I’m obliged to let her.”

“Thank you,” Nadia says smugly.

“And Saffron is also part of this pack now,” I tell Nadia, “so I expect that you will give her the respect her rank deserves while we’re out there.”

Nadia laughs in disbelief at first, but her smile fades when she sees that I’m not laughing as well. “What are you talking about?”

Saffron unbuttons the top button of her shirt and pulls it to one side, revealing the mark I gave her. Nadia’s tan face turns bone white.

“Oh, Aydan. You didn’t.”

“I did,” I say to her. “So this bullshit attitude you’ve got against her stops right here, right now. Got it?”

Her blanched face looks like it’s turning a light shade of green. She straightens herself up and says, “Got it.”

“Good. Let’s meet up at the edge of the wood at sundown. All right?”

Nadia nods, looking cautiously at Saffron. “Yes, my Alpha.”

And with that, we go our separate ways. On the way back to the dorm, Saffron chuckles. “That was better than strawberry cheesecake.”

I hate to agree with her, but I know how Nadia can be. It was nice to remind her of her place.