Page 9

Chapter

Nine

Draco woke up before the sun hit the horizon. Turning his head, he could tell that their positions didn’t really change much through the night.

Athena had kept her face in his fur and an arm wrapped around him all night. What got him was the fact that for the first time since he was a kid, he’d managed to sleep uninterrupted through the night.

Since high school, sleeping through the night was a luxury for him. The Army made it nearly impossible to sleep more than a couple of hours at most.

Slowly detangling himself from her arm that was wrapped around him, Draco gave her one last look, lightly rubbing his nose along her cheek before giving her a swipe of his tongue.

After jumping down off the bed, he stretched his large frame before shifting back into his human form to open the bedroom door.

When he walked into the kitchen after a hot shower and a change of clothes, he saw his mother there putting food on a couple of plates. When he looked over at the dining room, he saw his father and all three of his brothers, as well as Leo sitting at the dining room table.

“You’re all up early,” Draco mused as he gave his mother a kiss on her cheek.

“Your father and I are always up this early. By the looks of you and Leo, I would say the same for you both. As for your brothers, maybe.”

“Here, let me help you with everything.”

Draco helped his mother carry plates into the dining area as she set them in front of everyone. Once the plates were passed out, she went about pouring drinks.

“Love, sit and eat. These boys are old enough to pour their own drinks.” Coren Blackwood lightly touched his wife’s arm, stilling her movements.

Draco watched the exchange with his parents and had to fight the jealousy that was rearing its ugly head at the gentle ease they had with one another. His parents were fated mates.

Two halves who found their whole. Something all shifters dreamed of finding, except him.

Finding your fated mate was a fifty-fifty chance for most shifters. Yet, in his mind, as an alpha, a liability.

To him, they left an alpha vulnerable to the enemy. If they really wanted to bring a pack leader to his knees, they only needed to go after the fated mates.

Fated mates have a bond so strong, that if they are harmed, it can render the alpha useless too. Something he could not afford in this day or time.

Knowing the woman asleep in his childhood bed was his fated mate, was going to be his ultimate weakness. He was already losing his legendary control when it came to the people he trusted with his life being around her.

Draco knew he had no choice but to reject her for her own safety. He would only choose a mate he could stomach touching long enough to have an heir for the future of their pack, once he had his heir, he wouldn’t need her for anything else.

He would make sure Athena found her a man who would love her the way she deserved. The way he would not be able to because of his position.

“How are you handling things today?” Tony asked, bringing Draco out of his thoughts.

“I want to personally assess the damage to her home. I have Billings and his crew meeting us there first thing this morning. Between all of us, and his team, we can have her house and garage repaired by the end of this weekend. Your mother and Deidra are going to take her shopping for new furniture and clothes when she wakes up.”

Draco nodded at his father in approval. “I will be having my team meeting us there as well. I will be putting in a security system around her home, garage, and the property itself. It will be looped into us as well, until we deal with her threat. I’m also assigning Shades and Arrow as her personal security until then as well. ”

“You all know she will fight this, right?” Ray questioned, looking around at everyone.

“What do you know about her family?” Leo asked, looking between Draco’s parents and his three brothers.

“Her father is unknown. He left when she was young. Her mother and brother have verbally and physically assaulted her throughout her life. She went to college on a full scholarship yet worked a full-time job while studying. She and Deidra met their freshman year when someone attempted to sexually assault Athena. Your sister intervened. She’s slowly come out of her shell since then.

Her brother is an asshole who feels that she is supposed to support him and their mother, shows up now and then to demand money.

You already know about the puppy we got her last year. ”

Draco listened to his mother relay what she knew about Athena. He had two names added to his list now.

“What about Rob Maplewood? Athena mentioned she was refusing his marriage proposal…” Leo pressed on, leaning forward.

“Marriage proposal my ass. Her mother and brother sold her to that asshole. Deidra and I told her as long as she stays in Blackwood County, the Maplewoods nor her mother or brother could enforce their bullshit. That fool only wants to torture her while he forces himself up on her. They don’t believe a human can breed a powerful alpha.

That whole lot are fucking useless wastes of spaces.

Any wolf would be lucky as hell to have that young woman as their mate. ”

“At the risk of getting maimed, how could an alpha and a human female make a powerful shifter alpha?” Leo hesitantly asked.

“When the human female gets her fated mate mark, her body changes. She’s stronger, healthier, and better than a regular human.

While she doesn’t turn into a shifter, she is more like us than not.

Her ability to hear and see is stronger, her speed is faster, she can talk mentally to her mate and bear strong alphas.

She can also live longer, like wolves do. ”

“I still don’t get how the half human alpha is stronger than full shifter alpha,” Leo admitted, scratching his head.

“What about our healing abilities? Can they heal like us if they get hurt?” Tony asked, rubbing his chin.

“Yes, they have all of our abilities but the shifting part. My father, grandfather, his father, and his father before him all believed it was a gene the Goddess gave the human female, as long as she was with her true fated mate.” Coren smiled over at his wife.

“How do you know this? Mom’s a shifter like the rest of us,” Draco asked, looking at his father in confusion.

“No, son. I’m not. I’m human like Athena is.”