Page 7 of The Alpha’s Forced Plus-Size Mate (Silverfang Creek Wolves #3)

“Hold still, Danny,” Penny muttered, tugging at the hem of the tux jacket as I stood on the little platform she’d set up in the corner of the boarding house living room. It was a shock to everyone that I’d never worn a full tux before, but when I discovered just how uncomfortable they were, I wished that I could get out of it this time, too. But if I’m marrying Naomi, I need to look the part—I need to be the groom that she deserves.

“I am holding still,” I grumbled, but my fingers twitched, itching for something to do. My mind wasn’t here—it was upstairs. I could hear the woman I desired more than my next breath moving around up there, and all of my senses were fixated on her.

Naomi was with Natalia, getting fitted for her gown. I hadn’t seen it yet, but Penny had described it in maddening detail. A leather dress tailored just for her, something that would hug every curve and make her look perfect. Like the queen of the Red Canines pack. The thought of it made all the blood rush from my head to my groin—I couldn’t fucking wait to see her.

If only she felt the same. Even if I haven’t spoken to her today, I still know that she’d flee and run back to her old home if given a chance. The last thing I wanted was an unwilling bride, but Naomi wasn’t giving me a damned chance.

I guess my displeasure was showing on my face.

“Danny, you’re scowling,” Julian said from his perch on the arm of the couch, one ankle crossed over his knee. His easy smirk grated on me today, even though I usually appreciated his calm presence. “You’re supposed to look happy. You’ve got a mate; you’re getting married—this is exactly what the pack needs.”

“I’m not scowling,” I lie.

Julian snorted. “You know I can see your face, right? You’re scowling the biggest scowl ever scowled.”

I flipped him off in the mirror, and all he did was laugh.

Penny stood and took a step back, examining her work with a critical eye. “He’s nervous,” she said, her voice matter-of-fact. “All grooms get like this. They want everything to be perfect.”

I didn’t correct her. Let her think it was the tux, the ceremony, or whatever else grooms were supposed to care about. The truth was that my nerves had nothing to do with perfection and everything to do with Naomi.

Two days. I hadn’t seen her alone since the woods two days ago. She’d been avoiding me like I was a damn plague, slipping away every time I so much as stepped into the same room. Even when we managed to get a second, she froze me out, so it was like I was totally alone anyway. And as much as it killed me, I gave her space.

But that didn’t mean I wasn’t watching. Every move she made, every breath she took—I was attuned to it all. She didn’t know it, but when she paced the porch late at night, I was there in the shadows, making sure she was safe. When she sat by the window in her room, staring out at the woods, I could feel how tense she was, how much she wanted to flee for any chance to try and make it back to the Silverfangs. I was fine standing back and letting her believe I was giving her a little bit of freedom, but little did she know I was always there. I was never letting her go. I just had to find out a way to make her WANT to stay.

And now? Now, she was upstairs, being perfectly fitted into a leather dress to be my bride. My queen—and she’d probably rather be anywhere else on the planet, dammit. What was I doing wrong?

Besides the whole drugging and kidnapping thing, that was a necessary evil. Otherwise, she would have never come to me of her own accord. Naomi just needed a rather firm push in my direction.

Julian cleared his throat, bringing me back to the present. He and Penny are both staring at me in the mirror. Neither of them has to say anything—my annoyance was advertised loud and clear on my face.

“If you keep making that face,” Julian said, “it’s going to get stuck like that.”

“Shut up,” I muttered, glaring at him.

“You can’t shut me up, man. Best friend privileges.” He grinned, leaning back like he owned the place.

“Keep talking, and I’ll revoke those privileges,” I warned, though there was no real heat behind the words. His teasing wasn’t exactly a welcome distraction, but at least it broke up the silence.

Penny stepped forward again, adjusting the lapel of my jacket. She had a pencil behind her ear and a chain of safety pins around her neck. What luck that one of our she-wolves, one that was even living with Naomi, was a seamstress. I don’t think I could have gotten Naomi into a bridal shop without her trying to run out of the door the moment I looked away.

“Alright, turn to the side. Let me see the back.”

I complied, turning slowly. The suit jacket was black, but not leather. Instead, the waistcoat on the second layer was leather to match Naomi’s dress. A full leather suit would have left me sweating to death before I could get down the aisle, and I didn’t want to be a sweaty mess while marrying my mate.

Penny took the pencil from behind her ear and tapped her lips with it, walking a slow circle around me. “I have to say, I’m damned good at my job. Move around a little; is everything comfortable?”

I did as she said, twisting and squatting to make sure that nothing pulled or tore. Although it pained me to play into Penny’s ego, she deserved it. “It’s good. Everything fits.”

“Comfortable?” he asked again.

“Comfortable,” I confirmed. “Perfect for if I have to chase my runaway bride down.”

I meant the words to come off as humorous, but she and Julian both wince. There was a little too much worry and too much honesty in them. I found myself frowning again and met my own eyes in the mirror instead of looking at the other two wolves anymore.

I looked—different. Too put together, too clean-cut. I didn’t recognize myself, but was that really a bad thing? The man in the reflection looks like an Alpha worthy of a mate like Naomi. The picture was perfect. Now, I just needed to make sure the reality matched.

Upstairs, I heard the faint sound of footsteps and fabric shifting, followed by a low murmur of voices. My ears strained, desperate for a hint of her.

“You’re hopeless,” Julian sighed, lightening the mood with his sarcasm. “Just wait till you see her in that dress. You’ll be lucky if you survive the ceremony.”

“Shut up,” I said again, but this time, there was a flicker of amusement in my tone. Because as much as I hated Julian’s smugness, he wasn’t wrong. Then, his words really hit me. “Wait, how in the hell did you see MY mate in her wedding dress, you asshole?”

“Easy, Alpha,” Julian chuckled. “Penny showed me a picture. Nothing more. I had my doubts about the leather, but Penny is an artist.” His grin grew. “Maybe we should have an ambulance on site just in case seeing her kills you.”

Naomi in leather? He’s not wrong. I might not survive. Instead of agreeing with Julian, though, I started to shrug my jacket off. “Get me out of this thing. I’ve got to take a piss and get away from this prick before we end up fighting and ruining all your hard work, Penny.”

The female wolf laughed, and after a few minutes of removing pins and making tiny last adjustments, Penny had me out of my tux and back into the sweats that I had worn over. Not that I’d spent much time at home, considering watching and protecting Naomi was a full-time job. Even though everyone would tell me I was being paranoid if I voiced my concerns out loud, I was so sure fate was plotting to take her away from me that I wasn’t going to take any chances.

The creak of the old staircase sounded louder than usual as I made my way up, each step groaning under my weight. Penny had finally declared me ‘acceptable’ and let me escape her pin-pricking clutches. All I wanted was a few minutes to myself—use the bathroom, maybe splash some water on my face, and figure out how to survive the next few days without losing my mind.

And maybe to get a little bit closer to Naomi. Hearing her moving around above me, the soft drone of her voice, called me like a siren song.

I caught a glimpse of my face in the bathroom mirror, struck by my reflection once more. Up close, I could see the flaws that had escaped me in the brighter-lit downstairs mirror—stubble that’s just a bit too long, long-healed scars from fights, the lines at the corners of my eyes that have come prematurely with the stress of being Alpha. It’s hard for me to see the good, but I have hope that, eventually, Naomi will be able to.

Just as I splashed water over my face, the droning of voices in the other room changed pitch. It’s Naomi, louder than before, and she’s—crying.

Her voice was muffled, but the hurt in it sliced through me. I moved closer, careful to stay silent as I pressed my back against the wall near the door. I knew I shouldn’t listen, but I couldn’t stop myself.

“It’s just—I feel like I don’t belong here, Natalia,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “This place, these people—they’re not my pack. They’re not my family.”

My gut twisted at her words. Of course, I knew that she felt this way, but it still hurt to hear.

“Oh, Naomi,” Natalia murmured, her voice full of sympathy. “It’s okay to miss them. The Silverfang Creek was your home for so long. It’s only natural.”

I clenched my fists, my nails biting into my palms. She missed her pack? Of course, she did. The Silverfangs were her roots. But from what I understood, from the information I had gathered, Naomi wasn’t nearly as valued by her old pack as she should have been. I could understand her being comfortable there, but there was a stark difference between comfort and happiness.

“I don’t even know who I am anymore,” Naomi continued, her voice breaking. “I’m stuck here with strangers, with—him.”

Her tone sharpened on that last word, and I didn’t need to ask who she meant.

“Danny isn’t a stranger,” Natalia said gently. “He’s your mate.”

“No,” Naomi snapped, her voice rising with anger and despair. “I didn’t choose this, Natalia. I don’t feel like Danny is my mate. I feel like he’s my prison guard or something. There were a million different ways he could have approached me, tried to see if we were compatible, but he jumped straight to kidnapping me.”

“Well—he’s an Alpha. We both know things are different in pack culture than in the rest of the world. Look, I know our pack has a bad reputation, but things are different for Danny. He wants to change things, but I think he needs you to do that, Naomi. You’re the missing piece.”

I heard Naomi shifting around, maybe pacing restlessly. “But no one actually knows that. He’s just hoping that’s the case. And until we figure it out, I’m trapped.”

I felt like the air had been knocked out of me.

I wanted to burst in, to tell her she wasn’t trapped, that I wasn’t trying to cage her. But my feet stayed rooted to the floor. What good would it do when it was a lie? As much as I wanted to think of myself as a good man, it turns out that my limit was with Naomi. I can’t give her up. Won’t. So she was trapped, at least until she chose to stay willingly.

“You’re stronger than this, Naomi. Things might not feel right now, but—maybe they will. Maybe Danny isn’t the enemy you think he is.”

Naomi didn’t respond right away, and the silence stretched, heavy and suffocating.

Finally, she whispered, “I don’t know if I can trust him. Or myself.”

Every instinct in me screamed to go in, to hold her, to erase the hurt that had taken root inside her chest. But I couldn’t barrel in like the Alpha trying to fix everything. That hadn’t worked so far, and it wasn’t going to work now. Naomi was mourning the loss of her independence, of the life that she had been living before the mating ceremony. How can I possibly make her see that her life will be leagues better now with me?

I wanted to crush my mouth to hers, kiss her until the worries and hesitations bled out of her, but that’s just not how it was going to work with Naomi. She needed a gentler touch. It was almost enough to make me laugh—we were wolves, dammit. Yet Naomi needed to be treated like a frightened rabbit. It would have been so easy to just bust the door down and pull her into my arms until the mutual attraction took over, but—no.

Instead, I knocked softly and politely against all of my usual instincts.

The door creaked open, and Natalia’s face appeared in the crack. Her eyes narrowed slightly, though not in outright hostility.

“Alpha,” she said, her tone cautious.

“Can I see my bride?”

Natalia hesitated, her gaze flicking back toward the room where Naomi was still hidden. For a moment, I thought she might refuse me, and I braced myself for the challenge. But then she seemed to remember that I was her Alpha and stepped aside, shoulders stiff.

“Be gentle,” Natalia whispered as I passed her.

There was a clear warning in her voice. I didn’t respond; I just nodded once before stepping into the room.

Naomi stood by the window, her arms wrapped around herself. She didn’t look at me, but I could see the tension in the rigid line of her back, the way her fingers gripped her sides like she was holding herself together. She wasn’t in her wedding gown, but a loose sweatshirt and black leggings, her hair piled on top of her head in a haphazard bun. I knew she heard me come in, but she didn’t turn to face me.

“Naomi,”

She turned slowly then, her face guarded, her eyes still red from crying. It made me clench my fists. I’d tear any person that made my mate cry to pieces, but that became a little harder when I knew I was actually the one that was the problem.

“What do you want, Danny?” she asked, dragging one hand over her face.

I took a step closer, careful not to crowd her, eyes flickering over to Natalia. “I want to talk. Alone.”

The laugh she let out was dry and empty of humor. “Talk? What’s left to talk about? You’ve made it clear how this is going to go. I’m your mate, and we’re getting married, whether I like it or not. What else is there to say?”

Behind me, I heard Natalia slip out of the door and shut it quietly behind her,

I crammed my hands into my pants pockets, resisting the urge to close the distance between us just to touch her. “I know that you think this is the end of the world for you, but I want to convince you that things will be good with me. That I can be good for you if you’d just—I don’t know, relax a little.”

Her eyes narrowed. Fuck, that was the wrong thing to say. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re not a prisoner here. I just need to keep you here because I know that otherwise, you wouldn’t give me a chance.” I said firmly. “You’re safe. With me. With my pack. I’m a damn good Alpha, Naomi, no matter what my reputation is. I’m not just some drug-dealing asshole. I want more for my pack. I want more for us.”

She shook her head, looking away as her lip trembled. “You don’t get it. I don’t feel safe. I don’t feel free. I feel—lost. I had an entire life—a job, friends—”

My chest ached at her words, but I pushed forward. “I know this isn’t what you wanted. I know you miss your pack, your home. But you have to believe me when I say that I’m not trying to take those things away from you. I’m trying to give you something better. A future. A partner who will fight for you, protect you—”

“Protect me?” she cut in, her voice rising. “You mean control me. You don’t trust me to make my own choices, Danny. You just—decide what’s best and expect me to follow along.”

Her words hit their mark, but I stood my ground. “Listen. You’re here. We were matched in a mating ceremony. There’s no denying we’re mates. But I want to give in a little for you Naomi. We obviously can do this the normal way—dating and whatever else—but I can try to get closer.”

“Closer, how?”

“I don’t know—normal couple stuff.”

“Normal couples don’t kidnap each other!”

My frustrations were rising, but I tried to tamp them down. Getting mad wasn’t going to get me anywhere with her. “Naomi, you don’t understand. I need to protect you and—”

“I don’t need you to protect me!” she snapped.

“Yes, you do!” I shot back, my voice firm but not raised. “Because the world we live in doesn’t care how strong you are, Naomi. It doesn’t care how capable you are. It’ll take everything from you if you’re not careful like it did me, and I can’t—I won’t let that happen.”

Her lips parted, her expression flickering between anger and something softer, something she didn’t want to admit.

“We’re fated, Naomi,” I said, my voice dropping to a near whisper. “Why in the hell would you have gotten picked up by a trucker that was working for me? That’s fate. But I can’t make this work if you aren’t here. Give me a chance to show you the kind of man I am.”

Her breath hitched, and for a moment, I thought she might let me in. That she might see what I was trying to give her.

But then she turned away, her voice barely audible. “I don’t know if I can trust you, Danny.” Her defiance was written all over her face, but beneath it, I caught the smallest flicker of something else. Uncertainty.

It was hard as hell, but I kept myself in check. She needed time. Hell, she deserved time, but if I left her now, hurting, we’d be even farther from understanding each other than we were before. So I took a chance. “Can I hold you?” I asked carefully. “Just for a moment.”

Her eyes snapped up to mine, suspicion clear in her gaze. “Why?”

“Because I think we both need it,” I said simply, shrugging one shoulder.

Naomi paused, and for a heartbeat, I was sure she was going to say no—the word was poised right there on her lips. But then, her shoulders loosened, and I could see that she was going to give in. Triumph soared inside of me.

Slowly, my mate approached. Naomi lifted he arms and they went around my neck as she leaned into me, resting her forehead against my chest like it was the most natural thing in the world. And for us, maybe it was. Naomi just had to admit it to herself first.

I didn’t move at first, afraid that she would bolt a scared fawn. When she didn’t pull back, I gently wrapped my arms around her, linking my fingers at her lower back, feeling the warm strip of her bare skin between her shirt and leggings. She was so soft against me, yet I could feel her strength in the way her body resisted relaxing, her muscles taut and ready to retreat at any moment.

Her fruity, spicy scent wrapped around me, soothing my restless wolf that had been dying to be closer to our mate. I wanted to pull her tighter and bury my face in her hair, but I held back.

And then, just as quickly as she’d stepped into my arms, she pulled away, leaving a cold emptiness where her warmth had been. I wanted to reach for her once more, but I let her go, knowing she needed to see that I had control a lot more than I needed to hold her for a moment longer.

“Thanks,” she muttered, looking anywhere but at me.

I nodded, shoving my hands back into my pockets to stop myself from reaching for her again. “Anytime.”

We stood in awkward silence for a beat before I spoke again, my tone lighter this time. “How about a date?”

Her head jerked up, surprise flashing across her face. “What?”

“A date,” I repeated. “You and me. Somewhere nice. No pack business, no obligations. Just us.”

“Why?”

“Because we need to get to know each other, Naomi,” I said plainly. “I know you wish this was more like a normal relationship, and like I said before, I want to try to meet you halfway when I can. You think I’m just some overbearing Alpha who wants to control your life, and maybe I’ve done a shitty job proving otherwise. But I want to change that. I want you to see the real me.”

She crossed her arms, clearly unconvinced. “And what if it goes terribly? What if we aren’t compatible, if we don’t have anything in common? It could be a mess.”

The image was almost funny, if there wasn’t so much weighing on Naomi giving this mating a chance. “What, like we argue over appetizers and call it quits?”

“I mean it, Danny,” she said, her voice serious. “If we don’t get along, will you let me go home?”

The air seemed to still, the question hanging between us like a challenge.

Enough playing it safe just to keep the calm between us. This was something I wasn’t willing to lie about. I took a step closer, my expression hardening as I looked her dead in the eyes. “I’m never letting you out of my sight, Naomi.”

Her breath caught, her lips parting slightly as my words sank in. I knew how it sounded—possessive, absolute—but it was the truth. Letting her go wasn’t an option. Not for me. Not for us.

Her gaze searched mine like she was looking for some kind of hidden motive, some angle. I stayed still, letting her see exactly what I meant.

“Fine,” she said at last. “One date.”

Relief coursed through me, but I kept my grin small. I didn’t want to scare her off now that I’d finally gotten a step closer.

“Deal,” I said, nodding. “7 pm tonight. Be ready.”

She rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. Instead, she turned back to the window, her shoulders still tense but not as rigid as before.

It wasn’t much, but it was a start. And I’d take it.