Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
“Of course, I’m always here for anything you need,” he asked.
Corrine made her way to him.
“I’m glad to hear it, Jackson,” Corrine said, “because there is something that I need.”
“What is it?” Jackson asked.
‘This is good,’ he thought to himself, ‘if I get Corrine back on my side, Selene will come back much quicker.’
“I’ll need you to return home for a while.”
Jackson stared at Corrine, unsure that he had heard her words correctly.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “what do you mean?”
“I mean,” Corrine said, still smiling, “you need to return to the southern territories and aid your father for a while.”
Jackson was stunned. How could this be happening?
“I don’t understand,” he began, “I… you want me to go back?”
Corrine nodded her head, still smiling brightly.
“But… I’m training to be Axel’s Beta….”
“Oh, but that is years away,” Corrine chuckled, “And besides, who better to teach you than your father? He is Wyatt’s Beta, after all.”
“That’s true….” Jackson said with a forced smile, “but, Selene and I, we’re getting married.”
“That,” Corrine sighed, with a troubled expression on her face, “well, that’s something else we need to talk about.”
“What do you mean?” Jackson asked, feeling a sense of dread creeping over him.
“It’s just,” Corrine began, “Well, Wyatt and I talked. We both feel that the way Selene handled this situation with Alpha Alexander shows a certain lack of maturity that we find concerning.”
Corrine began to walk back and forth as though she were speaking to herself.
“And she’s so young anyway. So, of course, you were lucky to find each other so early. But we are afraid it simply didn’t allow her the time she needed to grow and mature as an individual.”
Jackson didn’t like what she was saying.
“I don’t understand, Corrine. Our wedding has been pushed back several times already,” he said. “You agreed with me that we should be married as soon as possible.”
Corrine’s expression changed into sympathy as she shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly.
“Well, now I think it is in your best interests if you take some time apart. You can go home and spend time with your family. Your father can keep teaching you the proper role of a Beta, and perhaps he can help you in other ways.”
Her smile shifted, and Jackson couldn’t help but notice.
“What other ways?” he asked.
She held his gaze and took a step closer to him. Her mouth curved in a slight grin, but her eyes had a coolness that was not altogether kind.
“Perhaps,” she began, “he can teach you what it means to be a good mate.”
Jackson felt a lump in his throat. She took another step closer.
“How to treat the woman you claim to love.”
He swallowed as she took yet another step closer.
“About respect, understanding, and trust. All the things that are required in a marriage.”
Her smile was gone now, and her emerald eyes held an eerie and dangerous glow.
“The truth is, Jackson, this marriage will not proceed without my approval, and I do not approve.”
Jackson clenched his jaw and shoved down the lump in his throat.
“Is this about Alpha Alexander?” he asked, wondering if Corrine had been tempted by the possibility of the power she would gain by marriage between the packs.
“No, Jackson, this is entirely about you,” she hissed.
“I don’t understand what I could have done to upset–”
“You hurt my daughter,” Corrine interrupted, a low growl emphasizing her words.
Jackson took a step back.
“I don’t know why Selene is willing to look past it and choose to forgive you. But I am her mother, and I will do whatever necessary to protect my child.”
Corrine stepped closer, Jackson stepped back once again, but he tripped over a root this time. He fell back into the snow, quickly trying to right himself.
“You will be gone no less than a month. You will not contact Selene. If she wishes, she may reach out to you. If I learn you have come back or contacted her before I say you can,” Corrine leaned down close to his face, causing him to back up. “I will make you wish you had never laid eyes on my daughter.”
‘She can’t do this!’ he shouted in his mind.
A defiant thought that showed on his pathetic face as Corrine’s expression darkened. Suddenly the air around him felt thick and crushing. He could neither breathe in nor out. A weight like that of a person on his chest made him panic.
Corrine leaned forward once again.
“Do not test my patience, Jackson,” her voice was lower than usual. A growl seemed to shadow every word. “I would rather let my child mourn you than be destroyed by you.”
***
Corrine left him lying in the snow. Jackson was too angry to move, too frustrated to let his anger out.
His phone rang.
“It’s not a good time!” he shouted into the receiver.
“No time to say hello, goodbye, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!” Laughed Holden on the other side.
Jackson gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes.
“Leave me alone, Holden,” Jackson answered angrily.
“I have treated you very kindly for such a rude greeting,” Holden said in a warning tone. “My message won’t take long.”
Jackson sighed.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I just want to make sure you have tied up all the loose ends you left dangling.”
“What are you talking about?” Jackson asked.
“I heard a rumor about a wolf of Winter that has been teetering at the edge of madness.”
After finding Alexander outside Alpha Wyatt’s home, it took a while to calm him down enough to get anything out of him. Even then, Alexander had mostly remained quiet. Saying only that Selene was not his mate. He had refused to say anymore, and the pain in his eyes prevented Galen from pushing any further.
The return to Summer was quick. Galen had not stopped for a break since they left Winter. It was a long drive, but each time he got tired or uncomfortable, he only needed to look back in the mirror to see his friend.
Alexander’s expression was grave. He stared out the window without so much as an acknowledgment of Galen’s presence.
Fiona waited to greet them on their arrival.
Alexander stepped out of the car. He looked around; he wore the Alpha mask. A calm and cold exterior meant to show his people that he would always remain in control, no matter the situation.
Fiona stepped closer. Alexander put up his hand to stop her.
He saluted her, his hand to his heart and a bow of his head.
Fiona furrowed her brows.
“Alexander…” she started to say in a soft voice.
“I greet you, Luna Fiona,” Alexander said, with a layer of sadness that few would be able to detect. “The one and only Luna of Summer.”
Fiona gasped.
Before she could ask him anything, Alexander had already walked past her, not even waiting for her response. Galen stepped up beside her quietly.
“What happened over there?” she asked.
“I don’t know the details,” Galen sighed, “all he said was that she was not his mate.”
“Then she… is, ok?” Fiona asked with a heavy sigh of relief.
“Why wouldn’t she be?” Galen asked,
“You need to talk to him, Galen, find out what happened.”
“He just needs time.”
“No, Galen. There is more to this,” Fiona said softly, watching as her son disappeared around a corner.
“What do you mean?” Galen asked..
“The greeting,” she said, “there is only one reason to greet a former Luna in that way. It means that the current, or future Luna, has died.”
***
Alexander sat quietly at the end of his bed, his wet hair dripping onto the comforter.
He thought a shower might help. That it would somehow clear away the fog that had settled over his mind ever since he heard Selene say Jackson’s name.
But it didn’t.
He stood up. Outside the window, the sky turned from red to orange to pink to purple. The painted sunset before the night settled over the sky. It was beautiful and peaceful.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.
Alexander tried to take a deep breath to ease his troubled heart that threatened to deafen him as the pounding got louder and louder, screaming at him that something wasn’t right. But the tightening and pulling against his chest wouldn’t stop.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?