Filed To Story: Destined Bond with My Forbidden Alpha Novel (Alpha Alexander & Selene)
After she joined Mateas’s team, he struggled to hold his feelings in. But somewhere along the way, she had realized his glances and smiles meant something more than friendship.
Penelope had been the one to approach him.
She had kissed him; she had coaxed him into the cabin with her. When he questioned what they were doing and whether they should stop. She had kissed him again and again until they were a tangled mess of naked flesh and cries of pleasure.
He was a willing participant in every action, of course. Mateas was a man that believed in the Goddess. He believed in the bond of mates. But he was also just a man.
When Penelope had kissed him, all reason had flown away. His dreams had come true.
How quickly it had become a nightmare.
So, he focused on every step he took, on the distance between him and home, in order not to focus on the shaking leaves of the trees, on the woman that stood on the branches.
The problem was that focusing on a single step makes it difficult to concentrate on your surroundings and what might be focusing on you.
The hair on his arms suddenly stood on end as he heard the slight whistle on the wind. Mateas just barely managed to step back out of the path of the arrow.
“Everybody down!” Mateas shouted as he jumped behind a small group of rocks, just as a volley of arrows landed in the dirt all around him.
Mateas turned his eyes to the members of his team. Saul and Wyatt had quickly ducked for cover and made it out of harm’s way.
But further back, Mateas saw that Devon lay motionless on the ground, several arrows in his chest.
He growled and clenched his jaw. He should have seen it coming.
There was a pause in the attack.
“Quickly!” Mateas shouted to Wyatt and Saul.
Saul ran to Devon and lifted him over his shoulder, Wyatt ran to Mateas, and Saul joined them.
“What’s the plan?” Wyatt asked.
“Where is Penelope?” Mateas asked.
“Still in the tree,” Wyatt said, motioning to the last place she had been spotted.
Mateas nodded.
“Standard protocol, scatter and regroup back at home,” he said, then glanced at Saul. “I want to take him home, but I’m not sure we can.”
“I will take him as far as I am able,” Saul replied. “It is the least that I can do.”
Mateas nodded. He looked back over the rocks. He could see the archers in the distance. They hadn’t moved. But he had no doubt they were all holding arrows notched and ready to shoot the moment they made a move.
“I will draw their attention,” he whispered. “Make sure she knows what to do, and then go.”
“Mateas, if we both draw fire, it will divide them,” Wyatt suggested.
“I appreciate the offer, but this is protocol. It gives the best chance of survival to the most people,” Mateas replied, then turned with a smile. “I’ll see you back home.”
Saul nodded; Wyatt hesitantly nodded as well.
They all prepared for the next step. Mateas took a deep breath.
“Go!” Mateas shouted as he sprinted from his place behind the rocks.
Wyatt and Saul both ran toward the trees. Mateas dodged arrows left and right. He found another section of rocks and ducked behind.
He looked back and saw that both men were gone. He smiled. Hopefully, they would make it home.
But then he saw something else, movement in the tree, an arrow notched and pointed into the hills.
‘No!’ he thought, ‘No, they’ll see you!’
But before she could even let loose her arrow, the sound of the branch breaking caught her attention. Unable to keep it inside, she let out a scream as she fell from her spot high up in the tree.
She was shocked to find herself landing softly. Penelope opened her eyes and looked down to see Mateas wearing a pained expression as he had taken the full impact of her fall.
“Mat–”
“No!” Mateas shouted. He quickly pushed her aside and then sprang to his feet and stood over her.
Penelope saw the pain first. The gasping breath came next. Finally, Mateas fell to one knee, which made the arrow in his back impossible to ignore.
Her eyes widened, and she moved toward him, but he pushed her away.
“Go!” he shouted. “Now!”
Penelope raised her eyes. Her heart stopped as she saw the wall of arrows that blotted out the sky and screamed as they fell toward the earth.
With a pang of regret and guilt, she turned and ran.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen…” she whispered through tears as fled deeper into the woods.
“I am determined to finish this thing by morning,” Alexander sighed.
“Can you do that? It’s already late,” Selene said. “And aren’t you waiting on parts?”
“I was, but they arrived about an hour ago. Now we just need to get them all installed and tested,” he said. “Unfortunately, the section of the fence that needs to be changed out is a bit of a trek. I’m likely going to be out of contact until the morning.”
“Don’t rush yourself,” she said. “That part of the border has some dangerous falls, especially at night.”
“I know. I’ll be careful. We’ve got plenty of floodlights to see what we are doing and where we are going,” he said. “And I already took a suppressant to avoid any distractions.”
“Are you saying I am a distraction?” Selene asked, pretending to be hurt.
“Yes, one I enjoy very much. But I gotta get this done. Staying much longer is going to be a problem.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Mom said the number of attacks is increasing. They aren’t getting worse, and still no casualties… but it is concerning all the same.”
“Is it rogues or Autumn?” Selene asked.
“Hard to tell, but the rogues we were tracking before have suddenly up and moved, and Axel mentioned that your dad found a large gathering as well.”
Alexander sighed.
“We need to go home, Selene,” he said. “I can’t monitor the situation from here.”
“I know,” she replied. “Get your work done, and we can head home tomorrow afternoon.”
Alexander was quiet for a moment.
“If you need to stay longer, Selene,” he said gently. “I understand.”
Selene smiled.
“I go where you go,” she said. “I can meditate and reflect anywhere, and Summer is my home now.”
Alexander smiled, and Selene felt it through their bond.
“All right!” he said brightly. “Tomorrow it is, then.”
“Tomorrow,” Selene replied.
“I love you,” Alexander said with tenderness.
“I love you, too.”
Selene got off the phone with a giggle. She reached down and grabbed one of the candies her mother left out on the coffee table for guests. Sucking on it as she gave herself a moment to enjoy the renewed closeness she felt with Alexander. Slowly, things were getting better. For the first time in a long while, she was experiencing change that didn’t turn her world upside down.
An incessant knocking at the front door drew her mind away from her reflective thoughts.
“Coming!” she called out. But the knocking seemed to get worse with the acknowledgment.
Selene hurried to the door.
“Ok, ok, I said I was coming!” she growled. “What is so important that you need to be rude!”
Selene pulled open the door, ready to yell at whichever wolf decided they were more important than basic manners. But instead, she found herself with furrowed brows and a confused look on her face as she stared back at her always smiling, always energetic, ray of sunshine, Clara.
“Clara?” Selene questioned. “What are you doing here?”
Clara smiled self-consciously and then proceeded to explain, as only Clara can.
“Well… you see, the thing is…. Can I come in? I’m going to come in.”
Clara moved into the house past Selene and continued to talk.
“You asked me to look through Alpha Cain’s hard files and see if there was anything interesting, and so I did, and there was. Like did you know that he was researching ways to grow entire limbs back? Like a freaking lizard? It’s incredible! I doubt it will go anywhere anytime soon because of the war.
“But then again, that would be a really, really handy tool to have in the utility belt. I mean it would definitely give us the upper hand…”
Clara smiled. “Get it? Like you lose your hand, but it grows back… the upper hand?”
Selene took a deep breath.
“Clara… what are you doing here?!”
“Right!” Clara replied. “Can I sit down? I think I need to sit down; you should sit down. Let’s sit down together!”
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?