A Second Chance ✔ (The Alpha's Mate)

Chapter 14

"Are you okay, honey?" Jessica asked once Katie walked back from the woods. She had been standing next to Jared watching, speechless the whole time. "One moment you and Rick were fighting, the next he was passed out with the Alpha hellbent on murdering him. Don't even get me started on how you got him to stop and pulled him away, like that. It was insane."

Katie groaned. This was exactly what she had expected to happen once she got back. "I don't want to talk about it, Jess." She didn't know how to explain it and she didn't feel like trying. The sun had already set and all Katie wanted was to shower, go to sleep and forget about Rick's hands and mouth on her.

"You're right; I'm sorry. At least tell me you're okay. Rick was going to bite you, I got that much. You should see how pissed off Jared is." Jessica rubbed Katie's back in a soothing manner, helping her anxiety fade a little, and Katie was glad she had her friend by her side.

"I'm alright." Katie nodded with a smile, before seeing an indeed angry Jared make his way to her. "Speaking of the devil."

Gathering her in his arms in an instant, Jared let out a deep breath. "I'm so glad you're okay. I swear to god if Rick wasn't shipped back to the pack house in a goddamn ambulance I would've killed him myself. Seriously, Alpha Zach has both my respect and my blessing."

Katie laughed at her best friend's words. "I'm all good, Jay. Don't worry."

"You should rest." Jared smiled at Katie when she nodded. She wondered if she'll be able to go to sleep after such a long day, but she needed to try. Her body and her wolf were as tired as her mind was.

"Hey, Katie," Mike showed up near Katie's tent with a friendly smile on his face. Katie hadn't seen him since his birthday, before he and Megan had mated. "Do you have a moment?"

"She needs to rest, Mike." Jared stated and Jessica nodded in agreement. Katie couldn't help but smile at her friends, feeling her heart warming up. Today would've been so much worse if neither them nor alpha Zach was here with her, she thought. She knew she could always count on Jared and Jess, and lately Zach's name made its way on that list too.

"It's okay, guys. I'll be fine." Katie added before biding them both a good night. Turning to Mike, she smiled. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm a bad friend." Mike's eyes darted to the floor in guilt. He had wanted to talk to Katie for long, but every time he thought about reaching her, he would feel nervous, as if it was somehow his fault that she and the Alpha weren't together.

"It's all good." Sighing, Katie took a seat on the ground, her fingers playing with the grass beneath. Nature had always succeeded in calming her down, as well as her wolf, who was still fazed by what had happened.

Taking a seat next to her, Mike smiled. "So Alpha Zach is your mate, huh? Megan told me."

Letting out a deep breath, Katie nodded. "Even if she hadn't told you, I'm sure you would have guessed it after what happened today. Look around, everyone is looking at me like I'm the funny girl who's here to steal their Alpha away. I'm sure they're all assuming I'm his mate now,or even worse since he's four years older than I am."

Mike nodded in agreement. Truly, everyone kept talking about their incident, and Mike remembered that the same had happened with Megan years ago when she first dated the Alpha. Yes, the pack wanted the Alpha to find his Luna so their pack would become stronger, but they all wondered if Katie was worthy of him, since she was not only a new addition to their pack, but had always kept a low profile. "True. No one has ever seen Alpha Zach act this way before. Don't be so hard on him, Katie. I'm honestly surprised he stopped at all." Mike shrugged when Katie looked at him. "If it were Megan, I would have killed Rick. Wouldn't have hesitated for even a second."