Robbing the Alpha

Ch. 2: The Valley

HUCK

We should have met our match today. We should have stumbled upon the beta, the delta, and an army of sentinels. It was harder to rob a baby than it was the future luna. Not that we robbed babies. Well, sometimes, indirectly, but only the rich ones, and even their parents had guards. She'd had no one to protect her, not even hours after. Why weren't they hunting us? The whole thing felt like a trap, and, for once, we weren't the target.

She was.

I bared my teeth and fisted my hands, my muscles tensing as my wolf fought for control. I couldn't shift. If I did, he'd take over and go after her. Damn the consequences. They could burn me slowly, and it would still be better than Titan's mark on her neck.

Everyone gave me a wide berth as we headed home, but I knew they all had questions. Like what I planned to do. There were people relying on me, families with children, and I'd just been handed a bomb I didn't know how to diffuse. If I let it blow up, it wouldn't just be me that suffered.

That should have been enough to make me accept her rejection. But it wasn't. As selfish as it was, I couldn't let her go. Not yet. Something wasn't right. I could feel it in my cells. Titan knew the road was dangerous, and he'd practically handed her to us.

Jewel caught up to my side. "You showed yourself today." Her voice was quiet, solemn.

I nodded. I wasn't a ghost any longer. "I know."

"At least he can't possibly know who you are, but there will be posters now. People will talk."

"I know."

"What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't," I said. "You know why." After all, I'd announced it in front of everyone, in the middle of a raid, not even caring what came of it. My mate. It had taken every ounce of willpower I had not to steal her too. But even my wolf wasn't that stupid. What would have happened if she hadn't rejected me? Nothing good.

"You got it together now?" Jewel asked.

"What do you think?"

She was quiet for a long moment, and the crunch of the forest floor seemed louder than it ever had before. "I'm sorry," she finally murmured.

I grunted. "Not your fault my mate is the future luna."

She cleared her throat, poorly covering a laugh. "You have to admit, the moon goddess has a great sense of humor."

"You're not helping."

"Not even I can help you this time."

She clasped her hand on my shoulder, leaning her weight on me, and for the first time in our lives, I noticed that she was naked. All the men drooled over Jewel. She had legs a mile long, and a smile that always looked ready to nibble, but it wasn't like that between us. If there was such a thing as fated friends, she would be mine. Every frosty night, every hunger pain, every loss, it'd been us against the world. She was my right hand in all things, and she'd saved my ass more times than I could count.

But, despite all that, I shrugged her off. My mate grew up on the mountain. She wouldn't understand, and my wolf refused to do anything that would make her question our loyalty, even if she wasn't around to see it.

Jewel lifted her hands and took a dramatic step sideways, putting another foot between us. "You can't be serious."

But I was.

"Don't be gross. You're like my brother, and even if you weren't, you're not my type."

"I know," I said. "But you saw her reaction when you touched me."