The Shy Alpha

Chapter Seventeen

The only thing Hunter could hear was the blood pumping through his veins... after that stark revelation, the knowledge that his mate was not in any serious dangerous, but was rather...

He couldn't say it... even in his own mind the words wouldn't form...

In his minds eye, he could clearly see a vision of himself, arguing with a large wolf, that stood on his hind legs... Ivan.

"She is our mate! She's pregnant with our pup for Christ's sake! This is something that both of us have always wanted!" Ivan roared, angry with his human counter part.

"I can't go through that Ivan..." Hunter whimpered, his voice thick with fear.

"Go through what?! Being a father! Man up Hunter this was bound to happen at some point!"

"She won't want this..." Hunter convinced himself. Ivan was used to his human feeling low about himself, it was something he had grappled with for years, the downside to knowing your mate from birth. You might be able to spend more time with them than a mated couple who got together much older, but you spend all that time watching them from a mate's point of view... and they don't.

Hunter could almost see Ivan pressing his snout against his forehead, and felt the comfort that came from it.

"Hunter... you might have always known about your mating... but Alexa hasn't..." Hunter could feel his heart constrict with Ivan's words. "But know this... she has always loved you... didn't she say that she had saved herself for you...? What female would do this for their mate, when there is no guarantee it's who they want it to be? Alexa saved herself entirely for you, with no promise of you returning her feelings."

Realization hit Hunter like a tonne of bricks, "she always loved me..." Despite Alexa having told him the same thing over and over again, having Ivan tell him was something different. He knew Ivan would be honest no matter what the situation. "She put herself up for a rejection... never knowing if I was her mate, but she still waited!" Ivan tried not to groan at Hunter's comment, he had always known what Hunter was just now realizing. "Now she's..." He still couldn't say the words.

"Your mother might have suffered a terrible fate Hunter..." Ivan stated, somewhat tactlessly. The subject of Hunter's mother was something that not even Ivan dare to mention, but he was sick and tired of waiting for Hunter to grow up, their mating was on the line. "But there's nothing to say that Alexa will."

"But mum only had me... dad wasn't there..." Hunter whimpered, old, unwanted memories resurfacing. "What if I can't be there for Alexa?!" His eyes dropped to the floor, as well as his heart.

"But we will be! Your foolish father let your mother out of his sight, left her alone to defend you... I refuse to do such a thing!" Ivan growled, a promise ingrained deep within his voice. He could see he was still a ways off from completely convincing Hunter that he was right... so he used the one tactic he had left... not something he wanted to use... "Hunter... if you don't step up to defend her, and be the mate and father she needs you to be... she might try to find that in Dominic..."

Hunter's eyes shot up to meet Ivan's, who was shocked to see they were completely red, and Hunter was snarling angrily. Ivan always knew that he wasn't the only wolfen voice in Hunter's head, over the years, Hunter's insecurities had bred another sound, another voice to protect him. Ivan offered comfort, a voice of reason... this voice offered a much more violent solution. Over the time spent in the attic, Ivan had become Hunter's fore person, the one he could use instead of himself in all situations, his wolf had become him almost completely... this new persona was something wholly wolf, almost rogue and dangerously feral... beyond even Ivan's control.