Alpha Mine

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rafe leaned his hip against the kitchen counter; his arms crossed over the expanse of his chest and stared back at his wife. “You can’t be serious Tayla.  What you’re suggesting goes against tradition.”

She frowned at him.  Was that all that he was thinking about?  What about Jared?  Is he willing to lose his best enforcer over something as trivial as allowing his daughter to attend a few social events?  “Answer me this then Rafe.  What’s more important to you, holding on to the best damned enforcer you’ve ever had or siding with the elders, all in the name of tradition?  It’s just a dinner party, why not invite the girl?”

Rafe ran his hand over his face.  “It’s more than that and you know it. I’ll catch hell from the elders of the pack if they find out that I invited a turned to an illicit dinner party that is specifically designed to find our son a mate.”

Tayla could not believe that this was her husband standing in front of her.  She angrily jumped up from her chair and slammed her small fist down on the table.  Frankly, she was getting tired of this screwed up caste system that they lived by.  A wolf was a wolf and their numbers were slowly dying out. What they needed to do was be there for each other anyway, regardless of how they came into this world.  “Screw the elders.” She told him.  “Dava is one of the sweetest young ladies I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  Her moral standards alone hail higher than half the girls her age in this pack.  And besides, didn’t you say that she was going off to college after graduation. That would automatically discount her as a possible mate for Adam anyways.  His Luna would need to stay here.”

Rafe’s tension filled body suddenly stilled and he was all too aware with his increasingly sharper vision that his normally golden eyes had darkened to his wolfs midnight black.  The mere idea of Dava and Adam being together, and mated- literally stole the breath from his lungs.  He knew he was acting irrationally and if he didn’t do something fast then Tayla would suspect something was up.  But it was hard, damn hard to get a hold of himself.   

Taking several slow measured breaths, Rafe shook his head and forced himself to close his eyes while he struggled heartily to regain control of his wolf.  Once he felt like he was in firm control again, he opened up his eyes and turned to his wife. “I would never,” he started and pushed himself off of the counter, slowly relaxing his hands by his sides while at the same time pinning his mate with a hard stare.  “Never Tayla,” he added, wanting to make sure that he was very clear on this one point, “allow our son to mate with that girl.” When he finished, Rafe realized just how raw and guttural his own voice sounded, even to himself but schooled his features so that his face showed nothing.

Tayla watched her husband; the same man that she took as her mate.  The sudden change in him was more than apparent. Was he really that prejudice against the turned?  “Why Rafe?” She asked him softly and at the same time, she slowly started towards him, closing the distance between them. Once she was standing in front of him, she placed the palm of her hand on his chest and tried a different tactic.  “It’s just dinner. Adam isn’t even interested in taking a mate yet.  He told me this morning before he left for school.  All he wants is to be able to enjoy this last year and just have fun.  I promise you, this impromptu dinner is not worth losing Jared and his family over.  They are far too valuable to the pack.”

Rafe swallowed hard, feeling like a tennis ball had been lodged deep in his throat.  As usual, Tayla was right.  The only glitch was, she didn’t know the real reason that he had to keep Dava so far away from him.  If it hadn’t been for the curse of the fates then he wouldn’t have had an issue with her attending the higher socialite functions.  It was only for his own sanity that he had held on so tightly to the rules of the pack and denied her the rights that by name alone, she should have been given.