The Alpha's Secret

Chapter 6: Breaking the Bond

Alaric:

“What do you mean she is nowhere on the grounds? I followed her for a good hour, so why is it when I ask you two to take over while I take a phone call from my father, that she suddenly disappears?” I growled, staring at the two guards who had been guarding the back gates. Both men looked at one another before looking at me with a guilty look in their eyes.

“Get out.” I snapped. I watched as they both slid out of my office, each one sulking, and i began to feel guilty. I hated this part of being an Alpha. It was strange having authority over people that were double my age and even worse when I had to reprimand them.

“I have been to the back gates. The guards must have just missed her because I think she took them not being there as an opportunity to escape. The security camera has been smashed as well.” Elias cried, rushing into my office just as the two guards left.

“What?” I roared, slamming my hands down on my desk, feeling as the stinging radiated through my flesh. I stood up from my chair and grabbed my car keys from my coat pocket before storming from the room.

She had said that she just needed time to calm down. She lied to me. Thea has never once lied to me. I knew she was angry with me, but I didn't actually think she would leave the grounds.

I drove around for what seemed like hours, checking every single place i could think of, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. I had tried tracking her scent, but it just disappeared, and i knew her scent so well. It was sweet smelling and reminded me of a perfume even though she never wore any, so why couldn’t I find it?

After another couple of hours searching the same places over and over again, I had decided to drive back towards the mansion, cursing myself and her.

I had really upset her, something I had never done before, and she was furious with me… but that still did not change the fact that she disobeyed my orders.

Pfft, who was I kidding? If anyone had been taking orders off of anyone, it was me. She was a f*****g princess, she was every werewolves princess and now she was truly missing.

I drove up the large steep hill, which was before a long country road, which led to the mansion grounds, and I noticed a figure walking alone. The silhouette I neared my car closer to it until I recognised who it was, Thea! I pulled up beside her and waited for her to stop walking, but she continued on. I slowly drove alongside her and opened my window.

“Get in Thea.” She stopped and looked at me, and all I could see was that scared little girl that I had met all of those years ago and my heart sank. Seeing that she had been crying hurt me more than i thought it ever could. She begrudgingly made her way round the passenger side of my car and opened the door before sitting in the seat. I could smell blood. Why could I smell blood?

I began the short journey towards the mansion and glanced at her every now and then. She was staring out of the window seemingly lost in her own thoughts, and I wondered whether I should try to talk to her or just leave her in peace.

“Why are you bleeding?” I asked. I had to know why that metallic smell was becoming more and more overbearing. She was bleeding from somewhere.

“Because I got into a fight with myself.” She replied, looking down at her raw, blood-soaked knuckles.

“And how does the wall look after taking a battering from you?” I chuckled, shaking my head and imagining a crumbled wall.

“Still standing.” She replied, struggling to open up her fingers from the palm of her hand.

“You broke them?” I asked, taken aback. Thea nodded and looked out of the window, seemingly lost in her own world, and the rest of our journey back remained dead silent.

I pulled up in the private garage, which was full of the packs cars.

“You need an x-ray.” I said as I turned the car off and undid my seatbelt. Thea looked over at me, and for the first time, she spoke.

“No I don’t, I know they are broken. They will be healed by tomorrow." Although she was right, it frustrated me at how stubborn she was being. Werewolves do heal and an incredible rate depending on the injury, of course. Our biggest weakness is wolfsbane. It burns our insides and poisons our blood. It's an incredibly painful death, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

“Okay, well, at least get your hand cleaned up. It might need a bandage as well.” I responded, hoping she would at least agree to that.

“Yes Alpha.” Thea muttered before getting out of my car and closing the door without looking back.

I followed her through the garage and into the mansion, her eyes avoiding everyone else’s. A majority of the pack had been alerted on her disappearing act in hopes someone had seen her, and now they were all gathered around, wondering where she had been.

“Thanks guys, you can all go back to your posts.” I said, looking around at all of the relieved faces.

Dhalia and Elias both rushed into the mansion, but I held my hand up for them to stop.

“I need a minute alone with Thea if you wouldn’t mind.”

The couple nodded their heads and wandered off, leaving myself and Thea alone in the now empty hallway.

“Come on, let's get that looked at.” I said, leading her to the medical ward.

Once we arrived in the empty doctors office I sat in front of my friend and began to clean her knuckles, they were still bleeding and really swollen but she didn’t even flinch, instead she sat in silence, her eyes down. “Where did you go?” I asked, glancing up at her.

“I don’t actually know, I just walked and walked until I was far enough away from the mansion and far enough away from you.” I nodded my head at her response, and even though it stung to hear that, I continued to ask questions.

“And what did the wall say to you to warrant a battering?”

“It ignored me, just like you have been ignoring me.” She replied sarcastically. I walked right into that.

“I haven’t been ignoring you, I have just been-”

“Avoiding me.” She whispered, cutting me off.

“I am sorry, I didn’t think it would upset you so much.” I pulled out a bandage from the green first aid box and began to wrap up her broken and fractured knuckles.

“If I knew why you were avoiding me, it wouldn’t have upset me so much, but I don’t know what it is that I have done wrong. I mean, i know you're pissed off about the initiation, but there is something else... i can feel it. Something is on your mind, something you're not telling me, and you are angry with me about it.”

I sighed and leant back in my chair while she admired my handywork. How could I tell her that i was avoiding her because I had to keep a big secret from her, and it felt like I would be lying to her if I acted like everything was normal. Or at the fact that I wasn’t sure that I was good enough to protect her and be the king she deserved. How could I tell her that she had to marry me. How do I even approach something like that? And how do I tell her that she is my mate? Why didn’t she remember us imprinting on one another? There was so much to say and so many questions to be asked.

“I know that you are my mate, Alaric.” Thea whispered, her eyes finally meeting mine. It was almost like she had read my mind.

“What? But you said you had no memory of any of it?” She nodded her head in agreement, and she offered me a weak smile.

“I did say that, but I guess that is what happens when you hit your head before the imprint starts. I remembered it all while I was out walking, and that is why the wall got a few punches if i am completely honest.. Because I have imprinted on a man who can’t bear to be around me. It’s a s**t turn of events and not one i want to face.”

It has been said in books upon books that the connection between two wolves is instant once they have imprinted and although that is somewhat true, they don't always fall in love as instantly as some like to believe, nor do they want to rip one another’s clothes off as soon as it happens. Although that part isn't too far behind.

But the mate bond is something more. It means that you would die for that one person, give your life for them without a second thought, and it means that being away from them even for just a second makes you crave them. If your mate dies, it's not uncommon for you to die of a broken heart, and that is nearly what happened to my father. The day my mother died, it destroyed him. I have never seen anyone as broken as he was, and that pain in his eyes terrified me. Nights upon nights he would sob and I promised myself that I would never love anyone the way he did my mother, because I couldn’t lose them and maybe that is why I wont allow myself to love Thea the way a mate should, the way an Alpha should loves his Luna… the way a king should love his queen.

Although that was becoming easier said than done because as soon as I was around her, I could feel my walls of protection crumbling, other males looking at her made me boil with jealousy and I was extremely attracted to her. I had tried to hide it, and clearly, it worked.

Thea cleared her throat and stood from her chair. How long had I been lost in thought for?

“I think I am going to go to bed. It's been a long day, and I am beat. Thanks for wrapping up my hand, and I am sorry for disobeying you. And I am sorry if what I said about you hurt your feelings, but the thing I am most sorry about is that I am your mate.”

As soon as she said those words, a pain struck my chest and took my breath away. I watched as she left the room and fought back my own tears. I did not know what to do, but there was one thing abundantly clear, I couldn't lose Thea, and that is the thing that scared me the most.