Mating With An Alpha

Chapter Ten

  "b***h! Where have you been? You have not even bothered to call me or anything, " Brooke said.

    Roxy had decided to video chat with her best friend. It had been too long since they had talked. "I know, I am sorry, but there has just been so much going on lately."

    "So, how are things? Any cute boys?" Roxy sideway glanced at Brooke through the screen as she shook her head. "C'mon, Roxy. Spill! I need all the juicy details."

    "Fine. There was this guy named Brent, but things were over between us before they started."

    "How come?"

    "It is complicated."

    "It always is with you, Roxy. This Brent guy must have been special. I have known you since we played in the sandbox together, and you have never once shown interest in a guy before. Now you are going to just give up on him because things are complicated?"

    "He has a al... big brother kind of deal. The big brother does not really approve of my relationship with him or whatever you want to call us. He basically told us that we stop seeing each other or he will move."

    "Ouch! What an ass! Does he secretly have a thing for you or something?"

    "I suppose it is something like that."

    "Is he hot at least?'

    Roxy became silent.

    "C'mon, Roxy. I have nothing to really entertain myself with without you here. So spill already!"

    "His name is Blake. Brooke, he is more than hot. He is sexy even. No matter how sexy he is, though, his attitude and personality is a huge turn-off."

    "What about Brent? Is he a little hotty too? Did you two have s*x yet?"

    Roxy laughed at her friend’s pushy questions. "Brent is hot too, not as good-looking as Blake, but he is hard to ignore. Brent just has a great personality, which makes him such a sweet guy. Just like the type of guy I always envisioned myself being with when I was ready to start dating. And no, Brent and I did not have s*x, but...we were extremely close. That is before Blake walked in on us about to do the deed and flipped out. Enough about me, though. Tell me what has been going on there."

    "I love how you are just trying to avoid the topic by making me talk about myself. Anyway, everything is okay here. Joseph pretty much dumped me. He said that he was looking to have a deeper connection than what he had with me. It is not like I wanted to date the guy, but it still hurt for him to say that. Like I am not deep enough. I can be deep."

    Roxy exploded in laughter.

    Brooke laughed along with her. "Roxy, you are so immature."

    Roxy then heard a male voice in the background but could not make out what he was saying. "Brooke, do you seriously have another guy over there right now?"

    "It is not what you think. He is my tutor. Mom hired him for me. I am failing math, and with this close to graduating, my mom insisted that I not scale by. So, I am going to go. Do not forget that I will be down shortly. I am even thinking about visiting earlier. Maybe in about a month instead of waiting until the summer?"

    "Anytime you are ready, Brooke. I miss you, and I need my best friend here with me!"

    The male's voice got louder.

    "Seriously, I got to go. Love you, chick. Muah!"

    This was the part Roxy hated, being all alone. Her mom was now gone on her business trip, she had no more schoolwork to keep her occupied, and things were over with her and Brent. Luckily, her mom left the car for her in case she needed to run to town for food. She thought about what her mom said about the local college and decided to go and check it out.

**

    Three hours later, she was parking the car in the student parking lot. And after about thirty minutes, she had finally found the building she needed to be in.

    She approached the small desk with a lanky woman sitting behind it. "Hello, my name is..."

    "Roxy. I know all about you." The woman’s voice was raspy but different. Roxy warmed to her immediately.

    "Um, you have me at a disadvantage here. Do I know you?"

    "No, we did not get a chance to meet. My name is Zena. I am from the Black Shadow pack. I saw you the night of the party, but the alpha swept you away before I could introduce myself. I am one of the omegas of the pack."

    "Sorry, but what is an omega?"

    "I am in control of looking after pups and helping take care of the elders of our pack. My role is less significant than many of the other roles in the pack."

    "It sounds to me that you play a very important role." Roxy kindly smiled at her.

    "I like you. What can I help you with, Roxy?”

    "Well, now that I know you are from the pack, we probably should not be talking. I will just go."

    "Why? You were here for a reason, right? The alpha cannot get upset that you came in here of your own free will. You had no idea one of his pack members would be here. Plus, we can keep this our little secret."

Roxy nodded her head in agreement. "Actually, I was thinking about attending. I just came by to get some information on different majors the college offers and how long it would take to complete each one."

    "Follow me. I will give you a tour."

**

    It had been three days since Roxy's tour of the campus. She liked it a lot but was not sure if it was something she planned on doing. They offered multiple different majors to choose from, but she was still undecided.

    Just as Roxy was getting ready to head up to her room, the front door swung open, and in stumbled Brent.

    "Brent? You should not be here. You need to leave."

    "Oh, stop it. I am not worried about the big...bad wolf." Brent hiccupped in between words.

    "Are you drunk?"

    He pinched his fingers together. "Just a little. I was thinking that I could come over here and we could finish what we started before Blake interrupted us."

    Brent grabbed her by the waist, pulling her closer to him. "Oh, Roxy, you smell so intoxicating." He brushed her hair over her shoulder and leaned down to kiss her.

    "Back off, Brent! I am not liking this side of you." She pulled out of his embrace and walked around him.

She opened the front door signaling for him to leave.

    "Do not be like that, Roxy. Blake does not need to know about this. The only reason he found out last time was because of the big mouths within our pack. He is preoccupied tonight, so he will not be looking for me."

    Brent edged closer to her. When she looked up at him, she could see the bruises all over his face. His right eye had a massive bruise circling it and a cut on his lower left cheek.

    She reached up and placed her index finger on the cut. "What happened to you?"

    "What do you think happened? Blake was not too pleased about me coming over here that night. He cannot keep me away from you. I am drawn to you, Roxy. My need for you is too strong, and I could care less about what Blake thinks." He paused for a moment before looking into her sparkling eyes. "Runaway with me."

    "WHAT? You have gone mad!"

    "No, I am serious—Runaway with me. We could be together without Blake breathing down our backs. I want you, Roxy, and if running away with you is the only way I can have you, then I will do it."

    "You need to leave, Brent. Blake could show up here any minute, and I will not put you in danger again."

    "Roxy, please."

    Roxy walked up to Brent and pressed her lips firmly against his. "I want you too, Brent, but not like this. We cannot run away from our problems. No matter where we go, he will find us. Can you imagine how that would play out? He would kill us both. I have to not only think about myself but also about my mom. This will put her right in the middle of this, and she does not deserve that. This has to be goodbye, Brent. At least for now, until we find a way."

    Roxy began to slip out of his grasp, but he pulled her back in. "If this is what you want, then I will do this for you. Will you at least come and take a run with me?"

    "Sure, I can do that."

    They walked out the back door with their hands held together tightly. As they reached the tree line, they both shifted at the same time. They ran side by side, ducking low-hanging branches while never taking their eyes off each other. Brent let Roxy get the lead on him so that he could be close behind her while he nipped at her heels.

    Brent came to an abrupt stop. Roxy had not noticed he had stopped, and she continued to run. Roxy then noticed a tall black shadow suddenly appear in front of her. She became frozen in fear. The shadow was only a few feet away from her. Out of her peripherals, she looked for Brent, but he was not behind her like she thought he was. A loud howl came from the right of where she was now standing. She jolted her head to the right and started running toward the cries. Those howls soon turned to loud whimpers. She took off as fast as her feet would let her.

    Off a few yards in front of her, Brent was lying motionless on the ground.

  Rain's voice echoed through her mind. "Run, Roxy! Leave him and run!"

    "No, I am not going to leave him behind like this."

    Roxy shifted back into her human form, quickly throwing on a dress to cover her naked body. She then ran up and dropped to her knees where he lay. She began shaking his body as if to snap him awake. "Brent! Wake up!"

    Tree branches started snapping in front of her. Roxy looked up to notice a man standing in front of her. He looked like a man, but at the same, he did not. His skin was pale white, and his eyes glowed bright red.

    "Hello, Roxy." His voice sent chills down her spine. His voice was sinister and mocking. He wore all black, which would make it hard to notice him if it had not been for his eyes.

    "Who...who are you?"

    "Tsk, Tsk, Tsk." He rolled his finger at her, along with his words.

    "I said..." But she did not get to finish her sentence. With quick speed, he grabbed Roxy around her throat and slammed her against a nearby tree.

    "You smell so sweet." He brought his nose close to her neck while his grip got even tighter.

Roxy struggled to breathe as she tried pushing him off her. It was no use. He was much stronger than she was.

    "I need you to deliver a message for me to the alpha. Tell him Nicholas is back." He smirked at her before letting her go. "And to show him how serious I am this time, tell him this will be much worse the next time we cross paths." In one quick movement, he grabbed Roxy's arm before pulling it swiftly and breaking it. Roxy screamed in pain as she dropped to the dirt below her. Once she peered up through her eyelashes, the man had disappeared.