Paranormal Heroes 1 and 2

Chapter3

Chapter Three

Oz

“What the hell was that?” Ace's voice held every ounce of alpha power that he had. I was an alpha as well. I had power of my own, but as his power washed over me, I felt my wolf shrink back. He wanted me to submit, show him my belly like a good little puppy and usually I would have been ok with that. But not today.

Not now I had found my mate. Her smell and the little glimpse I’d caught of her as she tumbled headfirst down the hill was all I had to go on, but I already knew finding her was more important than any job. Even this job. The job I had dedicated my life to achieve. The thought made my heart slam against my chest in rapid succession. Being in this troop was all I had ever wanted. It was everything. I hadn’t even contemplated taking a woman of my own. Not until I had caught her scent and then everything changed. I had forgotten everything but chasing after her.

I had acted out of control because I had been out of control.

I ducked my head, showing the first bit of submission since I had been literally dragged from the mountain.

“I…the girl.” I didn’t know why I was stammering all of a sudden, but I was ashamed. It was my first day, and I had already proven to my troop that I couldn’t be trusted. Worse than that, I had proven my father right. That I was not cut out for this life. The first sign of distraction and I had run off and ignored direct orders.

“Yeah, we all saw and smelt the girl, Oz.” Ace’s voice dipped lower. It became almost soft. He studied me from under his dark eyebrows. “You ignored every order I barked at you, Oz. And from all reports, that isn’t like you. So, do you want to explain to me what the hell happened out there?”

How the hell could I explain it when I could barely understand it myself? I had let myself down and worse still, I had let them down. I ducked my head lower, trying to show even more submission. It didn’t come naturally to me. I just wasn’t the submissive type, but I wanted this…no, that was wrong. I needed it. Being with these men, these warriors, would mean I had the family and brotherhood that I had always craved.

“It won’t happen again.”

Ace leant forward, his heavily muscled arms on the desk between us. “I still don’t know what happened out there. What made you shift and run off? Some danger you sensed that we didn’t? Was there something chasing the girl?”

I paused. Had there been? She had been almost running before I had even approached her. Her heart had been erratic as all hell. There was a very real possibility that she was being chased by something. I had been so caught up in just seeing her with my own two eyes that I hadn’t been paying attention to anything but her.

“I don’t know.”

“Then why?”

I didn’t like the way he was looking at me. Like he already knew the answer and was just wanting to hear it from my own lips, which were suddenly dry. I licked at them and kept silent, my eyes meeting his. It was a battle of wills and one that I wasn’t sure I could win. “I don’t know,” I repeated.

“Is that so?” Ace’s lips lifted at the edges like he was trying not to laugh. “So, you often chase after human women fully shifted and make them…”

I cut him off before he could finish. I didn’t want to hear the words that were about to come from his mouth. I had scared her; she had hurt herself. As far as first meetings with a mate went, it didn’t really get any worse. “No, I don’t usually chase women,” I snapped at him. He was making me angry. He was too calm, too knowing. I wanted to punch the smug look straight off his face.

“What was it about Laura then?”

My head snapped up with so much force that my bones cracked. My eyes flashed in his direction, and I knew my wolf was showing. “You know her name?” Had he known who she was all this time and not said anything? Ace really was an asshole. But there it was again, the smug, self-satisfied look on his face as he leant back on his chair. “You knew her f*****g name and you didn’t tell me?” My voice was rising. Anger made me talk to my alpha in a way that would get me into trouble. Ace had every right to pound on me for my insubordination. Hell, he had every right to have the whole team pound on me. “I bet you knew she was on the mountain the moment we started, didn’t you?” Blowing out a breath, I ran my hand through my dark hair, mussing it up. I needed to do something with my hands, to stop myself from hitting him. If I hadn’t been stark naked, I would have been tugging at my clothes.

“Why would I tell you about some random woman, soldier?” c*****g his head to the side, Ace studied me. “That’s more her mountain than it is ours. Unless of course…” he paused, “she’s important to you?”

“I don’t even know her. I didn’t know her name until you told me. Laura.” I tried it out. It felt nice to say it. My lips quirked upwards before I could help myself. “But you know her?”

Ace didn’t say a word, but his smile grew. At my side, my fists clenched. I hated that look even more than I hated the smug knowing smile. Did he know her intimately? Had my commanding officer slept with my mate? Rage bubbled up and before I could help myself, his small, cramped office vibrated with the sound of my growl.

Ace's chin jerked at the sound. “Did you just f*****g growl at me, soldier?” Gone was the nice guy attitude, replaced by a dark smouldering anger. “Did you just f*****g growl at me, soldier?” He was suddenly around the desk and standing in front of me so close that his minty breath blew across my face.

“No, Ace.”

“No, sir.”

Fuck, this was going from bad to worse with every passing minute. I lowered my eyes to my bare feet. “No, sir, I just meant.” I swallowed hard. “If you…”

“If I had what Oz, told you that a local was having a dawn stroll? There were several of them on the mountain today which was why I expressly ordered no shifting. But to answer your previous question. Yes, I know her. The whole team does. At least by name. Now tell me why you lost control.”

He already knew that. He just wanted me to admit it. “Mate.” One word but it could cause me to lose everything. If I hadn’t lost it all already. Having a mate in this regiment wasn’t unheard of. It wasn’t an instant dismissal, but not many of them did. Mostly because the women themselves didn’t want anything to do with it. Why would they want a mate who was never around and put themselves in danger every day?

“Has she…?” I couldn’t even bring myself to say the words.

“Has she dated any of the guys?” Ace shook his head. “Not as far as we know. We are never here for long enough; we have seen her around. She works as a waitress, that's how I know her name. I could do some digging for you, find out some more…”

I shook my head. “No.” I didn’t want to find out about her like that. I wanted to do it properly. “No, thank you, sir. I’ll find and get to know her by myself.” Turning on my heel I made a move to march out of his office. “There can’t be too many restaurants in this town.”

“Where do you think you are going, soldier?” Ace laughed.

Glancing back over my shoulder, I froze. My eyebrows shot up into my hair. “To find Laura. To find my mate.” Surely that was obvious?

Ace’s laughter grew louder. “Oh, I don’t think so, Oz, for the next few days your ass belongs to me.”