Return of the Bad Boy Alpha

Shiny Medals

Magnus

I woke up early the morning after my party feeling refreshed. I had a plan in my head to win over my mate. I needed her to see that I was no longer the i***t kid that burned down the old packhouse. I roll out of bed and run to the shoer. After the shower, I decided to put on my dress uniform. I make sure my shoes are their shiniest, and my medals are polished. I pull my hair into a slick ponytail and admire the image I see in the mirror. I go down to the dining room for breakfast, and my parents and siblings are there.

“Looking sharp, Mags,” Phoebe says to me.

“Thanks, Pheebs,” I tussle her hair and sit down.

“What’s the special occasion, Mag?” My brother asks. He is sitting next to his lovely mate. I feel a tinge of jealousy because Charlotte is looking at Max with so much love, and that is what I want from Naomi.

“You wouldn’t be trying to impress someone, would you?” Pops snorts, and I shrug.

“You know what they say about women and men in uniform,” I say as an omega pours my coffee.

“I hope it works, Magnus,” My mother says. “You deserve to settle down with your mate. I’m sorry, Naomi is, uh, what’s the word?”

“Uptight,” Phoebe interjects. I narrow my eyes at her. “What? I love Naomi, don’t get me wrong. But she is uptight and likes being alone too much.”

I sigh. “I just want her to be happy with me. I’m not the stupid kid she remembers anymore.”

“Well, I pray to the Goddess that you win her over, son,” Pops says to me. “Though I would be remiss to lose my Archive Keeper. Naomi is really good at it.”

“Naomi is supposed to give a presentation this morning to the kids at the elementary school,” Phoebe adds with a wink.

I smile at my sister. “Thank you for the hint, Pheebs.” I quickly eat my breakfast and gulp down my coffee. “Well, wish me luck.”

“Good luck, Mag,” Max smiles at me. He clasps Charlotte’s hand. “A mate is everything.” He looks at her, and she blushes.

I smile at my twin and the rest of my family. I walk out of the dining room and smooth my uniform before striding out of the packhouse. I look towards the Archive and see Naomi walking out with her hands full. I jog towards her just as she is about to drop a tote she is carrying while juggling other things. I reach out to catch the tote.

“Thank you,” She says without looking at me at first. Then her eyes travel slowly up, and I can’t help but smile. I watch her checking me out. She blinks and shakes her head.

I repress the laugh in my throat. “Do you want some help?”

Kairos cries when she backs away and shakes her head. This poor girl is doing everything she can to resist me. “No, I have it,” She replies stubbornly. She walks around me, and I see her struggling with the tote again.

“Let me carry that,” I say and grab the tote from her.

“But-“ She protests. I keep the smile on my face. She walks around me and rushes towards the school. I follow silently behind her. That maple syrup scent is driving Kairos crazy.

I nod at the pack members who walk by us. Naomi doesn’t glance back, but I see her flexing her hands. I know I am affecting her somehow. ‘We should have marked her by now,’ Kairos grumbles in my head.

‘No, we can’t force her, Kairos,’ I tell him.

We reach the school, and Naomi goes to the administration office. The secretary, Mrs. Tarter, smiles brightly at me. “Well, if it isn’t little Magnus Bowie,” She laughs. She has been working at the school for as long as I can remember. “Don’t you look sharp in your uniform? Your father must be so proud.”

“He is, Mrs. Tarter. How is your family doing?” I say to her.

“They are doing great. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?” she asks with a bright smile.

I c**k my head towards Naomi, who is glaring at me. “I am here for the presentation, Mrs. Tarter,” Naomi replies.

“Oh right,” Mrs. Tarter nods at her. “Go on into the multipurpose room. I’ll let Principal Moore know you are here.” She smiles at me. “It’s good to see you, Magnus.”

Naomi rolls her eyes and walks out of the office. I follow her to the multipurpose room, and she points to a table. “Just set that there.”

I set the tote down. “Now what?”

“You leave now, and I give my lecture,” She says while opening the tote.

I just stand there. “Come on, Naomi. You told my mother that you would give me a chance. Let me help you.”

“I don’t need help,” She digs through the tote without looking at me.

Frustration wells up from Kairos. Ignoring her protests, I pick some papers out of the tote, and she snatches them from me. “I know a lot of the history of this pack, Naomi. I was going to be the alpha alongside Max.”

Naomi sets her stuff up. “I got this, Magnus. I’m sure there are some whores you can go screw,” She waves me off.

I growl lowly. “Contrary to what you believe, I am not into whores. I know you think I slept around all of these years, but I didn’t have any time to sleep around. I was busy training and fighting. I’m not a virgin, but I can count on one hand the number of women I have been with.”

She gives me a bored look. “Good for you,” She sniffles and sets her papers out on a table, and sits down. “I have everything organized, and you would just muck it up.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Fine,” I say and start to leave. My sister walks in with her class of second grade pups.

“Hey, Mag.” She smiles at me as the pups file into the room. “Take a seat on the floor, kiddos,” She tells them. “What are you doing here?” Phoebe asks me.

“Failing miserably at trying to win, my mate,” I say sadly.

Phoebe frowns and glares in the direction of her friend. “She is starting to piss me off.”

“I should just let her reject me,” I mumble and walk towards the door.

Phoebe grabs my arm. “Magnus Bowie doesn’t just give up.”

I smile at her. “You are right.” I kiss her cheek and walk towards the front of the room where Naomi is speaking to the principal.

“Hello, Alpha Magnus,” The principal smiles and steps towards me.

I nod to her. “Principal Moore,” I say to her. She had been my fifth-grade teacher many years ago. “It’s Major Magnus now.”

“Impressive,” The principal grins. “I see all of those shiny medals on your uniform. It makes me proud to see one of my former students so accomplished. Are you here to visit your sister?”

“I am here to help Naomi with her presentation,” I state and watch my mate’s face morph into anger and shock. I wink at her and try not to laugh at her reaction.

“Principal Moore he is ly-“

“Oh, that is wonderful,” Principal Moore interrupts Naomi. “An accomplished soldier from our King’s army explaining our history, I love it. Good job Ms. Monroe.”

“But-“ Naomi sputters as the principal faces the pups.

“Okay, pups, settle down,” The principal claps her hands to quiet down the chattering children. “Today’s assembly is a lesson on the history of Ghost River presented by Keeper of the Archive Naomi Monroe and a special guest,” She gestures to me. “Alpha Darryl Bowie’s son Magnus is now a decorated soldier in the King’s army. He will be helping Ms. Monroe.” The kids all clap, and I smile at them. “Okay, take it, Magnus and Naomi.”

Naomi bites her lips and takes a deep breath. She turns away from the pups to pick up her speech. “Okay, the history of Ghost River started about four generations ago,” She explains robotically.

A few minutes go by, and I see the pups are losing interest. They start to fidget and chat among themselves. Naomi appears to be losing patience as she presents a chart. Pups don’t like charts. Naomi is talking about my great-great-grandfather, Edmond Bowie, who founded the pack.

I step forward. “It was a freezing winter that year, and Edmond knew he needed to find a place for his small fledgling pack to stay, or they would freeze,” I say to Naomi’s annoyance. “Edmond is my great-great-grandfather. Some say I sort of look like him. He was an accomplished soldier also,” I explain. “So anyway, there he is trudging through the woods with about fifteen other wolves, some of them were young pups like yourselves,” I go on. The pups appear more engaged as I tell them the story of the founding of Ghost River.

Naomi stands beside me, not saying a word while I speak to the pups. I hear her sighing with frustration. I hate that I am stealing her thunder, but she was flailing.

“After the first war, Ghost River was established as a strong pack. Shortly after that, Edmond and his mate Rebecca had their first pup, Lionel, right Naomi?” I say to my mate.

She nods. “Yes, and Lionel-“ she takes over the presentation, and I step to the side. Her enthusiasm seems to have grown, and the kids aren’t as bored. A few minutes later, she finishes. “Does anyone have any questions?” A bunch of the pups raise their little hands. “You,” Naomi points at a little boy.

The boy stands up and looks at me. “How did you get so many medals, Alpha Magnus?” He asks.

I step forward. “You all can call me Major Magnus. I got all my medals through hard work and dedication,” I tell them. “Any of you, including the girls, can rise through the ranks,” I point to one of the medals. “I got this medal from saving Queen Moira’s life. She was captured by some mean old vampires that wanted to hurt King Kerry,” I tell the pups a PG version of the Queen’s rescue. They seem really engaged and excited to hear my story. Naomi is behind me cleaning up her presentation. “Does anyone have any questions about what Naomi presented?” I ask the pups. I point to a little girl.

She stands up. “How come the pack is called Ghost River? My Daddy says it's because there are lots of ghosts here.”

I laugh and look at Naomi. “Naomi?’

She faces the pups. “This pack is called Ghost River because Edmond Bowie, in the throes of giving up, collapsed beside the river that once flowed through the woods. It was there that the ghost of his father appeared before him.”

The kids all oohed at that part. “Right, and if not for that ghostly appearance, Edmond may have perished that night. The ghost helped to guide him to a large cave that the pack could stay in for the winter. So, he named this pack Ghost River,” I concluded.

“Any other questions?” Naomi asked them. No more hands raised, and the principal stepped to the front.

“Thank you, Ms. Monroe and Major Bowie. Wasn’t that fun, kids?” She asks, and they clap. “Okay, it's back to class, everyone.” The principal concluded, and the kids all started to stand up while their teachers gathered them up.

Phoebe winked at me as she gathered her students. I turned to Naomi, and she appeared angry. “Are you mad?” She doesn’t say a word and slams her things into her tote. “Do you want me to help you carry that stuff back to the Archive?”

“No,” she snarls. “I don't need anything from you,” She growls and picks up her stuff and pushes past me.

I follow her down the hallway. She is struggling with that tote again, so I reach out to take it from her. “You are making this much harder on yourself, you know.”

She fumes but doesn’t say anything. I glance at her, and she is chewing on her lips. “Did you wear your dress uniform to impress me?” She asks as we walk out of the school.

“Maybe,” I reply to her. “Maybe I wanted to show you how wrong you are about me. I have accomplished a lot, Naomi. Why can’t you see that?”

“I am not that impressed,” She mumbles, and I snort.

“Your eyes and arousal would prove otherwise,” I say to her and watch her blush. “Why don’t we go have dinner tonight? Someplace nice like that new Mexican place?”

She shakes her head. “I have to help Maximus finish his speech, and then I have some cleaning and organization to do.”

“You need to eat sometime, Naomi. You can’t lock yourself up in the Archive all of the time,” I say to her. “It’s not healthy.”

“I like it there. The books aren’t constantly trying to get me to do things. I don’t want to,” she breathes out.

We get to the Archive, and she reaches for the tote. “Can I come in for a bit?” I ask her.

“I told you that I have work to do.”

“Max can write his own damn speech,” I snarl. “He isn’t an idiot.”

Naomi ignores me, walks into the Archive, and heads back. She walks into her office and sets everything down. She faces away from me while emptying the tote and sorting through her papers. “Why are you still here?”

“Because I want my mate,” I tell her and reach out to touch her.

She flinches away from me. “Why would you want me? I’m nothing to write home about.”

“That is where you are wrong, Naomi,” I clasp her arm and turn her slowly around to face me. “You don’t realize how beautiful you are. You are also brilliant. I know you think I am into the easy type of woman. But you are my type of woman. I like a woman who has something to say about something other than clothes or makeup.” Naomi is staring up at me with her mouth slightly open. I leaned closer to her. “What are you staring at?”

She shakes her head and looks away from me. “Nothing,” She whispers.

I hook my finger under her chin and watch her shudder from the contact. I turn her face so that I can see her eyes. “You know you have beautiful eyes,” I say quietly and use my other hand to brush the hair from her face. Our eyes lock, and I lower my lips to hers. Kairos howls with delight as our lips make contact. The tingles I get from kissing my mate are like nothing I have ever felt. Naomi relaxes as we deepen the kiss. I go to wrap my arms around her when there is a knock on the office door.

“Oh s**t,” I hear Maximus say.

I pull away from Naomi, who whimpers quietly, and look at my twin. “Perfect timing, Maximus,” I snarl.

Naomi pulls out of my arms and straightens her sweater. “Hi, Max. S-sorry. Are you ready to finish your speech?” She asks.

“I can come back and let you finish kissing my brother,” Max smirks at me.

“No, I am finished,” Naomi states. “Come on,” She starts for the door, but I grab her arm.

“I want to have dinner with you tonight, please?”

She sighs heavily. “Fine. Nothing too fancy, though.”

I smile and lean down to kiss her cheek. “It’s a date, my mate,” I whisper in her ear and let her go. She walks out of the office, and my brother waggles his eyebrows at me before following Naomi.

‘That was smooth.’ Kairos mumbles.

‘Hey, man, I managed to kiss her, and she didn’t push me away,’ I say to my i***t wolf. Elated, I leave the archive and run to the packhouse. I can’t wait for the hours to go by. I went to the office to see if Pops could use some help.

“You look happy, Mag,” Pops states as I walk in. “I take it you got somewhere with Naomi.”

I sit on the couch in front of his desk. “I kissed her, Pops.”

He laughs. “That’s my boy. Wait, you didn’t force her, did you?”

I shake my head. “No, and she didn’t push me away. She agreed to go out to dinner with me tonight,” I sound like a love-sick puppy, but I don’t care.

“I’m glad, Magnus,” He looks at his computer. “I have work to do, I’m afraid. A few things to finish up before I step down.”

“Need any help?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Sure, I can use some help, thank you.”

Hours later, I am in my room getting ready for dinner. I changed out of my uniform and into black jeans with a leather biker jacket. I was planning on taking Naomi to this neat burger joint. I asked Bryant what his sister liked to eat, and he said she loved burgers. I ran a comb through my long hair and admired myself. “I got this,” I say to my reflection and then leave my room. I go to the garage to get my motorcycle and drive it to the Archive. I go up to her apartment and knock on the door. She answers, wearing a pair of jeans and a blouse with a cat on it.

“Are you ready?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “I guess,” She mumbles and looks away from me. “I have to get back so I can finish-“

I cut her off with a kiss on her lips. She moans happily and wraps her arms around my neck. “What were you saying?” She blushes and looks away from me. I wrap my arm around her shoulder. “Come on, babe.”

We walk out of the Archive, and she locks the door. I then lead her to my motorcycle, and she freezes.

“I’m not riding on that.” She protests.