The Replacement Alpha

Chapter 6 - The Beast

Ethan POV

I drove over to Jesse’s pack. It was only a forty-five-minute ride. The closest ally we had. Our two packs went to the same schools, and for the most part, got along great.

I passed the borders with no trouble. All of his patrols knew me well by now, and I was on a first-name basis with some of them. I went straight to where I knew I would find Jesse. His Alpha office was on the first floor. He had not just the pack’s files there but his gaming computer too, so it was his favorite place to be.

“There he is. How’s the Alpha life?” He asked when I entered. He handed me a box of receipts and other documents. Every time I came to visit, I always took work home. The man was a great Alpha, but he hated numbers like snails hate salt. It was how we met. Our teacher asked me to help him with his multiplication tables way back in the days of grade school.

“Busy and apparently I need to find a Beta and Gamma,” I grumbled.

“Well, this one is taken. I’ve got enough on my plate with this mateless Alpha that makes me do all the Luna duties.” Joseph said as he walked in.

“All of them?” I wagged my eyebrows at him.

“Ew, no. And don’t insinuate anything like that in front of Darren. That man is so jealous.” He grumbled.

“Breaking my heart,” Jesse said, holding a hand to his chest.

“And I’m breaking my back making sure your pack is running, Alpha. Thank goddess we have Alpha Ethan doing our finances or I’d lose my mind trying to keep up. Find you mate soon, will you? This is practically slave labour.” Joseph continued to whine.

“Slave labour of love,” Jesse teased. “and it’s not like I haven’t tried. I keep visiting other packs and nothing.” He said, a bit of frustration coming out of his voice.

“Go to a club or something. Go on a trip abroad. Wait no. Scratch that. I don’t want to be left alone.” Joseph said, making Jesse grin.

“So, the trainer?” I brought us back to the topic.

“Ooooh, can I go with you to see The Beast? I want to see her beat his ass.” Joseph said looking like a kid in the candy store.

“The Beast?” I asked.

“Umm, yeah. That’s what some people call her. Did I forget to mention that?” Jesse said awkwardly while glaring at Joseph.

“What else did you forget to mention?” I asked.

“Did he tell you she’s 6 feet tall, has more muscles than a few of the warriors and she pretty much jumps anyone she wants and dumps them on the same night? Rumor is that she rejected her mate. She wants nothing to do with a partner.” Joseph gossiped.

“Anything else?” I asked, annoyed for some reason.

“Yeah. She’s got this super chick Amazonian hotness to her. The rumor is her body kills in more ways than one.” Joseph continued excitedly.

“Enough Joseph, or I’ll partner you up with her in this afternoon’s training.” Jesse warned, making Joseph pale.

“She’s not a bad person, Ethan. She’s just had some bad experiences. She’s quite nice if you push through the walls. Not that many people try.” He glares at Joseph again.

“Well, I guess let’s go meet my possible future torturer.” I said, standing up.

“It is not that bad.” Jesse assured me, but unconvincingly.

We walked around to the back of the packhouse to the training grounds. “They are inside, since it’s already getting cold.” Jesse explained. We headed towards the building and as he opened the door, I was hit in the face with a freight truck. At least that’s what it felt like. I could smell the most intoxicating smell of dew melon and daisy flowers.

Mate. Mate. Mate! – Hugo barked, trying to push forward.

“Ethan?” Jesse asked.

“Mate,” I whispered, making his eyes turn big as saucers.

I pushed past him and into the building, eager to find my mate. I can’t believe she’s been here the whole time. I usually never make it out of the pack house when I come visit. There were about twenty people working out in pairs and groups. I tried to follow the smell, but it was everywhere. I let Hugo forward a bit so we could zero in on the smell.

There! – He said, motioning to a woman sparring on the floor with another male. I could only see a part of her, but she was beautiful. Tanned sun-kissed skin, semi long pixie hair with an undercut. Her entire body looked like it was built to hurt and too much of it was on display. As I watched them spar, I started feeling Hugo’s anger at her being pinned by another male. That was OUR mate. No one should hurt our mate. I wanted, no, I needed to get closer to her. I needed to get that man away from our mate and I needed to touch this goddess that I was to call mine.

“Her?” I heard Joseph in shock as I left him behind. I heard Jesse calling my name and asking me to wait, but I couldn’t. The bond was pulling me to this angel, and I needed to meet her. I didn’t realize I was running until I saw her turn her head slightly. Her eyes widened, and she kicked the male off of her with her legs, sending him flying. Before I knew what was happening, she had jumped up and what I thought was going to be a hug of recognition as I approached, I learned later was her defensive stance before she rushed forward, grabbed my arm and flipped me onto my back on the floor, her foot on my throat.

I saw her chocolate brown eyes widen a moment and flash black. “Mate,” her wolf whispered, making Hugo wag his tail despite her foot never moving from our throat. Her black eyes turned brown once again, but she still didn’t move.

“Hannah, let him go.” I heard Jesse said from somewhere behind my head.

“He tried to attack me, Alpha Jesse.” My mate said.

Jesse sighs while I try to get a word in, but she just presses the foot harder on my throat. “No, he didn’t. You know this as well as I do. Can you let him up? You’re kind of attacking the new Alpha of Spruce Forest Pack, and it appears, your mate.”

There were murmurs rippling through the entire building. My mate finally removed her foot from my throat, letting me take in a full breath as I sat up. She smelled divine. Wait, did Jesse say Hannah? The woman that was supposed to train me and the one Joseph called The Beast? I looked up at her from my sitting position on the floor. She was gorgeous. Her workout clothes molded to her body perfectly, and although she tried to hide it with that tight sports bra, there was no hiding how plentiful her breasts were. I stood to introduce myself when I heard the words that almost ripped my heart out.

“You know I don’t believe in mates, Alpha. I will excuse myself from training him. I’m sure there are more suitable people for him to mate and train with. When he’s ready to get the rejection completed, please let me know.” Without another glance at me, she turned and walked away.

I began walking to follow her when Jesse stopped me. I turned and growled. He was trying to keep me from the one person in the world I would never depart. I needed to run after her and beg her for a chance. “Wait, there’s some stuff you should know. Don’t worry. She won’t leave. I have already linked her to stay within the pack and that I would need to speak with her in an hour. Please, Ethan, you’re my best friend. I’m asking you to trust me.” He said.

I was torn. I wanted to go to her. It already hurt being away from her. Hugo was a mess of whimpers in the back. He felt the rejection of her words a lot harder than I did. I nodded, and he sighed in relief before guiding me to his Alpha quarters.

When I finally sat down in private, I couldn’t help the quiver in my voice as I asked the question burning in my brain and piercing my heart. “Why doesn’t she want me?”

“It’s not you she doesn’t want. It’s the mate bond.” He explained.

“Why?” I needed to desperately know. The mate bond was the most precious gift the moon goddess had given to wolves.

“Her mother,” Jesse sighed before he explained. “When she was 11, her father left her mother. Because they were fated mates, the bond couldn’t be broken once they were marked, and the father left her, anyway. Her mother fell apart and began to drink to deal with being alone. Hannah had to step up and take care of herself and her mother. Her mother’s never recovered, despite the mate mark fading the year after he left, signaling the death of Hannah’s father.”

I cursed inwardly. What a f****d-up way to grow up. “How do you know all of this?” I asked him, feeling jealous over the fact that he already knew my mate so much better than I did. Was he one of the people that Joseph said slept with her? I couldn’t bring myself to ask. It wasn’t even fair of me to try. They wouldn’t have known then if they did.

“When Hannah asked to join the pack, she told me the entire story because she wanted it known that they are a package deal. She will not leave her mother to fend for herself after she has taken care of her for the last sixteen years. Part of her ‘bargaining chip' to me was assuring me that she had no intention of taking a mate, so as long as I would have them, she had no intention of leaving the pack.” Jesse’s eyes were full of sympathy.

I took all his words in, my heart sinking more and more as he talked. After everything that’s happened, the thing that kept me going at night was the hope that I had a mate out there waiting for me and I was going to make her proud by saving my pack. Now that was taken from me. My mate was going to reject me. Jesse’s face softened as he saw the hopeless look on my face. “What am I going to do? All I’ve wanted since I was young was my mate. Someone to love me unconditionally. What do I have left now? What’s the point of anything?” I wondered out loud.

Jesse scoffed. “That’s not the Ethan I know. That’s not the Ethan that convinced both of our parents, and Miss Olivia, to let us go to that comic con in New York when we were thirteen with some bullshit excuse of a social experiment. You’re the single reason that I even passed pre-calculus in university. You convinced dad to give you a job as our accountant even before you graduated. AND you’re single-handedly saving your f*****g pack from becoming nothing but a memory. You’re just going to take a no now?”

I growled, offended at what he was implying. “Are you saying I should force her to mate with me?”

“Goddess no. If you were in your right mind right now, I’d knock you out for even suggesting that.” He said, and I felt ashamed for even having thought that. I’ve known Jesse since we were kids. Of course, I know that’s not what he was suggesting. “Listen, the woman has had it hard, and it has no doubt soured her feelings on the mate bond. You have to convince her it can be different.”

“How exactly am I supposed to do that? She’s waiting for me so she can reject me!” I said, standing up and pacing the room.

“So? She said ‘when you’re ready’. Are you ready to be rejected?” Jesse asked.

“No.” I mumbled.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. Are you ready to be rejected, Alpha Ethan?” Jesse growled.

“f**k no!” I said, hearing Hugo growl approvingly in my head.

“Well then, it sounds like I’m going to be going down to my office and explaining to my pack member that there’s no one else with her caliber and that you’re in dire need of her help. The least she can do, if she plans to reject you, is to give you a chance to survive both this year and the rejection by training you first and then rejecting you.”

“And if she still doesn’t accept?” I asked, the fear creeping back into my soul.

“Then I guess we find you another trainer that needs you to come here every day. Remember, for a rejection to work, you have to accept it. But I don’t think it will come to that. She’s a good person, Ethan, or the moon goddess wouldn’t have given her to you as a mate. You deserve to be happy. Just...don’t give up too quickly on her. She deserves to be happy too, but it will take a while to get her to come around. If anyone can do it, it’s the man that convinced two Alpha parents and an overprotective Omega single mom to let us travel alone to New York to dress up like superheroes.” He stood up. “I’ll be back. Just… relax here. You have a couple of hours till dinner. I’ll send Joseph up when I’m done talking to Hannah.”

I had no choice but to nod and wait in miserable silence. After about an hour, Joseph came in and said, “Alpha wants you to come downstairs.”

A/N: Next Update will be on Monday.