The Betas Tribrid Mate

4 - My mothers mate

Melissa

“Give her to me right now!” I snatch Jessie from the stranger’s arms.

He hisses at me, eyes turning red and scaring the shi.t out of me.

I take a step back with Jessie in my arms.

I sat down for ten minutes because Luna Gianna made me. I came out for some fresh air to find that Alpha Lorcan had passed Jessie off to a stranger. Now they’re all looking at me like I’m in the wrong!

How do they think I’d react?

I’m too shaken to acknowledge my Wolf yelling ‘Mate’ inside my head. Goddess, I hope this stranger isn’t my mate; he’s scary!

“Hand back my child, girl.”

Oh, Goddess, even his voice is bone-chilling!

Wait. . . “Your child?” I look from the stranger to Jessie.

She cups my cheeks and giggles. “This is my daddy, Mel.”

“What?”

Jessie kisses my cheek and then reaches for her father, who takes her with a smile.

“Melissa,” I turn to look at Alpha Lorcan. “This is Adam, my cousin and your mother’s mate.”

I look closely at Adam, realizing that he’s the handsome stranger who swept my mother off her feet. Wow.

What are the odds?

A growl so low it’s threatening has everyone turning to the man I tried to ignore.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Alpha Leander snaps.

“Move away from my mate,” He growls.

Everyone looks at me, then my mate, and my stomach is churning.

Why did this have to happen now?

I have so much going on that I can’t deal with a mate as well. I don’t have the headspace for any of this; I feel like I’m going crazy!

My mate takes a step towards me, but I take one back. I shake my head at him because I don’t want this; I have no room for a mate. He wouldn’t want me if he saw the mark on my skull. Mike made sure to tell me no one could ever love me.

Why should I believe this man would be any different?

My mate cock.s his head to the side, confused by my reaction.

“Stay away from me.”

“Why? I’m your mate.”

I look to Alpha Lorcan. “My Alpha, I’m not ready for this. Please, don’t make me go with him, I’m not ready. I just can’t deal with all of this right now; I need to be with my mother.”

Alpha Lorcan tips his head. “This is the way of things, Melissa. You can’t fight fate.”

I close my eyes and breathe deeply through my nose. When I open my eyes, I look at Alpha Leander. If my Alpha won’t help me, perhaps his brother will.

Alpha Leander must understand how I feel because he tips his head. “Go with Adam to see your mother; I’ll deal with this.”

My mate growls so loudly Jessie whimpers.

“Jai!” Alpha Leander yells, allowing me to hear my mate’s name for the first time. “Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down! How dare you keep my mate from me?”

My eyes widen when Jai’s flash a darker shade of charcoal. Mike aside, I’ve never seen anyone look so angry.

Jai’s claws begin to grow, and I can tell he’s seconds away from allowing his Wolf to take over. If that happens, his Wolf could do all sorts to me!

“Please don’t be angry,” I all but whisper. Jai and his Wolf hear me because they suddenly stop moving towards me and blink. “Let me go,”

“I will never let you go!” Jai hisses.

Alpha Lorcan and Alpha Leander suddenly grab Jai and pull him away from the house. I feel like crying because I know it’s not Jai’s fault that he reacted the way he did; it’s nature. However, he frightened me, and that’s the last thing I need right now.

“Let’s go,” Adam takes my arm and turns me away from the scene unfolding outside.

With Jessie still in his arms, Adam leads me to the infirmary. I can’t believe he’s here right when we are, and I wonder if he felt my mother’s presence.

Is that what brought Adam here?

Could the mate bond really be that strong?

I know they say everything happens for a reason, but what are the odds of Adam being here with my mate?

It’s like the world is conspiring against me!

The Goddess knows that I have always dreamed about finding my mate. I imagine him holding me tight, kissing me softly, and loving me endlessly.

I knew it was nothing more than a dream because who could love someone like me?

My mom used to say that Mike was lying and that there would be someone out there for me. All I had to do was keep the faith, and one day, we’d find each other. I would chuckle and shake my head, knowing that it could never be but secretly hoping it could be at the same time. Now, here I am, having just found my mate and wishing I hadn’t.

Why does everything have to be so complicated?

Why couldn’t I have had the fairytale?

I wish, more than anything, I could have met my mate under different circumstances. Sure, I’ve always been terrified of being rejected by my mate. But I still wanted the dream, the same as everyone else.

No matter how often I call her name, Cece won’t speak to me. My Wolf is angry with me for not immediately running into Jai’s arms. My Wolf doesn’t understand my fears when she’s the only one who should. I love Cece; she’s part of me, but we have very different ideas regarding mates.

How can I not think Jai will reject me?

Mike forever told me that those who carry the figure 8 could not be loved. Those people are the scum of the earth, not meant to have been born, but for some reason, are. The Moon Goddess does not favor those poor souls, and Selene ensures their lives are forever miserable.

Mike said that nothing would ever go right for me. I will always be the person who is bullied and looked down upon, and if I ever did find a man to take me on, he’d do nothing but hurt me.

I believed him because I had no reason not to. Everyone hated me; no one even asked me to go for a walk with them. Then there’s the fact that Alpha Lorcan and Luna Gianna stayed away from us. I only remember seeing them speak to Mike less than a handful of times in my life.

I wasn’t offered a position within the pack like most others were. No one would hire me to work for them, and Mike said that was because they knew I was nothing.

How am I supposed to believe I could be something to Jai when I’ve never had any experience with such a thing?

‘You worry too much; that’s your trouble. Jai will love you because he won’t be able to stop himself.’

‘So now you'll speak to me? The mate bond will make him want me, Cece, but that doesn’t mean he could ever love me. That poor man has been cursed with a mate like me. But I’ll put it right; I swear I will.’

‘You’re fuckin.g hopeless!’ I sense my Wolf rolling her eyes, but I have bigger things to worry about than Cece’s attitude right now.

Adam and I arrive, and the doctor tells us to take a seat. They’re doing some tests on Mom, but we can go in shortly.

Jessie has fallen asleep in Adam’s arms, and I smile to see how contented she looks.

After a moment of silence, Adam tells me, “You should give Jai a chance, you know?”

I ignore what he said about giving Jai a chance.

“What kind of a name is Jai, anyway?”

Adam chuckles. “His mother liked the name. When he was growing up, people called him Jay. He’d get annoyed and tell them, ‘My name is Jai - like J-eye, like Kai, but with a J.’ People knew his name, but they liked how annoyed he got.” Adam laughs to himself.

Okay, so Jai like Kai, but with a J. As names go, it’s not a bad one; I think it suits him.

“Are you going to forgive my mother?” I ask instead of replying to what Adam just said.

Adam sighs. “She rejected me, Melissa.”

“She didn’t want to,” I admit. “Mike is not a nice man, Adam. He kidnapped my mother from her pack when she was fifteen years old. He tortured her until she had no mind to think for herself. I had never seen her so broken as the day she came home after being with you. Nothing Mike ever did before or after could compare to the heartbreak she was feeling.

“All Alison wanted was to be with you, but she was scared. She knew Mike would never leave her alone and was afraid of what would happen. Do you know what it’s like to be so scared of someone that you can’t see any way out?”

Adam looks at me for a moment before shaking his head. “I’ll admit,” He shifts in his seat. “That I was angry with Alison for a while. I didn’t understand why she would allow me to mark her if she didn’t intend to stay. I love your mother, Melissa, so damn much it hurts.”

I smile while my lip quivers. Mike didn’t love my mother, not one bit, but I can see that Adam does.

“Look at this beautiful little girl we created from love. I know Alison loves me; I can feel it from here. I promise you that I won’t let her go again, not for anything. As for your father? I’m sorry, but. . .”

“I know,” I cut Adam off with a slight smile. “You won’t let him live, but I can’t seem to bring myself to care. That man hurt me my whole life as punishment to my mother for breeding a girl when he wanted a boy. I had to watch her being broken down a little more every day. Alison is thirty-four years old, so young, and she doesn’t deserve the life she’s been handed.

“If you truly love her, then please, I am begging you, keep her safe. If there is anyone in this world who can give Alison the best of everything, it’s you.”

Adam smiles gratefully while taking my hand. “You’ve been trying to protect my mate and child all your life, haven’t you?”

I nod my head as a tear falls from my eye.

“I will be forever grateful for that, Melissa. But it’s my turn to take care of them and your turn to be happy. Your mom and sister will never have anything to fear again as long as I live. Trust me, I’ll be around a long time. I’m a hybrid Wolf and Vampire, so I know what I’m talking about.”

My eyes widen in shock. I was not expecting that! Though it was stupid of me, really, when Adam is my Alpha's cousin.

Why wouldn’t Adam also be a hybrid?

“What does that make Jessie?”

“What do you mean?” Adam looks genuinely confused.

Didn’t he sense what my mother was?

“I mean, because my mother is a Feline shifter.”

“Oh,” He shifts in his seat again. “That. Well, actually, your mother is a hybrid. She has a Wolf, I’ve seen it, but she is half Big Cat.”

“I didn’t know for sure,” I swallow the lump in my throat. “I knew Mom had a Wolf. But I remember my father yelling at Mom about the King of Lions never finding her. I just assumed she was a Lioness also.”

“Wait,” Adam shakes his head again. “Frostbite is your mother’s father?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know who that is,”

“King of Lions,” Adam mumbles. “Never mind, I’ll figure this out soon enough.”

I nod because I trust him, which is not easy for me to do.

“Now you have no more avoidance tactics; why are you running from your mate?”

I shrug my shoulders.

“I have a lot going on right now.”

“Yes, you do. But I’m here now, Melissa; you don’t need to shoulder everything. Besides, you could do much worse than Jai.”

I sigh. “I don’t know anything about him, Adam.”

Adam smiles. “Jai is the second son of Alpha Leander and Luna Sara, making him my second cousin. Jai is a homebody and also a master horseman. He’s kind yet strong and dominant when he needs to be due to his Beta status.

“Jai has been waiting for his mate since he was a child. It’s all he ever went on about when he was little,” Adam chuckles. “Of course, he’s a Wolf and Vampire like the rest of us, but he’s also part Banshee like his mother, actually making him a tribrid.”

I swallow hard.

I didn’t know Banshees were real! I always thought they were just something I read about in fairytales. But then I should have known better; humans read about our world in books yet don’t believe it. Typical.

“Jai is a good person, Melissa. He’d never hurt you because, believe me, Jai will worship you like a queen. Give him a chance, sweetheart; you owe it to yourself to at least try. If being Jai Dalgaard’s mate isn’t what you hope it will be, I won’t stop you from rejecting him. But don’t do it just because you’re scared.”

I bite my lower lip. Adam has given me food for thought.

“Adam?” The doctor stands in front of us. “You may see Alison now. But I suggest the little one stay here. I don’t think it’s right to see her mother in such a state.”

Adam looks torn.

“I’ll take her,” I hold my hands out. “Go and tell Alison that you love her and won’t leave her, no matter what.”

Adam smiles. “Thank you.”

I take my sister in my arms; she doesn’t stir, and I watch Adam walk away.

He’s given me much to think about.