The Rise of the Alpha

26

He's been wanting to meet us, stated Chloe, her tail wagging even faster as the link manifested; that tail should've been my first clue that our mate was a nice guy as opposed to a troublesome one!

It's no wonder why he smells so mouthwatering, I added, quite literally licking my chops at the man's aroma.

YES, girl! And he sounds fine as hell, too! she fired back with excitement, and it was then that I swallowed my nerves, scooched out from beneath the slab, and braved a peek upward. As my gaze met that of the pleasantly-inviting stranger, he smiled; damn it, what a gorgeous smile and piercing eyes he had! My heart skipped a beat as I took in his handsome, masculine, tempting features, the likes of which gave way to the rapid spread of tiny, tingling goosebumps across my skin. He had this thick, dark-brown hair and these gorgeous, chestnut eyes that seemed perfectly capable of making a lady melt on the spot just from one passing glance…and would ya just look at me? A lady practically turned to mush all because of one inviting smile!

"Hello, there," he spoke softly – caringly, even – as he squatted down to my level so that we were face to face. "Are you feeling okay? Stupid question, I know..."

Still apprehensive, I responded with sealed lips and a c.ocked eyebrow.

"Cat's got your tongue?" he asked in addition, and though that cheesy little remark was enough to make my human side want to roll my eyes to the ceiling and back, my wolf was the perfect, live-action example of a lovesick, dopey-eyed, cartoon pup panting exaggeratedly with her tongue hanging halfway out of her mouth! Quite the opposite of eye rolling, I'd say!

Say something to him, you dork! she scolded me, wriggling her furry, tail-wagging behind in an excited sort of anticipation.

"Look here, whatever your name is … 'mum' is the inarguable word going forward unless you fill me in on who you are and what, exactly, the hell I'm doing here right this moment," I answered the man, albeit a smidgen harsher than I probably should have…and merely in attempt to come across as stronger than I felt. Struggling at first, I carefully repositioned to sit so that I could fold my arms across my chest and look that much more intimidating. "Oh, yeah … and where's my necklace? Huh? 'Cause it damn-sure ain't where I left it!" The last thing in this world I needed to hear was that I'd lost my necklace somewhere between that f.ucking water and here!

He laughed (yes, literally laughed at me) in initial response, somehow managing a, "Feisty, are ya?" amid his laughter.

Listen, you seriously have NO idea… my mind muttered matter-of-factly, but contrary to my smart-ass tendencies, I gathered my composure and proceeded to answer calmly with, "A little, but only when the circumstances call for it."

"Good. You can be as feisty as you wanna be with me. I like it," he replied straightaway with a wink, instantly causing my cheeks to heat up like a hot pan does an oven mitt. On that note, he sat down on his spot and crossed his own arms over his chest in clear mimicry of my stance. That action had finally jerked that eye roll from me, but if I'm being honest, I could no longer fight the tug of a smile at the corners of my lips at that point. "Hey, now that's a much better expression!" he announced when he caught sight of it, the warmth in his features making the rest of my body heat up from the floor up. Next, he offered his hand for me to take hold of, only I chose to stare at it for a few apprehensive moments rather than grab it right away. "It's just a hand," he remarked in jest, pairing it with another silly but reassuring wink, ultimately making those good-feeling tingles spread rapidly throughout my body again; I mean, I obviously knew what the mate bond was, but knowing what it was and actually feeling the pull felt profoundly different from one another, I can assure you!

Without further delay, I took hold of that hand, and those same tingles turned to flying sparks the instant our skin touched. My initial response was a combination of a hasty retraction of my hand and a borderline-embarrassing blush, the latter of which he took immediate notice of.

"Cute. You're a blusher," he stated the obvious, pairing it with another debonair smile and an additional gentle tug of myself toward him.

Truth be told, it had taken damn-near every bit of my strength to crawl across the room to begin with, and even if I'd have begged my limbs to cooperate long enough to get me to my feet and stabilize me right then, I doubted they'd cooperate. I, unfortunately, was a temporary weakling! "Um … I…," I began to explain, but before I could go any further, he began to stand and gently pulled me to my feet with him, making sure to steady me with his hands upon my hips.

Eye to eye and gripping his arms for balance, I took a good, hard look at him; now he was a fine specimen of a man with his perfectly-buff muscles and his skin a slightly-cooler hue of beige. Despite his non-threatening aura and everything I'd been feeling thus far, however, I didn't have a clue what his name was…and he didn't know mine! "Thank you, um…," I murmured, dragging out the 'um' in hopes that he'd catch my drift and reveal that basic bit of information on his own.

Locked onto my hesitation, he loosened his grip on me to tuck a wild lock of my hair behind my ear, then he said, "The name's Jaden. Jaden Titus Pierce. It's a pleasure to officially meet you, Ms-"

"Leila," I finished his sentence. "Leila Wren Cambridge."

"Leila…," he repeated my name slowly, almost like he was testing the way it sounded as it rolled off of his tongue. It was smooth and enticing and made me shiver with delight, the likes of which I knew he did not miss (judging by the way his eyes then slowly raked over me from my head down to my feet and right back up). "What a beautiful name that is!"

Another deep, rosy blush took over and heated my already-stained cheeks. "Well, thank you, Mr. Pierce. I'm glad we know what each others' names are now," I told him. "Now … care to bring me up to speed in regards to where I am and how it is that I got here? And how long have I been here?"