The Alpha's Shatter Zone
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“What in the world, Kaiden??”

“I can explain! It’s not what it looks like.”

“Well, it better be one very good explanation. Because there’s only one thing it looks like,” Chesca spat over her shoulder as he followed after her. The path was dark, but her anger seemed to sharpen her Alpha vision and she kept storming towards Jackson’s house. It should be just up ahead…

“Listen, there’s nothing going on between me and Miranda, it ende--”

“Miranda, huh? What a gorgeous name.” The woman that had brazenly walked into their happy circle around the fire had stirred up a flame in Chesca. Her short, tight dress, the way she pushed her luscious and flowing hair over her shoulder, and her perfect hands that had touched Kaiden, her mate… How dare she? Who did she think she was, to do that to him?

“She means nothing to me now…. Will you slow down?” Kaiden’s voice drifted off, before his heavy breathing caught up again and she could smell his alluring scent as it grew stronger.

“Now? So you admit there was something in the past?” she turned and raised an eyebrow. Of course there would’ve been countless girlfriends in her mate’s past, especially seeing as he was an Alpha, and a devastatingly beautiful one at that. But seeing the attention coming from a real woman had sent a knife in Chesca’s gut. It twisted when she heard the low words that only her Alpha ears could have overheard.

“Maybe...I mean, yes. but it’s over now. Completely nothing at all. I don’t even know why I liked her at all,” Kaiden grimaced and talked fast, raking his hand back through his hair with agitation.

Chesca suddenly pictured that woman’s hands running through his hair, and she shuddered at the sickening image. “That’s not the impression she gave,” Chesca stared down her nose. “Looked like you two are still pretty chummy.”

“We’re not, I’m telling the truth.”

“Forgive me for not believing you,” she turned and started walking again, the moonless sky offering no light for the path ahead. At least she hoped she was still following the path. “For all I know, you could’ve been running from a bad relationship when you came into my territory, and your girlfriend is here to patch things up. I’m just an inconvenient bump in your road to bliss—“

“Chesca, you’re nothing of the sort. I care about you, as my mate, and nothing is going to change that. No past girlfriends, no insane Alphas, or manipulative fathers. I’m living my life now, and you’re a huge part of it.”

“A huge part, yeah. A ticket to a free pack,” she knew her words were caustic, most likely damaging the few steps forward they’d managed to take. But it didn’t worry her now; she was too worked up to care about his feelings.

“Will you stop saying that,” he growled and snatched her arm. “I don’t want to hurt you like that!” His brown eyes swirled with restrained anger, his jaw clenching sharply as if ready to unload it’s firepower.

“Then get your hand off me,” her deadly growl vibrated in the forest around them.

“Not until you believe me. Miranda means nothing to me now,” he leaned closer, his hot breath fanning the tendrils of hair that had escaped her braid.

“Likely story. I saw the way you were looking at each other—“

“Just stop it, Chesca! You’re being petty. I thought you’d know by now, how you mean so much to me. Do I need to kiss you again to prove it?” His low undertones bristled the fine hairs on the back of her neck, and before she could respond, he’d pulled her closer. Her body pressed firmly against his, he lowered his head and smothered her lips with his own. Sparks began shooting through her body at the closeness of her mate, and her lips responded to his like they were made to. With her eyes closed, and her hands losing themselves in his jacket, the rest of the world disappeared for a moment. Until her brain began working again.

“For goodness sake, Kaiden!” She yelled and pushed him back with all the force her trembling arms could muster. “You disgusting wolf!”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t feel anything,” he growled lowly, his eyes darkened with primal instinct.

“All I felt was how much of a jerk you are,” she pushed him back again when he took a step closer. But his hulking mass didn’t move, so she ended up stepping backwards herself.

“You’re the jerk for thinking I might still feel something for her, after knowing how much we have!” he glared angrily. “Speaking of which, how come you get to flirt with that stuck up, immature, pathetic Alpha Jackson, huh? This goes both ways, Chesca. Maybe I should get with Miranda just so we’re even.”

“Oh, no you just didn’t! You’re accusing me of flirting? With Jackson?” Was it possible to grow any more livid? With Kaiden’s insults, it seemed she could.

“I’ve seen the way you let him touch you. If I wasn’t in the same room with you every night, I’d assume something more was going on,” he stalked closer and towered over her, his dark eyes nearly glowing golden.

“How dare you!” She snarled with mortification, then turned and ran.

And fell straight over a small cliff that tumbled and slid down a steep embankment. Her scream wasn’t even the loudest disruption of the quiet and isolated forest. Her name, as it was torn from Kaiden’s throat, rivalled any piece of anguish the night creatures had ever heard.

No!

No, this could not be happening! She had to be ok, he kept repeating to himself as he tumbled down the slope after her. Kaiden’s feet hit some boulders and jolted his legs, but he shifted his body back and kept going. Carefully, slowly, so he too wouldn’t lose his footing and roll down the hill, but he had to get to Chesca as soon as possible. Her scream still echoed in his mind.

“Chesca!” he called again, but there was no reply. Nothing since the horrible screech that had been wrenched from her throat as she fell. “Chesca, where are you?”

The worst of it was, that it was still pitch black. No moon, no firelight, no torch to light the way. And definitely no mansion of Jackson’s. They must have strayed totally off course during their argument. He had just been following Chesca, but maybe he should’ve been more careful with where they were actually going. “Chesca, can you hear me?” his cries were getting nervous, anxious. He couldn’t smell her scent, couldn’t feel her through the mind link. It was freaking him out.

A sharp pain tugged at his heart, and in those frightening moments, he realised just how much she had come to mean to him. She was his other half, his mate, the perfect piece that completed him, so fractured and damaged as he was. And now he couldn’t feel her. The hollow cavity in his chest spread, engulfing his reason while he stumbled over bushes and pushed through branches and clawed his way up and down gullies. The trees around him looked all the same.

Where could she have gone? She had only fallen down the slope, so she couldn’t be far.

Then he heard it.

Running water. A quiet trickling that grew to a louder rushing as he brushed past tree trunks. The damp smell of moist earth and water filled his nostrils, and his heart beat faster as more possibilities arose in his mind. Maybe she tumbled into the stream. Maybe she hit her head and drowned. Maybe she’d been washed away, never to be seen again.

And it was all his fault. If he hadn’t pushed her and antagonised her with his frustration and anger, she wouldn’t have felt the need to run from him.

Regret clawed at him like a monster, like the darkness that stayed at bay during daylight hours but came out to play in your night terrors while you slept. But he was awake, and this was horrifyingly real.

“Chesca!” he shouted, turning in circles like a mad man. It was like the unfamiliar woods had just swallowed up his mate.

Water soon sloshed around his ankles, and he realised he’d come to the stream. Only seconds before tumbling head long into the swirling waters, he braced himself against a reedy tree trunk. It was fast-flowing, cutting dangerously through the forest like a ribbon of silvery steel. Straining his eyes in the dark, Kaiden searched the swift waters. “Chesca! My dear Chesca, where are you?” he panted softly. Stumbling along the edge for a few yards, he gasped as something light-coloured came into view. On the other side of the stream, he convinced himself he saw Chesca’s platinum blonde hair, and her white shirt bobbing dangerously.

“Ches?” he waded out carefully. “Chesca, are you ok? Can you hear me?” It was definitely her, caught between the branches of an overhanging tree.

The strong current nearly swept his feet out from under him, but he gritted his teeth and launched himself into the frigid water. He’d rescue his mate, or die trying.

With a few strong strokes, he reached her side and gripped the tree branch tightly. “Ches,” he murmured, making sure her head was above water and brushing the strands of hair from her face. Then he wrapped his arm tightly around her slender body and pulled her close. Her head lolled against his shoulder. She was cold, and so lifeless. His heart was beating fast enough for the both of them it seemed, and he let go of the branch after a whispered prayer. With all his strength, he swam to the bank. By this time, the sky was dimming with a faint grey colour, and he heard shouts coming from the forest ahead.

He was lifting Chesca up from the water and carrying her to a flat patch of ground when Alphas Jackson and Asa emerged from the trees.

“What happened, man? We heard you shouting.”

“Oh no, is she ok?”

“What’s going o—oh goodness!” Miranda was right behind them and covered her mouth in shock.

But Kaiden didn’t even notice. He was staring at his mate’s motionless face. “Chesca, come on, please wake up!” he had his arm tightly around her shoulders, and with his other hand he trailed his fingers over her soft face. Her lips were so blue. “Ches, this is all my fault. I’m so sorry,” he pressed his lips to her forehead. “Why do you have to be so stubborn? Please, just wake up.”

She was covered in bruises and mud, her shirt torn and stained, and her arm swelling with a break possibly. But he did feel her chest rising and falling ever so faintly. “Darling, please wake up,” he pleaded and held her even tighter, but gently. An obstinate tear slid down his cheek, and he buried his face in his deathly still mate’s neck.

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