The Mark of an Alpha
Chapter 19

My god, we needed this.

My wold stretches her mind further to the surface and relaxes.

One of my pet peeves is when my wolf is awake before me. There is no silencing her mind.

The warmth of my blanket makes me groan as my body wants to wake up but my mind wants to stay in the well-rested state that it is in.

Five more minutes, please!

Now you want to sleep. I cannot hide my annoyance with her.

My wolf yawns loudly as I pull my pillow making it curve with my head and I trying to pull the covers over my head but I find it very difficult, the blanket seems to be stuck.

A mumble stops my movements, “Stop tossing,” his breath brushes against my cheek and I freeze.

What the hell?

The memory of last night comes flooding through my mind like a tsunami. My head snaps to the side and there laying on my bed is Hunter. His eyes close tight as his eyebrows pull together fighting to stay asleep. His arms are wrap around me, skin to skin contact.

“Can you get off of me?” I growl as I try to push myself away from him.

He shakes his head and nuzzles my neck pulling closer to him. He takes a deep breath sending a shiver through me, “Do you know,” he grins at me with his eyes closed, “your toes are freezing at night?”

“Well, you could have gone to your room if it bothered you!” I snap and try again to loosen his grip around me but it seems useless.

“No bother, just letting you know,” he says against my hair and I groan dropping back into my mattress.

“Melany?” Andrew says against the door. “Are you in there?” My room is soundproof, they cannot hear me but I can hear them.

“Hunter, I need to get up!” The more I fight him the tighter he holds me and I swear the man is much stronger than he looks.

“Melany, I’m coming in!” The worry in his voice tells me he is about to walk in and find me in bed with Hunter. We did not do anything but word travels fast and I do not want people talking about me any more than they already do.

The door is pushed open a crack when panic rises in me, “I’m not dressed!” I shout at him and the door slams shut.

Nakedness may not be taboo in our species but Andrew has always tried his best to make my life as normal as possible when we are not in wolf form. When we are home we like to keep our clothes on.

“Well, why don’t you answer? Breakfast is ready and Alpha Hunter should be heading downstairs in a bit.” I can hear his footsteps retreating as I sigh in relief.

“So you’re naked huh,” Hunter says in his sleepy voice.

“Kiss my ass,” I growl at him. Pushing myself out of his arms he finally releases me and I get out of bed quickly before he grabs me again. I take long strides to the door and open it up.

“I want to ask you something,” his eyes slowly open up but they hold me in place as I look over him.

“What?”

“Who’s Marcus?” It seems like the ground at my feet shifts and all the oxygen in the room is thinning.

“Who told you about him?” As my hand flies to my chest gripping it as if what is left of my heart might come tumbling out.

“No one, that is part of my ability I take away your pain, in return, I feel it all. Your dreams are very foggy on my end but you keep repeating Marcus the whole time and then that’s when I feel the dull pain in my chest. Is he your mate?” Hunter sits up as concern etches across his face.

“Stop, please just drop it,” I mumble as I fight with my emotions.

You can talk to him about it Melany. I trust him.

“Can you two just drop it,” I turn around and yank my door wider and speed down the hall. My long hair flies behind me as I make my way through the house. My bare feet hitting the cold floor as I head to the stairs and take the stairs two at a time going straight for the door.

Are you okay? Andrew's mind links me and I mentally push him away.

Leave me alone! My alpha tone radiating off of every word and Andrew leaves me at peace.

“Melany,” his voice is behind me as I keep walking towards the trees, “the rogues are still out there.”

“I rather face the rogues a thousand times than talk about that,” I snap at him throwing my head to the side getting a glance at him from my side vision. He is walking towards me in his pajama bottom and shirtless.

“Damn it, Melany,” he takes longer steps than me since he reaches my side in a couple of seconds and wraps his arms around my waist lifting my body off the ground.

“Hunter, I swear to god...” I kick my legs in the air.

“What are you going to do, all-mighty alpha?” My head turns to face him and he has a smirk on his face.

I groan in frustration, “Nothing!”

“That is not an alpha’s answer you have a lot to learn about being the alpha of a pack.” He sets me down on my feet and wraps his fingers around my hand, “Come I want to talk to you.”

Hunter’s hand is warm against my cold one. I let him lead me to wherever he has in mind. He leads me back to the packhouse and then when we walk past it I raise an eyebrow at him.

“Where are we-” I stop in my tracks and let my hand slip out of his grasp as I gasp for air.

I had blocked out the playground that my father had the pack built when he found out that my mother was pregnant. The playground was where I spend countless hours playing with Andrew. The swing set moves with the breeze and the slide next to it rusting away from not being used. My father added the picnic table when I got older so that I can do my homework in the sunlight and have my picnics with my friends.

“Why did you bring me out here?” I whisper knowing well that he could hear me, if I spoke louder I know that my voice would break.

“I tend to look around the new places I stay at and I found that no one comes out here at your request, why?” He walks back to me and stands at my side as I look over at the swing set my favorite thing in the world.

“Because Hunter there so much about me that I prefer to keep hidden from everyone.” The silence falls around us and it is not uncomfortable but I rather there be noise.

“Melany,” his voice surprises me, “open up. I already got a glimpse of your pain.”

“Are you even the right person to ask me that? Andrew, the boy I’ve known as a pup, has tried to make me open up and that hasn’t worked, so what makes you think it will work for you?”

A goofy grin appears on his face and I can see that he is trying hard to hide it but it grows bigger. “Melany,” his smile grows bigger, “you need to learn when you can trust people and,” his smile vanishes, “I’m willing to open up to you as well.” My eyebrows furrow.

“Why would you? We don’t know each other,” I mutter. The only reason he is here is that he needs something. We are not friends. We are nothing.

“Because I can sense your pain and it is all too familiar. Do you want to know what I’ve been through?”

Melany, listen to him. He might be able to help you.

I nod and Hunter gives me a small smile.

“Okay then.” What do I have to lose? He wants to talk, who am I to stop him?

He grabs hold of my hand once again and walks me over to the picnic table. We take a seat across from each other, his hands stay under the table as mine stays on top of the table fingers crossed. His eyes look away from me and they take in the grey cloudy sky.

“I was sixteen when I first laid eyes on her.” There is so much love and hurt in his eyes that I lean closer to look at him. “Still a child but when I was with her I wanted to offer her the world. Haley was her name.”

Was? Did she leave him?

Shh.

“She was fifteen still a little girl in her parent’s eyes.” One of the corners of his lips pulls down as he swallows down, Adam’s apple bobs. His eyebrows pulled together as he tries to keep himself together, “I was next in line to become alpha, her family was proud that she finally met her mate and a well-respected member of the pack at that.”

“We were inseparable like most mates. She spent all her time at the packhouse just so we wouldn’t spend a moment apart. Haley and I spend most of our time together except for pack meetings and stuff like that. I didn’t know how incomplete and lonely I was until I met her. She slept in my bed keeping it warm until I was able to climb into.”

His voice falters at the memory and I can feel my eyes beginning to water but I shake my head and take a deep breath.

“When she was sixteen the Haley I knew was no longer there.” He pauses and there is a sad smile on his face. The smile is more for me than for him. “She was a fraction of the person she was when we first met. She lost so much weight, she was in constant pain, and all she wanted was to be left alone.”

Oh no. My wolf whimpers, I understand.

“She was constantly sick, to the point where headaches would make her immobile. Finally after days of begging she agreed to go to the doctor. The verdict was not good.” He pauses and looks at me but not he is trying to adjust to the fact that there is someone here with him listening.

“She had a brain tumor."

"I'm so sorry," the lump in my throat makes it a whisper. Hunter's sad eyes break my heart but he nods and continues.

"When we first found out she would fight me on taking away her sorrow but I wanted to be with her through it all.” He gives me a humorless chuckle, “It seemed we did that a lot, fight I mean. She didn’t want me to suffer with her. At night she would cry herself to sleep and then I would wrap my arms around her.” He gasps and his bare chest heaves upward.

“Instead of her doing all the crying it was me. Soon after that, the pain arrived, the skull-crushing pain that would make me clench my teeth so I could hold back the screams threatening to spill out even if I tried to breathe through my mouth. Haley slept peacefully while I fought off her pain.” His hand runs through his hair and it appears as he is trying to rub away something at the back of his head.

“Chemo didn’t help and Haley was tired of all the medication. So she decided that she wanted to be off of it all. I also quit everything. No more pack meetings, socializing, and most of all no more being a wolf.”

“You left your wolf for your mate!” I gasp out and he sighs and nods.

“You’ll do anything for the person you love even if it means losing part of yourself. She didn’t last long after that, the brain tumor grew bigger and it took away the person that I loved so much,” he pauses, “it took a piece of me with it. I let myself fall into this deep depression. It took me months to be able to get out of bed, and even longer for me to be able to talk to anyone. My wolf stayed with me even though I neglected his needs.”

“I’m sorry,” I frown.

“I was not the same person I was back then. I let a lot of people down. I don’t know what happens with your mate but what you said about your father I want you to know that you’re not alone.”

“What?” I stare at him and he gulps down.

“When Haley passed I knew that the pack had to keep going. My brother, the alpha, was happy to let me take back my spot as beta once again to give me something to do. I would run rounds of our territory and when I would come across a strange wolf I would take out all my aggression on it."

His fingers skim over his pec and there are three claw marks. The marks are a bit lighter than the rest of his skin tone as I watch his fingers drag down.

Instinctively I want to run my fingers over my marking. The teeth marks of the rogue that got ahold of me.

"One day I went after a pack of rogues on my own, call it a death wish or whatever you want, but at the moment I just wanted to let someone feel as much pain as Haley felt." His hand drops and I concentrate on his eyes.

"Someone that did deserve what she got I was going to let them feel it. I was outnumbered five against one. I manage to take down two but the other three were on me quick. My brother being the alpha felt that I was in trouble and he was the only one close enough to help me. He ran to me when he got there I was fighting for my last breath that was when I passed out.”

“Your brother...” I could not bring myself to finish the sentence. His eyes close but not before I could see the pain in them.

“I woke up three days later my body was covered in bandages. My brother’s omega was by my side he told me that my brother fought the rogues off but they were too strong for him. He manages to kill them off but he sacrificed himself for me. This time I didn’t have time to mourn someone I loved death, my packs future fell on my shoulders and I need to step up to the position.” His eyes remain closed as he finishes what he had to say.

Wow, see he knows what you’re going through.

No, he doesn’t because he went through worse than I ever did.

“I’m so sor-” Hunter puts up his hand making me stop.

“Why? It’s not your fault that all that happen to me,” he slowly opens his eyes and they penetrate mine with so much emotion that I cannot help but want to open up to him as well.

“Well Hunter,” I sigh.

“Why do you always call me by my last name?” A smile pushes past the sadness on his face and I cannot help but smile back at him.

“Because I like calling you Hunter plus I don’t know your first name,” I shrug.

“Adrian,” he grins.

That suits him.

“I like it but I am sticking to Hunter.” He stays quiet waiting for me to start, my bottom lip goes into the captivity of my teeth and I think.

Start in the beginning with your father.

My fingertip starts following the dark markings on the tabletop. The wood color is faded from all the time it has spent outside and the weather.

Well here goes nothing.

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