Page 8 of Unknowingly Adopting the Alpha
Chapter Seven
Jeremy
Don’t kill Dad, don’t kill Dad…
“Are you even listening?” Dad demanded, his tone all Alpha as he stared at me.
“Yes,” I gritted out, hating every moment I was away from Cassian.
“Then why aren’t you acting like the Alpha of the pack?!” he boomed.
I crossed my arms and finally explained why I’d left yesterday and stayed with Cassian.
“Because he’s my fated mate.” That stopped him, so I continued. “I know he’s human, but he’s mine. I was going to come back today. Just needed to figure out how.”
“Well, this changes things,” he said, his tone full of awe and what I knew to be fear.
“What? I can’t be Alpha anymore because I have a human mate? That’s it?”
“You know I don’t care who you’re mated to!” he snapped. “I’m talking about the rest of the pack. Not everyone will take this news as something good, and you damn well know that.”
I did. I hated it, but I’d known since I found out Cassian was mine that giving up my Alpha title could be the price of my happiness. Iwouldgive it up for him, no questions asked. Zero regret.
When Dad had found me cuddling with Cass in the middle of the night, it hadn’t been pretty. As wolves we could talk telepathically, so Cass slept peacefully while Dad cussed me out for worrying the pack with my absence. Ithadonly been for a few hours. The fact I’d run so far had many of them gossiping. Dad hated that.
Before I’d left the bed, I’d scent marked Cass as mine. It was the only thing that made it possible for me to leave him. Even with my scent on him, it wasstillthe hardest damn thing I’d ever done.
Which led us to why Dad continued to yell at me as soon as I was back home again.
“Marcus and his son will be trouble,” Dad sighed, his eyes full of regret. “I should’ve kicked them out years ago.”
“What do you mean when you saytrouble?”
Marcus and his son Fillian had both been vocal about everything they thought Dad did wrong should’ve done differently. They were old school, or at least Marcus was, while Fillian just seemed to agree with everything his father said.
“They weren’t quiet in their disappointment in me picking you. When you left out of the blue, they started spreading doubt through the pack. When Vina and I saw you at the vet, we figured it was just a fun run to celebrate becoming Alpha gone wrong. We didn't think you’d stay away for so long.” This wasn’t the first time one of us had gotten hit by a car, but it was the first time thealphaof the pack had. I was in for lots of teasing in the future.
“And when I didn’t return?” I continued for him.
“I came for you,” he finished.
“You thought I’d left?” my voice was small. Just the thought of my dad thinking so poorly of me made me feel gutted.
“Never,” he growled. “But I damn well needed to see for myself what was keeping you away.”
“And now that you know? Will you help me out so I can see Cassian daily? I’m not ready to tell the pack yet. Hell, Cass is human and still doesn’t know the wolf he adopted is a shifter.”
Dad laughed at that. “I’ll help where I can, but today you’re staying with the pack. No running off. You need to crush those doubts before someone gets the bright idea to challenge you.”
I swallowed, then nodded. If someone did challenge me, it would be a fight to the death, unless the challenger backed down first. It was rarely done, and even more rare that someone submitted during the fight. Many preferred death over leaving their pack. If you challenged the pack Alpha and lost, you lost your place within the pack, leaving you a lone wolf. Very few shifters could survive that.
“Yes, Dad,” I said, feeling defeated and lonelier than ever.
After Dad left, I cooked some breakfast. It was five in the morning now, and there was no way I was sleeping without Cass, so a big cup of coffee and some food would help me out.
My home was a mix between modern and cozy. I had mood lighting, making it feel like a safe and comfortable place to relax and just exist in. The kitchen was all new with granite countertops and dark grey cupboards. The back had huge windows that led out to the forest in my backyard. It was a wolf shifter thing, but we loved being close to the forest. It made us feel at home. This was simply my way of still seeing the forest from the inside.
I had a huge fireplace and a mounted TV and I loved this place, but it felt so empty now that I’d met Cass. I would rather sleep on his stained carpet than in my comfy bed alone. So many things had changed just from meeting him. It was like he’d unknowingly taken a part of me, a part I needed to keep close to function.
