The Stargazer's Alpha

Ch. 5: When Alpha Met Omega

"Condition?" Blake's eyes narrowed. The man wasn't used to ultimatums.

For that matter, I wasn't used to giving them either, particularly when I suspected deep down that I was bluffing. I gulped, trying to fill in the hollow in my chest with air. "Condition is...you tell me honestly why the road had disappeared last night, so I couldn't leave?"

He dropped onto the bedside chest with such an enormous sigh of relief, that my heart fluttered in my chest. He had a perfectly reasonable explanation. Unless...

"Just...don't tell me I'm insane, or that I'd dreamed it up."

"I won't," Blake said. "Because you're absolutely right. The road wasn't there."

"My condition is that you never keep me a prisoner again!"

"I can't promise you that."

My hand flew to my mouth, but before I could utter anything beside a stifled scream of outrage, Blake spoke again.

"I can't, because you never were my prisoner. So you can't be my prisoner again." A vein throbbed in his temple, but his voice was slow and controlled.

"But..." I stammered. "But..."

"The road wasn't there, because it's never there when I'm away."

I expelled a huge sigh of relief. Honestly, furious as I was, I didn't know if I had the willpower to walk out on Blake. That gravitational pull he had on me was so strong, I rejoiced that he had a reasonable explanation.

But did he? I glanced around our spartan surroundings. "Sounds like overkill if you're worried about theft. Besides, it's against the unwritten rules of hospitality in these mountains."

"If someone is in a desperate need of shelter, they'll be admitted. Other than that..." His jaw tightened. "Celeste, I hate it, and I have to."

He sounded so earnest, I wanted to weep. Yet, I clung to my line of questioning to the end. I had to know, or I would never find peace within myself. "But why?"

"Because my recent elevation has made me many enemies in the pack." A dry chuckle escaped his lips. "Most of them pretend to be my friends."

I rocked on my heels.

His gravelly tones had a calming effect on me, as if his masculine power would never turn on me, only our enemies, if we were to be together. And I needed it so strongly, I didn't understand how I, Celeste Crowe, could feel that way. I, who coped on my own for years, worked odd jobs in bad neighborhoods, and rode a bus alone at night, for crying out loud! I'd never dreamed of a guy to shield me.

Until I met Blake.

Who came with more danger attached than I could fathom.

"Blake, last night, there was also something scary outside the hedge. Was it one of the bad guys?"

"No, the opposite. He was my wolf-kin, keeping the evil at bay so you could sleep safely." Blake's face was stony, but a tiny shift in the press of his lips let his right canine peek out.

I didn't have to call a werewolf expert to know it was a warning to anyone who threatened me.

Blake Villar would always protect me. It was his destiny, his deepest desire, his mission in life, and I'd never be alone again. This understanding came from such a deep, instinctual, core place inside me, that I didn't doubt it for a second.

"Oh." I didn't get so many things though! I opened my mouth to ask what a wolf-kin was, and if it was the same wolf I'd glimpsed yesterday by the highway.