Alpha Eyes (Alpha Eyes: Book 1)

Chapter 2

Beta Adrian burst out of the house and set to pacing the back patio. His heart raced, and his blood tingled. His wolf growled at him for the tenth time, scolding him for the hasty departure.

"Damn it!" He slammed his fist into a decorative gargoyle statue, sending the stone flying across the lawn. The physical pain in his hand momentarily distracted him from the emotional pain in his heart.

That should have been the most magical moment of his life. Finding one's mate is supposed to be an explosion of awareness and an intense bonding that drives you to kiss her. By all rights, he should be carrying his little mate down the hall to find some empty room where he could kiss her senseless. Instead, he was pacing the patio and punching statues.

Of all wolves, his mate had to be the alpha's daughter. He'd never actually seen her before, but the tiny crescent birthmark on her right temple marked her as the alpha's bloodline. Normally that would be a good thing. Being the beta was great but being mate to an alpha's heir was even better than great. Only, this alpha's heir was pretty much the best-kept secret in the history of werewolves.

Alpha Orion didn't deny having a daughter as an heir, but his protective instincts bordered on aggressive. Rumor had it that she hadn't been allowed off the grounds of the pack house until six years ago, and that was because the luna argued her case for half a day. Sadly, the Luna had died a few months after that and the daughter-heir had to fight her own battles. Ever since then, only a few wolves claimed to have seen her. She'd managed to blend in with the rest, not drawing attention to herself in any way.

Now she was out in the open, exposed...and his mate. What would Alpha Orion do if he found out that his precious princess was going to be taken from him?

Adrian stopped pacing and shook his head. When did he start seriously thinking about taking her as his mate? Would they even be allowed, what with her father's obsessively protective instincts? Would she accept him if they were?

Mate is gone, his wolf howled. You scared her away. Now she will reject us, and we will die.

He growled at his wolf's pathetic whimpering. The damn mate bond would only make things worse now. If his wolf was this wounded, what was hers thinking?

She hadn't seemed as caught off-guard as he had been. The only surprise in her eyes was that he was standing in front of her. There hadn't been that euphoric flash of awareness in her eyes like he'd been told about. It almost seemed to him that she already knew that he was her mate.

"How could she know?" he muttered. "We've never seen each other before."

His wolf howled again. I want her. You must speak to the alpha so we can have her as our mate.

He snarled at the thought. Speak to the alpha...as if it we as easy as asking permission to personally execute a rogue. This wasn't a casual conversation to have while he was still riled up about the fact that he'd just bumped into his mate.

Alpha...mate's father...now.

Adrian growled so loud that his wolf cowered a little. When he'd drawn a deep breath, he sprinted into the woods and ditched his clothes. In a minute, he shook his silky wolf form as the last joints cracked into place. He needed to run off the adrenalin before facing the one wolf who could ruin his life.

#

I stumbled into the pack house, still quivering from officially meeting my mate. After he'd left me standing there like some lovesick puppy, I composed myself enough to slip out the front door and wander home. I could have shifted and run, but it wasn't very far and I didn't want to ruin Ada's dress.

Even though I was a mess and Daddy would probably ground me for attending the party in the first place, I had to talk to him. My future rested in his hands, and I needed to say my piece before Mr. What-the-Hell met with him ... if he did at all.

"Daddy?" My voice echoed off the stone floor and walls.

He appeared at the top of the stairs, a towering pillar of strength for our pack. With his raven black hair, flashing eyes, and pristine posture, very few dared to openly challenge his authority.

"Sierra? What's wrong? Where have you been?"

I pressed my hands together as he flew down the stairs to meet me. "Daddy, I'm sorry. Ada invited me to this party, and—"

"Are you hurt?" He gripped my shoulders and studied my face. "Did someone hurt you?"

"No, it's not that. I, uhm..." I drew a deep breath and forced the words out of my mouth before I lost the nerve to say it. "I met my mate."

His grip tightened slightly, and his eyes darkened. "I see. Who is it?"

I hadn't expected him to jump straight to the 'who'. I'd thought he'd focus on the 'how,' but nope. We were already on the 'who,' which would soon lead to the 'what comes next.'

"It's, uhm..." I drew another deep breath, waiting for my wolf to offer advice. That lovesick pup was still whining about being left behind.

I met Daddy's gaze. "It's Adrian."

He released my shoulders and took a long step backwards. "My beta?" When I nodded, he took a moment to process that. "And he knows you are his mate?"

"Yeah. He bumped into me, and when he turned around to scold me for being clumsy, he... We looked each other in the eyes and knew." I wiped my sweaty palms on the sides of the dress. Daddy was far calmer than I had anticipated. Maybe his beta was a good choice in his mind. Maybe he wouldn't see my mating as losing me but gaining a stronger hold on the pack.

"Where is Adrian now?"

"I don't know," I sighed. "He left after he understood that I was his mate. He said 'what the hell', turned, and disappeared into the crowd of people."

His face turned a dark shade of pink. "He rejected you?"

"No, Daddy! I think he needed some time to accept that he even had a mate...let alone me." I twisted my fingers together, hoping that I'd spoken the truth.

His jaw worked back and forth for a long time before he turned to me. "Why don't you go change, princess? If I know Adrian, he will come here to speak to me about it. I don't want you in sight when he arrives. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." I scurried up the stairs to my room.

He hadn't said no or even argued against it. Maybe there was a chance for me to get to know my mate. Even if Daddy made me stop training, our paths would cross quite frequently...what with him being the beta. He lived in the beta wing of the house, met with daddy first thing every morning, and spent quite a bit of time on pack house grounds. It wouldn't be easy to avoid each other. Not to mention that the mate bond would play its own hand.

I squirmed out of Ada's dress and neatly laid it out on the bed before slipping into my soft-lined, pastel-colored leggings and a slightly too-large shirt. Daddy would probably drill his beta with questions until late, so there was no need to dress up in anticipation of being presented. I could face him in the morning.