Being the Alpha's Mate

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

--Emma’s POV--

I snuggle into Derek, his hard chest warm under my cheek. His breaths are strong and steady as he slowly inhales and exhales. I smile into his skin, clenching my hand around his side. I lay half across him, the sheets laying haphazardly across our bodies. The sheet barely covers his bare stomach and legs. I’m laying on my stomach against me, so the sheet safely covers my ass.

Derek murmurs something into my hair, and I tilt my head back to look at him. His face is pained, his eyes crinkled and his mouth hardened into a thin line. I gasp, reaching a hand out to touch his face. He growls and snaps his teeth at me.

I snatch my hand away. My hand is frozen in midair as I debate. Touch him… or not?

Reaching forward I slide my warm palm against his cheek, my thumb caressing his hardened expression. Derek groans, his back bowing and his hips jerking. The movement causes me to roll away from him. The bed is large, so I roll until I’m safely out of his reach before sitting up. What’s wrong with him.

I brush my hair out of my face and drag the sheet up to cover my bare breasts. What’s troubling him?

Derek’s arms flap out, his hands running over the mattress. His fingers clench and flex… as if searching for something. I can only watch.

“Emma.” He moans, rolling to his side. “No! No! Don’t take her!” His voice grows more and more frantic. “No! NO!!! Emma!!!” He screams and his voice breaks.

“Derek.” I place my hands on his chest, shifting until I’m nearly straddling him. “Derek,- Wake up.” I command, cupping his cheek. His eyes move quickly under his closed eye lids. God, what kind of nightmare could he be having?

“Derek!” I say louder. “Wake up!” I shout shaking his shoulders, my hands pressed into his hard muscle to try and wake him.

He moans, a loud, troubled sound.

I growl in frustration and sit back on my feet. What is he dreaming about? Why won’t he wake up?

Cupping his cheeks in my hands I rock his face side to side, try to make him wake up from the motion.

Derek snarls at me, snapping his jaws. He grips me by my upper arms and flips us, sliding me underneath him. His eyes are still closed, his face taunt with pain as he pistons his hips against me.

“Derek.“ I groan, my frustration building. I don’t know what else to do. I don’t know how to wake him. I position my elbows underneath me, raising my head up to meet his snarling mouth. I pressed my mouth lightly against his, pressing a soft, tender kiss against him.

He shifts his head to the side, growling slightly as if he can’t decide whether to be mad or not.

I take that as a good sign. A few minutes ago he would have batted me across the head and thrown me to the ground.

I kiss him again, kissing and licking his mouth until his eyes start to flutter underneath his eye lids.

“Derek.” I whisper. He groans.

I suck on his bottom lip, smiling to myself as I feel him rise against my core.

I smile, hoping that he’s finally coming too. I want… need… him to wake up. He shouldn’t have dreams like this.

“Are you awake.” I whisper against his mouth.

“Yeah…” His voice is gruff from yelling.

“What were you dreaming about?” I ask, pulling back and searching his eyes for clues. Nothing. They’re normal, no hint of his wolf in them. Weird.

“Dreaming?” A wrinkle creases his brow. “I wasn’t dreaming. Why’d you wake me up?”

I frown. How could he not remember…. that?

I shake my head after a moment.

“No reason.” I slide out from underneath him and sink into his side.

“Go back to sleep.” I press my cheek against Derek’s bare check and close my eyes.

“Okay, Baby.” Derek kisses my temple and wraps an arm around me before settling back in for sleep.

****

I sit on the kitchen counter, looking out the huge patio doors to the backyard where Derek and Tommy are wrestling. Derek allows Tommy to get a punch in before tackling him to the ground. They roll around in a heap for a few minutes before Tommy kicks him in the stomach and leaps back. It’s amazing that Derek is letting Tommy fight with him. When a shifter male is young they’ll fight and wrestle with other shifter males to gain skill. An Alpha- or future Alpha -never participates unless it’s their own child. It’s an honor that Derek is willing to train with Tommy.

I take a sip of the tea Ellie, Derek’s mother, made. It’s sweet with a hint of cinnamon in it.

After what happened last night with Derek, I knew I wanted to talk to someone, I just didn’t know who. After thinking about it, who better to ask than his mother? She has to know something.

Ellie leans against the kitchen cabinets, her own cup of tea in her hands. A proud smile turns her lips as she watches her boy. At thirty eight, she’s in good shape. Most women would dread their approaching forties, but Ellie seems to be taking it all in stride. With long blonde hair, bright blue eyes and tanned skin, she looks ten years younger than she is.

Her eyes are sparkling as she watches her only child run around in the grass with Tommy. You can clearly see the love and pride she holds for her son just by the look on her face.

“You’re really proud of him.” She turns towards me and smiles.

“Of course I am. He’s my baby. He always will be.”

“I know. It must have been hard, raising Derek, with the dreams he has and all.” I’m trying to fish for information. I don’t want to come right out and say, “Hey, your son had a nightmare last night, does he have visions or something?”

Ellie gasps, setting her cup down on the counter.

“How do you know about his dreams?” Ellie presses a hand against her chest as if to slow her beating heart.

“I sleep with him.” I say this as if you’re stupid to not know this. We are mates after all… we’re not going to sleep across the hall from each other like good boys and girls.

Her eyes widen and her hand raises to cover her mouth.

“He hasn’t had a dream in years.”

“What do you mean that he hasn’t had a dream in years?” I wonder, taking a step forward, not knowing if I should try and comfort her or not.

“I mean, Derek can sometimes tell the future… and he hasn’t in years. What ever he was dreaming about, whoever it was in his dreams, it’s important.”

“Why? A dream is a dream.”

Ellie turns her head towards me, her eyes still wide with shock. “Because whoever Derek dreams about dies.”