The Alpha and his Mate
Chapter 15

Jax’s POV

To say I was bored was an understatement. This was supposed to be mine and my mates first outing together but Hannah had to come in at the exact moment she did and replace out what we were doing. If shopping was an Olympic sport I’m sure she would bring home the gold. The only thing getting me through the day was watching my mates face light up when she spotted something she liked. I could tell she was uncomfortable spending any form of money though, she would see something she liked, look at the price tag and then put it back. What she didn’t know was that I was walking behind her secretly re-picking it up and giving it to a nearby shop worker to pack into bags. My mate deserves the best and whatever she wanted she got.

“What about this?” Hannah asked as she held up a crop top for Annabelle to see. It showed to much skin for my liking and I was just about to make my opinion known when I looked over and saw Annabelle’s eyes widen, she liked it. Damn, okay well it could just be put in the pile of other inappropriate clothing that would be solely for my viewing. There is no way I was letting unmated males from my pack get a good view of her body. She was for my eyes only, just like I was for her.

I grinned at the thought of seeing my mate in just the light blue crop top and a pair of short shorts, now that would be a sight to see, and by the growl my wolf just released in my head I could tell that he agreed.

I looked over at my mate again and walked over to her, hugging her from behind. “Are you enjoying yourself baby?” I whispered in her ear and I couldn’t help but grin as I felt her shudder slightly, she may not feel the full effect of the mate bond, but she was still attracted to me. The doctor’s words suddenly came rushing back to me, about her not being mentally ready for any kind of mating or marking yet, but her response made me doubt that ever so slightly.

The response I got was a quiet “hmmm” as she leaned back into me.

She may have been enjoying the cuddle I was giving her, but I could tell that something was up. Something was holding her back from fully enjoying her first shopping experience and I wanted to know what it was so that I could fix it for her, “what’s the matter?”

She just shrugged and pulled away from me, walking in the opposite direction of the store and towards the exit. I signalled the sales assistant that we were done and to start ringing everything up as I followed my mate outside the store. I found her leaning against the railing outside the store with the cutest little V sitting in between her eyebrows. “What’s the matter little mate, I thought you were enjoying yourself?” I asked as I brought her into a hug. She still wasn’t completely used to all the gentle physical contact and tensed slightly as I brought her to my chest but relaxed after a second or two.

“I am” she nodded and I looked down to see her staring at nothing.

“Then what’s the matter?” I didn’t like to see my mate upset; I would move mountains if it meant I got to see her beautiful smile every day.

“It’s too much” was all she replied with as she shrugged, as if I would understand what that meant.

I frowned “what’s to much?”

“Money” she sighed.

I chuckled and brought her tighter to my chest. I was so used to girls throwing themselves at me for my title and money, it seems funny to me that my mate, the one that gets it, is the one that doesn’t really want it. “Trust me baby, you are worth every penny that I have and will spend on you today. Money is the least of your worries”.

I thought that would have made her feel better but if anything, it just made her frown deepen.

“I can’t pay you back” she muttered.

I sighed as I tightened my arms around her “I don’t want you to pay me back Annabelle, it is my job not only as your mate but also as the Alpha to look after you and that is what I intend to do” I smiled, kissing her forehead. She remained silent and I sighed, why did she not understand that I didn’t want her to pay me back? Even the thought of her trying to push money at me made me mad. I was her mate; it was my job to look after her and give her everything her heart desired. “I tell you what, why don’t you pay me back by cooking dinner tonight? I can’t really cook so I usually get takeout or eat leftover food my mum drops off for me, but I would love it ten times more if it was cooked by you”.

She contemplated it for a second before nodding her head, satisfied with the deal and I sighed in relief.

“If you guys are finished being all lovey dovey over there I’d like to move onto the next store please” Hannah said as she made her way out the store and into another. This was going to be a looong day.

When we got home both myself and Annabelle crashed straight away on the sofa, exhausted from the day. Who knew shopping could be so tiring?

“So Annabelle, did you want me to help you organise your wardrobe for you? What would you prefer, having everything organised into seasons, colours or styles?” Hannah jabbered on and I sighed in exhaustion, how did she still have energy after walking about a million steps?

I looked down at my mate to see that she was half passed out on my shoulder and I smiled, admiring how cute she looked. She was always ever so slightly tense when she was awake, like she was always preparing herself for something, but when she sleeps, she’s so relaxed. “Hannah I think we’re going to call it a day actually” I said, saving Annabelle from her. Knowing my little mate, she would battle through her tiredness just to make someone else happy. “I’m shattered and so is Annabelle so we’re just going to go for a nap before dinner”.

“Fine” Hannah huffed, obviously not impressed with our shopping stamina as she picked up a few of her own shopping back and headed towards the door. “Anna I’m just a mind link away if you need any help with anything or just want someone to talk to okay?”

She only got a hum in response from Annabelle before she walked out the front door, taking her few purchased items with her.

“Come on then, I think it’s time for you to have a nap.” I chuckled as her head kept slowly falling off my shoulder, shocking herself awake every time. I picked her up and carried her up the stairs easily, she was still so light.

I grumbled at that thought before shaking my head and walking into my room. All of Annabelle’s shopping bags were in here, lined up against the wardrobe door and I smiled at the thought that the other side of my wardrobe would finally be filled with my mates’ things. There wouldn’t be just an empty cloths rail taunting me every time I walked into my closet to get some clothes.

I placed her down on her side of the bed and brought the covers up over her once I had taken her shoes and socks off. That’s right, she officially had a side of the bed and I couldn’t be happier.

I sat down beside her and stroked the hair from her face, I had gotten so lucky having her as my mate, I could not picture anyone more perfect.

In the end I had ordered takeout for dinner, I didn’t think Annabelle would have been up for cooking tonight, even though that was what we agreed on. If she was that insistent on cooking dinner for me then she could just do it some other night when she wasn’t so tired.

I went to answer the door to collect the pizza and Chinese style soup I had ordered for Annabelle, that’s right two different types of food delivered in one order. It really did pay to be the Alpha. I clutched the food in my hands so as not to drop any of it as I stopped in the kitchen to get a spoon for her before heading back up to my room. Takeout soup probably wasn’t the best thing for her to eat but it was the best I could do on such short notice, seeing as she’d finished of the last of the chicken soup this morning.

I walked into the bedroom, making sure the door didn’t make any noise behind me, and smiled when I found her hugging my pillow close to her chest. She felt my absence even in her sleep. I walked over to her, putting the food on a nearby table, as I went past and sat on the edge of the bed. Goddess I was lucky.

I stroked the hair off her face and marvelled at how soft it felt, I could run my hands through her hair all day long and never get bored. I moved it slightly off her neck and stroked her skin down towards the area on her neck I would eventually mark. I couldn’t wait for the day that I could call her mine, but I knew she wasn’t ready for that yet. I would wait until the day she was ready, I’d wait an eternity if I had to.

She stirred in her sleep, causing the duvet to shift down her body and her shirt to ride up slightly and I was just about to look away when I spotted something that made me freeze. Across her stomach and back were small little lines covering her body, little scars that couldn’t be seen unless you were looking closely. I ran my fingers over the few that I could see and growled as I felt the raised skin under my fingertips. Someone had hurt my mate so bad it had actually scarred.

I lifted her shirt up slightly further and I couldn’t help the snarl that escaped my lips as I saw more and more scars the higher her shirt went. Someone had used an all manner of objects to injure her and the more I thought about it the louder my wolf got.

I was fighting for control, with both my wolf and myself. We both so desperately wanted to track down the lowlifes that dared to hurt my mate, but we both froze in our murderous rants with each other as we looked down to replace Annabelle frozen on the bed with her eyes wide open, staring at me.

It wasn’t the fact that she had woken up that made us freeze, but it was more the fact that the colour of her eyes were nothing like the baby blues I had come to love. I was looking into a pair of almost glowing pearlescent eyes that were staring at me in both curiosity and fear.

My wolf was going crazy in my head, he hadn’t acted like this since we had first laid eyes on our mate in the woods. Who I was staring at right now wasn’t my Annabelle at all, it was her wolf.

“Annabelle?” I whispered as I slowly removed my hand from her skin and held them up for her to see that I was unarmed and that I had no intention of hurting her. A little growl escaped her lips and before I could blink she was suddenly up in some form of crouch position, ready to defend herself from me if she needed to.

“Annabelle it’s me, Jax, just calm down and I will explain everything”. Her teeth and claws were slightly extended as she slowly started to advance on me, the growl not letting up even an inch as I tried to calm her.

I didn’t know how to treat this, if this was a pup in my pack that was newly shifted I would just use my alpha control on them to calm them down. But this wasn’t a young pup, this was my Annabelle. Not only was she not a part of my pack yet, she was also my mate and I didn’t want to hurt her like that. I couldn’t hurt her like that. She had already had some serious mind control put on her once in her life and I didn’t want to break her trust in me by using it again.

My wolf was going crazy in my head and at first I was trying to block him out, not having enough patience to deal with him as well as Annabelle, but when he started shouting mate in my head I eased my control on him and started to listen.

Mate, mate! Let me out to calm down Mate.

I thought about it for a second, not knowing what would happen if I let my wolf out with Annabelle being so close to me, but at that thought my wolf growled at me.

Not to harm mate, never to harm mate.

I looked back at Annabelle again to see her still in her crouched possession on the bed, showing no signs of calming down.

Fine, but if you hurt her you’re not come out for a run for a long time.

He just kept repeating the word mate in my head and that was enough for me to let him out. I was never a fan of letting my wolf take the reins when I was still in human form, I felt out of control and for an Alpha, that was a hard thing to feel.

As I let my wolf slowly surface I looked at Annabelle through my now golden eyes and she suddenly froze. She regarded me for a second with her head slightly tilted, unsure on how to process what was in front of her, but when she inched forward and sniffed the air slightly she sprang towards me and collided into me.

“Mate” she growled through her canines and tackled me to the ground, rubbing her cheek into my neck as if she couldn’t get close enough. My wolf was extremely happy with her reaction to him and started nuzzling her back just as fiercely, trying to get just as close to her as she was to him.

“My mate... so perfect” my wolf growled through my lips and I suddenly because very jealous of how much attention he was getting from Annabelle, how come she never showed me that much affection.

Because mate loves me more my wolf smirked in my head and that little comment was the last straw for me as I forced him back down so that I was back in control.

“Annabelle...Annabelle can you come back to me little mate?”

I stroked her hair back from her face and behind her ear, hoping the action would bring her back to me. When she finally looked up at me I slowly started to see her eye colour shift from her wolf colour back to her normal baby blues.