The Alpha and the Exile
Chapter 12

I stared at the picture, willing it into nonexistence. After everything and all that I've been through, I couldn't believe someone would do this to me. I looked up from the picture to Mario. "Please tell me this isn't what it looks like," I said to him,

tossing the photograph of the destroyed surveillance system.

"I'm sorry, Alice," Mario said with a tight grimace. "The cameras were smashed, the computers that held all the video from them and the data on our computers mainframe hard drives has been either wiped or corrupted. We've lost everything and anything we had on these rogues."

I said a few colorful choice words as I rubbed my face. The cameras I could blame on the rogues but the hard drives that had to be an inside job. Someone had betrayed the pack. My phone buzzed and I sighed, picking it up. My...date seemed like the wrong word, was tonight.

At my groan, Mario chuckled. "Don't worry about this for now. You go have some fun for a few hours."

"Fun? I'm unfamiliar with this word you speak of? Is it something European?" I asked, as I stood stuffing my phone in my pocket. I didn't even want to admit how awkward this whole idea of going on a date with Michael felt. At some point I'd given up on the idea that we'd ever be mates in a romantic sense. Especially since I had no delusions to how he felt about me. If it wasn't for me taking him hostage, Michael would be out the door and gone.

Trying not to let awkwardness win, I went to my room and tried to decide what to wear or if I should put on makeup and all that. I didn't want to look desperate as much as I didn't want Michael to think that I didn't care enough to try either. I scowled at my closet. This wouldn't be a problem if I was a guy. If I was a guy I could wear anything and it's no big deal, but with us it all sent a message. Every piece of clothing, makeup, if we did our hair is like some kind of beacon to our mind. Not fair.

After standing in front of my open closet, I just gave up. I would dress in something comfortable and minimal effort in the war paint (aka makeup) and hair. If my appearance was something Michael wanted me to obsess about, then we would totally keep this mate thing all business. Yet, as I walked to the games room where I agreed to meet with Michael, I was more than a little nervous.

Michael, of course, obviously didn't worry about his appearance at all. In fact he looked the same as usual. That didn't surprise me any honestly, but what did was that sitting across from him was Doctor Evans. I stopped in the doorway, running through the possible reasons the psychiatrist was here. The only reasonable explanation was that Michael never agreed to any kind of date thing and this was all a ploy to get me talk to Evans about my family.

"A supervised play date?" I said as I sat down in the empty chair between them. "You do know that is kind of creepy, right?" I nailed Doctor Evans with my best glare, silently daring him to say something about the death of my parents. If he did, I was going to go crazy bitch on his ass faster than he could blink.

He laughed and adjusted his glasses. "Not exactly," he replied. "But I have a few ideas that will help you both." The doctor leaned over and set some board games onto the table.

"Board games," I repeated, earning a snicker from Michael.

"Yes, cooperative board games. It'll help teach you two to work together, be a team, and-"

"No."

Doctor Evans looked at me confused. "No?"

"That's right. No," I told him. "You think it would be good if we spent time together and that's fine, but for you to sit here and give us assignments to do while together is weird and not in the good weird either." "Don't you think you're being a little contradictory now, Alice?" Doctor Evans said, giving me a look one might give a child. "Did you not insist Mike seek help?"

"This is different than one getting help. You're acting like we have some troubled relationship when we don't even have a relationship. Now either you go or I do, because I am not doing this," I told him, waving my hand over the table. Michael snickered as Doctor Evans pursed his lips, not looking at all pleased with my answer. "Fine," he said blandly, standing from his chair. "Same time, tomorrow then Mike." With that he walked out of the room.

I shot a glare at Michael as he burst out laughing. "This isn't funny," I insisted.

"Yeah, it is," he replied. "We're so hopeless that the shrink thinks he needs to tell us how to date. That's just sad."

I rolled my eyes, though surprisingly felt a little better. "Whatever," I mumbled, feeling a smile threatening my grumpy tone.

"Well cooperative games are just boring. Competition is the fun behind the game," he said, taking the games off the table and dropping them on the floor. "I prefer poker myself, what about you?" He asked and to my surprise he pulled out a deck of playing cards and started to shuffle.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Why am I not surprised?" I asked with a nod for him to deal out the cards. "Probably used this all the time on the girls didn't you?"

He gave me a curious look as he dealt out the five cards. "A few times. It was a good icebreaker for the ones that didn't drop for any wolf with power," he admitted then kept watching me as if he wanted to see my reaction.

I felt a slight bitter twing, but forced a smile and a laugh as I picked up my cards. "Well I'm afraid you won't replace me an easy target," I told him as I look at my cards. "My brother made sure I was well aware of all the tricks any guy might use to use me as an attempt to climb the pack hierarchy. So keep any ideas of strip poker to yourself," I told him and just to add injury to insult I added, "I'd hate for you to take the walk of shame already."

Michael laughed and again, I found myself surprised when his shoulders lowered in an obvious sign of relaxation. I couldn't help but wonder what had him up tight. "Think you'd beat me?" He asked with a smirk. "Let's if you back up that mouth of yours." Michael leaned over and a box of game tokens on the table. They were a mix of Monopoly houses, some shaped as wooden logs, and others were simple plastic discs.

As he gave each token a value, I couldn't help but grow a little suspicious. "You had this all planned out didn't you?"

He gave me a sneaky grin. "Not the doc and his stupid idea. That was all him," he replied. "If you hadn't sent him packing, I was going to smash in his nose so far it'd stick out the back of his head. I don't need some shrink's help to get a girl," he explained as he began to deal out the cards.

I made a humorous scoff. "Cocky much?"

He shrugged with a matter of fact expression. "Nope. Getting a girl is easy. Most of the time, I don't have to try since the majority are alpha bunnies."

"Alpha what?" I repeated picking up my cards.

"Alpha bunnies, like puck bunnies for hockey, or badge bunnies for cops and stuff. Basically sluts that cater to something specific," Michael replied with the same matter of fact tone.

I knew exactly the kind of girl he was talking about. I remember my brother would always have one or two circling around him like a shark that smelled blood. They would do literally anything he asked of them, hoping to climb pack hierarchy. It made me sick to my stomach when I saw it. "Wow, what a gentleman," I replied, rolling my eyes before looking over my hand. I didn't have much, just a pair of nines.

Michael made a rude snort, tossing a red plastic circle on the table, representing five dollars for our little game. "Peaches, when did I ever give you the impression I'm a gentleman? When I actually had to work at getting a girl, I wasn't above lying or tricking to get her in bed."

My gut twisted with disgust, but I fought to keep my face neutral. "Then it seems to be you're not much as a player as you'd like to believe if you have to fall into lies and tricks," I told him then gave him a nasty smile. "My brother never had to. He would just smile and it was game over." I tossed three plastic circles towards the center of the table, upping our bet.

"Ouch," he replied with a feigned hurt expression. He matched my bet and tossed out a sheep shaped token. "You see, that's because your brother is one of the good guys. I am not a good guy."

I matched his bet again. I didn't have a very good hand, but I was curious to see if he did or he was just bluffing. "You keep saying that, yet I wonder how true that really is. You made it clear you don't want to be here, but you haven't left and we both know that if you really tried to leave, I couldn't stop you. Not without having to send half my security after you and even then I'm not so sure."

Something dark passed over his face, but Michael hid it too quickly for me to tell what it meant. Instead he forced smiled at me with a smug smirk. "Don't make much of it, Peaches. Being kidnapped by a beautiful woman is every man's fantasy," he replied then made an excessively over dramatic sigh. "Except you haven't tied me to your bed to have your wicked way with me...yet."

"Yet, I like how you slipped that in there," I said with a laugh.

"Yeah? Well you should see what I-" he started with a leery on his face.

I cleared my throat loudly. "Let's not go there," I told him, grinning despite I'm sure whatever he was going to say would be completely crude and disgusting.

When I finally lost all my tokens a couple hours later, I stood up from the chair. "That was fun, but don't get too cocky," I told him then grinned. "I totally let you win."

Michael laughed, standing up as well. "Girl, your tells are as obvious as a billboard sign. You can't lie for shit either," he said smirking at me yet again. I swear almost the whole entire time he had worn that smirk. "I need to stretch my legs, want to go on a walk around the backyard or something?"

My surprise kept me from replying right away and the fact that he looked almost nervous and bashful wasn't helping. "Uh, yeah. That sounds really great," I replied, offering him a smile.

"Of course it does. I wouldn't have said it if it wasn't," Michael said, going back to the cocky douche-tard persona, and I was starting to get the strong perception that it was a persona. The real Michael was a lot better person than people, and himself were willing to give him credit for.

The night was cool and clear. A slip of the growing moon could be seen just above the treetops of the large yard. Michael and I hadn't said much as we slowly walked around the perimeter of the yard. When we got near the pool, I leaned against the side, dipping my hands into the water. The smell of chlorine making my nose itch. Michael stopped next to me, his gaze up into the stars. We didn't seek for a while.

I wasn't sure about him, but I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to say. It had hit me, as we walked, that this was the first time since my family's death that I felt normal. Just a girl enjoying a date with a guy she liked, and I liked Michael. Yes, he was broken and violent. Yes, he could be mean and a bully. I didn't know much about his family, but I had a feeling all that was the face his father made him wear.

"What did you want to be when you were little?" I asked him, looking up at the stars like him. "When I was little, I wanted to be Indiana Jones. Well, the female version. Travel the world, see amazing things, and have a bunch of adventures." At first I didn't think he was going to say anything. "I wanted to be a fireman," he said quietly. "They're never afraid, and always the hero," he added so softly I almost didn't hear him.

"And here we are,” I said with a shrug and looked back down at the pool, wiggling my fingers in the water. "This was nice," I said and really meaning it. "We should do it again sometime." I turned with the intention of giving him a nice, friendly kiss on the cheek, but Michael turned just was I leaned forward and instead of his cheek, my lips fell on his. Shock struck through me like lightening.

It was if the whole world shifted on its axis and stopped. Michael looked as surprised as I felt. Heart pounding, I took a step back. My mind struggled to come up with something to say. An excuse to give, but as fast as my mind sped, I couldn't think of a single thing to say. "I, uh..." I started to say but my voice died as noticed the look on Michael's face. His now amber eyes stared at me with a predatory gaze, telling me he'd had the same reaction to our accidental kiss. The intensity of his stare stole my breath away. My heart raced and the temptation to run was strong, but I knew without a doubt if I did he would chase me. That thought sent a shiver through me that I hated to admit was part excitement at the idea he'd chase me and what he'd do if he caught me. The more responsible part of me said that neither of us were ready to take our budding relationship in that direction.

So ignoring the part of me that wanted to be caught, I took a slow breath before speaking. "Michael," I started, but stopped. A visible shudder ran through him and he took a step towards me that, before I could stop myself, made me take a step back. Before I could say another word or even move, he charged me. I soon found myself trapped against him.

"Mine," he said in a rough, ground out voice then kissed me again.

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