The Alpha's Shatter Zone
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The firm jaw on his handsome face was covered in a stubbled shadow that only made him more enticing.

She snapped her eyes away. “So you do still live here,” she muttered.

“Hello, Beautiful,” he came up behind her and whispered near her ear. His fingers lightly brushed her waist, but she put her hand in his face and pushed him away.

“Leave me alone,” she didn’t even look up at him, just kept her eyes glued to her soggy flakes.

Lexi not-so-subtly kicked her foot, and she resisted the urge to knock her off the chair. Looking up at her mate, she pasted on a sweet smile, “Have a good sleep?” she asked extra politely.

A lazy smile spread across his face as he regarded her. “Could’ve been better,” he replied without missing a beat, his eyebrow raised knowingly, then he winked at her.

She quickly got up, her chair skidding backwards. Throwing a glare at Lexi that said See! she grabbed her bowl and stormed out without a backwards glance.

Later that day, the fresh air that accompanied the afternoon glare of the setting sun did wonders to shoot some energy back into Chesca. After spending the day in her office with her beta, and successfully managing to avoid her mate, she decided she needed a break. The ache in her head had eventually pushed her from her seat, and it felt good to stretch her legs as she jogged to the training field with Charles.

“Charles, what do you think of Kaiden?” she turned and asked suddenly.

He didn’t seem surprised by the question, but stared off into the distance for a moment as if choosing his words carefully. “He seems rather arrogant, but he is also intelligent, to be certain. I would hazard a guess that his attitude is used to mask underlying insecurities, faults he assumes would lessen him in others’ eyes. He is confident he is sure of his actions, but I’ve also seen a moment or two of self-doubt.”

“So, you’re saying, he may act like he knows what he’s doing, but really he’s just pretending?”

“In a way. Everyone pretends to a small degree, until we feel safe enough to open up. I believe he came here with a plan to harm you, but the more he gets to know you, he is beginning to care for you.”

“For me? Care? Kaiden care for me?” she stopped just short of bursting out laughing. “That’s a paradox, Charles. Tell me another.” The depth behind her Beta’s small grin told her he was amused but also serious.

“I won’t deny he intended to take your pack as his own, but the more he learns about it, I think he respects us and your leadership.”

“So... he’ll stop working against me, and recognise I’m the Alpha?”

Charles furrowed his brow, “It will take him a while to put aside his natural instinct to lead. He is a born Alpha, after all. And his masculine pride will not easily submit to a female Alpha, especially in light of the fact that you’re his mate.”

“Wow, thanks for the positive outlook,” she sighed.

“Just give it time, is my best advice. Get to know him and try to understand where he’s coming from. The more antagonistic you are towards him, he’ll just instantly get defensive of himself and you’ll never reach a sustainable agreement,” he watched her to see if she understood.

“Now you sound like Lexi,” she muttered and shook her head, wondering why she’d asked Charles for advice in the first place. She couldn’t guessed what he’d say.

Charles chuckled, a warm chuckle that always lifted Chesca’s spirits. If her Beta was in the mood for chuckling, things must be ok. “Well, she is my mate.”

“Yes, she is,” Chesca watched him with a winsome expression. Would she ever be so close to someone like that, and mirror them in values and opinions? Would she ever really become one with her mate and stand with him through thick and thin? Or would there always be a wall of distrust and animosity between them?

“And what about his dad?” she brought up her next question that had been bugging her no end. “Do you think he really does want Kaiden to come back instead of shirking his duties like the note said, or is Elbert a cruel tyrant like Danella told us?”

Only Charles knew of the note that had been left on her territory a while ago. The conflicting messages still plagued her mind day and night, constantly putting her in two minds whether to trust Kaiden or not.

“I think right now we have our own problems to solve,” Charles said grimly as they reached the training field, and as she looked up she could see what he was talking about. There was only a measly number of guards and warriors training, when usually the field was full with everyone except the border guards running on duty.

“Hey, Lexi,” Chesca jogged up and signaled to her Head Guard who was sparring with Eric. He had been dutifully working closely with Lexi as instructed by Chesca since his act an attitude of insubordination. She was glad to see it. “Where is everyone?”

“I thought they were coming with you,” Lexi stopped and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Chesca looked at Charles who stood with a frown on his face. “Roman should be here, but I don’t need too many guesses to know where that rascal is,” he said grimly.

“Care to share?” Chesca spread her hands.

Charles’ jaw clenched, “Kaiden mentioned an idea for something, I didn’t think he meant it for this afternoon…” he trailed off, looking in the distance and shielded his eyes from the sinking sun.

“You all carry on, I’ll investigate,” Chesca waved them on to continue training while she jogged back and mindlinked her Gamma.

Roman, what is going on? Where are you?

Oh, uh, hi Alpha. We’re just by the east bridge. Will meet you at the pack square in a jiffy.

She reached it before them, a paved area near the entrance to the residence and other shops and houses in the main district of the pack village. She stood with hands on hips, her foot tapping impatiently until she eventually saw a group of laughing men coming her way, Kaiden and Roman leading them.

“Would anyone care to explain why they’re not training this afternoon?” she said lowly, trying very hard to keep her voice controlled and not screech in her anger.

“We train Thursdays,” one of the warriors said casually.

“Since when? For as long as I’ve been Alpha, it’s been Wednesdays,” she stated through clenched teeth, her fists balling on her hips.

“Yeah, well Alpha Kaiden suggested we make it Thursdays. There’s a new project he wants us to work on,” Roman shrugged as if this piece of news was like discussing the weather.

“Does he now?” Chesca turned her glare to Kaiden, having tried in vain to ignore the impassive smirk on his face the last minute.

“What’s wrong with shaking things up a bit, keep it exciting? I thought we’d play some games and team building activities by the lake,” he matched her stance but not her fierce gaze. He just looked at her calmly with a hint of amusement.

She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of blowing her top, and so she squelched all the nasty retorts that strung through her mind. Her jaw ticked with the restraint, and she eventually raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? And no one cared to inform their Alpha of this….change of schedule?”

“Why would we? Kaiden made the change, and he’s in charge also--” the warrior stuttered to a stop when Chesca narrowed her eyes on him.

“What’s the big deal, Ches? You and Kaiden are both mates now, why can’t he make decisions and tell us what to do? You’re not the only one to have the final say around here,” Roman spoke so breezily, using a nickname for her that he never would have dared to before Kaiden came on the scene, and it was all Chesca could do not to punch the cavalier expression off his face.

“Maybe I would have approved this little change if you had brought it to me beforehand. But this afternoon,” she took a deep breath and tried to remember Lexi’s advice to be calm and compromising, “I want you all training together on the field.”

“Sure, yeah, ok,” the men shrugged and looked to Kaiden for confirmation, twisting her insides further. They all took off running when Kaiden gave a nod then turned his gaze towards her.

“Thanks, Beautiful, I knew you’d understand,” he gave her a wink, and she shook her head, wanting to make it clear that she was nowhere near ok with this.

“Same goes for you, Alpha. Everyone has to train,” she threw over her shoulder as she ran to the field, wanting to put some distance between herself and the man that drew her despite the obvious clash of temperaments. They were too alike, that was the problem. Mate bond or not, she would not give in or fall for him.

As they sparred on the field for the next hour, she watched everyone interacting with her mate, and felt a pang of discomfort at the way he was so accepted by her warriors. Was this jealousy? She dug within herself and had the feeling that she was mad at the way they so easily transferred their loyalty to him. She was their Alpha, not the over-confident self-entitled jerk who took great pleasure in lording it over her. Just because fate decided to pair them as mates did not mean she had to hand over her pack and all rights to him.

A kick in her back sent her sprawling forward and she realised she’d tuned out of the fight. Turning around, she aimed for her opponent only to go stumbling backwards with a punch to her midsection. “I’m sorry, did I hurt you Alpha?”

“Lexi! Why you--” the words got sucked from her chest the moment she crashed into someone. Someone whose extremely close proximity injected sparks tingling all over her.

“Oh, so this is how you want to fight,” Kaiden’s deep voice held amusement.

“Yeah, come on! Fight, fight!” her warriors gathered around in a circle while Kaiden sized her up, lifting his fists in readiness.

“There’s no way I’m fighting you--”

“Why? Scared you’ll lose? Come on, show me what you got,” he wiggled his fingers and motioned for her to come at him.

And with that confident smirk on his face, there was no way she could refuse.

She threw a left hook, but Kaiden easily sidestepped and got a tap on her shoulder. Spinning, she kicked out her leg, but he caught it in his firm grip and twisted her over. Rolling just before she landed on the ground, she bit her lip and came back at him. They danced around each other for a few tense moments, Chesca trying hard but not her hardest just yet, and Kaiden easily deflecting each and every punch or kick she sent his way. His infuriating grin riled her up, the way his hair fell across his forehead like a mask of mystery and the sheen of sweat that covered his thick biceps only distracted her further. Shaking her head to clear unwanted thoughts, she cartwheeled out of the way of his wide sweeping arm, and came up behind him. Leaping up, she wrapped her legs around his waist and gripped her arm across his neck. The chokehold was a classic move, and for a moment he stumbled forward. But then he threw her weight over his shoulder and they both somersaulted onto the grass, Kaiden coming out on top. He pinned her arms above her head, leaned down and whispered in her ear suggestively, “I won.”

For a moment, she stared at his lips, his breath hot on her face as he panted from exertion, and wondered what they tasted like. An insane urge to just lift her head a mere inch to replace out flashed through her mind, and if it weren’t for the clapping from a few of the surrounding guards and warriors, she just may have done something she’d later regret.

And so, pushing him off her and rolling out from under him, she flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. “Maybe next time I’ll actually try,” she said saucily. The glint in Kaiden’s eyes showed her he wasn’t impressed or didn’t believe her, but she just laughed and internally cringed at her cheesiness--and the fact he’d beaten her and nearly got a kiss out of it. Of all things!

With strange feelings churning in her stomach, she didn’t feel like eating much dinner, and especially not with Kaiden or the others. She was likely to replace fault with yet another think he’d done, and she wasn’t sure everyone would appreciate an argument over their meal. Let them eat in peace, meanwhile she tried to concentrate on pack finances.

Digits and percentages danced on the paper before her eyes but they didn’t make any sense. Charles was always better at this stuff than her. She wondered for a brief moment if Kaiden was good with numbers, and groaned when she realised she was thinking about him again. It was a strange sensation, but for the past few hours, images of him kept flicking across her mind. It hadn’t helped that this afternoon during training he’d removed his shirt when sweat had soaked it through. His tanned chest was the last thing her wandering thoughts wanted to be seeing, and it was all she could do to not reach out and run her fingers down his skin, her lips brushing his jaw…

She tore off her glasses, which weren’t doing anything anyway as she stared at the wall of her office, and scraped her chair back. A wave of sudden desire shivered through her body, and she’d had enough. It was worse even then when he’d marked her, when her knees had nearly collapsed at the want and desire that bubbled up from out of nowhere.

Her mind was stronger than this, she told herself as she headed to her room and got ready for a shower. He was stupid, mean, untrustworthy, so of course there was no way she should be thinking about Kaiden in any terms other than an unwanted business affiliate. Because that’s all he was, right? She just needed him as a means to acquire the land from Alpha Asa, and their marking ceremony hadn’t been anything other then unpleasant formalities. So why did the thought of his touch on her skin and his arms curled around her all night long send waves of longing through her body?

The breeze coming in through the open window called to her as she dried her hair after a cold shower. Wandering over, she eased open the sliding door and stepped out onto the balcony. Voices from the yard below caught her attention, and she leaned over only for her eyes to meet the man’s she least wanted to see. The intensity of them, even in the silver moonlight, took her breath away. She looked away at anything else; the trees, the castle ramparts, the clouds lazily drifting across the full moon.

The full moon.

She felt like screaming and cursing as she realised the significance of that fact, and its implications.

She was in heat.