Alpha Zander
Chapter 43

Last night Jace took control. He’d had enough of my moping and ignoring our mate. In my defense, I wasn’t ignoring her. I was trying to figure everything out before going to her about it so that I would know the answers to her questions. Is that so wrong? To want to be prepared? But of course, Jace didn’t agree with me at all.

He wanted her comfort and wanted to comfort her. I didn’t realize the pain I was putting her in. Seeing her there last night felt so vulnerable. I felt like such an a-ss not talking to her all week, I hadn’t realized I was treating her like every other ex, but l shouldn’t have. She was my mate. She was it, and I treated her like crap. I love her and didn’t even have the guts to tell her.

I was so taken back when she walked into my packhouse. I tried not to stare at her, but she looked so f*****g amazing. My mind tried to scramble what to say to her as they stood there. I went over and over everything and anything that wouldn’t give away. We were mates. I guess I was thinking too long because Dad and Jake showed up and started talking to them.

As if my day couldn’t get any worse f*****g, Grace walks down the stairs like she owns the f*****g place and starts blabbering.

My heart stopped when she said she was moving in, which I hadn’t officially confirmed yet, she went to Dad before anything else and asked for permission to move into the packhouse, and of course, the b**h told him she was pregnant, something which I should have told him. I carefully tried to look at Ashleigh’s reaction. She looked surprised and hurt, then as quickly as her emotions showed, she covered them. Jace was pissed. I could feel him thrashing around.

I tried to calm him down, but he didn’t care, he wanted his mate, and he nearly took control and went to her. I couldn’t let that happen, not ,Yet, Pain shot through my body as Danni k!ssed Ashleigh on the cheek, f*****g prick thinks he’s so smug. I will beat him later for touching what’s mine, and he better f*****g watch it because I am not in the mood for his bullshit.

“Shall we move into the conference room to begin then?” Dad claps his hands together and gestures toward the corridor they emerged from earlier.

Oliver responds with a “Sure,” and they turn to make their way to the conference room.

“Dad, Isn’t this something I should be a part of?” I blurt out, not wanting to move away from my mate.

The four of them stop suddenly and turn around to face me. Ashleigh avoids my gaze and moves her eyes around the packhouse while Oliver watches her curiously. I hate that I have made her hate me that much.

I hate that I know this was my f*****g fault.

“Babe, we have the appointment remember silly,” Grace giggled and tried to step closer to me, invading my space.

Jace let out a warning snarl telling her to back the f**k up. She stopped her progression, looking slightly startled, her eyes lowering to the floor in submission.

“No, it’s ok. I will fill you in when you get back. We ,were going to show them a few things around the pack and discuss some specifics. It shouldn’t take too long.”

Dad said.

I saw Oliver’s eyes glaze over as he linked Ashleigh.

She looked at him, a bit taken aback, but forced a small smile as Oliver turned to me with a glare.

I desperately try to replace an excuse to be with my mate, “Danni can take Grace. I don’t exactly need to.”

“It’s fine, Zander. You need to make sure all the tests and everything is done correctly anyway,” Dad said, waving a dismissive hand.

I sighed in defeat. As much as I wanted to be with her right now, I couldn’t. Jace was pissed we had to leave. This is the most I’ve felt him all week, it felt good to feel him again, but at the same time, I knew how pissed off he was at me, so part of me was slightly worried if he would ever actually speak with me again.

They turned around and walked down the corridor to the conference room. Ashleigh darts one last look at me, our eyes locking. I could see her pain, whether she wanted to show me or not, she did, and ít f*****g broke my heart, seeing her hurt and knowing I caused that, her own f*****g mate.

Scrubbing a hand over my face, I sighed to myself.

Let’s get this s**t over with.

I walked towards the door without sparing Grace a glance or telling her we were going. I could hear her scramble behind me to try and catch up.

The drive to the clinic wasn’t too far, maybe 10 minutes without any traffic but considering this was a Thursday afternoon, school had finished, and late-night shopping was swinging into gear. It was noticeable that peak hour had started. I was stuck in traffic for the next 15 minutes meaning Grace took that as an opportunity to talk.

“So, what should we call this little guy? I was told to do three girl names and three boy names. Do you want to know what the baby is? Like a boy or girl? I’m not sure yet. Maybe we will wait and see.” She continues to babble as sit there silently.

I wanted to talk about this stuff with Ashleigh, not Grace. I wanted my mate to be the one sitting in that seat talking about names and driving her to the clinic.

“Well, that’s not going to happen any time soon now, is it’ Jace growled.

Your back?’ I could feel my face splitting into a stupid a-ss grin as I heard my wolf.

“I was never gone dumba-ss, just pissed off at you.

I’m still pissed, by the way’ Jace mumbled.

‘How do l fix this? I need my mate. We need our mate. I need you not to be mad at me anymore,’ I begged.

‘build a time machine to where you meet Grace, and don’t meet her. Better yet, go back to as far as your first hookup and don’t hook up with anyone until our mate’

Jace grumbles, glaring at me.

“I can’t change my past Jace’ I said, frustrated.

I glanced over at Grace. She still hadn’t noticed I hadn’t said anything. She was now scrolling through baby stores and making a list of things we would need.

‘Let’s get through today and see where this goes first. Then we can figure out how to speak to Ashleigh.

You know if you just did that in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this situation with her. Jace said.

I know, I know, I just couldn’t face her disappointment or rejection, I mumbled, leaning my head against the head seat for support.

The relief washed over me as Jace’s voice rang through. I was going stir crazy for a little bit. I missed him.

We got to the clinic after not too long of sitting in Traffic. Grace still hadn’t asked me to repeat anything.

She was still babbling away. I’ve just learned to tune her out.

Grace went to the receptionist to confirm she was there. Sitting in the waiting room didn’t take much longer because we hit traffic on the way here. We had a 3.30 appointment. The first appointment was with the nurse to draw b***d and confirm she was pregnant. Then while we were waiting, the second was for an ultrasound.

Grace sat there chatting to the nurse, all bubbly and excited, while they took her b***d test. I just sat silently staring at the ceiling.

“How long have you two been together?” the nurse asked, bringing me back to reality for a short moment.

“Nearly a year now,” Grace answered happily.

“We’re not together,” I snapped, glaring at her, “It was a casual hookup thing, that’s it. Nothing more,”

I saw Grace bite her bottom l*p, and tears started showing in her eyes. I rolled my eyes at her exaggeration.

She knew all of this, just trying to play the victim like she was the good one and I was the bad guy for ending things with her in the beginning.

“My apologies,” the nurse muttered as we sat silently for the rest of the time.

‘Stupid humans.’ I grumble to Jace as he’s pacing in the back of my mind. Being too far away from our mate on our territory didn’t sit well with him.

“If you don’t mind waiting here for a moment, someone will be in shortly to take you to the ultrasound labs,” the nurse said, collecting everything before leaving.

“Thank you,” Grace said softly as she left.

I was pissed off I had to be here. It made me angry this wasn’t with Ashleigh. I should have been the one to show her around my pack grounds, not my father, and I should be the one to have introduced her to my father, not her cousin.

So many things went wrong today, and it f*****g killed me that I wasn’t with my mate in that room with her.

She barely showed emotion as Grace was there, only a few flicks here and there, but she stood there so gracefuliy, waiting.

‘She’s our true Luna. what else did you expect ?

Jace mumbles.

“I don’t know, maybe some sort of outburst, she couldn’t leave that time, I guess, just something.’I sighed.

‘She is Liverpool’s Beta. Her pack is her priority right now. Een if you are mates, you haven’t accepted her as yours yet’ Jace said.

Yes, I have I accepted her the moment I knew she was my mate. I gave her mum’s Hairloom, I protested.

If you accepted her as your mate and Luna you would have gone to her about Grace instead of ignoring her.

What do you expect Ashleigh to do when she comes to our pack, sit back and do nothing, she will have her duties, and she will help lead and make decisions for the pack A Luna and Alpha are equals, not only you decide.’

“f**k’I said out loud, accidentally banging my head against the wall. I hate that he is f*****g right. I hate that.

I f****d up.

Grace looked up from her phone and turned to me with a frown.

“Everything ok?” She asks stupidly, blinking over to me.

“No,” I growl. I was pissed that she even said anything to ruin the quiet.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“No,” I repeated, closing my eyes and leaning on the back wall for support as a dull ache started in the back of my head.

“I’m here if you want to talk, Zander. We will be spending time together, so we might as well be friendly, right?”

I could feel Jace pushing forward, pissed off that she wanted to have some type of ‘relationship or friendship’ with me. Even after all of his warnings, she still keeps going. I just sat there silently waiting.

Hopefully, she will get the hint I’m not in a chatty mood today.

A few moments later, another nurse walked in with a clipboard and a few other items.

“Hi, I’m Sally. Let’s get you two ready for an ultrasound, shall we?” she smiled and looked between us, waiting for someone to make the first move to get up.

I sighed heavily, got up, and walked towards the door as Grace moved off the bed, rubbing her tummy. I tried so hard not to roll my eyes at her the way she was using this baby, and it was starting to piss me off.

“So we have taken your b***d test to ensure all the vitals are correct and everything is ok. Are there any concerns we should know about before the delivery and moving forward?” the nurse started chatting as we walked into the next room.

This room wasn’t too bad, about the same size as before. It had a few different machines and probes I had never seen before. The lights had all dimmed so you could see the screens. A bed was in the middle of the room, with a monitor and a few seats off to the side. I grabbed one of the seats leaning against the wall and sat back down again.

“Umm, well, our species is a bit different to humans,

I guess, so lt’ll be a quicker process than the average nine months,” Grace responded, darting over to me as I rest my head back against the wall. I didn’t want to be a part of this, so I didn’t have to sit here and answer all these damn questions.

“Ok perfect. Yes, I can see that you both are wolves here on the paperwork. That will be considered when the due date is. Jump up onto this bed for me, and we will get started,” She motioned to the bed as Grace took off her shoes, climbed up, and lifted some of her top to show her belly.

“Ok, so this might be a little cold at first” The nurse nodded as she put gel on the probe and lowered it to her stomach.

I frowned as I heard Grace’s heart race accelerate, and her breathing became quicker like she was panicking. I looked at her reaction as the nurse started moving around her stomach. She had beads of sweat forming on her brow and darting around, avoiding my eye contact. Something is f*****g wrong here.

“May I ask why you decided to book the appointment today?” The nurse asked.

“Umm, I took a few pregnancy tests the other week, and they all returned positive,” Grace squeaked.

“I’m sorry to say, Miss Hicks, but it seems those ,tests were incorrect. We have drawn b***d with this visit today, so we will double check, but at this point, you are currently not pregnant according to the ultrasound.”

“What,” I growl, looking between Grace and the nurse, Grace had her head down, and silent tears were streaming down her cheeks. I felt Jace move, his anger pulsing through. “Give us a moment, please,” I ask the nurse before turning back to Grace.

I was royally pissed, and I didn’t give a s**t. I nearly lost my mate over this, all for what? So she could be Luna? Are you f*****g kidding me? Her father was the f*****g Alpha in her pack.

I tried to calm down as the nurse left us in the room,

“Sure, I’li give you guys a few moments. Let me know if you need anything. I will be back shortly with the b***d results.”

Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath before talking because as much as I was pissed off right now, I didn’t need to be provoked.

“Why?” I asked, trying to keep my cool, so Jace doesn’t take control and rip her head off.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. My eyes snapped over to her, glaring at her, furious with her answer, which we both f*****q knew was a lie.

“Don’t give me that bullshit, Grace,” I snarled, leaning forward and making her flinch away. I tried to reel Jace in and not use his power against her, but right now, I was pissed off, and the more she lied, the more pissed I was getting and the more he showed.

“Do you even understand the damage you have caused?” l asked quietly, thinking about my beautiful mate and how much I hurt her over this.

She looked at me with teary eyes, trying to blink them away.

“Damage?” She asked, “l told you l loved you, and you broke up with me,” she shrieked. “You asked me to come with you after training, so I did. I left my family’s pack and came here.”

“Let’s get this through your head once and for all,” I shapped. “We were never ‘Official’ as you women like to call it. You knew that, and you agreed to the terms. As for your family, your father asked if there was room in my pack for you to move so you could have a better future, graduate from a decent school, and maybe go to university and get a good job. It was not my doing bringing you here to be with me, and if you ever pull something like this again that will strain my mate and me, you will not get off so easily. I am only letting you off with a warning this one time because of the relationship with your parents and being their daughter.” I growled dangerously, some of my command slipping through on specific points.

She sat there opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water. I couldn’t be in this room with her anymore. I was visibly shaking and only just managing to have control over Jace.

“l will talk to my father about this. He will not agree to merge with you because of this,” she snapped.

I shrugged. I didn’t care if Alpha Samuel merged with us or not. He was only a small pack of about 100 people in the country. It was us who was doing him a favor.

“This was your fault, and you’re doing, Grace. You are lucky I didn’t throw you in the dungeon for this.”

‘Danni, you need to come and pick up Grace. I can’t drive her home. Jace wants to kill her.” I linked him before heading out, leaving her sitting on the bed, looking in her lap with tears flowing through.

“What happened?’ Danni’s voice rang through.

‘She f*****g faked the whole thing. I can’t be in the same room as her or anywhere near her now. Jace wants to kill the b***h’ I growled.

‘Ahh s**t, I’ll call her father and tell him she needs to go home. Probably best if she doesn’t stick around. Her stuff is already packed anyways. I will be there in..

“Thanks. Ahh, is Ashleigh and Oliver still around?’ I asked. I knew I would probably get s**t from him asking that question, but I needed to know if she was still, there.

‘Na, they left around 30 mins ago,’ ‘f**k, ok, thanks,’ Sighing as I shut off the link and walked to the waiting room, going up to the desk and letting the receptionist know someone else was coming to pick up Grace. They frowned at me and nodded but didn’t say anything, thankfully.

I needed to replace Ashleigh. I needed to make it right with my mate like l should have done in the f*****g beginning.