Alpha Zander
Chapter 51

“l want to tell people about us,” I announce as we’re sitting on the couch watching TV, I’m holding her tightly, not wanting to let her go home or anywhere else but be here with me. It’s been a few days since our chat on Monday, and honestly, I want to be with her this weekend and not worry about sneaking around. As exciting as this has been, I can’t show her how much I love her with only small gestures and walks in the woods.

I want to take her to dinner and show her off to my friends.

Announce to everyone I have my mate, and my pack has their Luna.

I think we have grown so much these last few days alone. Imagine what we could be if we told people.

No more sneaking around.

I feel so f*****g stupid for the time we lost last week, and my stupidity cost us time together and nearly cost me her.

I will never make that mistake again. If l did, it might actually ill me.

“Zander… are you sure you’re ready for that type of commitment?” She asks, pushing slightly away from me and turning around to face me.

“Yes, I want to take you out tomorrow and be around people instead of sneaking around. I wouldn’t mind doing stuff in public, but I think our families should know from us instead of rumours or hearing it from someone else.”

She bites her bottom l!p as she thinks, f**k, I have tried so hard not to k!ss her all week, tried to let her take the lead on most things so she doesn’t feel uncomfortable, and honestly, I know I don’t deserve it just yet. Still, every time I see her, all I want to do is k!ss her senseless, but as much as I f*****g want to, I know I need to earn her trust again before having that privilege.

At least with all of our talks, I know she wouldn’t ever reject me, and because we have gotten to this point of trust, I want to take things to the next step if she lets me so that we can build our trust more. I don’t want to hide her anymore.

I can see her thinking it over in her mind as she tries to decide. After a short moment, she nods before saying,

“Ok, Let’s tell our families. I would like to go out and do things with you as well” she beams at me before leaning back onto me and snuggling into my ch.est.

I let out a breath of relief as she’s leaning against me, feeling the bond sparks dance along our skin, holding her at this moment. I know people say you shouldn’t have regrets, but oh, I so f*****g do. I don’t even understand how l allowed myself to be away from her for so f*****g long, but I was, and now I can’t stand the thought of being away from her for an evening, let alone a whole week.

‘Because you didn’t f*****g listen to me, and now she has given the heirloom back, and you have to earn that trust again.’ Jace mumbles in my mind.

He was so pissed she gave it back on Monday. In his eyes, no matter our situation, she was always getting the heirloom.

It was never going to be anyone else’s, so she should have kept it, but I understand why she wanted to give it back. Jace is still just pissed about the whole thing.

“We can tell everyone tonight, and I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning so we can spend the whole day together?” I confirm as I start to plan out our Saturday.

It would be good to show her around some of the pack lands and take her to a few of my favourite places.

Maybe one day we can call them our places.

She looked a bit anxious as she nodded, confirming the weekend plans.

“I will tell them all tonight around dinner. Usually, they will be there.” Ashleigh sighs, fidgeting with one of her curly hair locks.

“Do you know how you’re going to tell your father?” she asks curiously.

“No, I’m honestly considering not telling him until tomorrow and just showing up with you at the packhouse. Part of me thinks that might go down a bit better.”I sigh, rubbing the back of my neck, trying to think of something to tell dad tonight.

I know exactly where he will be tonight, in his office doing paperwork.

Friday nights, he is always in his office till hours in the morning.

Ellie and Jake go out for dinner every Friday night like clockwork. It used to be a family thing they would always bring along Danni and me but as we got older, we sort of phased out of it.

Dad was always invited, but those times reminded him of mum being around.

I just used those times to keep her memory alive rather than a loss.

“You should tell him it could be good for you guys to talk,” Ashleigh encouraged, rubbing the side of my leg.

I tried so hard not to roll my eyes at her suggestion, and I know she was only trying to help, but there have been too many times when I have wanted to talk with Dad.

I only get shut down, or one of us gets pissed off and leaves, or it’s another screaming match.

Maybe telling him, I found my mate could be different. I doubt he’d be ecstatic, part of me hopes he would be, but I highly doubt that.

He was so quick to enroll me to Alpha training the moment l turned 16 and just shipped me off for two years. I didn’t have a choice in the matter, I was going, and that was final.

He didn’t come and visit once.

He didn’t want me to come home at all.

He didn’t send any letters or phone calls. f**k, l wouldn’t have known if he was still alive if it weren’t for Ellie calling me every fortnight to check in.

Only for me to come home and be thrown back into school where I have already done most of these classes and passed everything, I’ll bet if we didn’t live in the city, he would have shipped me off to boarding school for another year if anyone would take me.

So many conversations about so many different things always turn out to be the same ending. Dad uses his Alpha command as the final say, and we don’t talk for however long.

It’s gotten to a point where we barely say anything to each other unless someone else is in the room as a buffer.

Even with the situation with Grace, he barely said anything to me, didn’t give any advice, just grumbled something and went about doing business.

This year has been a little different. I can fight against his command, which only seems to piss him off even more. We still haven’t recovered from the last blow-up, which was me returning to school. Now I do my own thing these days and avoid him.

“OK, well, we should get going then, it’s nearly 5.00, and it’ll take us both longer to get home with the traffic.”

Ashleigh sighs, pushing against my ch.est, trying to get away from me.

I tighten my arms around her as she goes to leave.

She gr0ans and falls back into my ch.est with force, not expecting to be locked in.

“Off it, Zander..” she mumbles, half annoyed. Turning around to face me, I can see the amusement dancing in her eyes as she tosses her hair to one side.

“You want to play it that way, huh, big guy?”

Ashleigh asks sweetly, leaning into me and swinging her legs around, so she’s straddling me.

Her top is a little revealing which I one hundred percent appreciate. My eyes go directly to her b0obs as she leans in and starts k!ssing my neck, her l!ps soft against my skin, leaving explosions of tingles. My d!ck is already rock hard from her grinding against me, and one of my hands is on her a-ss, needing it.

I can feel Jace push forward, wanting more with her.

I know she has started this. I didn’t think I would get anything until I was at least forgiven but f**k I want more. My heart rate quickened, and my breathing increased as she k!ssed me, teasing me while putting me in a trance. Closing my eyes as I enjoy this moment, I go to grab her hair, sliding my hand up her back from her a-ss, but she pulls back and jumps off quickly. My eyes fly open only to see her smirking at me and moving toward the door.

“Such a f*****g tease”, I grumble, folding my arms across my ch.est and giving her a playful pout.

“Are you going to stay here tonight? Or at home?”

She asks while opening the door.

She looks like a f*****g dream with what she’s wearing right now. Her top shows off just the right spots and her jeans. I couldn’t help myself but run my eyes over her body, memorising her for a trip to the bathroom later.

“Probably back here. Jace doesn’t settle at home anymore because you haven’t been there yet.” I shrug, trying to adjust my d!ck in my pants as I swing around to grumbles.

‘You don’t like it either’, sit up properly.

He’s right. I hate it at home. l’d rather be here where at least can still be around her presence.

“Ok, I’ll msg you and let you know how everything goes,” she nods and blows a little k!ss to me before leaving, “I’ll see you tomorrow!” She calls while heading out to her car.

I gr0an and lean back on the couch, f**k. Now I’ve got this hard-on.

Pulling up to the pack house, I can only see a few lights on. The front porch lights automatically turn on as l step out of the car closing the door behind me.

I don’t see Jake and Ellie’s car around or Dani’s guess it’s just dad and me tonight; hopefully, we don’t kill each other this time.

I almost do a double take back and move towards the car to get the f**k out before it’s too late. I can feel Jace being just as on edge as I am. I know this is supposed to be a good f*****g thing replaceing my mate, but with our history, even the good things somehow turn out worse than the bad things.

I hesitate before opening the packhouse door as I do. Of course, I’m met with silence, and only a kitchen light is on, offering some guidance, only to be expected. Everyone is always out on a Friday night, including me these days.

I sigh, running my clammy hands through my hair before walking down the hallway where dad’s office is. I can see light streaming through the door’s cracks as I walk down. I know I’m delayíng but f**k. I don’t want this to be another problem. It should be a good thing that I found my mate. I shouldn’t have to be so f*****g worked up over telling my father about it.

I stand in front of the door, trying to come up with what I’m going to say to him.

Jace is unsettled, pacing in the back of my mind, giving me a f*****g headache being away from Ashleigh for so long.

I muster up enough courage to reach to the doorknob, opening it slowly. I haven’t set foot in this office for years. Too many memories of mum. I’m honestly surprised dad didn’t demolish it or move his office into another room. It would have reminded me too much of mum if I had to be in here every day. This was one of the only rooms that didn’t get remodelled a few years back.

The door opened into a spacious room, two skylights in the ceiling offering sunlight during the days as there were no other windows around.

Dad was sitting against the back wall with a big oak wooden desk, two computer screens, and a few piles of paperwork. A tall long bookshelf ran against the back wall with an old grandfather clock on the opposite side.

There was a grey filing cabinet on the other side of the door next to the clock. A tall lamp was in the corner, offering a dimmer light compared to the ceiling lights.

Dad looks up from his desk as I walk in. He holds a piece of paper and types something on the computer.

“Zander..” he grumbles and looks back down, barely sparing me a glance.

“You have time to talk for a minute”, I ask, walking in, and taking a seat in one of his vacant chairs in front of his desk.

Dad’s eyes flash gold, letting me know his wolf is present, most likely already pissed off because I didn’t wait for permission to sit. Sometimes it felt as though Leo was more in control than Dad half the time. Wouldn’t be surprising if he was. Ever since mum passed, he’s never been the same. Neither of us have, I suppose.

“If it’s about Grace, Daniel already informed me of the situation,” He says, still tapping away at his computer, not bothering to ask for any information, not bothering to look at me.

“Ahh, no, it’s not about that,” I confirm, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. I can still scent Ashleigh on me, which has helped me calm down a fair bit, but I was still so Wound up, I might as well get this over with, “I found my mate,” I announce, staring straight at him, so he knows I’m serious.

He stops typing and looks at me this time, his face expressionless as the room filled with silence, f*****g silence. Does he really not have anything to f*****g say to me?

After all these years of doing wrong, this Was at least the one good thing I thought he’d be somewhat happy or at least proud of.

“Fated or chosen?” he asks after a few minutes of tense silence. The room was beginning to feel so small and claustrophobic that I nearly didn’t hear what he asked.

“Fated”, I mumbled.

He nodded and started typing again.

Sighing, I stand and turn around to exit the room without saying anything further.

“You should bring Ashleigh around so she can start to meet the pack members and be familiar with the area.”

I looked up at him, completely stunned. I thought we were pretty good at hiding our relationship, I had only told one person, Danni, and I don’t think he would have told Dad.

“The energy company called when you tried to set up the old cottage. They needed permission to change things in the switch box before turning the electricity on.

After they did, I went out there to check on things a few days after and saw you with her” He continues, answering my silent questions while still tapping away at the computer.

A sickening feeling falls into the pit of my stomach, “

You knew the whole time?” I questioned… confused as f**k as to why he would allow me to move Grace in if he knew about Ashleigh. Why the f**k didn’t he say anything or want help at all?

“Yes,” He confirms, still so focused on his computer and paperwork, as if it’s not a big f*****g deal. He’s just confirmed he has known I’ve had a mate this whole time.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I demanded, folding my arms across my ch.est defensively.

“Wasn’t my place to say anything, and you had to be responsible for your mistakes with Grace. Although I have to say, I was impressed with Ashleigh. I’m surprised she didn’t rip off Grace’s head, when we had the meeting, I was half expecting to call Samuel to say his daughter challenged our Luna,” he said, pausing for a minute.

I honestly think this is the longest we have gone without someone yelling at each other. I don’t know if I’m more stunned about that or the fact he already knew about Ashleigh.

“I thought you would have been pissed off because she was from Liverpool,” I say honestly.

“It doesn’t matter to me where she’s from. This pack hasn’t had a Luna for nearly fifteen years. Ultimately, as long as you treat her well enough, it shouldn’t matter the issues between our packs. I was trying to make the transition more comfortable for the both of you for when you wanted to announce your relationship.” Dad says, shuffling things around on his desk, looking about as uncomfortable as I am at this moment.

A small pain burns through as he mentions mum.

It’ll always be hard to talk about her. I think this is the only time he has spoken of her since her death. Even now, it wasn’t a direct conversation about mum.

I don’t think we have ever had this much conversation, let alone him somewhat approving of my mate and a small heart-to-heart about mum.

I nodded slowly, trying to hide the fact that I was uncomfortable talking about mum. I didn’t want him to think I was weak at the memories.

“I know I fvcked up, but I’m trying to make it better” I grumble, not wanting him to know the extent of our problems. Dad nods, continuing to tap away.

“Anyways, thanks. I’m going to head out, but I’ll be around tomorrow with Ashleigh.” I wave, making my way towards the door to head back.

As I walked out of the office, a huge weight lifted off me, heading back to my car. I can honestly say I was not expecting that reaction from Dad. I guess that explains why he wanted to meet with Liverpool. Although I’m not sure if he was happy about it or just accepted the fact l found my mate. I hoped things with Ashleigh’s family went a lot better tonight.