Alpha Zander
Chapter 52

Heart racing, nerves pile up as I sit in my car in front of the packhouse. I know Ollie and mum already know about Zander, but I was honestly more nervous telling Dad and Uncle.

I wouldn’t know how they would react.

Would they be happy for us? Or still so angry over the issues between our packs?

I know we have had a rocky start, but I also know that I wasn’t going to reject him.

I still cared so much for him, and he has tried to show how much he cares over the last few days. And I agree that we could do more if we could be more open with our relationship with our family and pack members.

Some might hate it, and others might be excited about it, but Zander and I were always meant to be together in the end.

I still haven’t forgiven him for what happened, but he has explained, owned his mistake and is trying to make things better between us, so I’Il keep an open mind and allow him to try and make things right.

I suck in a breath of air as I open the door and head into the pack house. Most of the lights are on, giving a welcoming vibe. The chatter grew louder as I opened the door. Everyone was sitting around the table, waiting for dinner to be served.

Tonight it was Ollie and Auntie Sarah’s turn to cook.

Brent was on patrol and will have some leftovers later, so that he won’t be home until about 10 pm.

Ollie looks up from where he is standing next to Dad and uncle just in front of the kitchen, flashing me a grin as I head towards them. His smile falters as I move closer to the rest of the family.

Everyone else has already seated Uncle at the head of the table, as usual, Dad next to him on the left with Mum, and Auntie next to Uncle on the right, everyone else around them chatting about their week. Ollie frowns, most likely feeling my nerves between our link.

When we turn 16 and have our first shift, you can create bonds if you know who the ranked heirs are. As Ollie and I were next in line to be Alpha and Beta, our uncle wanted us to create the link early instead of waiting for Ollie’s Alpha initiation.

This helped build up trust with each other and strength between our wolves.

This bond is similar to a bond between the Luna and Gamma.

A Gamma is a Luna’s Guard, and they will protect the

Luna with their life. As I do the same for Ollie and my pack members, I can feel when he is distressed or worried, just as he can feel the same for me.

‘You ok?’ He links quickly enough for no one else to notice our silent conversation.

“I’m telling them tonight’ I confirm, pulling out the spare seat and sitting down. I see his eyes widen as he understands my meaning.

‘You sure? “‘ll be with you 100%, but I need to know you want him to be your mate,’ ‘Ollie.. He’s my mate. As hard as the start has been, he is still my mate,’ I sigh while I understand my cousin’s worry. He doesn’t need to be so macho all the time.

He nods in understanding before continuing to hand around the food.

Everyone’s laughing and chatting around the dinner table for a good half an hour before someone notices I haven’t been very talkative tonight.

“How have you been lately, Ash?” Alex looks over to me and asks, it has been a while since l have seen him and Meghan, so it’s nice to sit around and chat with them for a little bit.

I hesitate before answering his question. Do I just go right ahead and tell them all. Or wait a little bit longer?

‘Just tell them. They will be glad we found our mate,” Kia encourages excitedly for the possibility of bringing Zander here in the future.

“Things have been going well, umm.. I have some news to share with everyone.” I say, taking in a deep breath before continuing. There were still a few murmurs around the table as I built up the courage to tell them about Zander. While I won’t tell them the extent of things, it was still nerve-racking telling them about him in general.

“I found my mate” I breathe, looks of excitement flashing over everyone’s faces as I confirm. “Who, when, how..” So many different questions surround me as everyone jumps in, excited to know more details. I look around and see Ollie’s concerned face and Mum’s excitement, and I can tell she’s nervous but excited at the same time.

“Firstly, start with Who.” Uncle’s voice rings over the chatter, loud enough to hush everyone.

This is the part I was nervous about telling them it was Zander.

“Zander Blackwood,” I say confidently, looking right at my Uncle, letting him know I have chosen him, that he is my mate. I’m met with tense silence and the uncomfortable stairs of my family.

“Blackwood.” My uncle confirms with a steady gaze, his expression is blank, but his command radiates through the room,almost suffocating me. I can tell he is pissed off.

I stand firm as Kia pushes forward to take some of the hit. Now, of all times, is not the place we submit. I needed to stand firm on this for Zander and me.

Mum, Dad, Alex and Meghan have all submitted, baring their necks and casting eyes away.

I had a feeling he would be mad, but not this mad.

Ollie is looking at Uncle David nervously, not sure what he is going to do next. I can feel his worry through our link. Auntie was just sitting there, watching her mate, j not wanting to anger him further.

My confidence wavers a little as he assesses me, watching me carefully like l’m now a traitor instead of a part of his family. I know because Zander and I have already mated, I hold some of his power through Kia, and when we mate and mark fully, I will hold the full power of an Alpha female.

I nod slowly, darting my eyes around, watching carefully what he is going to do next.

“I hereby strip you of your title. You will no longer be a part of this family, I will not banish you and turn you rogue for the sake of your parents, but you no longer be allowed on pack lands until deemed otherwise.”

As soon as Uncle finishes the exile, excruciating pain moves through me as my link with Ollie and the pack is severed. I can see surprise form on Ollie and Mum’s faces as he stands to leave the table. I don’t think any of us expected him to go this far, especially without any proof or knowledge.

“You think that little of me, Uncle?” I whisper as I try to control the pain. I know Kia is holding a lot of it, but right now l still feel the fresh wound cutting deep.

How could he just do that without asking any questions?

His golden eyes snap up to mine, and I see his wolf King completely in control.

“No, but I will not be responsible for starting a war against Charwood. They have not had a Luna in over a decade, and I will not put the lives of my members in danger.”

Tears sting my eyes as he moves around the table. I can feel his anger radiating through as he leaves the room.

Everyone around me sits in silence. I can feel the rage rolling from 0llie. I know he is furious with Uncle, just jumping to conclusions without proof that I had done anything wrong or that anything bad would happen.

“Ash, It’ll be alright. I’ll speak with him.” Ollie reaches out and tries to comfort me, even though I know he is feeling the same amount of pain I am right now.

I shake my head and get up to leave. I can’t be around here anymore. I don’t want to experience the repercussions of what could happen if I was still on pack lands.

“Forget it, Ollie. It’s done,” I say, turning to leave. I wanted to say goodbye to mum and dad, but they got up and followed uncle into his office along with Auntie.

I could hear shouting coming from everyone in the office by the time I reached the front door. I didn’t want them to argue with my uncle for me, but I also didn’t want to walk into that room and have something worse happen to me.

“Bye, Ollie,” I whisper as I run out the door shifting into Kia, heading to the only place I knew where l would be safe right now.

I know Zander might not be back just yet, but at least I could go somewhere tonight instead of roaming around.

It took longer getting to the cottage than expected.

Kia wanted to go for a longer run, so I allowed her, just not on Liverpool.

It was nice to be out in the moonlight. The feeling of being free flowed through me.

If uncle had let me explain, just let me tell him that Zander and I were happy with how things were going, and we would transition me to his pack after we finished school, this would have gone a very different way, but no.

He was so worked up with the hate between our two packs and the possibility that it would lead to war he just outright exiled me like a traitor.

I tried to think of how to make this better, of how to help the situation, but I keep on coming up blank. I knew things were going to the strained between our families, but never to this extent. What would that mean if we ended up having pups together?

Would mum be able to come and see me… Would I still be able to see Brent and Ollie?

How is it that Ollie seemed so ok with Zander and me, but Uncle wasn’t? As I ran, more confusing questions flowed through, and I was left with fewer answers.

By the time I arrived at the cottage, the pain of the exile had numbed to a dull ache. By tomorrow I wouldn’t feel anything.

There weren’t any lights on when I arrived, and I could feel Zander’s presence through our bond, so he might just be resting or asleep.

“Zander,” l called out as I changed back to my human form, opening the back door and letting me into the cottage.

I hear shuffling around upstairs. Before long. he’s downstairs looking a bit ragged, just wearing his boxers like he’s just woken up.

Right now, I’m not exactly thinking straight, my mind is still foggy, and a dull burn runs through my chest as I try to heal, but I don’t miss how he stops suddenly in the lounge room, racking his eyes over my body, svcking in a sharp breath as his eyes change to dark l**t and a hint of gold flashes through letting me know Jace is present.

I look down and feel my cheeks flush with embarrassment. I completely forgot about being n*ked. I just walked in without even bothering about it.

Seeing my uncomfortableness, Zander grabs the blanket from the lounge and hands it to me as he moves closer.

“Sweetheart, are you ok? What happened?” He asks as I cover myself with the blanket.

I know he has seen me before, but with recent events, I think we still need to work some more stuff out before moving to that stage again, as much as my body screams to claim him right now. I still need to take some time to heal, so I appreciate him giving me that option instead of just making a move.

Zander looks at me, concerned, waiting for answers as I wrap the blanket around me and fold the top part of it down to try and help hold it up.

“Uncle exiled me,” I whisper as a huge wave of emotions comes crashing through me. Everything I’ve been holding in these last few hours hits me like a ton of bricks.

I fall sobbing into his arms at the realisation of not belonging to my pack anymore, of not having any links to my friends or family. Uncle cut all ties from everyone, and I wouldn’t even be able to use the family link anymore.

His arms fold around me, holding me until l’m ready to give more details of this awful night.

“What?” he asks sharply, stroking my hair softly. He plays with the ends of my curls on the back, just softly fiddling with them.

“I told them tonight around dinner. He didn’t even ask for any information. He didn’t ask for anything. He just asked if it was you. He stripped me of my title and banished me from packlands. I can’t even link Mum or Brent anymore.” I mumble in his chest, trying to focus on our bond and his scent to take the pain away.

He tightens his arms around me in comfort, giving me a small k!ss on my head as I try to calm down. “

Everything will be all right, Sweetheart”, He assures, giving me another k!ss and brushing my hair away so he can see my face. “We will figure it out together, Ok.”

I nod numbly,just wanting to feel some sort of peace or something so I can move past all of this and be ok again.

“Why don’t you run upstairs and have a shower? I can quickly make something for you to eat. I assume you have been running for a while and are starving?”

“Yeah, that would be great, thank you,” I smile.

Zander turns and heads to the kitchen. I grab his arm and pulling him back in for a k!ss.

Sparks of our bond dance along our skin as we intertwine. I slam my lips against his.

I’ve wanted nothing more than to feel his lips move against mine these last few weeks.

He’s been amazing lately, and I think he deserves at least one.

One of his hands makes it to my hair, grabbing it roughly as he deepens the k!ss further.

Right now, I’m half expecting him to pick me up and carry me to the lounge or bedroom, but instead, he pulls out of the k!ss, leaving us both breathless as he rests his forehead against mine with his eyes closed, trying to regain control.

“If we don’t stop now, I won’t be able to control myself or Jace.” he grumbles, letting go of my hair and taking a step back, putting space between us.

“Ok.”I whisper, slightly disappointed yet, for the most part, a little relieved. It was definitely the bond, and Kia pushed me to do that. While I wanted to k!ss him, I was grateful he didn’t take it further.

I headed upstairs to try and wash away my unsettling feelings about my family because right now all I wanted to focus on was Zander downstairs and wanting to help me, he was here for us and in reality that is all that mattered.