Mated To The Cold Hearted Alpha
Chapter 17

When I was fully dressed, I made quick use of the toilet, and wash my hands, brushed my teeth, rinsing with a small bottle of mouthwash I hadn’t noticed earlier in the basket. I faced the door and had to give myself a stern pep talk before I could force my hand to grab the handle, turn it and stepped out, closing the door behind me.

Leander was waiting. He sat in a large, comfortable looking chair, but my eyes zeroed in on the thing he held in his hand. It couldn’t possibly be what I thought it was! He stood to his feet and crossed the room until he was standing right in front of me.

I pointed and demanded, “What’s that?”

“A collar,” was his only reply.

“I can see that. Why are you holding it up in front of me with that dumbass look of expectation on your face?” I snapped.

“Because you’re going to wear it.” His tone didn’t fluctuate. It was as if he was just stating some random fact like the sun is yellow.

My heart pounded in my chest. The crazy Alpha had to be kidding.

“Oh, f**k no, I’m not!” I snarled. My Wolf in full agreement, appalled at the contraption he wanted to place around our neck.

“You are…whether you like it or not.” He took a step forward. “Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

I took an even more significant step back until I found the wall at my back and could go no farther.

He was serious!

Fury vibrated through me. I struggled to maintain control. “What the f**k is this?! Some kind of dominant shit? Roleplay? Do you get your rocks off imagining I’m your pet? Because I’m not doing it!”

A wicked grin made an appearance on his face. “While those are all good ideas and I like the way you think, no, none of those are the reason. You’ve made it clear you’re willing to die to escape, and I can’t have you doing something that’s going to end up with you hurt. So until you learn to behave, you will wear this.”

I narrowed my eyes. F**k. F**k. F**k. I wish now I’d never said the words. I sputtered, “I’ll behave! There’s no need for that.” He chuckled. “You’re a terrible liar.”

I put my hands on my h**s. “And how, exactly, is some little trinket going to keep me here?” I studied the collar. It was actually quite pretty. Several smooth bluish-green stones were placed equal-distance around the black leather strap. Each stone was surrounded with swirls of silver and mounted into the collar.

“The collar is embedded with Moonstone and a silver additive, making it impossible for you to shift. You also won’t have the increased strength of your Wolf nature.” He stated all of those things as if they weren’t devastating to me.

My mouth dropped open. “You’re leaving me defenseless? In a pack of wolves that clearly don’t like me, and don’t want me here? What is this? Some sick game to see which Wolf in your pack can pick me off first? That is if they could get ahead of your father, which I doubt.” I added derisively.

“No,” he replied calmly. “You will be guarded at all times. You’ll be in no danger.”

I still wasn’t doing it. My hackles raised, my legs stiff. I sneered, “Is this how you treat all of your shewolves?”

“Prove to me that I can trust you and we’ll discuss it again.”

“How in the hell am I supposed to prove that?” I glared.

He smirked, “Use your imagination.”

I ground my teeth together. I wanted to smack that smirk right off his face.

He raised an eyebrow, recognizing my answer from my body language. “So it’s going to be the hard way then, huh?”

“Always the hard way with you.” I seethed. A low growl escaped my throat. I naturally sunk lower into a fighting stance.

Before I could even blink, he struck first. Lightning fast, he spun me around, trying to lock one arm around me to keep me in place leaving his other hand free to maneuver the collar.

I wasn’t that easily caught. My father trained me better. Raising my arms in the air, I let my body go limp and fell to the ground out of his hold. I rolled and came up striking fist first. Since I was coming right out of the spin, I wasn’t sure which body part I was going to make contact with I just knew he headed in my direction and I would hit something. I did. My fist cracked into his sternum. It was like impacting a rock. Motherfucker that hurt!

Before I can get another hit in, he lifted me and actually tossed me onto the bed! I squealed as I sailed through the air and bounced up and down twice when I hit the fluffy mattress.

I was on my back with Leander five feet away and headed in my direction with a look in his eyes I’d never seen before-it was pure desire, hot and flaming. If a look could burn, I’d be toast. His eyes glowed. He licked his lips. “I like the fight in you, little mouse.”

Shit. I lifted onto my hands and feet and tried to crab crawl backward only to replace nowhere to go there either. In the next second, Leander was on top of me. I didn’t understand how someone so big could move so quickly and with such grace. But there he was, straddling my waist while I bucked and writhed and clawed beneath him. “Get off of me, you f*****g a*****e!” I screeched.

“Language,” he purred as he grabbed my hands and shifted his body forward so he could pin them down with his knees, placing him directly on my chest -putting his groin way too close to my face for comfort. In another few seconds, he had the collar wrapped around my neck and engaged the locking mechanism in the back.

I quit fighting and just panted, my eyes opened wide, still shocked by the sudden turn of events.

My Wolf was howling in a panic. She felt the restriction. She knew I couldn’t shift.

The look in his eyes changed to one of pain. He eased off of my hands, freeing my arms and slid back so that he was hovering over my waist instead of my chest. He supported most of his weight on his knees, so I didn’t feel it, but it was still impossible to move out from under him. His expression pained. “Let her see me.”

By this point, I realized arguing was futile and let my Wolf come into my eyes, the only place she could. His Wolf joined the party, eyes glowing deep and rich. Leander gently stroked the side of my face, his voice wavering slightly, “I’m sorry, sweet Wolf. I promise it won’t be forever. And I promise to keep you safe. On my life. I swear nothing will hurt you.”

She calmed beneath his touch. She wasn’t happy about it, but she trusted her mate.

That was a hell of a lot more than I could say, that’s for sure.

But I was happy he’d calmed her down. I was also still reeling from the softness in his tone, the emotion in his eyes, the sincerity in his voice. I didn’t understand him. At all.

He gently lifted off of me and stood to his feet, leaving me lying on the bed. “You should try to sleep. It’s been a long day.”

I jerked up into a sitting position, hands out defensively. “Oh, hell no.

I’m not sleeping with you!”

He sighed heavily. “Little mouse, I’m not asking you to have s*x. But I’m not letting you out my or Ever’s sight, and his mate might not take too kindly to you sharing their bed.”

An embarrassed flush crept up my cheeks. I was not at all comfortable when he talked about having s*x with me, even if it was just to tell me it wasn’t his intention. It did something weird to me, caused a flutter deep in my belly that I would rather ignore than try to define. I locked down my muscles. “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll try to kill you in your sleep?”

His eyebrows rose. And then his eyes narrowed. He stepped forward. It was just one step, but it felt menacing and dangerous. His voice was low and gruff, “Is that what you want? Me dead. Is that what your heart desires?”

My heart was currently racing in my chest and couldn’t answer. I was frozen, my tongue stuck to the top of my mouth.