My Eternal Mate
Chapter Seventeen

LYRA

Alexander was by my side in an instant, his eyes dark and hard. His chest was rising and falling with each breath, he was furious but looked absolutely torn.

"I'm okay," I assured, holding on to the cut on my arm to stop the bleeding. "It just burns slightly. I will heal soon. Tell me, what happened?"

Alexander growled loudly, but didn't respond when he grabbed the hem of my top and tore a piece of the fabric off. Without a warning, he removed my hand from my arm and wrapped the piece of fabric tightly around the cut, tying it in to place, making me grimace in the process.

Disgustingly, I wiped my bloodied hand on my top, seeing as it was ripped, I would be throwing it away later anyway.

Alexander placed his hands on either side of my arms, examining me to ensure he hadn't done any further damage. His eyes, filled with regret and concern, searched every inch of my skin. Once he was content that I seemed alright, he sighed loudly.

"I shouldn't have lost control like that around you," he grunted, lowly, his eyes dark. "I hurt you."

Frowning, I placed my hand on his cheek. "I'm okay," I promised, before I reached on my tiptoes and pecked his lips to calm his wolf.

When he didn't seem to be calming down, I laced my arms around his neck and embraced him, hoping our close proximity would help him feel more relaxed.

I was aware that the situation was a heavy one, and we were still coming to terms with Aspen and the pup, but I didn't want Alexander to be overly worked up since we still had a pack to protect.

Aspen was watching us with hard eyes. When his gaze landed on me, he arched a brow. "I will be back another day to explain the rest," he said, his voice firm. "I forgot he is younger than me after all."

"You are not leaving until I have confirmed your status," Alexander growled and was about to push me away to turn to the wolf, but I held him tightly in my arms.

'I need a moment with you, alone,' I mind-linked my mate, knowing there was no other way to keep him calm.

I felt him tense under my touch, and he nodded in agreement, giving me the green light to go ahead and dismiss Aspen.

"Leave," I ordered Aspen, my voice filled with authority. "Return back to Jenna if you wish to remain alive in our territory. Wait there until Alexander is ready to speak to you again."

The man in question bowed his head once at my words, before he pulled away from the desk and strutted out of the office. Perhaps, he wasn't to be trusted, but in that moment, I needed to make sure that Alexander was alright.

Pulling away from my mate enough to look at him, I cupped his face, making him glance down at me. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

He sighed heavily, closing his dark eyes briefly, before he re-opened them. "I need to speak with Adam," he told me, his eyes dark with swirling blue specs. His voice was hard and cold. "I do not believe a word that wolf is saying until I have confirmation that he is my brother."

I nodded, and ran my hand across his nude torso. "I think that's quite fair," I added. "I just hate seeing you like this."

Alexander brushed a strand of my hair from my face, before his head tilted to the side so he could get a better view of my arm with the blood covered fabric on it.

Nodding towards my arm, he said, "I am really sorry for hurting you. I want to make it up to you, but I really need to speak to Dyami and Adam first."

"That's fine," I assured, giving him a small smile. "I will disinfect the area whilst you talk to them."

Alexander held my gaze for a couple of seconds before he pulled me flush against him, his head rested in the crook of my neck where his teeth grazed at my mark. My wolf purred, enjoying the much needed contact.

"I can hardly look at you knowing that I hurt you," he growled, his back muscles tense. "I promised to keep you safe, but I'm the one that's hurt you."

"You know that's not true," I whined, pulling back to frown at him. "Accidents happen, and I have told you already, I'm just fine. Look at me."

When he turned to glance at me, I was glad to see that his eyes had lightened, meaning his wolf was slowly calming down.

"I am sorry," he murmured, his voice low and calm. "Let me disinfect the cut for you before I call my beta and third in command."

There was no use in arguing with him, especially not when he had already tugged at my hand and lead us back to our bedroom.

He placed me on the edge of the bed, before he disappeared in to our closet. He returned wearing a pair of shorts, with a small first-aid-kit box in his hand.

Alexander gently removed the piece of fabric from my arm, revealing that the cut had pretty much healed and didn't need to be disinfected. But my mate grabbed a cotton wool and dampened it with a clear solution before he dabbed it across the dried up blood on my arm.

"He told me that my mother killed my father," Alexander finally said, his voice cold and his eyes fixated on my arm. "He really expected me to believe every word that he spewed. He's lucky to be roaming my territory, alive and well."

I was taken aback by his words, completely surprised by what he was telling me. His mother killing his father? My brows knitted together at the words, and quite honestly, I wasn't sure how to feel.

Did I even have a right to add my input? Probably not, so I placed my hand over his that was currently dabbing at my skin, stilling his movement. Alexander's eyes travelled to meet mine, and for a very long time, I saw the sadness in them. His eyes were glistening with a red rim to them.

"Why would your mother kill your father?" I asked, curious to know because the mate bond was incredibly strong.

When I had first met Alexander and thought of him as the enemy, despite my judgement on him, the strong connection between us had made it hard for me to control myself. The mating bond wasn't simple.

Alexander finished cleaning my skin, blowing air to dry the wetness from the solution before he packed away the box and turned back to me.

Narrowing his eyes as if he was re-collecting Aspen's said words, he told me, "The wolf said something about my father being in love with his mother, a human who was not his mate. Then my mother came along, and of course, as his mate, she did not stand for it."

I frowned at his words. Essentially, if Aspen was telling the truth, Alexander's mother had killed the late Alpha because he didn't want her.

Mate rejections were rare, but I had learned that they occurred. I had never, however, heard of killings because of it. But then again, I wasn't sure if I quite blamed her, as horrible as it sounded.

The mate bond was indescribable. Once you were imprinted on, it was hard to fight the moon Goddess. But most wolves didn't need to. Heck, majority of us were blessed to have our mates, let alone feel indifferent.

"Baby," Alexander murmured, bringing me out of my trance. "Give me five minutes, I will be in my office updating my men."

I nodded. "Yeah, of course. Take your time, I don't want to rush you. Is there anything that I can do in the meantime?"

Alexander's lips curled up in to the smallest smile, before he shook his head and leaned forward to peck my temple.

"You are doing enough," he told me, his voice low. "I will be right back."

With another quick peck on my head, he pulled himself up from the bed and stalked out of our bedroom, leaving me to whimper behind him. My wolf had the worst timings to be clingy.

This wasn't how I had imagined our life straight out of honeymoon, but I had to remind myself that as long as we were okay, and as long as our pack was alright, everything else would be eventually too.

Or so I hoped.