The Alpha's Exchanged Mate
The Alpha’s Exchanged Mate – Chapter 59

EDWINA’s POV

I gazed upon the man to which I had married proudly, how he had managed to salvage all the situation that presented itself yesterday as a true leader. If I wasn’t aware of his struggles beforehand, I would have assumed he had a speech memorized somewhere in the back of his head and also prepared a lot of possible questions and found answers to them, but there was nothing like that. He had been scared shitless to address his people beforehand. He had even dropped the speech which we had rehearsed that gave some politically correct answers but still didn’t visit most of the key areas in which we faced.

He was able to let out his vulnerable side and amplify his strengths more than his weaknesses. He had been able to gain the trust of most of the pack members, at least to a very large extent, and that was a win.

We had come back that day, and I had f****d him so well last night. It wasn’t a gratitude f**k. It was more like an “I am proud of you f**k,” I didn’t say it, but I let my body show.

“You are so beautiful. I think I am so lucky to have you in my life,” he had said when we both finished, and we were lying down, side by side, facing each other. This was what I wanted from my ideal partner.

But I don’t know why I haven’t fallen in love with him yet. Was my mind that closed off to love? Why was it so easy to fall in love with someone as dishonest as Ben but not with him?

“Good morning, so you are looking at me,” he said when he finally opened his eyes with a smile, and I almost blushed because I knew how weird it sounded and felt to be caught staring at him.

“It is no big deal, Good morning,” I replied defensively, and he smiled.

I think if there was something I could possibly fall in love with about him, it was the way he smiled. It was so refreshing and sometimes breathtaking, but often times he rarely smiled. Things had not only been overwhelming for him but, on the other hand, causing him a major part of his joy.

“Hope you slept well, or you didn’t replace time to sleep considering you were busy staring at me all night,”

I playfully punched him.

“Ouch,” I playfully responded.

“I slept well if you may know and I only started staring at you about a minute ago,”

I said to him, and he chuckled.

“I see, well let’s say I believe you,”

During the time I was married to Ben, I didn’t have many morning moments when we would play and plan our day like this.

I normally got up early to cook for him, and then he would eat, and he would drop me to where I planned to spend my day, which was mostly the library reading.

I got up, yawning, as I took my pyjama robe and rounded my body on it. I was still stark naked at this point. I had not gotten dressed after we had made love last night. Instead, I had just covered myself with the blankets and slept off.

“What are your plans for today?” He asked me, and I smiled. I think that was the most gratifying question I woke up to everyday day with him. It gave me that sense of purpose. Mostly, Ben would just tell me to go to the Library. He never supported the idea of me working, claiming it was unheard of that the wife of the Beta should be working. And as the Beta’s wife, there were a lot of functions I was meant to be in attendance at and was never let to attend. He said they were mostly boring and had no relevance in my life. And he even made me decline a position in the top women’s council. I could have thought he had done all these things to protect me, but now that I am carefully analyzing it, he had done it all to protect himself. He didn’t want me exposed with him in public so that people would know that he was married to a deficient human, someone with no wolf. He was embarrassed about that part of me. And whenever he had a function that required him to go with a plus one, he would go alone. Anytime he did it, most of those things broke me down, I tried to pretend as if they were nothing and didn’t get to me, but they did with every bone and fibre in me.

“I think I will go out with Ramona to visit the families, especially the soldiers, to see how they are faring,” I told Alexander, and I could see him smile.

“I am glad you would do that,” he said briefly, and all of a sudden frowned.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you want me to do it? Tell me if I am not supposed to interact with them. I would love to know. It’s no big deal. I will keep my distance,” I mumbled when I saw the change in his countenance.

“No, no, no, it is nothing like that. I even love that you are taking the initiative to go and visit them individually. It will help them develop more confidence and help us all in a time like this to feel like we all matter and are being heard,” he responded, and I sighed. I was sighing at myself in disappointment when I recognized my response and reaction was induced by all I had faced with Ben and his attempt to always keep me away.

“Then what is it, why are you agitated?” I asked.

“I am not agitated, just a little bit worried,”

“Hmm,” I sighed again, “About what?” I asked.

“A Lot of things, but one thing I have been most bothered about is the way of recruiting more soldiers to fight with us,”

I walked back to the bed and sat down close to him.

“I thought you said you had reached out to some of the Alphas of some of the pack across the realm and solicit their aid to provide soldiers for you?” I asked again.

“Well, I lied, I had not done no such thing,”

I rolled my eyes because when he said it, I had also asked myself why I wasn’t aware of that move he made, and I was also sad that he still wasn’t keeping me In the loop of all he did.

“Hmm, but you plan to do so, right?” I asked because I didn’t think it was such a bad idea, and except we planned to start recruiting child soldiers, there was no way we would get enough soldiers needed for this battle. Recruiting child soldiers weren’t even an option we were willing to consider.

He reached out for my hands and clenched them together with his and made me lay my head down on his chest, his broad chest. Even though he most probably had not worked out for about six months or more, he was still looking so fit and muscular.

“I am considering it, but I don’t see the feasibility of the plan working. Right now, the sizzlers are one of the strongest packs in the realm, and they are being feared by a lot of the other packs. None of them would want to get their hands dirty to replace someone else to mess with. If it were the time I was still the strongest Alpha, maybe they would have done it, but right now, they fear Alpha Bethel more,”

I frowned too because I knew this to be true, we would go out to general functions, and there would be the highest seat reserved for the sizzlers.

“So, what else do you plan to do?”

He sighed and frowned both at the same time.

“I have a crazy idea but I don’t know how it will sound to you and if you will buy the idea,” he responded, and I smiled at him.

“I think I love crazy,”

“You don’t,” he scoffed.

“You don’t know me that much,” I responded with a smile, and he drew me closer and tilted my head upward to face him. He took my mouth into his and kissed me; it was one long, passionate k**s. I knew the k**s wasn’t going to lead to anything, but it felt nice to be kissed in that manner by him.

“So tell me your crazy idea,” I said when our mouths finally parted from each other.

“I am thinking of setting free some of the prisoners who were once soldiers or have the battle experience and had done something wrong along the way to recruit them back to fight for us,”

I frowned. I am not sure I love this idea.

“What is the guarantee that they won’t do something remotely evil when they are out again?” I asked in concern, I didn’t doubt Alex’s decision-making skills, but I am not sure about this particular one.

“A lot of things would inform our decision, if the crime is something like a felony of a misdemeanor, I think with a little bit of training and evaluation, we can let them slide. But high crimes such as murder and all that, won’t be set free,” he explained.

“I think that is true, and I think we can go for it,” I replied, but it wasn’t because I bought the idea completely. It was because of the side gain and a request I wanted to make.

“Really, I will run it through with Caleb before making a decision,” he responded with a smile.

“Sooooo,” I dragged.

“So?” He asked.

“Does that mean, Sonia can finally face trial and be free?”

I could see him frowning. He did not like the idea one bit.

“I am begging you, she is about entering her last trimester and I don’t want her to have to give birth and raise a child in the prison,” I explained.

“So you are ready for her to know that you are now luna and not her?”

He asked, and I frowned. That was something I didn’t really put into consideration when mapping out that plan in my head minutes ago.

Was I really ready for that?