The Alpha's Vessel [The Alpha's #2]
Chapter Seventeen

THEA PETROVNA

“You’re going the wrong way, mate.” He called out from behind her with a hint of amusement in his voice, watching carefully as she walked away from him with a sleepy Malik in her arms.

Refusing to acknowledge him or his words, Thea kept moving forward toward the pack house where most of his wolves were heading into. However, she wasn’t able to make it very far before she felt a large, calloused hand wrap around her elbow, effectively stopping her from taking another step forward.

“Can you let me go?” She asked with pursed lips, refusing to say please as he didn’t deserve to be spoken to with such manners.

Instead of getting angry like she had expected, Orpheus merely chuckled in response before guiding her away from the packhouse.

“Where are you taking me?” She couldn’t help but ask as she followed behind him, unable to loosen his grip on her. “Where are we going? The packhouse is over there.”

“You’re not going to be staying in the packhouse.” He snorted as he continued walking, now leading her down the side of the packhouse.

“Where are we going to be staying?” Thea asked in a small, quiet voice.

No matter how she tried to dig her heels into the ground so they could slow down and hopefully stop him from taking her to where he wanted to take her, there was no stopping the determined Alpha wolf.

“At my house. With me.” He stated simply without any more of an explanation.

Before she could ask further questions about his intentions and motives, the house in question came into view. It was only when they rounded the back of the pack house that what he said was started to make sense.

Just a little distance away from the back of the packhouse, slightly to the left and hidden behind a group of tall trees, stood a small, homey house that one would miss if they weren’t paying particular question; specifically looking for it.

Not giving her time to take it all in, Orpheus continued tugging on her elbow so they could continue walking toward the house.

“Don’t worry about the bags. One of the warriors will bring them into the house in a little bit.” He assured her when he spied her looking over her shoulder at the car, mistaking her attention to be centred on her things instead of the forest not so far away from them.

Perhaps if she made a run for it and was able to get into the forest, it would buy her enough time to escape and get away from him but before she could entertain that thought further, he tugged on her elbow again, silently demanding that he follow her up to the steps that led to the front door.

Quick to close the door behind them, Orpheus finally let go of her elbow and stood with his back against the door and a small smile on his face, carefully watching her as she held a sleepy Malik in her arms.

“I’m assuming you’d like to start off by putting the kid down for a nap?” He asked quietly, humming quietly while sending a pointed look toward Malik.

“His name is Malik.” Thea was quick to correct him, not at all appreciative of her child being referred to as a kid when it was obvious that he couldn’t remember his name.

Orpheus merely hummed in response and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“I don’t think I like that name.”

Thea ground her teeth in frustration and it took all that she could do to refrain from rolling her eyes, not trusting the action to set him off since he seemed to be so hot and cold all of the damn time.

“Well, it’s too bad you didn’t stick around to pitch names for him when he was born.” She couldn’t hold back the snarky comment and the dark glare that she sent him even though she was sure that she would come to regret that later.

“Right, we need to talk about all of that.” Orpheus frowned slightly. “But first, let’s put Malik down for a nap in his room.”

Even though Malik slept in his own bedroom back at her little house in her old pack, the Lupus Rapax pack, she felt scared to leave him alone here; not at all trusting of Orpheus or any of his wolves to try anything when she wasn’t around to protect him.

“Okay.” She murmured quietly and followed behind him as he led her down the hallway – waking past four closed doors, two on either side – and up the stairs.

Thea didn’t have time to look around at her new home as he walked fast and ushered her into the first room at the top of the stairs.

Glancing around the room, she was met with bare white walls, a small single bed with a dark blue comforter on it and a single chest of mahogany drawers pushed up against the wall.

“I know the room looks kind of boring right now, but all of this was very last minute as I didn’t expect to be running into you at Marcellus’ Mating ceremony.” He explained from the doorway, watching with a questionable look in his eyes as she soothed Malik to sleep before leaning down to press a soft kiss on his forehead, smoothing his hair down and away from his chubby little face. “But once you get more settled, you can do up the room whatever way you want.”

“Sure.” She murmured airily before lifting herself up from the bed and forcing herself to turn and face him, not sure what to do next.

“He’s all good?” Orpheus asked, jerking his thumb toward the sleeping boy.

Thea barely nodded her head.

“He’s not going to fall off the bed or anything?”

“No?” Her lips tugged down into a light frown as she glanced up at him with an evidently questioning look on her face.

“I saw that you propped a pillow up against him yesterday, so just figured that you did it so he wouldn’t fall off the bed in his sleep.”

“Right.” Thea coughed to clear her throat as she glanced back at her sleeping. “There’s not a second pillow so I just bunched up the comforter on one side. That should get the job done.”

“Great.” He hummed aloud, his lips curling up at the corners until he was grinning at her despite how she failed to replace anything funny about the situation. “Now we need to talk so if you could follow me, that would be very much appreciated.”

Even though Thea wanted to deny him as talking to him was the last thing that she wanted to do right now, she figured that arguing with him now would just result in waking up Malik so she sighed and nodded her head before following him out of the room, making sure to softly close the door behind the both of them.

Not even giving her a second to her thoughts, Orpheus reached out for her elbow once again as he tugged down her down the hallway and past two days before reaching the door at the end of the hallway, swiftly pulling her into the room and closing the door.

When she heard the sound of the lock sliding into place, Thea forcefully tugged her arm out of his grasp and turned around to face him, holding her breath as she took a few steps back, wanting to put as much distance between them as possible.

“Why did you lock the door?”

“Because we need to talk.” Orpheus stated simply with a shrug of his shoulders, moving away from the door and taking a seat on the edge of the bed, his dark eyes not once wavering for her. “Why don’t you take a seat?” He suggested though the question fell on deaf ears since sitting down was the last thing that she wanted to do right now.

“You prefer to stand, huh?” He chuckled softly as he stretched his legs out in front of him and reclined back on the bed to rest on his elbows, his lips curled up into a smirk.

“I prefer to not be locked in this room here with you.”

“Well, you better get used to it since this is our bedroom.”

“Our bedroom?” Her eyes widened considerably at his choice of words. “I’m not sharing a room with you.”

“You’re not?” He chuckled mockingly.

“No.” Thea shook her head frantically.

“Then where are you going to sleep?” Orpheus continued to question her with a mocking tone in his voice.

“Anywhere but here.”

Orpheus snorted in response, his chest moving up and down slightly as he laughed, her words having amused him immensely.

“I don’t think so.” He shook his head and denied once the laughter had died down. “You’re my mate and you’re sleeping in my bed with me every night. There’s absolutely no question about that so don’t even try.”

“You can’t tell me what to do! You have absolutely no right!” Thea scowled deeply as she crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to let him walk all over her.

“Like I said before, we’re mate so that gives me every right.”

“You can’t just say we’re mates and expect me to believe it.” Her scowl deepened as she rolled her eyes, a shiver running down her spine; hating the way he was able to elicit such reactions from her with just one look.

“Look me in the eyes right now and tell me you doubt that we’re mates.” Orpheus hummed quietly, exuberating confidence. When she couldn’t bring herself to say anything, his lips tipped higher.

Bringing himself into a sitting position on the bed, he cleared his throat before continuing, a mask of seriousness taking over his face as he stared back at her.

“I’m sorry for the way that I chose to handle everything and the fact that it had to come to what it did.” Orpheus began with a heavy sigh, almost as if gearing himself up for a grand confession. “I’m sorry for sleeping with you all those years ago and then not calling you the next morning. I should have and I wanted to, but I ended up losing your number and for that, I’m genuinely sorry.”

When she opened her mouth to speak, he raised his hand in the air to cut him off and indicate that he wasn’t finished talking; having a whole lot more that he needed to get off his chest while he still had the chance.

“I know I tweaked the motel story just slightly so it didn’t look too bad on me, and that it was indeed me that had left in the morning, but it was pretty believable, don’t you think?” He paused to chuckle. “But I guessed it was fine since you decided to tweak the story and accuse me of raping you even though we both know that’s not what happened. But it’s fine. Let’s just work to move forward from here.”

Once he was done with his mini rant, Thea forced herself into the conversation as it appeared that was the only way to get him to shut up.

“There was no motel involved in that story no matter how much you try to convince me that there was.” Thea replied back after a few moments, her voice dangerously quiet as she blinked back at him; unable to believe all that she was hearing spew out of his mouth. “You raped me in the alleyway and we both knew it.”

“That wasn’t rape.” Orpheus denied with a simple shake of his head. “I know that you’re mad about me not being there for you and Malik, but the only way we can move forward is if we try and put all of our worries and problems behind us, and I’m also sorry that you appear to regret our moment together, but perhaps that’s something that we can get better at together.”

Ignoring his suggestions, Thea threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “You can’t just tell me that, that wasn’t rape because it was! You fucking raped me so don’t try to tell me that you didn’t!”

Instead of answering her, his lips only twitched higher at the corners as he continued to silently study her.

“I’m stood here accusing you of rape. How can you smile about that?” She couldn’t help but ask, surprised that he had managed to stay in a happy, chipper mood the whole time, especially after having known him to be an unpleasant sort of fellow considering all of the things that he had done and put her through, both recently and not so recently.

“We’re mates so that means that we were destined to be together for a reason. The more you push me away, the harder you’re going to make it for the both of us.” Orpheus stated simply as he rose to his feet and stretched his arms up above his head, his lips twitching higher as her eyes lingered briefly on the exposed, toned skin of her stomach, but not after making a point of looking away, clearly not wanting to be caught looking at him.

A light groan escaped him and once his arms returned to his side, he continued to watch her from under hooded eyes as he took a few steps toward her.

For every step that he took toward her, Thea took a step back until her back was pressed against the wall and there was nowhere else for her to go. When he pressed his body into hers and braced both of his arms on either side of her head against the wall, she couldn’t help but flinch

Not the least bit fazed by her reaction with having him near, Orpheus continued forward.

“Don’t worry.” He assured her while “I forgive you for accusing me of raping you when we both know that isn’t what happened between us that night.”

“You forgive me?” Her eyes threatened to bulge out of their sockets as she stared up at him, her mouth agape with just how shocked she was to hear those words come out of his mouth.

“Yes.” He grinned before bowing his head to press his forehead against hers, his cool, minty breath washing over her as he spoke.

Before she could respond, Orpheus was quick to continue as he had a lot to get off his chest.

“I know that you’re human and you don’t quite understand how things work in the werewolf world, but I’m going to do everything I can to make this transition as smooth as possible for you and Malik.”

Thea merely pursed her lips in response, not sure what to do or make of the situation. When she couldn’t get any words out of her mouth, he continued speaking.

“Who knows? You might get your wolf when we mate just like Anastasia did.” He grinned against the smooth skin of her neck as his mouth continued to move up, not the least bit concerned or fazed when she squirmed in his arms, trying to set herself free.

“When we mate?” Thea couldn’t help but question in shock, unable to believe just how fast everything was moving.

Not taking her words the least bit seriously, Orpheus merely chuckled light-heartedly as his mouth continued to move up.

“Whether you like or not, we’re mates and we’re going to get through this.” He whispered into her ear, his tongue poking out of his mouth to lick along the outer shell of her ear, only smirking as her breath audibly hitched in her throat. “The more you try to push me away, the harder you’re going to fall into my arms.”

-

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Layla Knight

10.12.2020