Welcome Home Mate
Chapter 12

ROXIE

The evening went so smoothly. We had a family night and even watched a film together.

Jason and Sofia went to their house, while Uncle Keith took the spare room.

It was nice to be with everyone.

The next day was quiet, and I didn't leave the house.

My father and Uncle left me to sleep in, but I was greeted with a rose when I woke up and went downstairs.

I love roses; they are my favorite.

I was surprised to learn that the rose was from Alexander.

He even left a note, which only read, "I can't wait to see you."

My stomach was in knots, thinking he was waiting to see me. But a part of me had a guard up; I know he's my mate, but I need to either learn to move forward or figure out what I want with everything he has done to me in the past. Bex stirs in my head as I get up from bed.

Yesterday was a good day; my dad and Uncle picked up some paint from the hardware store in town. I decided to paint my room and give it a brighter meaning to the word Roxie. Something that felt like me, the color aqua.

I love the color; we found a lighter shade and painted one wall in the color.

I had my father place new shelving.

My room looks more like me now than it did back in the day.

I glanced around, knowing I was going to train today.

I knew it was early.

Bex was still asleep.

I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and place them on the floor.

I glanced up and noticed the box of diaries.

I got them out last night and read some more of them. Most were hard to read, as memories of what happened those days were hard.

I shook my head and sighed, "Get a grip," I muttered to myself.

I get up and quickly get myself dressed in the bathroom.

I remembered to place my training gear in the bathroom the night before.

I quickly got myself dressed and walked out of my room.

I walked down the stairs to be greeted by my father, Uncle, Jason, and Sofia.

They look up at me and smile, "Morning sweetheart," says my dad as he walks up to me and places a kiss on my cheek.

I smile, "Morning," I say to everyone.

Jason moves and has a smirk on his face. "This was left for you from your lover boy," he says, as he hands me a rose.

I take it off him and frown. "Stop calling Alexander that," I say to him, which makes him laugh out loud. "You have to see the funny side of this; he never bought flowers for anyone ever. You are his first and also his last." I shrugged.

I walked over to the table and sat next to Sofia, and she smiled at me. "I think having flowers is special," she said.

I looked at my brother, "I think you should take the hint, brother," I said with a smirk.

Jason stares at me, "I already have," he says as he walks past and slams his mouth on Sofia's. He kisses her hard and pulls away, leaving Sofia breathless.

She looks at me and blushes.

"I don't need to win my mate over," he said with a laugh.

I sigh, but Jason puts a card down on the table in front of me.

I stare at it. I know it's off Alexander, but I don't want to look at it.

"Aren't you going to look at it?" asks my father as he takes the chair next to me.

I sigh and grab the card, quickly open it.

The message reads, "Can't wait to see you in training today."

I groaned. Great. I knew I shouldn't have read that.

My stomach goes into knots, and the thought of Alexander makes my heart beat slightly faster.

Mate bond at its finest.

"Well," says my brother, who still has a stupid smirk on his face.

"I think we should leave," says my father.

Everyone moves, and I follow suit.

I couldn't eat a thing, not after reading that card.

Bex stirs inside and looks through my eyes. "You okay? You seem like you want to throw up or something," she says, with concern in her voice.

"Yep, just peachy," I said as I walked behind my father, Jason, and Sofia.

We all leave the house, and Uncle Keith walks with me.

"Mate left another rose and card," I said to her.

Uncle Keith wasn't saying anything to me; he knew I was talking to Bex.

Bex looks at me and c***s her head to the side. "That is what is making you feel ill," she asks.

I looked back at her, "I don't know what to think," I said to her, "I need to see what happens, but I don't need to be forced into anything I don't want to do either."

Bex looks back at me. "I know, and I agree," she says and looks through my eyes. We were now closer to the training ground. I stop in my tracks as I looked around. There were many pack members here, and most of them were looking at me. "Great," I muttered.

"They heard you were back," says Sofia, who stood next to me on the right, and Uncle Keith was on the other. "They wanted to see for themselves."

I groaned.

Sofia placed her hand on my arm and squeezed, "It will be okay," she said, and walked toward Jason. He was looking at me but was staring off into the distance.

"You okay?" asks Uncle Keith as he takes in the training ground.

"Yep, never better," I said, full of sarcasm.

Uncle Keith looks at me, "Remember, don't show your full hand," he says as he makes his way over to my father, standing with the older generation. I walked over to Jason and Sofia.

Sofia smiles, but I hear a grunt. "You can't train here," says a voice from behind me.

I turned to look and noticed a girl, frowning at me.

Bex looks through my eyes and starts to growl. "We can take her," she says.

"I know that, but we have to show that we only know some techniques, even though we probably could kick everyone's a.ss here," I said to her.

I ignored the bimbo and looked at my brother, who seemed to be smirking more again.

"What?" I said to him.

He shakes his head and looks behind me, but I don't look as his scent comes wafting towards me.

"MATE," says Bex excitedly.

I groan.

I stared at my brother, thinking of many ways to kill him and the bimbo.

But suddenly, someone was standing so close behind me that I could feel his heat. His scent was overpowering, and all I wanted to do was turn around and jump into his arms.

"You know, you can look at me, princess," he says as he leans into me.

I stared ahead. "Not happening Alexander," I said through clenched teeth.

I know he's still close, but before he could say anything. Bimbo brain decided to speak up. "Oh baby, come and help me work out," she says as she walks over to Alexander, placing her hand on his arm.

I stepped away and looked over my shoulder, and I looked straight at a hard set of eight abs. f**k, he looks good.

I looked up into his eyes, and he stared down at me with a stupid smirk on his stupid face.

Bex was purring, but we glanced at the stupid bimbo, and her hand moved over his chest into our view.

Bex stops purring and snarls as we watch the bimbo.

I glanced back at Alexander, who was still staring at me, but I had enough.

"I think she needs more help than I do," I said and turned away.

I walked away and headed to the front of the crowd.

I could feel his stare at me; Jason moved away and went upfront with me.

"You should work.." he started to say, but I growled at him. "I would stop if I were you, or I will seriously hurt you," I said to him as I turned to look at him. He was about to protest, but he stared at me. I'm not messing about.

"Time for training," shouts the trainer.

I glanced back to watch the trainer stand in front. But I noticed someone was standing next to him, but when she came into view. I knew instantly who she was, and it had to be her.

Great, another one of Alexander's ladies.

Bex was close and stared at the woman in front. "That's the one," she said with a snarl.

"I need to train," I said back at her.

Bex can feel my mood and knows I'm not in the mood for his s**t. The woman looks at me and glances behind me. The trainer was about to speak, but she leaned up to him and whispered in his ear. I wondered what she was saying to him, but suddenly I felt his eyes were on me.

Oh great, what the f**k did she say now?

The woman pulls back and looks at me with a smirk.

"OK, WE ARE GOING TO DO SOME SPARRING," he shouts. "I WILL PLACE YOU AGAINST YOUR OPPONENTS."

I stay where I am, and the trainer points to various people. He walks along and stands in front of me. "You're Jason's baby sister I keep hearing so much about," he says.

I glared at him.

"I thought you would have been taller," he says.

Oh, I want to kill him. I was about to say something, but I noticed my Uncle shaking his head at me.

Oh, come on, I need to show this d**k what I can do.

I stare back at the trainer. "I guess I can train you, or better yet, stand over there, and we can see what you can do later on," he says; he nods in the direction away from the training grounds.

He pushes past me, and I look over my shoulder. Everyone was already partnered.

I looked at Jason, who was fighting against the gamma, and noticed that Sofia was facing the bimbo.

Bimbo didn't look too happy, and she looked directly at me.

She frowns but suddenly smirks.

She walked over to Alexander, who was talking to the trainer.

Bex was growling; I had enough of this.

I need to do something.

Bimbo was talking to Naomi while Alexander was talking to the trainer.

"How about we train together?" says a voice. I quickly turned around and noticed Alpha Frank standing by the side of me.

I smiled. "I don't think your trainer will like that," I said to him as I glanced back and realized that the four of them were now staring at Alpha Frank and me.

"He can't tell me what to do; I'm the alpha, and not only that," he says as he moves closer to me. I know he was looking at the four people, "Lex will think more quickly next time that girl is around."

I looked up at him. "I don't really care what he does," I said to him, lying.

He smirks, "I know you have feelings; your bond is strong with one another," he says.

"I think we should spar," he says.

I nodded to him and turned to look at him."Okay," I said to him.

The trainer comes over to Alpha Frank and me. "Alpha, you don't have to train with her; I was going to ask her to help me," he says, but glares at me.

"Well, I want to spar with Roxie as she needs some training," Alpha Frank says. "Besides, do you want to face her uncle Keith, one of the most qualified fighting masters in the world?"

The trainer's eyes go wide, and he glances back. I know Uncle Keith is behind, but I don't know what his face is like, but I have some idea.

"Very well, you may as well spar against a weak one," he said.

Bex was pissed. "He is on my hit list, along with blondie s**t pants," she snarled.

Well, one way to work up my wolf is to have a plastic barbie doll to try to get my mate's attention. I glanced at the trainer, but he was in the center of the ground.

"Never mind him," says Alpha Frank, "I know what you can do."

I looked up at him, feeling slightly confused.

Alpha Frank leans into me. "I know you beat your uncle's score in the qualifiers in a spectacular time, and I'm well impressed," he says.

My eyes went wide.

I looked at him, "please don't tell anyone," I said.

Alpha Frank looks at me and nods. "I understand you want to keep your head down and not let Lex know either. But I have to admit; I am proud to say I am happy that we have an ultimate warrior as our Luna. No one will defeat us," he says. "Luna?" I said with a gulp.

Frig, I forgot that Alexander's alpha now.

Alpha Frank smiles but doesn't say anything.

"NOW SPARR," shouts the trainer.

I didn't even hear what he said.

Alpha Frank and I face each other. I followed his moves, even though they were easy, and I had learned them all before. I knew I had to be careful as Alpha Frank was nothing like the competitors I faced before.

The training ended after an hour, and I enjoyed it.

The only downfall was I had to listen to the snide comments from the trainer, Naomi and the stupid bimbo.

I needed to go.

I needed to run.

Have you ever tried to control a feral she-wolf who wanted to rip three people's heads off? Well, I can say it was hard work. Bex wanted to kill the trainer, especially with the comment "Slut," which came from his mouth. Bimbo was sparring against Sofia, but the trainer switched with Alexander halfway through, which the bimbo loved as he got to have his arms around her.

As for Alexander, I didn't even bother looking at him. But I knew he was staring at me most of the time through training.

Everyone was leaving, and I had to get out of there. I knew if I stayed, I would be asked loads of questions that I didn't want to answer.

I turn to walk, but Sofia runs up to me. "Hey, Roxie," she says.

I looked at her and smiled. "Sofia, I will see you later. I need to go for a run," I said before she could say anything. "Bex has been on edge for the last hour, and I think a run will calm her down."

"NO, IT WILL NOT," she yells in my head, "STUPID MATE."

I look back at Sofia; her face softens. "I understand Rox; I could tell you were trying to control her. I was going to suggest we go shopping, but we can go another time."

I have never been shopping with a friend before.

"I would love to, but we will have to do it another time," I said to her. "Can you tell my dad and my i***t brother where I'm going?" Sofia smiles, "I will," she says.

I turned and started to run away from the training grounds. I ran straight to the forest clearing; I needed to get away from everyone. As I get to the forest clearing, I walk into the forest.

Bex was on edge, but I didn't shift. I know if I shifted into her, she would head back and kill the trainer and, most notably, the bimbo. We must have walked for about half an hour.

Bex was quiet, but she stirred, "You know we have been followed the whole time," she said.

Oh, I know; his scent has been wafting toward me.

He must think I was born yesterday.

"I know; I've been ignoring him," I said to her. "I have an idea. Do you want to have some fun?"

Judging by the look she gave me, she was up for it and much more.

Mate wants to follow us; he won't know what hit him.