Welcome Home Mate
Chapter 17

LEX

I was in my office for most of the evening since leaving Roxie.

The cold shower helped me calm down, but I needed to be near Roxie again.

I mind-linked Jason to tell him what happened.

I was pulled from my thoughts when a knock came on my door, and my father walked in.

I looked up as he made his way to the chair in front of my desk.

"How did it go with Roxie? The training was something; what the hell was Bruce and that blonde woman's problem?" he asked.

I sighed and leaned back in the chair. "It went okay, but she wants me to spar with her tomorrow at her place." My father stared at me for a moment, but I carried on talking, "she wants to show me what she's capable of."

I sighed, "and as for Bruce and Amber, I have no clue what their problem was," I said to him.

"Well, the way they treated Roxie was disrespectful. You should have told them that she's your mate," he says.

I don't say anything; I know he's right. Hell, I'm shocked that Roxie acted like she did and did not go into great detail about me not announcing her as my mate.

"As for the sparring, I think it's a good idea," he says, pulling me from my thoughts.

I looked at him with raised eyebrows. "You agree you have never let anyone challenge you like that, not even a woman or mate."

My father smirks, "the thing is, son, I trained with her, and I have to admit I know she was holding back with me as she didn't want to challenge me," he says. "As for you, you hurt her. It's only fitting if you agree and accept the challenge; hell, you may even learn a thing or two from her."

I groan.

I looked back at my father in disbelief, but a mind link opened up, and it was from one of the patrol guards. "Alpha, there have been sightings of rogues on the outskirts of the territory on the south side," he says.

"I'll be there, but check the perimeter and if you spot them, kill them," I said.

I shut the mind link down and stared at my father. "Rogues have been spotted on the outskirts of the south side of the territory again," I said to him. "The guards are doing a perimeter check, but I have told the guards to kill them on sight." My father nods and gets up out of his chair.

"Wait, I will go," I said to him as I moved out of my chair. "You will stay here; ask Tim to come and join you. I will have Jason come with me."

My father nods, and mind links Tim to come to the office.

I opened a mind link to Jason. "Hey dude, there are rogues close to the south side of the territory. We need to check it out; meet me in the clearing of the forest."

"Okay man," he says and sighs. "Sofia is having a night in with Roxie; they are getting to know each other."

I somehow feel slightly jealous that Sofia will know more about my mate than I.

Blaze comes forward and stares out as I move to the office door.

I waved at my father as I opened the office door and headed to the forest clearing, where I saw Jason leaning against a tree.

"You okay there, human?" asks Balze suddenly as we move closer to Jason.

"Yeah, I just want to be with Roxie," I said to him with a sigh. Blaze looks at me, "same here, but we get to see her tomorrow. We will have her in our arms again," he says with a mischievous grin.

I looked back at him, "You realize that Roxie will be fighting us, right," I said.

Blaze laughs slightly, "Oh, I know, and I can still feel our balls have only now come down into place after that kick earlier," he says, smirking.

I groan.

"You okay, dude?" asks Jason as he looks me over. I looked at him. Blaze grins, knowing I didn't tell Jason the whole story about Roxie and me in the forest earlier. He witnessed me getting punched; I won't live it down if he replaces out she kneed me in the nuts too. "I'm fine," I said to him through gritted teeth.

Jason stares at me for a moment but sighs. We walked into the forest and looked for the usual sighting of rogues.

Over the last three years, rogues have been coming onto our territory and even killed a few members the last time they were here. There have only been a few sightings, like three or eight at a time. There is no significant number of them to cause a war, but it is startling to know that we had many.

I have reached out to neighboring packs to replace out if they have had something similar happening in their territories. Most of the alphas haven't even noticed, but two have. Alpha Trevor and Alpha Dean, their packs are on either side of my pack. They have told me that the rogues have been coming into the human town to stay, but they leave. They didn't start having any trouble till five days ago.

Alpha Dean mentioned that alpha Trevor and I should visit him in his pack or meet somewhere with our Beta to defuse the situation. I agreed, but Alpha Trevor didn't have any of it; he recently stopped taking our calls. "Penny for your thoughts," says Jason, walking alongside me.

I glanced over at him and sighed. "What did Roxie say to you about sparring tomorrow?" I asked him.

Jason groans. "She told me nothing, and she wanted to do it and end of," he says, and looks at me. He stops and stares.

I stopped and looked at him. "What?" I asked him.

Jason frowned. "I don't know what happened at the training grounds, but you either announce that Roxie is your mate soon, or you won't be able to win her over."

I stared back at my friend.

"You know I will, but I want her to accept me first," I said.

"You sound like a whiny girl," says Blaze in a huff in my head. I ignore him.

"How can she accept you if you don't put people in their place? That goes for Naomi and that blonde slut," Jason says.

I sighed. "I f****d up on that one, I know. But I want Roxie to be with me, but how will she accept me if she doesn't let me go near her?"

Jason looks at me and sighs. "I don't know dude," he says.

We start walking and head to the end of the forest territory, where two of our guards are walking toward us.

"Alpha," one says. "We followed their scent and found that they were in a camp close to the human town."

I nod.

"What did you do?" asks Jason as he looks between them.

I sniff the air, and the smell of blood hits my nose. Blaze growls out, rogues blood.

"Did you kill them?" I asked them before they could answer Jason's question.

"We did; there were only two of them," one says, "but more scents were wafting nearer to the camp. They seemed to be coming from the human town."

I glanced behind them, and there was no one in sight.

"I want more than two guards patrolling tonight," I said to them.

They nodded their heads.

"Beta Jason and I will take the first shift here, and both of you do another perimeter check," I said to them. "The ones that are due to come on patrol can stay with us but put more men on guard on the other sections of the territory." Both men nod and leave; taking the same route, I notice them walking toward us earlier.

"They will recheck the campsite," says Jason as I look over at him. "I guess we should have pre-spar training to prepare you to take on my sister in the morning."

I groan, which makes Jason laugh.

I can feel Blaze smirk in my head.

God, this is going to be a long night.