Alpha Luke and His Unwilling Mate
Chapter 32

~Nyla~

I thought I had a sexy dream. I was tossing and turning in my bed, unable to catch a wink. The pendant was lying on the nightstand. I hadn’t dared to wear it yet. Luke’s b***d would sustain me for a few days before the withdrawal symptoms kick in again.

Walking to the window, I slightly cracked it open to let the night breeze in. Even at almost midnight, there was still some activity down below.

Luke was supposed to be back around dinner, but I didn’t see him return. As I was drifting off to sleep thinking about him, I heard someone jump into my room by opening the window wider.

The whiff of his earthy scent caught in my nostrils as he laid next to me. Wrapping his strong, muscular arms around me, he crushed my body into his broad frame, claiming my lips and nuzzling his head into the crook of my neck.

All I could manage was a m**n, asking him to keep kissing me and not stop hugging me.

“You are back to smelling like rain and raspberries.” He said and took in my scent some more. “You smelled like the ocean and driftwood last time.”

“Hmm…” I fell asleep in his arms, hoping Luke would actually come and hold me tight like this. I woke up alone in the bed when the sun had barely risen.

Were those really his words? About how I smelled? I turned to the side to bury my nose in the pillow he was lying on in my dream, but the sound of the bathroom door interrupted me from doing so. My mate took a shower in my bathroom.

“Oh, so there’s indeed an intruder. Is your shower faucet broken or di—” I choked on my words when he turned around and walked towards me. “I thought…”

I gulped and looked at the window and then back at the mouthwatering sight. Small droplets of water dripped off his wet mop of hair, sliding down his bare chest. My eyes followed their trail as the droplets seeped into the pearl white towel he was wrapped in.

Placing his hands on the bed on either side of my body, which was still wrapped in a blanket, he leaned in with a sexy smirk. My heart was beating hard against my ribcage while my hands wanted to peel the towel off his body and lock him in an unyielding embrace.

“You thought what?” His deep green eyes flashed amusement while he ran his hand over my cheek, clearing it off the wispy ringlets of my messy hair.

My breathing turned ragged at his words, “I missed you like hell. I’ll take you with me wherever I go.”

Cupping the back of my neck while pressing the small of my back with his other hand, he pulled me into a k**s. Those words ignited a hot fire within me and I jumped into his arms, thrusting my h**s against him.

“I have to go to the Golden Dells region tonight to oversee the restoration there. Will stay there a couple of days.”

I moved away from him when I heard the name. Golden Dells was where Wyatt’s pack used to be.

“Do you want to go with me?”

Do I want to go with the murderer to see my dead husband’s hometown? Hell no. But there was something about the look on his face that consumed me. Don’t know what changed between us or why he was looking at me the way Wyatt did. I was probably sucked deeper into the mate bond, feeling things I shouldn’t.

“No, I refuse. I don’t want to see how the picture perfect place is ruined along with all my dreams with the man you killed.”

“It’s not really in ruins anymore.” He ignored the rest that I said.

“Still… no.”

“Fine.”

“Did you say tonight?”

He turned his back to me while putting on a T-shirt, not willing to talk to me anymore.

“Uh-huh.”

He disappeared into the closet and then left the room in a minute, all without looking at me. Who’s playing the victim here? He’s pissed because I brought up what he did?

Was I going with him? The dude just left me hanging. I didn’t know anymore what I wanted to do. Oh, I do. I wanted to stay close to him.

I ate breakfast and packed my bags, trying to act as normal as I could. The excitement was building up without my control as the sun went down. Zipping my bags up, I looked at my reflection in the mirror one last time when Eric knocked on the door.

They were going with us too. And so were Ari, the wet nurse, and Ren. I went up to the roof with them and stepped into the chopper, wondering where Luke was. Ren gave me a menu card while I couldn’t help remember how awful it was to be sitting right in this thing, strapped and crying some two months back.

Ari was right next to me now, smiling and making faces at me and the wet nurse. Luke entered with his new beta, Connor. The wet nurse took my baby and sat in the seat behind us while Luke told something to Connor before his beta went to the back with the bodyguards.

I half expected Luke to be still sulking at me and go sit in the back with the other men. Checking to see if my seat straps were secured, he took me by surprise with a k**s that lasted more than half a minute.

“I’m happy you are here,” he said and kissed me again.

I was sure everybody could see and hear us. When he told me this morning about going with him, I thought I would be leaving secretly after midnight.

My mate wasn’t hot and cold anymore. He was warm and interested in everything about me suddenly as we took off into the air. My suspicious mind alerted me about this new leaf he had turned. He was probably hoping to extract information from me about what kind of b***d-sucking monster I was.

We ate a four-course dinner and talked some more. I didn’t know he was capable of holding a conversation without storming out of the room or grounding me for days. His eyes held a twinkle whenever Rachel’s name came up, and those rare dimples that she had told me about were a common sight today.

Sleeping on his shoulder, feeling his pampering k****s and cuddles, I almost forgot about Ari until I heard her cry. She needed me to put her to sleep.

As I watched Luke placing little k****s on her nose and having some funny conversation with her, my thoughts drifted back to Wyatt. He was restless for Ari to come out soon and had made so many big plans. Tears flooded my eyes as Ari cackled at Luke’s words.

We were in Golden Dells around the break of dawn, and a million memories of Wyatt and his family overwhelmed me. In just two months, a lot was reconstructed and looked different, but the beach over which the chopper flew before finding a roof to land was still the same. It was the same beach where Wyatt found me for the first time.

We flew over the mall, and the first ice cream shop we went to. It was the first ice cream I ever ate. Didn’t know humans could invent something so delicious. Wyatt had told me taking me out was like walking a hyperactive dog who got distracted by every little thing. A lot can change in a year, and the people we take for granted can be gone forever.

“Nyla…” Luke and I were already in a hotel lobby while I was lost in Wyatt’s memories.

“Do you want to come down to eat breakfast or have it delivered to the room?”

“Er… come down.” I had eaten enough meals in my room over the last two months. Besides, the breakfast lounge seemed to have a beautiful view of the city.

Luke left me at peace while I showered and spent time with Ari. I looked out of the hotel room window at the place I used to call home. It had changed a lot, fully renovated. Ren came soon enough and walked me down to the breakfast lounge, where Luke was already talking to some men who were involved in the rebuilding.

“I missed this! Goldenberries don’t grow at your place.” I told Ren and introduced her to a sweet and tart pie made with them.

I had my mouth stuffed with the pie when I saw Luke was talking about me with those men he was in a meeting with. They nodded and soon we were on our way to the palace.

The palace in shambles! Except that they had cleaned the debris off after demolishing several parts of it.

“Which side was your bedroom at? Do you want it anywhere else?” Luke’s question threw me off.

“Is the pack moving here? What’s happening?”

“Possibly. You lived here, so you might already have an opinion about how you want things to be. Let these people know.”

How did I want the place to be? But I was leaving him in a week.

The men talked while walking around the place, and soon we reached the less ruined part of the palace grounds. The part where the hidden tunnels were built and which led to the beach.

My heart was fluttering weirdly when we reached the exact place where I met Luke for the first time. It wasn’t a feeling of sad nostalgia. Instead, it filled all my senses with delight and strange contentment.

I looked around to find him, and I heard him say to two men, “I won’t change a thing about this part, except planting back all the trees we destroyed.”

Walking back to me after what seemed like an hour, he twined his fingers into mine. We spent a few hours before and after lunch visiting several familiar places. I wasn’t thinking about Wyatt anymore.

I was showing Luke all my favorite spots. He bought me a huge waffle cone with Cherry Garcia ice cream, and no matter how hard I tried to remember, I couldn’t recollect all the details of my first day out with Wyatt. They were all getting replaced by the new memories we were making.

He brought up the topic of my identity only once, and it wasn’t in an interrogating manner.

“It’s partly my fault if you don’t feel comfortable sharing it with me,” he said.

When would I be ever comfortable sharing with him things like how I killed Ryder? That can wait. I couldn’t think straight when he was ripping my clothes off once we were back in the hotel room.

Taking a shower together in the warm water with steam coming off our bodies, his hot hands left imprints all over my skin like I always belonged to him. Pinning me to the glass wall, he showed me the most sensual and sensational ways to make love.

We continued in bed until we were exhausted and starving for dinner. My breathing became steadier and my eyes grew heavy as sleep took hold. I didn’t want to sleep. I wanted my every waking moment to be with him for the next few days I was in my human form.

“I can’t let anyone know you are my mate. But I want to take you as my chosen luna. I want you and only you to go through with the mating ceremony, not Adalyn or someone else.”