Alphas Broken Mate
Chapter 22

Andrew's

POV

"Well if you can break Jule's nose I think you can take this lady. And besides my dad says she's harmless, to you at least." I say. Everyone laughs, except Lina. She looks lost in thought. Murphy is talking about something and I feel heat start to roll off Lina. I try to calm her by placing my hand on her thigh. She doesn't react. I feel more heat and she closes her eyes.

"Lina are you ok?" I ask in a whisper. More heat.

"Lina?" I say a little louder getting everyone's attention. She doesn't respond. Then out of nowhere I see a flame. We all stand up and back away from the table. "CATALINA!" I yell and she opens her eyes. A second later the flame is gone. We are all in shock. Lina gets up from the table, runs to her room and shuts the door. "What was that?" Julie asks. Rachel, Murph, and I all look at each other.

"What was that?" She asks again.

"Something's going on with Lina, it's why we are going to see this woman." I tell her.

"She just made fire." Julie says in shock.

"Well it was more like a little flame." Murphy corrects and Rachel hits him.

"Enough of this little flame crap." Rachel says.

"You mean she's done this before?" Julie asks.

"Once, we all shifted and went for a run, she was running really fast and left little flames where her paws touched the ground." Murphy says and Rachel hits him again. "Say little flame one more time." Rachel warns.

"I need to go check on her." I say and head towards Lina's room. I knock on the door.

"Lina it's me can I come in?" I say through the door. I don't want to just walk in on her. The door opens and she walks back to the bed.

"Lina are you ok?" I ask and kneel down in front of her. She doesn't make eye contact with me. I go to touch her but she flinches a little and I feel a ping in my heart.

"Lina I'm sorry I yelled at you. I just didn't know how to get your attention. What happened?" I ask looking at her hoping she'll answer.

"I don't know what happened. One minute I was fine and the next my thoughts just spiraled out of control. I felt so angry." She trails off at the end.

"Angry about what?" I ask. She fidgets with her hands.

"How much I don't know." She finally says.

"About?" I ask

"Everything." She blurts out. I can see she's getting frustrated all over again. I stand up and close the door.

"What's everything Lina?" I say in a more firm voice. She shoots daggers at me, she is definitely frustrated.

"Everything! Me, who am I? What do I have to become? Why can't I mark you yet?" She gets up from the bed and starts pacing the room. "What events have to happen? Why can't I just be normal and happy now that I've found my mate? Why am I so good at fighting in such a short period of time? Why can't Kayla just tell me what is going on? Why does she have to be so cryptic? Why is she so calm for a wolf? Why did I let my family hurt me? What am I going to do about Yuri? Why am I radiating heat? Why don't I know more about you? YOU! Why didn't I know you had a sister? What else don't I know about you? Who were you before me?" I can feel the air is thick with heat. She is still pacing the room. "What is the legend? Why does it have to be me? Am I really ready to be a Luna? Will I be any good? EVERYTHING!" She yells and stares at me.

She stops moving and then tears fall down her face. I step toward her and catch her as she crumbles into me and to the floor crying. I knew she needed to get this out. I knew she had a lot going on but I have been so swept up in it all that I didn't talk to her about, well everything. I sit with her on the floor while she cries into me. I just sit there holding her until I hear the cries lighten and her breathing is heavy. I pull her back and look at her.

"Lina you have a lot of good questions. I can answer a few of them. But I'm hoping over the next few days you can get the answers to all of them. I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you about everything. I just got caught up in living, which isn't an excuse." I say. Her eyes are red and she looks like she could go back to crying at any moment. Then she looks in my eyes and in the softest smallest voice she asks,

"What's happening to me?" Her voice gives way to tears again and I pull her to my chest.

"I don't know love. But we're going to find out." I hold on to her. I hold her like I think she'll fall apart if I let her go. I hold her until she stops crying again. We sit there in silence. My shirt, wet from her tears.

"I don't want to be rude, I know they were all here to spend time with us before we left." She says in my chest. "But I'm tired." She adds. I pull her back.

"How about I put you in bed and I'll go out there and say good night to everyone. I don't even know if they are still out there." I say.

"I don't want to cut your night short. I just want to lay down." She says.

"Ok love let's get you to bed." We stand up and I tuck her in. She doesn't even want to take off her clothes. I kiss her forehead and step out of the room. I'm surprised to find all three of them still there. "How is she?" Rachel asks.

"She's stressed and overwhelmed and I'm an i***t. I thought she was transitioning so well. I should have talked to her about everything going on. Maybe I was trying to avoid it because I didn't have answers for her." I feel like a crappy mate. "Andrew I don't think she knows a lot. She didn't know about the heat. I was surprised her mother didn't tell her." Julie says.

"Im not surprised." Rachel adds.

"What am I missing?" Julie asks. We sit down and tell Julie about Lina. About where she came from and what happened to her. We tell her about her scars and the attacks.

"Goddess" Julie says looking at the floor.

"She told me she was training because she was tired of living in fear of the people that hurt her." Julie says almost like she's in the memory.

"I hope this trip gives her the answers I can't." I say.

"There's only one way to find out." Murphy says.

"We'll get out of here so you can get some rest before your trip." Rachel says standing.

"Let us know when you plan to come back. We'll meet you at the airport." Rachel says.

"Thanks guys." I say as they leave the apartment. I stay seated for a moment thinking about Lina. I want so much for her to be happy and content, but there are things outside of my control. I get up and head to the bedroom. I get undressed and join Lina in bed. When I get in I pull her close to me, I can feel her relax next to me.

"I love you Lina." I whisper and kiss the top of her head. I fall asleep.

When I wake up Lina is awake but still laying next to me. She's running her fingers across my stomach. I smile.

"Good morning love." I say and she looks up at me. I smooth back some of her hair.

"Morning" she says. I kiss her forehead.

"You hungry?" I ask.

"Actually no, I'm still full of pizza." I laugh.

"When do we have to get up?" She asks.

"We have some time before then." I tell her. She turns back to my stomach.

"Lina I was thinking. I want you to get to know me. The me before you. I think I didn't talk too much about my past because I didn't want you to have to bring up yours. I thought if we just focused on the future it would be better. So we have a long plane ride to where we are headed. I was thinking we could use that time to get to know each other more. And I'm sure my father will chime in on embarrassing moments from my childhood." I say. She looks up at me and smiles.

"I'd really love to hear those stories." she says. We laugh. I love her laugh. We lay there for another hour before getting up and ready for our trip. We get our bags and head down. My dad meets us in the lobby. We all head out to the SUV waiting for us. We get to the airport and load up. On the plane, Lina and I sit on the couch and my dad takes the seat across from us. Sara, our air hostess comes out from the front of the plane.

"What can I get you to drink sir?" She asks me.

"Is it too early for whiskey?" I ask to no one particular.

"It's never too early." Sara responds and she winks

"What about you sweetie?" She asks Lina.

"Mamosa please." She says and I raise an eyebrow.

"Well it's brunch time." She says

"She's right. And you sir?" Sara asks my dad.

"I'll have coffee like a normal person." He says

"Oh can I have coffee too?" Lina asks. She loves her coffee. Sara smiles and gives me a look. I bet she remembers Lina from her first trip. How scared and timid she was.

"Of course, I'll be right back." Sara says. She heads to the back of the plane.

"So how do you want to do this?" I ask Lina.

"Do what?" My father asks curious.

"Lina and I are going to spend this plane ride getting to know each other more. With everything that's been going on we haven't been able to." I say

"And he said you could share some embarrassing stories of him as a child." She adds with a smirk.

"Oh well yes I have many. Andrew was a clumsy child." My father says with a laugh.

"Well we don't have to dive into those stories just yet. Let's just ask each other a few questions first." I say

"Well I won't intrude. Honestly I might go take a quick nap. When I come back I'll share some stories that will turn his face red." My father says and takes his coffee from Sara who had just come out with our drinks. She hands us ours before turning to leave. "Alright I'll start. What is your favorite childhood memory?" I ask wanting to start light.

"It would have to be when my mom and I used to bake cookies together every Sunday. On Sundays we'd have a pack cook out and everyone brought something. Those were fun." She looks off in the distance with a smile. I'm glad she has some good memories. "How many women have you been with?" She asks looking me dead in the eyes. Sheesh she went right for it.

"Are you asking slept with or had a relationship with?" I ask, I want to be honest.

"Which is the highest number?" I smile at that. She wants the cold hard truth.

"They are both two now." I say

"So me and someone else?" She asks, I nod.

"What happened to her? Where is she?" She asks.

"Well she found her mate. She lives across the water now in his pack. She's very happy from what I've heard." I say. I can tell she wants to know more.

"But Rachel said you were a bit of a player." She says in a small voice. I laugh.

"Well I did appear that way. It was hard not to. I always seemed to get women's attention." She let out a small growl at that. I laugh again.

"But I never did much with those women. I knew they just wanted me because I'm an Alpha." I say placing my hand on her leg.

"Did you have any relationships before me?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"After I shifted for the first time. My father had my mother and I thrown in the cells. After a few months he brought us out and told me that I would work in the house and I would be treated as an Omega. I wasn't allowed to leave the house. The only people I came in contact with were my family, the betas family, gammas family, and visiting guests." She says. I wanted to murder all of them for letting what happened to her happen.

"What are some of your favorites?" I ask trying to lighten the mood. She tells me blue is her favorite color, tacos are her favorite food, when Harry Met Sally is her favorite movie, and she can't pick a favorite song or band because it's based off her moods. We spend the next hour just talking about ourselves. She leans into me and we cuddle. It's nice. We learn so much about each other and I can tell it relieves some of her stress.

My father comes out from the back a little while later and joins in. He tells her about my test anxiety at school, how I threw up all over one of my tests. He tells her about the time I ripped my pants in training once. I think he's trying to turn me red but Lina loves every story. She laughs so hard at some that she cries. I don't care how many stories he tells as long as I can hear her laugh.

Before I know it we're landing. When the plane stops and we step out and there's a car waiting for us. We get in and start our long drive to Liliths home. After an hour of being in the car, Lina puts her head on my shoulder and closes her eyes. Catalina's POV

I try to sleep on Andrew's shoulder to pass the time. But it feels like every time I open my eyes we still aren't there.

"How much longer?" I ask in a surprisingly sleepy voice.

"Actually it should only be another 30 mins." Andrew says. I sigh in relief. I sit up and look around. The road we're on is a bit rough and bumpy. We're in the thick of a forest. I can't tell if the sun is going down or if the forest trees are just blocking the sun. Possibly both. As we drive I see what looks like a small castle-like structure. It's tall but not wide. It looks like it doesn't belong at all. As we pull up we stop in front of the building.

"We're here."