Alphas Broken Mate
Chapter 9

Catalina's

POV

When we walk into the lake house it looks like a magazine cover. We walk into the living room with a large stone fireplace surrounded by two large sofas that are dark brown. The walls, ceiling and floor are all light wood. And comfy throw blankets are everywhere. There is a large window on the far wall with a beautiful view of the water. To the left is the dinning room with a large dinning room table that can fit probably 16 people. A large antler chandelier hangs from the ceiling. To the right of the dinning room is the kitchen. The kitchen has a stone island and light wood cabinets with dark brown countertops. The cabin has two sets of stairs, one spiral staircase off the kitchen and another straight staircase off the living room. We go up the straight stairs and turn right into a hallway. "This is a shared bathroom." Andrew points to the first door down the hallway.

"This will be my room in case you need me." He points to the one next to the bathroom.

"And this is your room."

He stops at the last room down the hallway. When he opens the door the smell of wood and flowers fill my nose. This room is beautiful! Windows cover two of the walls to the right and back wall. The right side has a small bed cut out by the window and it's full of pillows. There is a huge bed in the middle of the room with wooden bed posts. There is a small desk and chair.

"There is a bathroom attached to this room so I thought you would like this room." He says and he places my bag on the bed and points to one of the doors. I go to the door and open it to a large claw foot tub, small white tiled floor and again a large window letting in all the natural light. This place can't be real!! I can't stop smiling at everything.

"I'm glad you like it." Andrew says with a smile.

"I've never been in a place like this before." I say still looking around the room and laying on the small bed by the window. It has a great view of the woods meeting the lake.

"Well I will let you get settled. Come down when you're ready and we'll make plans for the rest of today." Andrew says making his way to the door and leaves. I feel a ping in my heart when he closes the door. I guess I wanted him to stay, but he's respecting my choice. I close my eyes and take a deep breath in, taking in the last scent of him. I run and jump on the bed. I love it here so far and I never want to leave. I open my bag and begin unpacking when I hear a knock on my door. "Come in." I yell

Rachel walks in with a smile.

"Hey hun how's getting settled going? I see Andrew gave you the house suite." She says with a grin.

"Yeah it's so beautiful here, it's like unreal."

Rachel laughs and jumps on the bed.

"Yeah I remember the first time I came here. It was nothing like I was used to." She says getting lost in her memory. I don't know much about Rachel's past, I guess I just assumed she was from this pack and grew up like Andrew and Murphy. I know the guys grew up together because at dinners Andrew would tell stories about the trouble those two would get into. But I haven't heard anything about Rachel come to think about it.

"Did you not grow up in the Moon Lake Pack?" I ask.

Rachel shakes her head. "No, the pack I grew up in doesn't exist anymore."

"What happened?" I ask joining her on the bed. We both lay back and look up at the ceiling.

"Well the pack I grew up in was small. It was nice. I knew everyone and everyone knew me. However there were dangers in being a small pack. More than once we were attacked by rogues. They wanted our resources and land. We always fought them off though, until. One night we were under attack. My mother and father were Gammas and warriors. The Alpha of the pack had called for aid from the Moon Lake Pack. They came but they were quite far, by the time they arrived only a third of the pack was left, and our Alpha was badly wounded. Moon Lake beat back the rogues and won. The two Alphas of the pack agreed to let my pack join Moon Lake under one Alpha. The Alpha of our pack died the next day. We were brought to the Moon Lake Pack, which was a big change for all of us. But everyone was really nice, well most everyone."

"Who wasn't nice?" I say sharply.

"Hahaha just a few mean girls. Don't go beating anyone up over it." Rachel giggles. I laugh too realizing it was probably a while ago.

"How old were you?" I ask

"Around 14 when I got here. Life has been pretty good since. I finished school. I found my mate. And I've made a great friend." Rachel says reaching for my hand. I smile knowing she is talking about me. A knock comes from the door. Andrew appears. "You hadn't come down so I thought you fell asleep. But it looks like you are caught up in girl talk." He says leaning against the door frame and folding his arms in front of him. He has a smile on his face so I know he's not mad, but there is a need in his voice. "This is my fault. I got talking and you know how I can be." Rachel says getting up from the bed.

Just then Murphy comes up "Guys are we really going to waste the rest of this day laying around or are we going to do something? I for one vote on bonfire and s'mores." He looks around at us.

"I'm down." Andrew says

"Me too." Rachel says

"Me three I guess." I say

And just like that Murphy takes off down the hallway down the steps and outside.

"I'm going to change and be right down." I say as they all leave my room. I change into some dark green denim shorts, this cute off the shoulder white shirt and I put on an over sized cardigan. I put on some sandals and head outside. Murphy is working on the fire and Andrew is trying to help.

"Where's Rachel?" I ask

"She's inside getting the fixings." Murphy says in a weird accent. I giggle and head inside to help. I help Rachel gather the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. Then we head back outside. The guys finally have the fire going and we all sit on one side facing the water. The sun is starting to set and the sky is turning red and orange. It's the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. I sit between Rachel and Andrew and we all roast our marshmallows, well except Murphy, he keeps burning his. But I think he likes it that way. When the sun goes down we all just sit there enjoying each others company and listening to the fire and the sounds of crickets. Then I hear rustling in the tree line and shoot my head up.

"It's ok. It's just the patrols. During the day they do large sweeps of the area, but at night they tighten the circle to limit the area they have to see at night." Andrew tells me. He points out a few members of the patrol and I relax a bit. I relax more when I see Gamma Lucas come out from the woods and head towards the cabin. He stands at the front door like a guard.

"I feel a little weird about having Gamma Lucas always standing guard. What about his family? Will he do this all the time?" I look up and ask Andrew.

He smiles "I think he will relax a bit in time. I think he feels bad for not being able to protect you in the past. We all do Lina." He takes my hand and kisses my palm. It feels so intimate. And as soon as his lips touch my hand a warm wave flows through me. I close my eyes to enjoy it.

"Lina, I know I've asked before, but do you feel anything when I touch you?" He asks

"I do. But it's different each time." I say

"Ok so what did you just feel?" He asks

"Warmth. Like a calming warmth through my body." I say quietly even though I know the other two can hear me.

Andrew's POV

She can feel the mate bond! Finally! However she still doesn't act like I've seen others react to it.

"She's still scared dummy." Mark says

"But the mate bond is strong especially for Alphas. She has to be fighting pretty hard against it." I tell him.

"Give mate time. Don't mess this up. I can feel her wolf getting stronger everyday." Mark warns

"Lina, can I ask you something?" I say with concern.

"Yes"

"When was the last time you shifted" I ask as gently as I can.

"Oh, well, about 2 years ago. It felt like for the past two years my wolf was slipping away from me." She says looking down at her hands "What about now? Do you feel her?"

"I feel her more and more each day. We can talk now. I didn't realize how much I missed her in my head." She says looking up at the fire.

"Does she know when she'll be strong enough to shift again?" I ask

"She says she still has a while before she'll be that strong. But she's hopeful. And so am I." She's looking at me smiling. She has the most adorable smile and blue eyes. I kiss her hand again, and she closes her eyes to enjoy it. We stay out until the fire dies down, then we head back inside.

"I think I want to go up and take a bath in that big tub." She tells me when we're back inside.

"Ok get your rest. We'll go out on the boat tomorrow it will be a busy day of fun." I tell her and give her a hug and a kiss on top of her head. She disappears upstairs.

"Well you two are adorable." Rachel says from the kitchen with a large grin on her face.

"Rachel don't start. I'm trying so hard to move slow. It's such a struggle." I say exhaustedly as I'm flop down on the sofa.

"I remember when you two found each other. You couldn't keep your hands off one another. You'd go missing for days." I say to Rachel and Murphy.

"Oh hun I'm sorry. I know this is hard. You are doing so well though. She's opening up more and more each day. I really think this time alone with us will help her feel more comfortable." Rachel says as she makes her way to the other side of the sofa.

"So your saying this was a good idea? Your saying I had a good idea? Drew write this down. I want to remember this forever. Rachel said I had a good idea." Murphy teases her. I laugh as Rachel rolls her eyes.

"That's it I'm sleeping in a different room tonight." Rachel exclaims making her way to the stairs.

"Oh no you don't." Murphy gets up and runs after her, scooping her up bridal style.

"You aren't sleeping anywhere but with me." Murphy growls and Rachel giggles as they disappear upstairs.

Ok good talk guys. I want to be annoyingly cute with my mate. I just have to wait for her though. I sit there for a bit before deciding to go to bed myself.

Catalina's POV

"Rachel don't start. I'm trying so hard to move slow. It's such a struggle." I hear Andrew say. I know I shouldn't be listening but I can't help it. He sounds annoyed.

"I remember when you two found each other. You couldn't keep your hands off one another. You'd go missing for days." Andrew says. He's disappointed in me. I just don't know how to be the mate he wants. I go to my room. I run my bath nice and hot and get in. "Kayla what am I doing wrong?" I ask.

"Oh Lina, you aren't doing anything wrong. You will move at your own pace. There is no right or wrong pace, only yours. How does being with Andrew feel to you?" Kayla asks

"We'll it feels nice, comforting, safe."

"And how do you feel about spending more time with him?"

I smile.

"Then just go at your pace. If you like spending time with him. Then do that. He might be frustrated because he wants to spend more time with you. He is feeling the mate bond a lot. You aren't feeling it as much as him because I'm still weak. But it will keep getting stronger." "Kayla I missed you."

"I know. But I never left you."

I soak in the tub for a bit thinking about everything that has happened over the past few days. About Andrew and how sweet he's been to me. I get out of the tub and get ready for bed. I crawl into the huge bed, it's so comfy I fall right to sleep.

I wake up to a hand over my mouth." Hello Cat" he says in my ear. Its Beta Yuri. "I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd pay you a visit. Now be a good kitten and be quiet." I can smell the alcohol on his breath. He rolls me over and is on top of me. I try to get out from under him but his weight is too much. So I do what I can. I scream. It's the first and last time I ever do. I scream and his hand connects with the side of my face hard. I see spots instantly. I feel queasy like I'm going to pass out from the pain. "I said don't scream. You better hope no one heard that." But someone did hear and they bang on the door. He is angry and hits me again. This time I black out.