Chosen By An Alpha
Chapter 42

No One’s POV

“You don’t have a brother?”, She asked in order to change the topic. She remembered her father mentioned his brother. But she didn’t pay attention then as she thought the topic was meaningless at that time. She felt Zayden get stiff in front of her.

‘Did I ask something wrong?’, She thought.

‘How does she know about Wyatt?’, He thought.

“You have a brother, right?”, She stated more than asked. The kind of expression that he was giving, clearly indicated that he was hiding something.

“Wrong. I don’t have any brother.”, Zayden lied confidently. ‘No matter what, she shouldn’t know about Wyatt.’, Zayden thought.

“Oh.”, She said, trusting his words. It got too late and both understood the need to sleep now. Zayden pulled her close to himself if that was even possible.

‘Is he going to crush me?’, She wondered.

“Zayden! I can’t breath.”, She lied, so that he would give her some space.

“Don’t lie, sweetheart. I know when exactly I am hurting you and when I am not! Moreover I can smell your lies.”, He said. “Good night.”, He wished and kissed her forehead.

***

Zayden dropped her at her father’s house. She was way too excited to meet her family, especially her mother. It was the first time when she was going to her home after marriage. She had worn a royal blue color gown and the pearl’s pendant that Zayden had gifted her on it.

‘You look so beautiful, sweetheart.’, She recalled his compliment. She didn’t believe him, as he always said the same line even if she wore a nightdress.

When Zayden stopped the car in front of her house, she thought he would at least stay there for an hour. But, he didn’t come out. When she understood her intention, she narrowed her eyes.

“Aren’t you coming in?”, She asked.

“I have some important work. Maybe next time.”, Zayden said apologetically. He had to find out about James and a few more things as soon as possible without wasting much time.

“But it would be nice if you could meet mom and wish her a happy birthday, personally. I will really love that.”, She said, trying to convince him and added the last line intentionally.

He stared at her for a while, before getting out of the car. Well, he didn’t have the heart to say NO to that face! But the moment he came out, he smelt the presence of THEM. He didn’t show any expression of anger or hatred since it was human society and THEY are free to roam anywhere which is not under his area. Grace smiled when he followed her to her house. She knocked at the door excitedly and was greeted by her laughing sister. She must have been laughing at something that happened before she came.

‘Vampire! How come her sister is a vampire when the rest of her family is human?’, He thought and felt she was not alone. Bothe the younger sister of Vampires along with his husband and along with that Paul was also there.

“Oh my god, Grace!”, Her sister screamed in joy. But her smile instantly faded and so did others in the room when they saw Zayden. It was not that they hated Zayden but they were not so fond of werewolves. Even Zayden had the same thought. ‘They are her family then I am sure they won’t hurt her, right?’, He talked with his wolf but he didn’t say anything in return.

He wanted to leave Grace there but Paul’s presence was disturbing him.

“We are not going in, SWEETHEART.”, Zayden declared, stressing on ‘sweetheart’, to show Paul that Grace belonged to him. Zayden turned in the direction of his car.

“But Zayden…”, Grace tried to ask ‘what happened immediately?’, that’s when he interrupted her.

“My decision is final, sweetheart. We are going back home.”, He ordered.

“Grace!!”, Grace’s mother came out of the house as soon as Gina screamed her name.

“Mom! Happy birthday”, Grace hugged her mother dearly.

“When did you come? And why didn’t you inform me?”

“Just now and I didn’t inform you because that’s the surprise which I didn’t want to spoil.”

“Oh god! Silly me”, Her mother slapped her forehead lightly. “Come in”

Grace lifted her leg to walk inside her parent’s home but then she remembered what Zayden had just announced. She turned around to look at him.

“Happy birthday, Mom”, Zayden wished his mother-in-law.

“Thank you, son. I am glad you came.”, Her mother said happily after all her kids along with their husband were here. While Zayden faked a smile for Grace’s sake.

“Let’s go, Grace.”, He said again, making sure to not say ‘sweetheart’ in front of her mother and Grace was thankful about that.

“Zayden please…”, Grace softly tried to convince him.

“Am I not clear to you?” Or should I use a different language!”, He threatened.

***

Gia walked forward to kick Zayden’s a*s for treating her elder sister like this, that’s when her mate stopped her from doing so.

“We can’t expose ourselves.”, Her mate ordered.

“But….”

“It is not wise to mess with a werewolf when he is mad or feeling possessive.”

“Sorry for interrupting in between but we are five against one. We can deal with him somewhere else, can’t we?”, Paul said in between.

“You wouldn’t be speaking this if you had an idea of the name of his wolf.”, Gia’s mate said

***

“What happened?”, Grace’s mother asked when she didn’t understand the situation.

“It was nice meeting you, Mom and wish you a very happy birthday again but she is not going in.”, Zayden said.

“But why?”, Her mother asked.

“You know, Grace.”, He addressed her directly.

Grace instantly retreated from the steps and reached in front of him. “Zayden, you told me that you will trust me.”, She whispered as low as she could so that only he could hear her but she didn’t know five more people could hear her.

“And I do trust you, sweetheart.”, Even he whispered, not caring if someone was still hearing. All he knew was that she didn’t want her parents to hear their conversation. “But I don’t trust that guy.”, He added without looking at Paul and mentioning his name.

“You mean to say that you are not letting me go inside just because of Paul?”, She asked.

“Yes.” he replied bluntly.

“But..but nothing is going on between us.”

“I know, sweetheart. But, I don’t want you to stay with him under the same roof. Come with me. We are going home.”, He said with authority. But she wasn’t going to back off.

“In that case, you can stay here too.”

“You know that I can’t do that.”

“Zayden, please I have never stayed away from mom on her birthday. If you let me stay here then I promise I won’t say anything if you plan to order the food from the outside.”, She said and mentally slapped herself for such a pathetic negotiation. Zayden chuckled, as he knew she was trying to convince him.

“Sweetheart, this is not going to work.”, He said in a serious tone. Grace was thinking of all the things which could change his decision but she was not getting any until something struck in her mind. She thought of using it as her last weapon and was hoping that he would fall for this.

“Zayden, please…If you will let me stay then I will let your wolf mark me.”, She said sheepishly. As much as she knew from Zayden, marking was like a marriage in werewolves and it was important for every wolf to mark their mate so, the same thing was for Zayden’s wolf as well. She had already accepted her marriage with Zayden so sooner or later, she had to accept his other part as well.

When Grace saw Zayden thinking about this offer, a little amount of hope enlightened in her heart but she was still not very sure because, in this way, she could make his wolf agree, not Zayden.

“You love me, na! Pleaseeee Zayden…”

Zayden glared at her. He knew that she did that on purpose. At first, she gave him that offer which made his wolf against him. He wanted to mark Grace and claim her as his mate so he kept shouting in his mind to let her stay at her home and when she mentioned their love for her. He knew that he lost control over his decision. He wasn’t stupid. He wanted her to believe that he loves her and now she questioned his love indirectly, he wanted to prove it. So, he decided to give her what she wanted. But his cunning mind wouldn’t miss a brilliant opportunity.

He came close to her…too close. Raising his hands, he cupped her face in his palms and made her look at him in the eyes. When he was satisfied that she was paying attention, he spoke.

“Fine. You can stay. But I’ll pick you at sharp 9 PM. Okay?”

“Can you come a bit early? I mean mom will be happy to have you at the time of cake cutting.”, She said, thinking about her parents. She was sure that her parents would feel bad seeing her alone at the time of celebration when two of their daughters would be there with their husband while she would be standing alone just like all those previous years.

“I will try. Text me the time of the cake cutting.”, He said. Grace smiled in joy and nodded.

His eyes roamed all over her face. In order to quench his jealousy, he did something for which he knew Grace would kill him. But he wanted to show Paul that Grace was his and his only.

So, he kissed her. He pressed his lips over hers lightly as if showing everybody that even though she was not marked but she was HIS. Her eyes became the size of apples when she realized what he didn’t. Her father and brother went inside to avoid the embarrassment.

Zayden straightened his posture instantly. He didn’t want to have a make-out session in front of her family. But he wanted to show Paul that it was only him who had all kinds of rights on her.

“Go, now.” he said with a big smile.

Grace stared at him wondering what just happened.

‘Did he just k**s me in front of my WHOLE family!’, She asked herself.

When she didn’t move from her position, Zayden turned her and gave her a light push. Grace quickly walked toward her house without looking back. She was too embarrassed to look at anyone.

Her sister and their mates were normal because these things were common between married couples. Moreover, it was crystal clear that Zayden was not forcing himself on Grace.

Paul was furious and….sad. His mind wandered to all the things which would happen between them if he didn’t do anything sooner. He realized that Zayden didn’t even look in his direction. He just looked at Grace. He entered his car, only when Grace entered the house.

He was the cousin of mates of Gia and Gina. So they accompanied him to Grace’s house for the celebration.

‘What was he trying to prove? That she is his mate. Oh, I know the truth very well.’, Paul thought.

Everybody behaved as if nothing happened. What comment could they make! Grace didn’t say anything out of embarrassment. And she knew her mother was thinking of cute names for her future grandchildren because strangely both of her younger sisters couldn’t get pregnant.

***

Zayden stopped the car in the middle of the road and kept recalling what he heard.

“We can’t expose ourselves.”, Her mate ordered.

“But….”

“It is not wise to mess with a werewolf when he is mad or feeling possessive.”

“Sorry for interrupting in between but we are five against one. We can deal with him somewhere else, can’t we?”, Paul said in between.

“You wouldn’t be speaking this if you had an idea of the name of his wolf.”

‘Care to explain what they were talking about?’, He asked his wolf who was silent. ‘They know your name but I had no idea about your name yet! Why are you so mysterious?”

**SILENCE**

‘Speak up, damn it.’, He asked in anger.

‘Dominic.’, His wolf answered.

‘What?’

‘That’s my name.’, His wolf finally shared his name.