Mated To The Wrong Alpha
Chapter 51

Ava stared at the carbon copy of her mate, unsure of what to say. The strength of his muscles was evident by how the material of his clothing stretched tautly over his body. Dark, faintly damp hair hung shaggily over his forehead and there was the faintest curve to his nose as if it had been broken at one point. His mouth was firm and set in a straight, unyielding line. It was amazing that the man could look so much like Arthur at first glance yet exude such a different aura. Arthur was strong and caring, while Ryne was…dangerous? A part of her mind acknowledged that the rocky, uninviting atmosphere of the ravine seemed to suit him, and she found herself reassured to know that, by Marla’s admission, he was not the psycho rogue wolf that she’d been led to believe. However, he was still an unknown quantity and needed to be treated with caution. Clearing her throat, she gave the lamest greeting possible. “Hi!”

There was no response. Instead, the man’s gaze seemed to be assessing her, taking in her appearance from head to toe. She felt inexplicably self-conscious, aware that she was far from looking her best. Her clothes were dirty and torn, scratches and smeared b***d stained her hands and probably her face as well. She resisted the urge to finger comb her hair and straighten her jacket, instead forcing herself to meet his gaze. Showing weakness was not an option, despite her vulnerable position.

When he spoke, his voice was deep, similar to Arthur’s, but harder and lacking the caring quality that she had come to expect from her mate. “Did you kill her?” “Kill who?” It wasn’t what she’d been expecting him to say.

“Rose.” He gestured with his head towards the dead woman’s body. “Did you kill her?”

“No! Of course not! I was running, and she was chasing me and then she jumped, and we sort of rolled down and…” Her voice trailed off as his blue eyes narrowed and a growl rumbled in his chest.

“I don’t know if I should believe you or not. Rose was part of my pack and she wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“It was all an accident!” She hastened to reassure him, while thinking that here was another person Rose had managed to fool. “I broke my leg during the fall …”

He leaned forward and touched her leg as if to check the veracity of her claim. She bit back a cry of pain. Immediately he withdrew his hand, but instead of moving away, came closer and sniffed her. A puzzled frown appeared. “Arthur’s?”

She nodded. “Arthur is my mate.”

A smirk appeared. “He works fast. He wasn’t even seeing anyone when I left.”

“We’ve only been together three weeks. It was an arranged union. My father is Alpha of the territory to the west of here.”

“I wondered if a political pairing would be needed on that front.” He was silent for a moment, and then stuck out his hand. “I’m Ryne, Arthur’s half brother.”

“Ava.” Her small hand was engulfed in his and comforting warmth came over her. It wasn’t the same tingling awareness that she got from Arthur, but still it was…nice.

“Care to tell me what happened here?” He sat down and looked at her expectantly.

“I will, but could you possibly help me first?” She wanted to get away before Marla returned.

“No. Tell me your story and then I’ll decide.” Ryne folded his arms and seemed prepared to wait as long as necessary.

Damn. She wanted to get away but didn’t dare push too much. He looked like he was used to getting his own way and right now Ryne was her only hope. Giving an exasperated huff, she launched into a much-edited version of what was happening.

“Do you know about the oil company wanting the land and offering lots of money?” He nodded, so she continued. “Apparently, Marla is trying to force Arthur into selling out and she thinks if I’m out of the way, she’ll be able to get Arthur to listen to her.” She paused to gauge his reaction.

Ryne snorted and shook his head. “Typical of the bitch.”

Silently, she agreed, but kept her comments to herself. “Marla and Rose were planning to kill me, so when I got a chance, I ran. Rose tackled me, and we rolled down the ravine. She died in the fall and now Marla’s gone off to get some stuff so that she can kill me by herself. I’ve been trying to get away, but, as you can see, I haven’t made it very far.” She carefully avoided mentioning how Marla had been using Ryne as a scapegoat. Remembering that Ryne had been described as hot-headed and impulsive, she thought she’d avoid getting him all worked up.

“Rose was in on this plan?” He sounded sceptical.

“I was surprised too, but she had a gun pointed at me.”

“Humph, it’s always the quiet ones you have to watch.” Ryne rubbed his chin and appeared lost in thought.

The silence stretched between them and she began to wonder if he even remembered she was there. “Umm… Can I ask you a question?” He looked at her with raised brows. “Did you… I mean, a couple of weeks ago, were you over at Marla’s?” She shrank under his gaze, cursing herself for asking the question even as the words left her mouth. Hopefully, it wouldn’t set him off.

“Yeah. I was there.”

“Oh.” She answered in a small voice, averting her eyes. The man beside her had threatened and attacked Marla. While she had no love for the woman, she wasn’t comfortable around a man who would hit a female. What if she made him angry? Would he strike out at her too?

“And I hit her…once. I know that’s what you want to ask.” Ryne made the statement blandly as he scanned the woods around them. “Do you want to know why?”

“Well, I suppose. If you want to tell me, that is.” She wondered what possible reason he could give.

“Before the challenge—you know about that?” She nodded. “Well, Marla and I were an item. Originally, she was Arthur’s girl and around him she would put on this helpless female act, playing up to his need to be the protector, but when Arthur wasn’t looking, she showed me her true colours. She was the ‘bad’ girl with a bit of an attitude and I found that appealing for some reason, so I worked hard to steal her away from him. I didn’t feel guilty about it, since I knew she was playing him along and he’d never really be happy with her. In a way, I was rescuing him from his own blind stupidity. It was only later that I found out she was stringing me along, too.

“Marla’s a master manipulator and without even realizing it, she had me eating out of her hand. She knew my weaknesses and played on them; got me to challenge Arthur because of some c**k and bull story about him sabotaging Zack’s truck. Damn, I can’t believe I was such an idiot.” He ran his hands through his hair and shook his head in obvious self-disgust. “Anyway, long story short, Arthur won. I was embarrassed and left the area. Marla refused to come with me, of course, and that was when I realized that, like Arthur, I never really knew her. I’d only seen the image she wanted me to see.

“Unfortunately, the depths of my stupidity hadn’t been reached yet. Before I left, I gave her all my photographs to sell with the promise that she’d forward the money to me.”

“I’ve seen one of your pictures. You’re quite talented.”

Ryne gave her a half smile. “Thanks. I was going to use the proceeds to establish a new pack. Imagine my surprise when I called Bastian’s Gallery and found that all but one of my works had been sold, even though, surprisingly enough, there was no money in my account. It turns out she’d kept it all.

“So I came back to town looking for my money and she laughed, saying she’d already spent it and there was no way I’d ever get it back from her. To top it all off, there was also this sports car that I owned—I only used it once in a while—and I’d left it with her to sell. Rather than taking it to a proper dealership where there’d be a fast turnover, she had it sitting at some out of the way garage where it will probably never sell, because she wanted to still have use of it.

“All my money, my heart, even my status with the pack—she took it all from me. Everything I had was gone and she just laughed in my face. I grabbed her by the arms and shook her. She spat in my face and I lost it; I slapped her. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I won’t hide it either.”

She was quiet for a moment, then reached out her hand and squeezed his shoulder. “I’m sorry she did that to you. If it makes you feel any better, you’re not her only victim. She’s driven a

major wedge between Arthur and me. I was foolish enough to listen to her too.”

Ryne looked over at her and gave a sad smile. “She’s a real piece of work, isn’t she?”

Nodding, she gave a quick smile back. “And now she wants to kill me.”

“Right. Not that I want you dead or anything, but why didn’t she kill you when you first fell down here? What did she have to go and get?”

She hadn’t really wanted to tell Ryne that Marla had basically been assassinating his character but couldn’t think of an alternative and she refused to lie anymore. “She went to get some of your clothes that you’d left behind. She’s been using them so that your scent was at the scene of some of the bad stuff that’s been going on around here.”

Ryne stiffened. “What kind of bad stuff?”

“Well, oil purposely dumped in the water, traps have been set, Thomas was shot, and now she wants you blamed for my death and probably Rose’s too.”

“Damn!” Ryne surged up from the spot he’d been sitting and began to angrily pace back and forth in front of her. “She is such a bitch! I imagine my name is mud within the pack and they’re trying to hunt me down now, aren’t they? Why the f**k is she doing this to me? What kind of twisted revenge does she want? Just because I lost the challenge, she dumps me and screws up my whole life! Wait until I get my hands on her.”

“Ryne, calm down!” She snapped the order at him, hoping to keep him from flying off the handle. “If it’s any help, she’s not getting revenge on you personally. She’s trying to convince Arthur it’s too dangerous to stay here and that he needs to sell out. After that, she’s planning on stealing the money from his bank account. You’re being used as a scapegoat to keep suspicion away from her.”

Ryne growled and looked around, angry emotion blazing from his eyes.

Worried that he’d charge off and leave her, she pleaded with him. “Please, Ryne! I know you’re mad at Marla, but I need you to help me right now. I can’t get back to the Alpha house on my own and I’d prefer not to be here when Marla returns. I’ll explain everything to Arthur and then the two of you can go after her together.” She wasn’t exactly sure Arthur would believe her, but she’d cross that bridge when she got there.

Finally, Ryne stopped his pacing and took a deep breath, visibly trying to calm himself. He clenched and loosened his fists several times before finally turning to face her. The rage he was feeling was evident in the stormy blue of his eyes, and she forced herself to swallow the fear that rose up inside her. Ryne wasn’t mad at her, she reminded herself.

“All right. I’ll take you to the Alpha house, but then I’m coming back here to find her, regardless of what Arthur says.” Carefully, Ryne eased his arms under her and picked her up trying not to jostle her leg more than necessary. Each step he took made her wince however and she sought a way to keep her mind off the pain. Picking a question that had been floating around in her mind, she began a conversation.

“So, if you weren’t planning on ever coming back, why are you here today?”

“I was trying to track down Marla one last time in an attempt to get my money back. If she wouldn’t give it to me, I was going to tell her that I’d approach the gallery and complain. They wouldn’t likely give me any money either, but I was hoping the threat of losing her job would make her cough up some of the cash she owes me. She hasn’t been back to her apartment in days, so I figured she was staying here. I caught her scent by the road and was following it when I found you.”

As she listened, she placed an arm around his shoulder to help steady herself. She could feel the muscles rippling underneath his shirt and his breath came in soft puffs, dancing across her face. Slowly the warmth of his body was seeping into hers, blocking out the chill of the gently falling snow and she relaxed in his arms. The male scent of him was so like Arthur’s. It wrapped itself around her and she laid her head against his body, the sound of his heart beating barely distinguishable, yet still comforting.

She wished Arthur were here. He and Ryne were so alike except for their eyes; she could almost imagine it was Arthur carrying her. She brushed her nose against Ryne’s neck and rubbed his back before allowing her fingers to wander up to his neck, playing with the strands of hair that tumbled over his collar. Mmm… Arthur…

Ryne’s pace faltered and then he came to a stop.

Immediately, she snapped out of the daydream she’d fallen into. Ryne was her brother-inlaw, for heaven’s sake! Mortified, she pushed herself away from him, totally forgetting that he was holding her some five feet off the ground.

Nearly dropping her as she struggled, Ryne tightened his grip and she cried out as pain shot through her body from where his fingers had squeezed her broken limb.

A deep growl suddenly reverberated through the trees, causing them both to freeze as a large black wolf burst into sight surrounded by a swirl of white snowflakes.