Rise of the Alpha
Chapter 8

Blaine

Shocked is an understatement of how I’m feeling. I’m f*****g reeling from what Wylla just told me. She hurried off to find Magnolia and left me in a cloud of rainbow dust. I felt the witch bitch reverse her little truth spell while we were standing in the open field still. Jude is just standing there, looking at me, baffled at what the f**k we were just told.

Heading back to the dorm together Jude told me her name. Magnolia, it tastes delicious as it rolls off my tongue. Getting to our dorm building, I freeze in shock as I stand outside the door. I have a mate. Jude snaps his fingers in my face. Finally, out of my head, we walk up to our room.

Mate, I have a mate.Well, if she accepts me, that is. It’s not looking great for me since she ran out of the mixer like her a*s was on fire. I thought she was rejecting me, my heart shattering into a million pieces, but after her roommate gave us a proper tongue lashing, which we f*****g deserved, I understood more about what was happening.

I need her out of that pack. No, I want her out of the pack. There is no way my mate is involved in the wolf cult. No f*****g way! Even if she rejects me in the end, I will long for her for the rest of my days. My wolf won’t let me love another after finding our mate. So at the very least, I’m going to make sure she lives a long and prosperous life. Which won’t happen if she stays in the Exodus Pack.

Storming into our room, Z is laying on his bed just staring at the ceiling with his headphones on. I’m pissed. He left me without a word tonight. When I needed him, he was gone. F*****g a*****e! I’d never desert him like that. I pick a pillow up off my bed and throw it at him. It smacks him in the face, and he jolts up in a fighting stance. Throwing off his headphones, he looks at us, confusion on his face when he sees my peeved expression.

“What the f**k?” comes from him in a mocking tone.

He doesn’t seem to pick up on how pissed off I am at him. His punk a*s left me to deal with the aftermath of meeting my mate alone, Jude was no f*****g help either. Hell, I feel like ripping him to shreds for touching my mate the way he did.

“We need to talk right the f**k now. You left and shit hit the f*****g fan,” I growl at him. My body is wrought with fury, and at this moment, it’s directed solely at him.

He sits up on his bed, getting more comfortable. “What the f**k happened? It’s only been like an hour since I left. What could have happened in that short amount of time? Shit. I had to go; I was dealing with my own issue.”

It’s Jude who answers me. “I found the neighbor girls and was dancing with them. Then dark and broody here showed up and apparently found his mate and pissed her off; Magnolia, that’s the neighbor girl who was missing, by the way, all in one fell swoop. He kissed her, and she shoved him away and ran off, crying. A real Casanova.”

“Shut the f**k up! This is f*****g serious, Jude!” I interrupt, yelling at him.

Z looks back and forth between the two of us, confused, before he asks.

“You have a mate? You kissed her? Which girl is this? Dammit, I leave you two alone for an hour and you come back mated?”

“You would know if you stayed around. Wylla is the hottie with the tight a*s body and all the tattoos. Magnolia is the hot as f**k, gray-haired girl,” Jude tells him.

“Watch your f*****g mouth. That’s my mate you’re talking about,” I grit out through clenched teeth. He’s walking a thin line after the way he danced with her already, having his hands all over her body, one meant for me and my wolf. Add in his f*****g mouth and he’s about to get an a*s beating.

Jude just falls back on his bed laughing, rolling side to side as he basks in his amusement at the f****d up situation. Z then takes a huge inhale of breath before putting a hand to his temple. This can’t be good. He looks pained before he even opens his mouth.

“Well then, you won’t like what I’m about to say. I’m only telling you this since we’ve been friends for years. Brothers really. My girl from the woods. Your mate, they’re one and the same.” His eyes are downcast at the last part; the fucker can’t even look me in the eye. He knows he’s in the wrong.

HELL. F*****G. NO!

Jude’s laughter becomes hysterical as he rolls off the bed and falls on the floor, holding his stomach. He’s laughing so hard that his skin, which is usually a light fawn, is turning blue from him trying to catch his breath. Z tries to go on, but before he can even utter another syllable, I’m on him, punching him in his lying f*****g mouth. B***d drips from the split in his l*p. MINE! My wolf is snarling and snapping his teeth, wanting to rip Zeke’s throat out.

“You tasted my mate’s p***y before I did? You nestled those perfect tits before me? She doesn’t even know your kind of shifter exists!” Hell, I’m still trying to understand how she doesn’t, but it must have something to do with what Wylla said about her. “I’ll f*****g kill you!” I roar at him. My body is vibrating in rage. I’m barely controlling my wolf’s need to shift at the moment.

We wrestle around on the ground for a bit before Z gets me in a restraint hold. My back is to his chest, as his legs are wrapped around me, pinning me, unable to escape. He’s speaking rapidly to me, his tone firm but full of remorse.

“Oh, it was all fine and dandy when she wasn’t your mate. You laughed if I recall. For the record, I liked her, but when I saw you staring at her tonight, I knew I didn’t stand a chance. That’s why I left so quickly. F**k you, man, for thinking I’d betray you like that and for busting my l*p.”

I shrug and give him a fake apology. We’re shifters; we heal quickly. He releases me, and I spin around, going to punch his smug f*****g face again. Pausing for a moment to stand up, I try to remind myself that this is one of my best f*****g friends. My eyes never leave his and seeing the tortured look on his face, I know he’s punished himself enough already.

“Fine, I don’t like it, but you didn’t know, and I didn’t know she was my mate yet. F**k, this is a mess.”

“What happened to make her run out on you after finding out that you’re mates? I thought wolves were ecstatic when finding the one they were destined to be with?” Z asks as he sits back on his bed. He looks pained to even ask that, but he’s trying to make the best of this situation, same as me. I take a seat in the computer chair next to his bed, while Jude is sitting on the floor with his back against the bed, just watching the show. Bastard.

I tell him the whole thing from start to finish. How I kissed her, and she ran out, Wylla dragging us from the mixer and spelling me, the Exodus Pack, and what Wylla knew about her roommate. Z rubs a hand down his face after staring at me in shock.

“F**k, dude, this is serious. We have to get her out of that pack,” Zeke says. The tone of his voice tells me he’s just as serious as I am about getting her away from that pack of crazies.

I sigh loudly and agree, but how am I supposed to do that when she won’t even talk to me? We chat a little longer about the mixer and the girls. It’s well into the early morning by the time we are slowing down the conversation and yawning in exhaustion.

“We should come at this in the morning with fresh eyes,” suggests Jude.

We agree and get into our beds to try to get some shuteye. Before I fall asleep, I need to say one more thing.

“Zeke?”

“Yeah, man?” he replies.

“I’m sorry I split your l*p. My wolf is just riding me hard, and he’s getting harder to control. Any female would be lucky to have you by their side,” I tell him, and mean every word.

“Thanks, man. It’s okay, I’ve gotten worse in the cages,” he says with a chuckle.

With that, I close my eyes and fall asleep thinking about a gray-haired vixen riding my c**k like a jockey and her being round with my child. Tomorrow will be better. I just know it. Wylla will have spoken to her, and she might be ready to talk to me. We can only hope.