The Rogue Alpha’s Claim

Kane was racing to grab the trash can before she would make a mess in his office. That was the last thing he needed right now.

He came back, holding it out for her, and had to bear the agonizing seconds that it took him to stay still while his mate emptied her breakfast.

He moved the trash can away from his eyes, putting it in the back of his mind to call someone up to throw it away. He was walking up to the tiny compartment that served as his kitchen, and he grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

“Here.” Kane stretched out his hands, and Ariel received the water with thanks and poured some into her mouth, gargling it about before spewing it out.

“Is there a bathroom I can use?” Her voice was barely recognizable as she spoke, and if not for his sensitive ears, he wouldn’t have heard it.

“There is; just walk straight to the end of the room, and you will see the bathroom.”

“Alright,” Ariel stood up to go, but she had underestimated how weary she was. Her legs crumbled under her, and she swayed, but Kane was always there, and he held her back, trying to steady her. “Don’t touch me!” Ariel shrieked, moving away from him like she had been electrocuted.

“Ariel?” Kane looked at her with worry written all over her face, and guilt washed over her.

“I am sorry for raising my voice, but can you avoid touching me? I am trying to process this news, and you being close to me is just too much to handle.”

“Hmm,” Kane nodded his head. There was a reason he had been reluctant to tell her about their real identities, and it was coming to play. “I understand, and I will respect your wishes.” He simply said, and he watched as she staggered all the way to the bathroom.

Ariel stood in front of the sink, and she stared at the small mirror in front of her. She was still trying to shake the image away that she had seen, but she had woken up, and Kane had confirmed all that she had seen, and she was short on words.

Does that mean she kissed a wo-?

She couldn’t even bring herself to say the words because it would mean it was real, and she didn’t want it to be. She closed her eyes, willing herself to wake up from this bad dream. And when she opened her eyes slowly, she was staring at her reflection in the mirror, and she shuddered at what she saw.

“You need to calm down, Ariel.” She wiggled her hands at the reflection on the wall. “He is probably pulling your legs.” But in all the times she had known Kane, there was one thing he was horrible at.

Jokes.

Ariel splashed the water on her face, and she poured some into her mouth, gargling it to get rid of the horrible aftertaste.

This wouldn’t do, she thought, and she grabbed the toothpaste and poured a generous amount into her mouth.

When she was no longer tasting like vomit, she was coming out of the bathroom, and she was face-to-face with Kane. “Oh my gosh!” Ariel shrieked, stumbling backwards. “You scared me.” His body was too close for comfort.

“I was getting worried, thinking you had fallen asleep or even worse.”

“I am alive,” but not for long.

“I can see. Do you still want to talk? I understand that it is a lot, processing all the information, but I will tell you everything about us, and you could ask questions, which should ease your fears.” Kane suggested, praying that she would accept. Ariel looked at him with a blank stare, not that she had any choice.

Kane was her legal guardian, and apart from her friends in Australia, only a few people knew of her whereabouts. Anything could happen here, and no one would bat an eyelid.

“Sure.” She replied in a polite voice, and they went back to his office. Ariel sat half-ass on the edge of the chair, making sure to be enough distance from him.

Kane’s chuckle reached her ears, and she was whipping her head up fast enough to know that cause. “You can relax, Ariel; I have no plans to cause you harm. If I wanted to, you couldn’t have been alive from the start.”

What was supposed to be reassurance turned out to be a threat, and from the way her heart rate spiked up, pounding so loudly against her rib cage, he knew he had done the opposite.

“Yea. Just get on with it.” Ariel mumbled under her breath. As much as she was afraid, he was right; he would have hurt her a long time ago if he wanted to.

But the fact that he had the power to do so made her feel uneasy.

“Alright, as you now know, we are werewolves. I am sure you must have a little idea of what Hollywood has been portraying us to be, but that is far from the truth. Actually..” Kane opened his mouth and tried to explain to her as best he could.

He had never had to explain who he was to anyone, but for his mate, he would do anything.

“I see.” Ariel nodded as he finished talking, although there was nothing to see there. Maybe only the red-blaring light screaming danger. “How did you become a werewolf?”

“Hmmm.” Now that was one question Kane had never thought of. “I am not sure how the first werewolf came to be, but I was born one. My parents and their parents were all werewolves, and so will be my children.”

“I see.” And suddenly, all thoughts of having his children were completely erased from her mind. There was no way she would be carrying an animal inside of her. “Let me get this straight: everyone here except me is a werewolf.” Kane nodded his head, and Ariel gulped. “I see, so Toby, Mason…”

“We are all werewolves, but those two are part of the leaders. I am the alpha, Mason the beta, and Toby the gamma.” Kane explained, and she nodded. It made sense that he was the alpha. The way he carried himself was nothing short of a leader, and she couldn’t ignore the way they respected him.

Despite her inner turmoil, she felt a great respect for him and was proud. “Wait, gamma?” This was the first time she heard of it.

“Yeah, Toby is the gamma, and he is in charge of training people.” Kane replied, leaving out the part where he also coordinated the war. He didn’t want to spoil whatever friendship they still had together.

“I see.”

“Yeah, that is all.”

“I don’t want to be ungrateful, but I am still trying to wrap my head around why you decided to adopt me.” Ariel shook her head as different thoughts ran through her mind, and none of them were good. “You knew I was a human and that a human can’t live freely in a house full of werewolves that could devour her at any moment.”

Kane’s growls were cutting her off before she could complete her statement. “I will never let any harm come to you, Ariel. As long as I am in this house, you will be protected.”Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

It was hard trusting his words when he was literally a beast, but if she was going to be honest, he had been holding up that part of the deal. “Alright, but you haven’t answered my question.”

Kane shifted towards her, trying to get closer to her, but Ariel held her palm out, creating distance between them. “Please don’t come close.”

Hurt flashed through him like lightning, but he ignored it and focused on her question. “I couldn’t abandon you when I saw you. I know we may be dreadful creatures, but I still have sympathy.”

“Okay.” Ariel replied, and they fell into silence.

“You are taking this well.” Kane noted, and she looked up to meet his eyes.

“Am I?” The last thing Ariel was doing was taking it well. She was just trying to process everything that has been going on.

Different thoughts were running through her head as she ruminated about what she had just heard. She refused to believe that Kane had adopted her because he felt sympathy for her; hell, they could be keeping her because they wanted to eat her.

Why would they train you if they wanted to eat you? The thought crossed through her mind, but she ignored it, pushing it to the bottom of her thoughts.

Maybe they hate eating dumb people.

Her face burned as the pair of eyes continued looking at her, and she looked up to meet him.

“I have heard all you have to say, but I will have to sleep on it. Excuse me.”