Resisting the Alpha Triplets by Cara Anderson

Ch. 40 Not Your Mate

Mallory’s POV

“What the fuck did you do?” Clay howled at Nathan, standing up so fast his chair flew backward.

“Over my dead body!” Cary blared at me simultaneously.

“That can be arranged!” I hissed back. ”

You don’t own me and you sure as hell don’t tell me what to do. I let you stay because I thought you might be willing to help once you heard what I had to say. If that’s not the case, then you can leave!”

The two men looked at each other, some unspoken conversation passing between them. Then Clay nodded and picked up his chair, returning to his seat.

“Sorry. Maeve. I overreacted. It won[t happen again.” He apologized to my mother for his misbehavior.

Cary moved a little more reluctantly but eventually sat down too. His eyes never left me though and I could feel the heat of his stare on my skin. Nervous energy radiated from both of them in pulsing waves, my own anxiety rising with theirs.

I tried to focus on breathing in and out to calm myself. I’d heard that mates could sense each other’s emotions, but this was something much more intense. I felt their distress as if it was my own.

Shaking off that disconcerting thought, I refocused my attention on the topic at hand. War. I knew it would be a hard sell, especially for my mother. How did I tell her she’d spent the last eleven years keeping me safe just so I could confront the exact danger she’d been protecting me from?

“Mallory, please explain what’s going on. I said Mallory, not you Alpha Richardson.” Clay put his hand up when Nathan started to answer for me.

So I did. They already knew the bulk of it, who I was and why what was happening in Hazelwood mattered to me. But as my eyes flitted back and forth between their stunned faces, it was abundantly clear they hadn’t anticipated I would show any interest in claiming my birthright.

“No! Just fuck No!” Cary barked when I’d finished explaining what Nathan had told me and what I hoped to do about it, “If even half of what Nathan suspects is actually happening, I won’t have you anywhere near it.”

“You won’t have it?” I repeated indignantly. “I don’t recall asking your permission, Carrington!”

Cary flinched at my use of his full name. I felt a momentary flicker of guilt for wounding him, knowing he hated when I called him that, but I pushed it aside, chalking it up to the mate bond at work. I wouldn’t let him cower me. I glanced at Clay to gauge his reaction but frowned when I saw the disapproval in his eyes.Belongs © to NôvelDrama.Org.

“You’re our mate, Mallory. If anything happened to you it would kill us. You can’t expect us to be okay with you putting yourself in that kind of danger.” Clay reasoned.

“I’m not asking you to be okay with that, but I am asking for your support because it’s the right thing to do for the Hazelwood people.” I squeezed his hand in mine to help calm him, but released it quickly when I felt Nathan shift uncomfortably next to me. “And I understand the protective response the mate bond is spurring in you, but we can’t make decisions based on artificially induced emotions.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Cary was on his feet again, his face inches from mine, his hands on the armrests of my chair, caging me in. “Do you really think that’s all this is? Fuck, Mal! I know I’ve done a shit job of showing it, even did my best to convince myself it wasn’t true, behaving in unacceptable ways for unacceptable reasons. But I’ve adored you since you came here as a scrawny little seven year old. I’m fucking over the moon to be mated to you but I would feel the same even if I weren’t!”

I just stared at him with my jaw hanging open, knowing I looked like a gawping idiot but helpless to form any other expression. That was a pretty speech he just gave but none of it could be true. So I told him as much.

“That’s not-, that can’t be true, Cary.” I all but whispered, breathless from the intensity behind his eyes. “You can’t say things like that to me just to get me to do what you want.”

Clay reached out to me, crowding his brother out of the way so he could caress along my cheekbone with his knuckles and run his thumb across my lips, pulling my attention back to him. His bright blue eyes held so much adoration, it was almost painful to hold his gaze. He was looking at me like no one else existed.

“I think you’ll find Cary is not the only man in the room guilty of such foolish mistakes and concealed affections.” Не confessed softly, words meant only for me though I knew they were heard by everyone. “We have a lot to atone for. But I also know you won’t be able to consider any of that until we hear you out first.”

I nodded in agreement, prompting him to continue.

“I’d like to suggest we move this discussion to the packhouse. I for one would like to know what my father knows and why he never moved to take down Alpha Quade if he knew what was happening there.” Clay proposed.

Everyone murmured their assent and we all filed out. Everyone but Nathan who hung back until it was just the two of us.

“Mal, I think Mikhail and I should return to Winter Woods. You know I’ll support you in any way I can but I don’t think we’re needed for this discussion.”

“Please come. I need you there.” I pleaded with him. “You’re the only one who’s fully on my side and I need your support. Besides, Alpha Carl might want to hear directly from you about the things you’ve overheard.”

“Fine.” He blew out a sigh, raking his hand through his already mussed hair.

“Thank you, Nathan.” I smiled gratefully.

I hooked my arm through his and we walked out together to where Mikhail waited by their vehicle. He opened the back door for me and I was about to climb in when I felt myself being hauled backwards.

“Mine!” Cary and Roan objected together.

I opened my mouth to protest but Nathan just shook his head at me, resigning himself to Cary’s claim for the time being.

“It’s okay, Mal. It’s just a short drive, not worth the fight. I’ll see you there.”

I hated the dejection on his face but didn’t argue, letting Cary drag me away to his waiting ride. Clay was driving so Cary slid into the back with me. I could see his wolf in his eyes so when he pulled my legs across his lap and tightened his grip on me, I held my tongue.

Alpha and Luna were already waiting when we arrived, probably one of their sons having mind-linked them. And to my wolf’s delight but my dismay, Colton joined us as well, though he looked less than pleased to be there. Pissed off was an inadequate description for the expression he wore.

Everyone listened while I related the details Nathan had shared with me for the second time that evening. Alpha Carl grew noticeably paler as he listened to what I had to say. Luna Erika squeezed her husband’s arm tighter when Nathan added what he had inferred about the treatment of the women and children there.

It felt as if everyone held their breath, waiting to see who would be the first to speak once I’d finished my story. Though I had to admit I was shocked when that person turned out to be Colton.

“Did you know?” He demanded of his father, his face a furious red and hands balled into fists.

“I-, I-, not the extent of it, no. I suspected the situation wasn’t good.” He confessed.

“Why?” Though I desperately wanted the answer, it was Luna Erika who asked the question. “If you suspected, why wouldn’t you help them? We have the resources. We could have done something?”

Alpha hung his head, seemingly ashamed of his failure to take action. Colton paced the room, huffing and puffing in anger like the big bad wolf he was. I just stared in disbelief, feeling betrayed once again by the people I thought I knew so well. Once again, it was painfully clear I knew nothing.

“How could you father?” Colton finally unleashed the rage he’d been stifling. ” That’s not the type of Alpha I thought you were. It’s certainly not the type of Alpha you taught us to be. So explain to me how you could sit back and do nothing while innocent people suffered!

“I lost my best friend!” Alpha Carl jumped to his feet, slamming his hands down on his desk, making everyone recoil. “So did your mother. We promised to protect their child! I did what I thought best to keep her safe.

“Alpha Quade knew about Mallory. There were pictures of her everywhere in that packhouse. If I had gotten involved when no other Alpha’s did, he would wonder why. It wouldn’t have been much of a stretch for him to assume I had some kind of vested interest, such as securing the pack for its heir.

“We may have been able to protect her but at what cost? She deserved a normal, care-free childhood without a constant threat hanging over her.”

Alpha Carl sunk back into his chair, deflated after his vehement speech. He looked at me with sad, apologetic eyes. I could see in them the guilt he carried for being unable to save my parents. And now, for not having helped their people. It was an impossible choice. One I was glad I didn’t have to make.

“I understand.” I told him, smiling when he nodded at me gratefully. “But I don’t need to be protected anymore.”

“The hell you don’t!” Colton countered, his ire piqued again. “We’ll get to the bottom of what’s happening there and we will put a stop to that raping, murdering asshole if that’s what he is. But my mate is not going anywhere near him!”

“Except I’m not your mate, am I?” I spit out the accusation without thinking, the bitterness clear in my voice. “You’ve refused to acknowledge the mate bond at all until now. And even if you had, you can ask your brothers how well that high-handed bullshit worked out for them. I’m not a child. I can make my own decisions.”

“What are you proposing, Mallory?” Luna Erika intervened, seemingly the only one interested in my opinion.

“Nathan said the first thing we’d need to do is gather intel.” He nodded when I looked to him for confirmation.

“That’s true. We’d need to confirm just cause existed before mobilizing our army. I can’t ask them to risk their lives without a defensible reason but we also need to know what we’re up against.” Alpha agreed.

“If Quade is as bad as Nathan’s heard he is, I’m guessing he has the place fairly locked down. It might not be that easy to get your warriors inside. But predators like that tend to only see women as their prey, not capable of being a threat. So a woman would be easily overlooked, probably even welcomed if he thought she might be his next victim.” I hinted vaguely at my idea.

“What exactly are you suggesting, Mal?” Clay pushed for clarification that I was all too happy to provide.

“Alpha Quade may have seen my picture but I look nothing like that seven year old girl. I’m going to infiltrate his pack.”