Stealing the Alpha’s Heart

I was pissed.

I was pissed, I was livid, and I was worried.

Somehow, Emma had convinced her brother of her plan and now everyone was moving forward with it. That was how I ended up packing two bags to spend who knew how long at her place.

Frustrating.

It should have been a happy time, the two of us moving in together into her rather nice house. But it wasn’t at all. Emma was gleeful with her own ideas of revenge, everyone was working out details, and meanwhile, I was running more time than ever on patrols.

I was falling behind on our business work, I knew that much, and I desperately needed to hire two new assistants to deal with what I wasn’t doing. But I just couldn’t find the time. The witches needed to be gone so I could focus on stabilizing our pack post-Sawyer transition and my new life with my mate.

Goodness, I was a mated man and I hadn’t really had time to come to terms with it. Sure, I’d vaguely think about how we’d k**s every time I managed to nap, and sometimes my dreams would take it further, but that was just one factor of being mated. We didn’t eat together, didn’t go to bed together. We didn’t budget for bills or say goodbye before a long day of work. She didn’t rest her head in my lap so I could run my fingers through her thick dark hair, and I didn’t occasionally tickle her until she kicked me in the face.

It was all the little things, the moments in between that made a mated relationship, and missing all those invaluable breaths of love was slowly tearing chunks out of me. I didn’t understand how Emma wasn’t nearly half mad with it, because I was.

“Here’s your coffee,” Emma said loudly as she walked onto Savannah’s porch, clearly as happy as a clam. I was feeling much more sour as I shifted back to human, taking the cup and draining it down. Jeez, I was exhausted. All the way down to my bones.

“You ready for work?” I asked, trying not to sound like a grouch but knowing I did anyway.

“Yeah. You sure the witches won’t be suspicious of my car being in the shop?”

I shook my head. In the two days since she’d come up with her plan, there’d been a flurry of preparation. It was strange, trying to balance being efficient and getting everything done, and also conspicuously look like we were doing something else entirely so the witches wouldn’t catch on.

We’d done trickier things, mostly during the first big pack upheaval when I’d been a teenager, but it wasn’t exactly easy, either.

“Alright, let me put the mug up and we’ll head to my shop. The contractors were telling me it would probably just be two more weeks now until the other side is ready.”

“That’s good,” I said. And I meant it, even if I was a real sourpuss. I was just stressed out of my gills and had a rock in my stomach every time I thought about Emma being in danger. I could still feel that biting, sinking coldness that had tried to drag my mate away from this mortal coil.

“Hopefully we can get all this witch business done and over with so I can really focus on the next season,” she said before taking my empty mug and heading back inside.

I waited on the sidewalk, thinking about how the simple mug of coffee had become our only daily ritual together. I didn’t even like coffee, and the caffeine was processed too quickly through our accelerated metabolisms to be of much use. But I still drank it every day because Emma made it for me, and that was enough.

A few moments later, my mate came barreling out of the house like it was Christmas. At least she let me open the car door for her, although I could tell that she hesitated. We were still finding our own balance, Emma and me. Her independence and ambition versus my innate need to protect my mate. If I was in her shoes, I would most likely be doing the same thing and she would be the one going up the walls, so at least we had that mutual understanding.

At least she didn’t give me the silent treatment on the way to her shop, chattering about how she had eliminated most of the applicants and was down to a handful of promising ones, how she was almost caught up with online orders, and other things that were important to her shop. I listened happily, although I didn’t add much to the conversation. Just hearing Emma talk with pride and excitement about something was enough for me. In fact, I would throw out my television and personal laptop if it meant I was going to go home with her every night to tell me about her day.

Wait a minute…

I was going home to her every night. Sure, it would be her home, not mine, but I had been so busy worrying about all the terrible things that could happen that I hadn’t really stopped to think about the upside.

Huh. Maybe Emma’s plan wasn’t the worst ever…

She was still animatedly talking as I turned onto her shop’s street. I briefly debated “accidentally” going past it just to get some extra time with Emma, but she was so excited to get to work that it felt too underhanded. So instead, I dropped her off out front, making sure I was in a good position to watch until she was all the way inside.

“I’ll pick you up after close and we’ll head over to your place.”

“Right, you need to pack and all that.”

“Already packed,” I answered. “But I figured I’d swing into the office, finish everything I can before taking a couple of days off, then I’ll grab the bags and come back to you.”

She let out a whistle. I couldn’t help but notice the way her plump l!ps pursed around the sound and imagine just how they’d look around other things.

Jeez, I needed a cold shower.

“You are one busy man,” she said, reaching into the car to pat me on the shoulder before turning around and marching into her store, pausing only to call to me right before the door closed. “Catch you on the flip side!” It was a relatively PG action, and yet my entire arm tingled from it.

I longed to go in there and tell her that I would meet her at home, in front of Lyssa or anyone else who might be there, to publicly utter our link to each other. But I knew not to, even if my inner wolf really, really didn’t agree. I had it bad for her, didn’t I?

Teenage Theo would have tumbled over himself if he found out that one day he’d be mated to none other than Emmaline Reese. But he also never imagined that his best friend would become alpha before his thirties.

After all, Alpha Sawyer had been in great health and his son had been an impressive warrior in his own right. Six foot six with auburn hair and piercing green eyes, we’d all been sure he was next in line. But then he’d been killed. And a few years later, his father was, too.

Strange how things had turned out. I certainly never could have predicted it, even with all my internal ambitions that I knew better than to verbalize out loud.

Someone honked beside me and I flipped them off. I was parked in a literal parking spot, complete with a meter. Where did they get off? Well, road rage or not, I did need to get going, so I peeled away and headed toward the office.

It was hard to concentrate, but I forced myself to focus. Most of the day was spent running numbers with Mahlan, which was certainly interesting considering how pissed I was that he’d agreed to Emma’s plan. The tension was palpable between us, but neither of us let it get in the way of our productivity. We had things to do, after all. It wasn’t until lunch when he finally spoke.

“I understand why you’re angry,” he said calmly, in that unflappable way of his. Everyone always said I was the unreadable one, but to me, Mahlan was a consummate diplomat.

“If anyone would, it’s you,” I answered just as diplomatically, thinking back to how he and Lyssa had to go through plenty of their own compromises when they were first mated.

“I appreciate you trying to stay objective.”

We both went quiet as we ate with one hand and typed with the other. But apparently Mahlan wasn’t done.

“You have to understand, Emma is very attached to her house. She bought it all on her own, not a dime from my parents or me. She did the same with her shop. While my parents did help her with investment money, she paid them back every cent plus interest.”

I nodded. While I wasn’t entirely aware of Emma’s financials, I did know just how impressive her career was. It was hard to run a small business nowadays, let alone a specialty boutique.

“Look, I respect all of Emma’s accomplishments, and they’re part of what attracts me to her. But her house is separate from most of the pack’s. I checked and the closest other member is ten minutes away. Do you know how much damage a witch can do in ten minutes?”

Mahlan considered my words for a moment. “As an alpha, and a mate, I get it. I do. I know what that gnawing need to protect can do. But if you force her too much with anything, she’s going to resent you forever. And you don’t want that.”

No, I didn’t. But what choice did I have? I didn’t want to push Emma past her limits, but I couldn’t have her throwing herself into danger every few minutes. It would drive me mad.

“What do I do? Is it all just hopeless?”

“I can’t tell you, because I honestly don’t know, but you need to find a compromise. It’s not fair for her to lose her place and move in to yours, but it’s also not fair to demand you leave yours to go to a less secure place.”

“What…what if we both left ours?”

“Pardon?” Mahlan asked, tipping his head.

“You’re surprising Lyssa with that house, aren’t you? Well, once the two of you move into there, maybe we can move in to the house I bought right next to you.”

Mahlan nodded, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Looks like I might be getting neighbors faster than I thought.”

The tension between us simmered down to nothing and we both continued working up until just after noon, when Mahlan left. I spent the rest of my hours setting up checklists, to-dos, and fail-safes for my assistants and the other members of the board. They all had my number, so I could certainly be called if needed, but my hope was to entirely concentrate on Emma and the witches who always seemed to come out of nowhere.

Before I knew it, my alarm to leave sounded. My inner workaholic wanted to keep going, to get more done so I could be triple sure that everything would flow smoothly. But my inner wolf clamped down on that idea with a vicious snarl. It had waited far longer than any wolf should ever be asked to cohabitate with its mate, and it wasn’t going to wait another moment longer than necessary.

So I packed up, waved to my assistants, and headed to my home. Once there, I took another shower, dressed in some more casual athleisure, then headed to Emma’s shop.

Even though she had guards, contractors next door, and the wards Samson had set up, I was still nervous about what I would see when I got there. Would the windows be blown out? Would Emmaline be waiting there for me in a pool of b***d?

The thought made me sick, and maybe I sped a little to get there. But when I arrived, everything was exactly as it was supposed to be, with Lyssa waving at me from the window.

Turning my radio down, I kept my eyes sharp on my surroundings while I waited for Emma. I knew she wouldn’t keep me long, but she probably had her own things to wrap up. I spotted the guards we’d set up for her, then two more. Huh, Mahlan must have added extra. Not that I minded.

Emma didn’t keep me waiting long, locking up the door as she and Lyssa exited. For a moment, I wondered if I was supposed to drop Lyssa off, but then Mahlan pulled up right behind me. Maybe when everything calmed down, Lyssa could get her own driver’s license. But considering everything going on, I understood why that wasn’t a priority. Besides, now that she had her inner wolf unlocked, she could always just run home.

Either way, Lyssa got into Mahlan’s car and Emma slid into mine. I pulled away from her shop, ready to start our cohabitation, but Mahlan’s words from earlier played in my mind.

“So…”

“Yes?”

“Part of your plan is to use your house because it’s the least protected of all our places and relatively isolated, correct?”

“That’s the long and short of it.” She was still smiling, which I hoped meant she had a good day at work. “Why?”

“Well, once this trap has been sprung, your place could end up in a worse position than your shop.”

“Yeah, I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I’ve already been putting things I really don’t want to get broken into storage in the basement. I figure if anything gets demolished, it’s worth the peace of mind knowing our enemies are done for.”

She was handling it all better than I could have ever anticipated, so I decided to take a gamble.

“With its location being known as an easy target, and the damage it’s likely to sustain if our trap works, I’m not comfortable with you staying there once it’s all said and done.”

To my pretty strong surprise, Emma laughed. “Okay then.”

“I’m being serious. As mates, we’re gonna have to learn to compromise, and me going along with this plan means that you will need to walk away from this house if the witches take the bait.” I didn’t want to have a fight, not on our first real night together, but I also needed to make sure that she understood. I didn’t want any false pretenses between us. Only honesty with my mate, even if it wasn’t what either of us wanted to hear.

“Oh, I know. I love my little house, but it’s not a place where we could stay forever. It’s a two bedroom, one bath without any closet storage. If I want to have a family and grow, I need to invest in something bigger.”

My heart thundered in my chest at the mention of family. As a beta, I didn’t have the biggest drive to reproduce, but the idea of having pups with someone as brilliant as Emma…well, it was certainly plenty appealing.

“But I don’t really want Mahlan’s place, either. Although it’s got his home gym, his office, and two bedrooms, it’s still not really fit for a family. I’m not saying I need to have a whole brood, but I’ve always thought three or four pups would be perfect.”

I gripped the steering wheel as the picture bloomed in my mind. Emma’s stomach swollen with child, a baby in her arms while I played airplane with a toddler. They all had her dark hair and eyes but my pale coloring, cheeks round with all the chunkiness that made babies so adorable.

It was a beautiful image, and I felt my heart squeeze in my chest. I liked that betas didn’t have the compulsion to procreate, as I knew every child I had would be because I wanted them, not because I went into rut and my inner wolf took over. They would be purposeful, beloved, and entirely ours.

“Maybe if the house isn’t completely destroyed, I can sell it and buy another somewhere else.”

There it was, my opportunity. Part of me was still in shock that she was actually willing to give up her house. I thought it would be a fight-tooth-and-nail situation that would devastate not just our mateship, but also our friendship in general.

But also, was it arrogant of me to think I could be included in her vision of the future? I mean, I was her mate, right? Who else would she be having children with? Yet at the same time, I wasn’t willing to ask. Because if she rejected me, I didn’t think I could survive it.

It didn’t take us long to arrive at her place, and I took a deep breath from my nose, trying to see if I could catch any erroneous scents. I caught the guards Mahlan and I had handpicked for the job, but little else. I was still gonna run the perimeter a couple of times, but I could at least enjoy dinner first.

We both went inside, and I let out a whistle at all the decorating Emma had done since I’d last been in her place. “Wow, like what you’ve done with the place,” I said with an approving nod.

It wasn’t the most overly designed, as clearly Emma was a busy woman, but there was a hominess to it. Pictures of her family and some of the pack were displayed in several key places, it was well-lit with crystalline-looking lamps, and she had small plants tucked in illuminated spots near the windows.

“Yeah, you haven’t been here since, gee, like three months after I bought it, have you?”

“I think that’s right.” Despite my raging crush on Emma, I hadn’t often visited her place or her mine. Usually at Mahlan’s or one of the restaurants we all liked to visit. How insane to think I would be spending the next two weeks to a month shacking up with her.

Sleeping in the same place as her.

Showering in the same house as her.

Getting changed…

I shook my head, trying to empty it of those thoughts. I didn’t want to make Emma uncomfortable two minutes after going into her house by spreading my horny pheromones everywhere.

“So, you hungry? I’ve got some leftovers I can reheat.”

“Sure, whatever you normally do. And I’ll handle dishes.”

But Emma just chuckled. “I have a dishwasher, actually. But you’re more than welcome to load it and put it away.”

“I can do that.”

I had a dishwasher at my own home, but I so rarely used it considering I was just a single person and usually only took a single dish or bowl at a time. I definitely had some adapting to do over the next couple of days, but I didn’t mind.

The leftovers turned out to be white rice and teriyaki chicken, but Emma reheated it in a pan instead of the microwave, so it was actually quite delicious. We ate together in relative silence, but not an uncomfortable one. I had my laptop out on the island, answering some emails, while she did whatever she did on social media for her shop. I should probably learn more about it sometime, but perhaps not when she was in the middle of catching up on everything the reno had made her behind on.

Before I knew it, the hours had slipped away and Emma let out a loud yawn. “Holy hell, is it almost midnight already?”

My eyes widened at that. Almost midnight and I hadn’t run the perimeter?! What was I doing?

I jolted, but Emma just put a hand over mine. “Easy now. It’s our first night here. The witches probably don’t even know that yet, and we have five guards outside. You can still go for a run, but the world won’t end because you haven’t done one yet.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m just a little on edge.”

“That’s okay.” She beamed at me, and goodness, that made me want to lean in and seal my l!ps over hers again. “Why don’t you let me show you your bed and then I’ll pass out while you do whatever it is you want to do?”

That sounded agreeable to me, although my inner wolf was protesting that it couldn’t stay in bed with her. But while it didn’t understand her need for space, I did, and moving in with her—even if it was temporary—was already a pretty big concession for her to make for me.

I would take the win where I could get it, so I graciously followed her to the guest bedroom at the opposite end of the hall from her own sleeping quarters, thanked her, and wished her goodnight.

We both hesitated for a moment, and for just a split second, I thought we would k**s again. But instead, Emma stepped away.

Oh well.

I watched her go to her room before turning around and heading outside. I would run for a couple hours then potentially get the most sleep I’d had in a couple weeks.

---

I wokeup the next day and saw Emma off, watching her drive her own car now that it was back from the shop. The witches didn’t know this, but it had been fitted with a tracking device, inner cameras, and a few moonstone dummies for them to find in case they searched it on their own.

I had planned to take a couple of days off, but as soon as I checked my phone, I saw Mahlan had texted me asking if we could talk. Naturally, I told him we could, and about half an hour later, he was at my place with donuts.

“What’s happened?” I asked as soon as he set them down in the kitchen.

“More shifters are missing.”

“From our pack?”

“No. We’re meeting up with Sam at the pack they belonged to, but figured we wouldn’t want to do that on an empty stomach.”

“I’m worried about both of us being that far away. We should have Parker and Jacobian watch over the girls while we are. Just in case the witches decide to take advantage of our absence.”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

“Good idea. I’ll call them now and you get dressed. We’ll go over in my car.”

I did just that, dressing up in one of my suits. Although it wasn’t the usual uniform of most wolf shifters, I appreciated the intimidating aura it gave me. Sure, maybe it played into the misconception of me as some sort of ice king, but I was willing to take the wins where I could get them.

The two of us headed out, me shoving donuts into my mouth. We made good time into the other pack’s territory, arriving just as Sam pulled up on a bright mint-green moped.

“Hey, nice timing!” he said, removing his helmet. I had to say, I was somewhat surprised that he cared about manual road safety. I half-expected him to just ride around with a magical cushion of invulnerability. Then again, he was a green witch, and although I generally didn’t understand the differences between many types of magic, I did know that his was different than the typical practitioner. “When it rains, it pours, huh?”

“Unfortunate times,” I said flatly. While he’d done a lot for us, I was still uneasy trusting Sam. After all, if Lyssa’s friend of nearly four years could help hunt her down and poison her inner wolf, well, there was really no telling what anyone could do.

“Ah, there you are!” A tall man who I recognized as the other pack’s beta strode forward. “You got here faster than we expected.”

“We take such things seriously,” Mahlan answered, offering his hand for a shake. “Whether it’s our pack or not, a missing shifter is certainly cause for alarm.”

“We’re glad you feel that way. One of our security was able to actually find footage of them that wasn’t wiped. If you’d follow me, we’d be happy to show it to you and hear your thoughts.”

My interest perked up at that. A real lead? It was about time!

“Absolutely,” Mahlan said. “Lead the way.”

We walked across a baseball field that smelled so much like the other pack’s territory, it was hard for my inner wolf not to want to piss all over the place. Thankfully, I wasn’t a Neanderthal, so I made do with breathing through my mouth for a bit. It was just across the field at what looked like a bike shop, where the beta lead us through the back and into a small office.

It was certainly cramped with the beta, one of his security men, Samson, Mahlan, and myself, but we made do, all of us huddling around the monitor. With a nod from the beta, the guard pressed play, and we watched with rapture at our first footage of our enemy.

It was a witch, seeming to melt into the field out of nowhere, where a couple of shifters were having what looked like a romantic picnic. Suddenly things went flying everywhere—benches, rocks, branches—and the shifters tried to scramble to their feet. I leaned in closer, trying to take everything in, but the footage went black.

“Is that it?” I asked sharply.

“It’s all that was able to be uploaded to the cloud before the witch disabled the cameras. Some sort of area of effect spell,” the beta answered.

“The only reason we got this is because the owner of this shop is a real tech head,” the guard explained. “She’s been in the process of updating everything to fiber-optic stuff, which is why this was able to upload what it did before the magic took hold.”

“Interesting…” Mahlan murmured. “Theo, look into cost estimates for covertly upgrading our own systems.”

“I’ll put it first on the priority list,” I said, determination filling me. But there was also something niggling at the back of my head. “Can you play it again?”

“The clip? Uh, sure.”

I leaned in so close that it might have been funny if it weren’t a life and death situation. Since I already knew where the witch would appear, I focused my eyes on that area.

Sure enough, it was like she appeared in colorful raindrops. One moment there, one moment half-formed, and the next, completely realized. It was a terrifying display of power, and not one I was aware that witches were capable of.

“Pause it,” I said quickly. The guard did, and I studied the figure further. She was smaller and at a greater distance than the witch I fought previously, but I was able to confirm my suspicions with a long look.

“What is it? What do you see, Theo?”

“This is a different witch.”

“What?” Mahlan was suddenly leaning in just as much beside me. “Two rogue witches? Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” I pointed to her as best I could considering the scale. “Look, she has loose platinum hair, and her nose is quite pronounced. The one I chased in Emma’s store had auburn hair and her features were much more East Asian.”

Sam let out a whistle behind me. “I knew it probably wasn’t one, but this now makes three witches total. I don’t need to tell you all that’s really not good.”

“No,” I said, straightening despite the dropping feeling in my stomach. “It’s really not.”

The rest of them quickly delved deep into discussion of what that meant, Mahlan updating the other wolves with what we were willing to share. As for myself, I walked outside and made a call.

“Emma?” I asked as soon as the line picked up.

“Ah, no man, sorry.” For a split second, I was terrified, but then I realized it was just Parker.

“Hey, where’s Emma?”

“Oh, you know, just being her normal, annoying self,” he said. I could almost hear him sticking his tongue out at her.

“Where are you? Why are you answering her phone?”

“Well, we’re walking down the street to get lunch because she insists on feeding all of us if we’re going to be standing around her shop. We told her we weren’t going anywhere, but then she started walking off without us.”

Okay, that did sound like Emma.

“And that was after she made me fold t-shirts for like an hour. I have a net worth of nearly a million dollars, I’m on the board of a financial company, and I was folding t-shirts.”

“It’s good for character!” I heard Emma shout from somewhere close by.

“Yeah, yeah, do you wanna talk with your boyfriend now?”

I heard a muffled response from Emma and then there was some crackling on the phone before she came on the line. “Hello?” she asked, sounding quite happy.

Maybe I could tell her the bad news another time. Would it be so great a sin to let her have a fun afternoon doing things she loved?

“Hey. Just wanted to check in. Having a good day?”

“Well, trying to make use of all the guards I don’t need by making them help me put things out.”

“Hey, it’s for your safety, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you when I get home.”

“Emma, I’m serious,” I countered, feeling my agitation rise.

“You’re always serious.”

“Emma!”