The Alpha 8: Protect. Procreate. Prevail., page 15
“I’m glad you know that,” I mumbled. “Even though it confuses the fuck out of me. But then why did you want to talk to her?”
“Because I wanted to apologize,” he replied. “I know I’m the reason she reacted like that, and I wanted to apologize, to both her and you.”
“Well…” I sighed. “Maybe I’ll allow you to say that to her later, but I can’t hold you to anything. That’ll be Arielle’s decision, not mine.”
“Of course.” Connor nodded.
“Now what the hell were you talking about with Arielle supposedly being intended for you?” Benji snarled, and werecoyote paled a little more.
“I will explain that as well, but back to the story, I’d heard rumors about you, Jesse, and how you’re the Great Reuniter. And then all of a sudden, I heard that you’ve landed in California, and I knew I had to see for myself if the rumors were true.”
“How did you know I was in California?” I frowned.
“Because the Arcata-Eureka airport is part of my territory,” Connor explained. “No shifter can get off a plane without my patrol realizing, and they just so happened to catch your scent seconds before you took some more anosmiacs. Along with the distinct scents of several different kinds of shifters. A mixed pack.”
I thought back to the previous evening when we stepped off the plane, and I clearly remembered taking three more anosmiacs as we wandered into the terminal. I thought I had it all covered, but just that split second was all it took.
“Okay…” I led.
“I had no idea where you were staying, and my betas didn’t follow you after you left the airport, but after hearing their report, I was determined to try and find you,” Connor sighed. “Because we’re the only shifters in this area, and the avians are three or four hours south of here, we often race through new forests, or woods that are outside of my territory. It’s nice to have a change in scenery, you know?”
“I guess.” I nodded.
“So last night, a group of my betas did exactly that,” the alpha said. “We had been in these trees before, so it wasn’t a new area for them. But then they noticed that this house had people living in it. It had always been empty whenever we came here, so they were curious to see people inside. But then they spotted two of your betas shifting before they ran off down the yard. My betas instantly returned to me and told me what happened, and I had to find out if it was your pack they saw. I also just had to make sure that you weren’t going to cause any issues, especially with our pack fairly close by.”
Neither Benji nor I said a word as Connor continued his story.
“Then this evening, I sent another group of betas into the trees again,” he said. “It was not their intention to hurt your betas, and it still isn’t our plan to start anything. But we had to know for sure. I was on the main road not far from here, because if it was you, then I wanted to talk to you. However, your betas instantly reacted badly, because of course they would. I was too far out for them to tell me what was happening, otherwise I would have ended this quickly. But the next thing I knew, my betas had returned to where I was, and they were able to confirm that it was your mixed pack again.”
“So…” I frowned. “Why were they stalking my betas? Why did they run off as soon as they saw me?”
“They weren’t stalking your betas, they were trying to get them to listen.” Connor shook his head slightly. “There was no way for my betas to communicate with yours, and if you’re being chased by a shifter, then you automatically run or fight back. It may have sounded like my werecoyotes were trying to start something, but they couldn’t risk shifting in case they were attacked. But as soon as they saw you, they could tell it was you. Your natural scent and presence was undeniably more potent than any other alpha they’ve ever encountered, so they left to come and tell me. And then they left to go home, so now it’s just me here.”
Alphas did have a superior scent, with or without anosmiacs, which was why I was so shocked to find out that he was an alpha himself. But then again, anosmiacs had been working fine on me for a while there.
Until they suddenly weren’t.
I wondered if this had to do with the potency Connor mentioned.
“How long have you been following us?” Benji asked with a hard stare.
“Following you?” Connor asked. “We haven’t been following you. Yes, we saw your pack here last night, but that was the first time we’d seen you properly, apart from at the airport.”
“So you didn’t have any of your werecoyotes take a flight recently?” I asked casually. “Perhaps a flight from Oregon?”
“A flight?” Connor frowned. “No, absolutely not. Why… Why do you ask?”
I wasn’t quite sure whether to tell the alpha or not, so instead I just waved it off. It gave me the answer that the men in the airport, and the strange feelings in the car must have been the SDD agents, so that was all that mattered.
“Okay, now tell us why you wanted to talk to Jesse in the first place,” Benji ordered.
“This is actually partly down to Gray,” Connor replied.
“That doesn’t surprise me.” I rolled my eyes.
“Basically, he and I have always been enemies,” the alpha explained. “Gray has been a douchebag since the day he was born, and that only escalated when he became an alpha. I used to live in Oregon myself, and Gray had allowed me to have a tiny area of land near the border of California. Our mothers were very close when they were alive, and he promised his mother that he wouldn’t war with me. He was a… bit of a mama’s boy, to be honest, so he kept his word to her. Probably the only vow he ever kept. But then one day, Arielle came along…”
“Uh-huh…” I sighed.
“I won’t lie, I was drawn to her from the start,” he continued. “I mean, of course, I was. However, Gray quickly heard about her, so before I could… claim Arielle as my own, Gray turned up and just told me that she was his to take. He threatened to kill me at last, but then he said he wouldn’t kill me if I packed up and moved away. You know Gray, so you know he would have done it without hesitating, and I had to think about myself.”
There was so much I wanted to say, but I kept quiet for now.
“But what I didn’t know was how Gray felt toward omegas,” Connor sighed as he ran a hand down his face. “Had I known he was going to be abusive to her, and had I known exactly how her life with him was going to be, then I would have put up a fight. I promise you that. It wasn’t until much later, when one of my betas went to visit family in Oregon, that he heard about it all. But there was nothing I could have done to stop it by that point.”
I was slightly angry that Connor hadn’t done anything, because he could have saved Arielle years of abuse. However, if he hadn’t moved to California, then I probably wouldn’t have found Arielle, and I couldn’t imagine my life without any of my omegas.
Everything had admittedly worked out well in the end.
I had started to believe Connor, too. And if he’d had an ulterior motive, then he probably would have gone ahead with his plan by now.
But there was another reason I’d started to believe him, and that was because his anosmiacs had started to wear off while he’d been waiting around in my house.
Connor had a sweet, earthy, chocolatey scent to him, almost like hazelnuts. He didn’t have a vile odor like other alphas I’d come across, and that was usually a clear sign that I could trust a shifter, regardless of their ranking.
He also hadn’t tried to tear my omegas from me, and that was normally the first thing an alpha did whenever they came across one. The omega-alpha frenzy was a hard one to block out, but for some reason Connor had the ability to do so.
So far, his threat level was substantially lower than I’d anticipated.
“Did you come across any other omegas?” Benji asked.
“No, never,” Connor said with a slight shrug. “I wanted to find one, of course, but omegas are so rare. Plus, if I had found any, then Gray would have taken them off me. Even when I’d moved here, Gray still made sure to check in every once in a while. He wanted to make sure I was sticking to my promise, and that I wasn’t going to return to Oregon.”
“He really was controlling you.” I blew out a deep breath. “I mean, I knew the guy was an asshole, so I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised.”
“He controlled every aspect of my life,” Connor muttered.
Before I could let Connor leave, or put an end to this conversation, there was one last question I needed to know the answer to.
“Now, I know you said you have no intention of taking Arielle from me…” I paused for a second. “However, I just need to know for sure that it won’t happen. Why aren’t you desperate to take her?”
“Because they belong to you.” Connor shrugged. “That’s all I can figure. You’re the Great Reuniter, and they belong solely to you, Jesse. Even as an alpha myself, I have no desire to take any woman from you, because you’re The Alpha. You’re superior above everyone else. But that’s also partly why I came here…”
“What do you mean?” I frowned.
Connor let out a light laugh as he adjusted the way he sat in the stool.
“I hope I’ve made you see that not all alphas are assholes,” he explained. “I want my pack to be the best that it can, but… But that doesn’t mean that I necessarily have to be their alpha.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, so I said nothing and allowed Connor to finish talking.
“You are the ultimate leader,” he said as he held my gaze steadily. “So I’m willing to submit to you, and to allow my pack to become yours.”
Chapter 9
I found myself staring at Connor Mackenzie for several seconds as I tried to work out what he was saying.
The werecoyote alpha was willing to submit to me, but what did that mean exactly?
“Are you pulling on our dicks, dude?” Benji frowned. “You want to submit yourself to Jesse?”
“Yes.” Connor nodded without hesitation.
“What does that actually entail?” I asked. “I… need to know everything about this process before I can give you an answer.”
“It means that everything I have will be yours,” he explained. “My coyotes are incredibly powerful, smart, cunning, and strong. But I know they can be stronger. If you allow this to happen, then they will be your betas, you’ll own all of my territory, assets, money… Everything.”
I wasn’t exactly struggling for money, or anything that Connor could offer me. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t accept more if it was handed to me. Why turn down an entire pack’s worth of betas, especially if I wanted to build my own in the first place?
But I couldn’t make a decision without thinking over everything first, and I knew I couldn’t do it on my own, either.
Aunt Eva, can you join us in the kitchen, please? I asked. You as well, Brenden.
I made sure to block Arielle from those thoughts.
Although she was doing better, I didn’t want her mind to spiral once again, and that could have easily happened if she knew we were talking to Connor about combining our packs.
Shortly after I’d sent out that request, Aunt Eva quietly left the living room, and Brenden jogged in from the backyard. His brown hair was messy from recently shifting, and he hadn’t bothered to put his sneakers back on, but at least he’d managed to save his clothes before he shifted.
I stood up and wandered around to the opposite side of the breakfast bar so I could look at everyone in front of me. Benji and Connor remained on their stools, Aunt Eva sat in mine, and Brenden stood beside Benji.
I tried to read Connor’s expression, and I tried to see if he was somewhat daunted by the new beta captains beside him, but he didn’t even flinch.
“I’m not sure if either of you just heard what we were talking about, but basically, Connor has offered to submit himself to me,” I explained.
“Oh.” Aunt Eva frowned.
“Okay…” Brenden muttered.
“This is a big decision, and it’s not something I wanted to decide on my own,” I continued. “So it’s important that you all tell me your take on the matter. But before you add in your two cents, I need to ask… Connor, why do you want this? Are you not cut out to be an alpha?”
“I am, but I’m not as strong as you,” Connor admitted. “A proper alpha wants what’s best for his pack. I’ve never been the sort of alpha who tries to build up as much land as possible, or who ticks off as many alphas as they can. My betas are incredibly loyal, and we all work as a team in order to protect our land, but I know they can do more. Also, everyone thinks the Great Reuniter is just a myth or a legend, but now you’re standing right in front of me. So I can’t give up the opportunity to be a part of your pack.”
“And say Jesse decides to take you up on the offer, will it happen automatically?” Benji asked.
“I think so.” Connor nodded and shrugged at the same time. “I pledge my allegiance, and then I submit myself to you. Then I automatically become a beta captain. I mean… you could choose to remove me from the pack, but I hope you’d want to keep me here. It would mean that I’ll lose my alpha title, and I wouldn’t be able to get that again. But I’ll gain you, which is a trade I’m willing to make. The world needs The Alpha more than ever right now, which is exactly why I’m willing to go ahead with this.”
“That’s a big step you’re taking,” Aunt Eva replied.
“It is, I know,” Connor said. “But I’ve thought it over.”
“You’re also not wrong, particularly with the world needing The Alpha,” Brenden added. “The SDD are keeping tabs on shifters all over the country, and I bet that’s how fights and wars are going to start. So shifters need to reunite as much as they can, and they need a strong leader ahead of them all. And Connor, you seem smart enough to realize that already.”
“I knew something had to happen as soon as Gray forced me to leave Oregon,” Connor replied. “I know the issues you went through, Brenden, and I’m sorry that my cousin did that to you.”
“Arielle’s the one to apologize to,” Brenden mumbled. “We just did what we could to protect her.”
“And you did a great job.” I smiled sadly.
“I knew Gray wasn’t going to stop until someone killed him, and that person wasn’t going to be me,” Connor continued. “Just like Gray, I had also made a vow to my mother that I wouldn’t do anything to harm him. But I needed someone to knock that asshole off his high horse, and to show Arielle what it’s like to have a loving relationship with their alpha. I also know full well that Gray is not the only alpha like that in the world, which is why we need the Great Reuniter. Otherwise these wars between species are going to continue, and shifters are going to become endangered and even extinct at some point. Alphas can breed with their omegas, but what happens when their children don’t have kids of their own yet, but then another alpha comes along and wipes out the entire pack?”
“Fuuuuck.” Benji’s eyes widened. “I never even thought of it like that. I mean, I have no idea how many shifters there are in the world, but if these wars continue, and alphas don’t have any kids, then… Who takes their place when they die? What happens to the betas when that happens? If the different species keep slaughtering each other, then that’s going to continue to snowball, which is why we need a leader to reunite everyone together. A leader to put a stop to the wars between the werecats, werecoyotes, werewolves… I… Shit, my mind’s spiraling now.”
“Exactly.” Connor nodded.
“I hadn’t thought of that, either,” I said. “I mean, it’s a good thing that both Nikita and Arielle are pregnant, and it’s my duty to breed with them. But I’m the only one who can breed with differing species, so what about the others who can’t? Something will come along at some point, so we need to stop that before anything drastic happens.”
“Arielle’s pregnant?” Connor asked, and then a look of sadness formed on his face. “I’m so sorry. Had I known that, I would have found another way to talk to you. I really didn’t mean to cause her so much stress.”
“It’s okay,” I told him. “But thank you. I appreciate the apology.”
It was strange how my feelings toward someone could change so quickly. I had been set on killing Connor the second he came into the house, but now I was willing to include him as part of my pack. I knew he didn’t mean us any harm, and he didn’t seem deceitful in the slightest. His hazelnut scent even smelled more submissive the longer we sat in the kitchen, which meant he was serious about submitting to me.
The idea of an alpha submitting themselves was strange to me, but Jonathan Jansen had given up his title so that Max and Aiden could share it, so it was clearly possible, but they were family. How the hell would this work between two random alphas of differing species?
The only alphas I had ever come across had been intent on killing me. But like Connor said, not all alphas were assholes, and some of them just wanted to do good in the world, which was the way I worked, too.
But it was still a big decision for both of us to make, which was exactly why I had brought my beta captains into the conversation.
“So, what do you guys think about Connor stepping down?” I asked.
“Personally, I think you should do it,” Brenden replied.
“Yeah, so do I.” Benji nodded.
“I think you should list the pros and cons,” Aunt Eva said. “What are the pros of doing this?”
“Well, I’d gain much more power and land,” I responded. “I’d have territory in California, but I’d have Connor and the rest of the pack to keep watch. I already have this house here, so it’s just adding on to that really. I mean, I’ve already taken over part of British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, so it’s an extra place to add to the list.”
