Lovers: An Aleph Series Stories Novella

by Julie L. York

  When Jethro slid his mouth over hers, he finally understood why his wolf had been going crazy.

  Sarah was his. His mate.

  Starting tonight.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Jethro looked away from the road long enough to kiss his mate’s head. She’d fallen asleep, arms curled around his right arm, head nestled against his shoulder. He’d never been so grateful for a bench seat in his life. His wolf was irritated with him. It wanted to be curled up in bed, lounging in post sex bliss. But Jethro had already spent two days in his room, leaving only for food. He and his wolf were beside themselves, almost to the point of turning into giggly females. They were mated and bonded.

  Sarah shifted against him in her sleep. He glanced down, and smiled into her sleepy eyes. Kissing her head again, he asked, “You doing OK, honey?”

  Sarah yawned and sent a tired smile back to her mate.

  Mate.

  If she weren’t so tired, she’d probably be crawling into his lap by now, forcing him to pull off the road.

  A roar of laughter made her realize her thought had come out her mouth. Sitting up, she stretched and purposefully pushed her chest out. She knew he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from staring. “Jethro?”

  “Yeah?” He was really trying hard not to drool.

  “You may want to put your eyes back on the road before you crash into the car up ahead.”

  “Shit,” he muttered while she laughed at him. With a crooked grin he sent a teasing leer her way. “What?”

  She just laughed harder.

  “You didn’t think I wouldn’t look?”

  “No, I knew you’d look so I gave you something to look at,” she giggled.

  “Honey, I know what every part of you looks like butt naked, hell, I know parts you’ve never seen before,” he grinned. He started laughing outright when she turned redder than her hair. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her back to his side. Using his thumb, he lifted her chin for a kiss. “Don’t ever get embarrassed about that fact. You are my mate, and it’s both my honor and privilege to know you so intimately.”

  Sarah wrapped an arm around his middle and kissed his chest. “I’m not embarrassed, I’m just not used to someone talking to me like that.”

  “Get used to it,” he chuckled. “I don’t plan on hiding how much I want you, but I promise I won’t talk like that in front of anyone.”

  She sent a slight glare his way. “Except you did. To my dad.”

  Jethro sighed. “Yeah, I was an ass.”

  “Oh, you think?”

  “Honey, he may have negotiated for his own mate by letter over the course of years, and already had been doing that for years, but there was no way on God’s green Earth that you were walking out of my motel room with him. So yeah, I apologize for mortifying you by being so open about sex our first night, but I don’t think he was going to leave otherwise,” he answered.

  He’d seen in her eyes the devastation when her father had made it known that he’d been writing pack alphas for nearly a year, arranging her mating. Without her knowing. He—and his wolf—had not liked the tears in their mate’s eyes.

  “I still can’t believe he’d written to so many, talking about me like I was a cow.” She leaned closer to him. “You know, if you hadn’t said all the details you had, he might have just taken me home anyway—used goods or not.”

  Jethro slammed on the brakes and pulled off the side of the road. Glaring at her, he pulled her nose within inches of his. “I do not care what his opinion is, but you’d better never say that about yourself again. Ever. Is that clear?” he yelled. Her eyes opened wide, shining with tears. “Despite your pack’s dumbass backwards thinking when it comes to mating, sometimes it just is. And is right. One hundred percent. I know a lot of Weres negotiate, or date like humans do, and make a go of it, and have good marriages and matings. But honey, alphas don’t work like that, and the Regional Alphas sure as hell don’t.”

  He shoved the seat back as far as it would go, though it still cramped his legs, and pulled her onto his lap, holding her against him as close as he could while they were still clothed. He kissed the side of her head, letting his lips linger, and spoke softly into her hair. “My beautiful little mate, I know you’re young, and you’re going to have one hell of a time learning everything required of you as my mate, and as the future Alpha’s mate. It won’t be easy. But with every fiber of my being, I know you are the only one for me. We Alphas just know. It’s something that no amount of negotiating can affect.”

  He pulled her head back to look her in the eyes. “There are many things about Regional Alphas, and their families, that most of the rest of the world doesn’t know. One of the things is that an Alpha needs a mate as strong as he is. A mate who completes him. Without that mate, we are weaker, deficient. We can still rule a Region, but we are not as strong as we could be, or as we should be. Alphas who did not find their other half historically didn’t live long, and their heirs typically didn’t win The Trials.”

  “I had no idea.”

  “No one does, outside of the Regional Alpha Council. We have our own records, and once our heirs are old enough, they can go to Switzerland, where they’re housed, and read through them.” He paused, letting it sink in.

  “Even the Asian and Islam Alphas go there?”

  “Yes. They have a solid history of not taking sides. None of the Weres who live there can be claimed by the European Alpha either.” He shrugged, “Other Regions have tried to house the records, but with so much unrest, moving them to a totally neutral country just over 100 years ago just made sense.

  “We have Council meetings about every two years, too. My dad and I go, and so do the other Alphas and their heirs, once they’re old enough to have been formally named,” he explained. “Weres are not vast in number, so even though we Alphas don’t necessarily trust each other, or like each other, we have to keep in contact and talk. We have a responsibility to our species, and so do our mates.”

  “Will I go to the meetings with you?”

  “Not to every meeting, no, because ultimately, you are not the Regional Alpha,” he put his fingers over her angry lips, “but, you will know as much as I do about how the Council works, and the topics we discuss—though I won’t go into details about the discussions. You will be allowed to read some of the records, because mates deserve to understand what they need to teach their pups.”

  She leaned back into him, trying to take it all in. Not only did she have to worry about what a mate does—her own mother not being the best example—she also had to learn how to help Jethro run a Region, and be a part of running the world. She tightened her hold on him. So much to put on one male’s shoulders.

  “I think I get why you are better off waiting until you find the right one,” she whispered, running her fingers lightly across his chest.

  “Do you?”

  She nodded. “Do you think every Were has just one mate who is right for them?”

  He had to think before answering, because it really could go either way. “Yes and no.”

  She laughed. “That’s not an answer!”

  Lifting her laughing face, he kissed her, letting his tongue swipe across her bottom lip. Pulling back, he said, “It is an answer because it depends on who you are. Honey, I know it’s true for Regional Alphas, history has too long a track record of what happens when a male doesn’t find the right kind of female. But at the same time, I think there are a lot of females who could be right. It’s strength of character, as much as it is family lines and blood, that are the make or break for any level of alpha.

  “But for most Weres, no, I don’t think it matters any more that it does for humans. Look at anyone’s history and you’ll find the right female standing next to her male. Would he have made it that far with a different female? Maybe. Maybe not. Even a good male, who works and is a father, can be a better male or worse male depending upon the female he chooses.”

  “So, you think that anoth
er female could have worked for you?”

  “Could have, yeah, but I didn’t meet another female, did I? I believe in God, and in His fate and timing,” he answered. Running his left hand through her hair, he rubbed his other hand down her face, along her arm, letting his thumb leave a trail of shivers on her skin. “Your pack didn’t have big enough problems to call the Aleph House, but someone did. And because of that, I met you. So, yeah, there are probably other strong females out there, strong enough to have completed me and my wolf—but you are who was meant to be mine—just as much as I was meant to be yours. There is no mistake, honey. You are right where you belong.”

  She smiled softly at him, beyond grateful her father, uncles and brothers hadn’t gone through on their threats to castrate Jethro. She rather enjoyed that part of him. With a wicked grin, she straddled his lap, lifted his shirt from his pants, letting her nails scratch his chest and sealed her lips to his.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Five Years Later

  Sarah reached down to her ready-to-burst belly, trying to soothe her unborn son into calming down long enough for her to be comfortable and maybe take a nap. She knew she was having a son, though everyone around her told her there was no way to tell for certain; but they didn’t have her inner voice.

  Jethro was picking out girl names and she was picking the boy names. He didn’t completely trust her inner voice yet, so to prove her point, this was her version of a compromise. Learning how to be married and mated to a formidable Aleph male for two years had been hard enough, but then Adam had handed over the Region.

  With three years of being the Alpha female under her belt, Sarah was still unsettled at the large learning curve. She didn’t think she knew enough. But, rubbing her belly, she wouldn’t have changed a thing. Every decision she’d ever made had been to prepare for her becoming Jethro’s mate.

  And every decision since had been to make her a better mate to an Alpha.

  Her wonderful mate—being all male and the Alpha—was now a little put out that he’d agreed to her terms for naming their unborn. To be fair, she’d exacted his promise while throwing up in the toilet during a particularly harsh bout with morning sickness.

  She chuckled softly to herself.

  All males wanted a son, someone to hand their knowledge and leadership to, but for Regional Alphas it was even more important, and to his credit, he was really trying not to pout. She smiled at her belly, having calmed her son enough for her to lie down and rest. She knew Jethro would be over the moon thrilled when his son was born, especially since it had taken five years to get him.

  She giggled as her memories of the day they’d met rolled through her. From the moment her lips touched his, outside the bar, she’d not left his side. Before asking her to go to his motel room with him that night, he’d made his offer of mating and bonding. At the time, she’d been stunned, thinking that they should have taken…well, at least longer than a few hours to know each other better.

  However, one more searing kiss from Jethro, and a repeat of his offer had left her with little choice, and since she’d been 24 at the time and he 45, her inner voice had screamed; she’d never be complete without him—he was the totality of her future.

  Her parents had been downright shocked at her behavior, knowing that she had never met Jethro before, but they had lived with her inner voice as long as she had and knew better than to argue with it.

  Or a Regional Alpha heir intent on keeping his claimed mate.

  As Sarah tried to curl herself into a more comfortable position—again—she felt the bed shift as Jethro slid in behind her. She moaned in ecstasy as his hands massaged the knots out of her shoulders and along her spine. He chuckled in her ear, the sound still making her wolf want to be frisky even with a watermelon rolling around inside her.

  “I take it that feels better,” he smiled into her hair. He let his hands roam from her back around to her stomach, gently caressing his unborn pup. Because she wasn’t as tall as other females, and he was bigger and broader than the typical male, he was concerned about how difficult her labor would be and if she would be able to give birth without complications. Burying his nose into her hair and closing his eyes, he once again wished that his species wasn’t so anti-human everything. He was worried about Sarah losing his unborn pup, but he was even more terrified of losing her during labor; the unborn was so big.

  There were no human towns within hundreds of miles of the House, the closest being just past the northwestern border of the Ranch. Though done on purpose to keep Weres safe, at times like this, Jethro cursed it. The nearest human clinic was three hours away and the nearest full hospital was six. Neither was close enough to help if anything went wrong.

  Attitudes needed to change; Weres needed to become doctors and nurses, and not just Healers with basic first aid skills and herbal knowledge and oral Were lore guiding them, but he was at a loss at how to shift an entire Region’s perceptions about human medicine.

  For too many centuries, their species had been caught and experimented on, all in the name of human “science” and he understood their collective fear was still valid. But while their own Healers were well-trained and could take care of most problems, human technology was so far advanced of theirs that Jethro was certain there would be less loss of life and fewer life-altering accidents if Weres had access to doctors trained like humans were—at Universities and not at home in a kitchen or one room clinic.

  Healers couldn’t do any kind of surgery beyond meatball triage.

  Sarah turned her head, kissing his lips softly. “Stop worrying Jethro, we’ll be fine.”

  He couldn’t help but laugh. “Woman, how do you always know what I’m thinking?”

  “How many years are we going to be mated before you acknowledge my inner voice tells me things, and is always right?” she asked, pretending to pout.

  He laughed again. “You know, that kinda reminds me of a particular kind of crazy…what is it called again?” He teased. He pretended to be injured when she slapped his arm. “OK, OK, I’ll be nice to the pregnant female.”

  She just snorted in answer and turned her head away from him.

  “Oh, come on, I was teasing,” he nuzzled into her neck. He wrapped his arms fully around her, his hands meeting over her stomach. He felt his unborn roll around and start moving. “How is she?” he asked, unable to stop himself from goading her.

  She smacked his hands until he moved them to the side of her stomach. “He was fine until you touched him. He knows you’re here and is excited. So much for a nap,” she groused. She rolled to face him, knowing that if he was taking the time to lie down next to her, he would want to see his unborn moving, not just feel it. As irritated as she was with him for interrupting her nap, she couldn’t help but smile at the tender look on his face as he lifted her shirt and gently ran his hands over her belly, leaning down to kiss it a few times.

  But she couldn’t help herself. “You just kissed his ass.”

  Jethro glanced up, seeing the teasing look in her eyes, “And just how do you know that?”

  “Mothers just know some things,” she said smugly.

  “Like the fact that she is a he?”

  She nodded and he just lifted an eyebrow.

  “How about I make you a deal Mrs. Aleph,” he said slowing, making sure that the rest of him, and his wolf, was on board with what he was about to say, “if this pup is really a male, I’ll never doubt your inner voice again.”

  “I’d say no deal, Mr. Aleph, because I know this pup is a male, but since you’re not convinced, I’ll take you up on it and remind you as often as I need to until you actually do believe it.”

  He looked her in the eyes for a few minutes. “How come I think I’ve just been had?”

  “Because you have, and you did it all by yourself,” she smiled. She leaned in for a kiss. Just as their lips met, she got a swift kick in the bladder by her son. She jumped and then laughed, getting up slowly to walk to the bathroom, letting a s
lightly panicked Jethro know that she was fine.

  Jethro watched her closely, knowing she was liable to say everything was fine when it wasn’t, just to keep him from worrying. She started to walk out of the bathroom and back to bed when she stopped and grew pale. He followed her gaze down and noticed a puddle of water forming at her feet. It took a few seconds of staring for him to realize what he was seeing, but once his brain made the connection he leapt to her, picked her up, and bolted downstairs to the basement where the Healer had her rooms.

  Jethro finally allowed himself to breathe—taking a few gasping breaths—only when the Healer placed the crying bundle into Sarah’s arms. It had taken almost 18 hours to get to this point and during that time there were several heart-stopping moments where Jethro had been sure he’d lost them both. Several times Sarah had closed her eyes and become a little too quiet, and other times he’d seen the movement of the unborn inside of her still completely.

  He’d been beside himself in terror for the entire ordeal and felt like he’d been hit by a Mac truck, and then run down by a freight train. And yet, there was Sarah, pale and exhausted, but serene. For a split second, he was jealous of his own son, seeing the depth of love radiating throughout her entire being and focusing solely on him.

  Son. Damn me if she wasn’t right.

  She saw her mate standing hesitantly and motioned him over to the bedside using only her chin. She knew he’d been petrified the whole time she’d been in labor, and though her inner voice told her it would all be fine, she had to admit there’d been a few times she’d wondered if she would survive.