by Flynn, Donna
Mercy moved on to her elbow at his side, kissing the hollow of his throat as he stared distractedly at the forest around them. “What’s wrong,” she asked, her voice husky with desire.
“I thought I heard something,” he said softly scanning the forest once more, but finding no one there.
“Rich knew we were here, I am sure it was probably one of the pack members keeping watch,” she murmured nipping his ear playfully.
“I’m sure you're right,” he said tickling her belly, both of them laughing until his hand brushed her breast accidently. At that moment, nothing was funny. He lowered his head and kissed her throat, moving down one aching inch at a time stopping at the band of her T-shirt just over the swell of her breasts. He groaned and rolled away, laying next to her, breathing heavily.
“Alec?” Mercy sat up and looked down on him, but he refused to meet her eyes.
“I promised your brothers and myself that I would wait until we were bonded,” he said pounding his fist on the empty ground next to him in frustration.
“Tell me what that will mean to us.” His father had explained it, but she wanted to hear Alec’s take on it.
He turned on his side and looked into her eyes becoming suddenly serious. “Bonding is more than a human marriage. It is a meeting of the souls, like putting two halves together. It is a commitment that bonds two of our kind together forever.” He saw no fear in her eyes and felt relief wash over him.
“And you want me to do this with you?” she asked trying not to cry with excitement.
He reached out and brushed her cheek with his fingers, meeting her gaze. “I want that more than I want to be Alpha, or anything else in this world.”
Mercy sighed. “How come you didn’t explain this to me before?”
“I did not want you to freak out, and to be honest, until now, I was not sure you would even consider tying your life to mine permanently. You were so scared and upset to find out what we are that I feared you would reject me because of my wolf side. ” He looked away and sat up embarrassed to admit he had doubted their future. He always acted as if it was a done deal, but in reality, he had feared that she would run away and deny what they were to each other out of fear, because of her parents’ deaths. It felt good to be able to explain what he wanted from her, to let her know how serious he was about their future, and now that she understood their ways better, he hoped she would consider bonding with him in the near future.
“You were probably right not to tell me. I would have run,” she admitted honestly. “I was totally freaked out when I found out what I was, what we all are. Of course, if I had known how you really felt, so many of our arguments could have been avoided, and I might never have been so jealous of Amber.”
He chuckled loudly. “Oh, you would have been jealous, just like I am every time another guy looks at you. It is in our nature to be jealous where our mates are concerned, and in my defense, I did tell you many times that I loved you. That should have been enough,” he chastised.
“You did tell me that you loved me, but you spent a lot of time placating Amber when she first got here, and I clearly heard what you told her in the cafeteria that day. It didn’t sound as if you loved me as much as it sounded like you were obligated to be with me.” His eyes impaled hers, and he pulled her across his lap with a chuckle. “It’s not funny,” she cried out, slapping his arm playfully.
“It is funny because you really believed what you heard,” he said trying to kiss her, only to have her turn her head away.
“Jackass,” she murmured, hurt that he had not understood how it had made her feel to hear him belittle her to the female who was trying to take him from her.
“What?” he growled, taken aback by her statement.
“I said you’re a jackass. Did it ever occur to you that it might upset me to hear you tell Amber stuff like that?” She shoved him away and stood, looking down on him with her hands planted firmly on her hips. “It hurt to watch you with her, to see you with her hands all over you, and then to hear you say you doubted I could be a good mate.”
Tears rimmed her eyes, and he pushed to his feet pulling her against him trying to soothe her. “I thought I might be able to handle Amber without involving you. I thought if she believed I wasn’t entirely happy with you then she might show her hand and admit what she had been up to,” he whispered, kissing her gently. “I never stopped to think that you might be listening in and for that I am sorry.”
“Men are so stupid,” she mumbled.
He looked down her and smiled. “I am not stupid. I am just so in love with you that I wanted to get to the truth, so we could move on,” he explained brushing a tear from the corner of her eye.
“It isn’t like you’re the only one in love,” she told him.
“What?” he asked, completely stunned by her admission.
“I love you too. I always have, but I think I realized what it truly meant that day when I heard you tell Amber I might not be what you need in a mate. The thought of my life without you pushed me to forget about my fears and willed me to learn more about being part of a pack.” She looked up with a slight smile. “I knew then I loved you without a doubt, and I wanted to prove I had what it took to be by your side.”
“You have a funny way of showing it,” he said with a snarl. “You pushed me away, and let everyone else do for you what I wanted to.”
She hated that he was hurt by her actions, but she stood by what she had done. “I never wanted to push you away, Alec, but every time I made a mistake you told me that it was okay, that I would get it next time, and you would help me. As great as that was, I needed someone who could push me, and make see past the fears I had about wolves and your father was the perfect choice.” She wiped a tear that rolled down her cheek away. “Gregory made me see that I so badly tried to be what you wanted that I forgot I too had to be happy with myself, and once I understood that everything became easier.”
“I do love you for who you are, I never wanted you to change. If you never accept the pack, I am willing to decline being Alpha for you.”
“But…”
He cut her off kissing her soundly then hugging her close. “You are the most important person in my life. Everything I am, and will ever be would be meaningless without you by my side.”
“I didn’t know… I never understood how you felt,” she told him.
“Do you know now?” he asked, looking down on her with all of his love reflected in his eyes. “Do you truly understand that I would give my life for yours? That I would kill for you if I had to, but most of all that I will love and cherish you until death parts us and even after. I want no other, I never did, I was just biding my time, waiting for you to grow into the mate fate had destined for me.” He brushed her lips with his and took off the family signet ring his father had given him when he was old enough to understand the significance of what it meant, then took her hand in his and kissed her palm before looking deeply into her eyes, his wolf hovering just beyond the surface. “I claimed you in front of my pack so long ago, but never did I ask if that was what you wanted. I am asking you now. Mercy, will you be my partner, my friend, and my mate for all time?” Mercy nodded, tears running down her face as he took off the chain around her neck and added the ring to the heavy gold before fastening it around her neck once again. “This is a symbol of my affection. It carries with it all of my family’s history and by giving it to you, I am alerting all others of our kind you are mine and that you accept me as your intended mate. It will not prevent them from seeking you out, only the true bonding ceremony will do that, but my family is very powerful and it will warn them who they are messing with if they come sniffing around you.”
Mercy picked up the necklace staring at the large gold ring etched with a wolf on top, noting that it shifted into the form of a man as she moved it back and forth. His family name was carved into the setting with the year of their beginning following it, and the words “Pack above all else,” were set in a ban
ner across the bottom.
She stared at the ring for so long that Alec worried she didn’t like it, and he rushed to reassure her that she did not have to wear it permanently. “I know it is too big for you to wear, but when we are finally bonded you will exchange that one for the one my mother wore and all of the female ancestors who were mates of our pack’s Alphas before her wore. That ring is smaller and less obvious because once we are bonded you will bear my mark and then no other male would dare approach you.”
“It’s beautiful,” she told him throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him happily. He loved her enough to protect her with his family’s name, and that was priceless to her.
“We had better go, your brother should be home by now, and he is not a big fan of our spending time alone together.” He rolled his eyes and took her hand in his, pulling her along behind him through the woods.
Lucan pulled up as they walked out of the forest, getting out of his car and staring at them with a frown.
“Need help?” Mercy called, out unable to stop smiling.
“Yeah, I went to the store,” he told her, his eyes locked on Alec as they approached. The young wolf was smiling, and his eyes held a glint of satisfaction that he had never seen there before. He knew something between them had changed and became immediately suspicious.
“Get anything good?” Mercy asked.
“I got the vegetables you wanted. I thought maybe you could make dinner tonight,” he told her, grinning at Alec since he knew he hated vegetables. Mercy loved them though even if they were more of a meat-eating species, and she insisted they eat them with every meal. He handed her a bag, still happy with himself for slighting Alec when the last rays of sunlight caught the ring around her neck making it sparkle. He knew instantly what ring it was, and the bag he held slipped from his fingers to the ground with a loud thump. His panicked eyes shifted to Alec’s and his hands shook as he contemplated what had happened in his absence.
Mercy scrambled to pick up the produce that fell from the bag, unaware of the silent war going on between the men who meant the most to her.
“Alec, I swear,” Lucan said with a low growl of disapproval.
“I told her everything, Luc. I would never take advantage of her,” Alec told him calmly.
Mercy stood, the food forgotten as she became aware what was going on between the two of them.
“We talked about this. You promised you would wait until she understood what everything meant,” Lucan argued.
“Luc, calm down, it is only a commitment, we have not fully bonded yet, so stop trying to run my life. I am old enough to decide what I want, and I want Alec,” she said placing herself between them.
“You knew what this meant?’ he asked incredulously.
“Alec explained it all to me before I accepted the ring, and Gregory made sure I knew how serious this was too.” She reached behind her for Alec’s hand and felt his support immediately upon contact. “I love him Luc, that isn’t going to change, it hasn’t since I was six, it’s just a different kind of love now, so be happy for us. We want your blessing, not a fight.”
Her eyes beseeched him to be happy for her, and he couldn’t deny her what her heart wanted even if he dreaded losing her. “What you’re asking is hard,” he said sadly. “It means you’re a grown-up, and I don’t want to lose you yet.”
She let go of Alec’s had and hugged him close. “You could never lose me. I may not have been your daughter by birth, but in my heart you’re the only father I have.”
He couldn’t help but wonder how she was going to feel when she found out her real father was alive and knew of her existence but pushed that thought away for another time. “If I agree to this it is not a go-ahead to bond anytime soon. I want you to finish high school and college before that happens.”
Alec growled at his demands, but Mercy ignored him and worked on her brother instead. “I will finish high school, but college can be done afterward.”
“But…”
She placed a finger to his lips and smiled. “I’ll be eighteen soon, legally an adult, I can do it with or without you.”
“When did you become so conniving?” he asked her, pulling her back into his arms for another hug. “Alright, but you must promise to wait for the bonding until we are back home amongst our pack.” It wasn’t much, but it would give him a little more time before he lost her for good to her mate.
“Deal,” she said pulling away from him and turning back into Alec’s welcoming arms.
“Well it looks like she’s going to keep you, so you might as well earn your supper.” He handed Alec a couple of bags filled with vegetables and could not resist a little ribbing. “Aren’t you the lucky wolf, all of her healthy cooking for the rest of your life together, may it be long and joyful.” He laughed and hooked his arm around Mercy’s waist, leading her inside while Alec stared at the bag of vegetables with contempt.
Chapter Fourteen
The next few days after Alec gave Mercy his ring was like magic. They spent every waking moment together, riding his motorcycles, walking through the woods, planning their future and just holding hands as they sat on the porch swing as the sun set at the end of the day. It was almost perfect, but they both knew there was something yet to be done, and it was Mercy who broached the subject first. “Have you talked to Amber yet?” she asked hesitantly.
His arms tensed around her, and he sighed. “She went home with her father for the weekend, but I called her and explained everything. She seemed fine about everything. Maybe everyone was just seeing smoke where there was no fire.”
Mercy did not comment. She knew Amber was not fine, no matter what the girl had told Alec. Amber was not the type to sit by and let something she wanted slip away, but Alec still did not see that about her. He wanted so badly to believe the girl he had grown up with was not the back-stabbing, manipulative little pain in the butt that Mercy had come to know, so she kept everything to herself, waiting for the explosion she knew was coming.
Alec sat with his arms around Mercy holding her close, hating that Amber was the one thing they could not seem to agree upon. His long time friend could be unthinking when she spoke and sometimes a little possessive of him, but as an only child, she was used to being the center of attention. He was sure she was probably jealous of all the time he spent with Mercy. Not because she wanted him for herself, but because she was used to all of his attention and didn’t want to share it.
Mercy felt his unhappiness and knew she had to put aside her past differences with Amber if she truly wanted him to be happy, so she did the only thing she could and offered an olive branch even though it killed her to do so. “Alec, why don’t you invite Amber to go out with us one night when she gets back? We can find her a date, and hopefully it will give us a chance to start again.”
He closed his arms around her and kissed her neck the unease he had been feeling lifting from his shoulders. “Thank you,” he whispered. “I appreciate your willingness to try.” He was glad she offered, but his true happiness stemmed from just holding her in his arms, secure in the knowledge she was his at long last, no matter what happened with Amber.
An odd chill crept up Mercy’s spine and she looked to the wood line, feeling a presence familiar amongst the forest. For a brief moment, she thought she saw red eyes staring back at her from the wood line, but she blinked and they were gone.
“Everything alright?” Alec asked, feeling her shiver in his arms.
“Yeah, I just thought I saw something in the woods.” She looked back again to where she had seen the eyes, but saw nothing.
“Let me check it out,” he said letting her go, and moving swiftly from the swing, his body on full alert.
“Don’t, Alec, just stay here with me call to the others and let them handle it,” she pleaded feeling uneasy.
“I already called to Rich, he’s on his way to help you, just go into the house, and I will be back in a minute.” He kissed her quickly then jumped off the po
rch and ran into the woods.
Mercy turned to do as she was told almost running into Amber who appeared before her, in the process. The girl looked well pleased with herself, her smile deadly as she toyed with a knife in her hand. “You know I really thought you would screw this all up, and I would have Alec to myself by now. Imagine my surprise when he called me last night and told me that he gave you his ring.” She looked to Mercy’s chest where the ring rested with a cold stare. “I flew in this morning to try and convince him that he was doing the wrong thing, but he ignored my calls and forced my hand.”
