My Two Alphas, page 9
part #1 of Alphas Series
“I’m so sorry, Diane, here I am thinking about myself, when you’re obviously in pain”.
I slapped him on the arm.
“Feed me, big boy. I’ll toughen up, I’m sure”.
Instead of getting up, Cole brushed a hair from my face.
“So, there will be a next time then?” he asked hesitantly.
I put my hands on his face and drew him in for a thorough kiss, speaking breathlessly as we parted.
“If I have anything to say about it, there will, now feed me, I’m starving”.
Reassured, Cole quickly finished off the omelettes, then we talked as we ate. Cole settled all my concerns that there wouldn’t be an “us” to talk about. I could barely believe that this strong, handsome, man seemed so smitten by me, but he really did. Under gentle probing, I told him about my former life as the wife of an idiot, my job and the changes in my life recently, omitting the parts about Bram. I felt at times like he was waiting for me to disclose more, but I wasn’t ready to talk about Bram yet. I didn’t know if Cole would think I was in the habit of sleeping with strange men, and I really wasn’t, although recent history might dispute that. I didn’t find out much about Cole, except that he and his brother had recently moved to this house, which had an attached nursery business that some friends were working with them. Cole wouldn’t tell me why his brother had kidnapped me, and by this stage I was almost ready to forgive him, as if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met Cole. I was still a bit reluctant though.
“So, what do you plan to do when I take you home?” Cole asked quietly.
I felt a little disappointment at that and stared down at my plate. Did Cole want to get rid of me already?
“No, I don’t”.
I looked up, my hands flying to my mouth as I thought I must have spoken out loud. Cole smiled gently as he leaned forward and put a hand over mine.
“You didn’t say it, Diane, but you may as well have. You have a very expressive face, which is quite a turn on during sex, but must be annoying if you try to bluff anyone”.
I blushed as I thought about sex, wanting to do it again, but realising that I really did need to give my body at least a few hours to recover.
“So, what now, Cole? Is that what you want to know, about when I go home?”
Cole squeezed my hand.
“No, I was referring to what you plan to do about Blair. I know what I want to happen with us, I want to keep seeing you. I really wanted to ask you to move in, but thought that might be rushing you a bit, so thought I wouldn’t say anything, but I’ve decided to just go with it and put it out there. I want you to move in with me, Diane, are you ready for that?”
Eight
I stared at Cole a bit longer.
“Are you serious? You’ve only known me a day, not even that. We haven’t even sorted out birth control yet, and here you are suggesting a live in relationship! Do you think maybe we need a bit more time?”
Cole smiled at me, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, leaving him looking a little sad.
“I’ve had plenty of time Diane, and I can assure you I don’t need any more. I know what I want, and I want you. I want you to move in here, and to get to know me, warts and all. But I understand if you want more time. Take all the time you need, but I hope it’s not too long. As for birth control? That’s your choice too. I can afford to support any children we make together, so I don’t care if we don’t use anything. Have I made you uncomfortable by being too honest? It’s just that I’ve lived so long without meeting someone who makes me feel the way you do, I really don’t want to waste any more time without you. I’d marry you tomorrow if you’d have me, but I’m worried I’ve scared you off now”.
Lost for words, I kept staring at Cole, even while he got up and cleared the dishes, stacking the dishwasher and cleaning up the kitchen. I watched this man move around the kitchen, appreciating that he had just laid his heart bare to me. It should feel creepy, someone I had just met declaring that he wanted marriage and children with me, but the connection I felt with Cole was pulling me towards him.
“I can’t marry you”, I started, then jumping up as I saw his shoulders slouch. He had misunderstood. I moved around to the front of him, staring up into his eyes, mesmerised by the pain I saw there.
“I’m still married. Not that I’m a cheater or anything, remember I told you I’m separated? I can’t technically divorce my husband yet, so no matter what, I can’t marry anyone else”.
Cole’s features lightened a little as he crooked a finger under my chin.
“So, I haven’t scared you away then?”
“No, silly”, I said as I put my arms around him and squeezed him tight. “You are moving a bit fast for me though. Remember less than a day ago, I was sitting in my own house, minding my own business. Then your brother came along and scared the living daylights out of me. Then a big black cat jumped on me and I was afraid I was going to die. Then you rocked my world, and now you’re almost proposing to me and offering to knock me up, can you blame me for feeling a bit overwhelmed? I don’t even have any clothes that fit to wear for crying out loud!”
Cole laughed as he rested his chin on my head.
“Point taken. Ok, I’ll take you home and you can change into your own clothes. I won’t pressure you to move in here, but will you consider sleeping over for the rest of the weekend? I’ll take you to work on Monday and you can sort out your job, then we talk about what is next for us, hmmm?”
I closed my eyes as I thought about my job. I had forgotten all about it. Again. I thought about Cole’s offer, and realised that I wanted it. It was still only Friday afternoon, another couple of days with Cole sounded magical. I took a deep breath then stood back.
“Deal. If you take me home, I’ll pack enough clothes for the weekend, but I want you to take me home again on Sunday night. I’d rather get back into my routine a little before I go into work on Monday and try to sort out my mess. Wait, what about that panther of yours? He worries me, what if he chases me again? What if no-one is around to call him off? He might kill me next time”.
Cole stroked my cheek gently.
“You’ve got nothing to fear where he is concerned. I’m pretty sure you’ve turned him into a great big pussy cat. Once you’ve been here a while, you’ll understand, but in the meantime, how about I guarantee that you won’t see him for the rest of the weekend?”
We talked a little more, enjoying gentle kisses and embraces, with the promise of more in the air. When Cole took my hand to lead me to the shed where the vehicles were kept, my eyes opened in horror as I saw what he was leading me to. It was a big, shiny motorbike. I had never been on one, and had no idea what brand it was, all I saw was black, and chrome, and death. I shook my head, backing up, but Cole just laughed.
“I’ve been riding a long time, Diane, you’re safe with me, don’t you trust me?”
I looked into his eyes, and let out the breath I was holding.
“I don’t know what to do, Cole, what if I make us fall off?”
“Luckily, I do know what I’m doing, Diane. All you have to do, is hang on to me, and lean when I lean. These helmets”, and he showed me a helmet, “have headsets in them, we can talk to each other. If I need to give you instructions, I will, but I won’t need to. I won’t go very fast, not until you get some confidence anyway. Here, here’s some protective gear, it’s probably a bit big for you, but not too bad. You need to wear it, just in case you do come off, but you won’t”.
I looked at the gear that Cole was indicating, and shook my head, muttering to myself but not realising that he would hear.
“Love me, love my bike, is that it?”
Cole froze, then smiled.
“Yes, exactly”.
Despite my misgivings, riding the bike was exhilarating, although that may have been because I was clutching Cole so tightly, and had my front pressed up tight against his back. I was so scared and excited, that I didn’t even think to look around at where we were riding, and so even if I had wanted to report my kidnapping to the police – which was looking less and less likely – I couldn’t have told them where I’d been held. I didn’t want Cole to get into trouble, so had a real problem about what to do about Blair. I didn’t think he should get away with what he had done, but I still didn’t understand why he had done it. Cole stopped frequently to let me rest and stretch my legs and to give me encouragement at what a good passenger I was, when all I was doing was clinging like a limpet to his back and trying not to scream into the headset. Finally, our surroundings began to seem familiar and I realised we were almost at my home. I squeezed Cole’s side to indicate when he should turn right or left, and guided him to the front of my house, before he pulled up in the driveway and shut off his bike. I looked around, seeing curtains twitch in the early evening gloom. The houses were all on very small blocks, so my neighbours were all very close by, and the bike was very loud. Cole stepped off the bike, holding out a hand to help me off, then he removed his helmet and shook his hair out. If I hadn’t still been sore – not helped by the vibrations of the bike as we rode – I would have dragged him into my house and jumped him on the spot. As it was, I patted my pockets, realising I didn’t have any keys.
“Damn. They didn’t bring my keys did they? I can’t get in”.
“How did Blair get in then?” Cole asked, looking at the front of my house assessingly.
“He came in through the back door”, I said, then clapped my hand to my mouth as Cole looked at me with mirth on his face.
“Really? I must have a talk to him about that”, Cole said, now openly laughing as I blushed at my unintended double entendre.
“No, you big oaf”, I said as I pushed him playfully, “he broke in at the back of the house. This is the last street in the development, it’s just a paddock behind my house and I don’t have a security door fitted – something I obviously have to rectify!”
Cole nodded, then seemingly without effort, he leapt over the side fence and in only a few seconds, he was opening the front door, waving me into my own house. I stomped in haughtily, and shucked off the three pairs of heavy socks that I was wearing – Cole had been unable to find any boots small enough for me to wear. I heard Cole shut the door behind me as I walked to my bedroom, grabbing a bag from my wardrobe and opening drawers to gather up some essentials. As I worked, I saw my phone sitting on the nightstand, and could see some alerts on it. I swiped the code to unlock it, then pressed the icon for the missed calls, drawing in a breath as I saw numerous missed calls from Bram, the times from earlier today to just a few minutes ago. I swiped the icon for messages, seeing that there were several voicemails. I stood there looking at the phone in my hand, wondering if I should check them, and why Bram was calling me now when he had ignored me up to today, when I heard a step in the room behind me, and turned to see Cole leaning against the door jamb, watching me with an unreadable expression on his face.
“Important calls?” he asked quietly.
I stared at him, unable to form words, knowing that he deserved to know about Bram, and being completely confused about why I wanted to listen to the voicemails when up until a minute ago I had been completely happy just being with Cole, when I heard the back door slam against the wall and an enraged voice shouting, getting louder as the owner progressed through my small house.
“Diane. Diane! I have to explain why I didn’t call, but who is here?”
Cole turned around, suddenly tense and moving to the source of the voice, and I followed, seeing Cole meet Bram in the open plan living/dining/meals and kitchen area – which although small was the largest portion of my house. My mouth fell open with horror as I saw the two men circle each other. How could this happen? How did Bram even know where I lived? I staggered back a step as it became apparent to me that the two men knew each other.
“You!” Bram almost roared, “Why are you here? She’s mine!”
Before I could react to that comment, Cole surprised me by his throaty response.
“That’s bullshit and you know it! She’s mine! If she was yours you’d have marked her and she wouldn’t have fallen for me. Diane is mine!”
Bram threw back his head, and the most unearthly sound came out of him, it was halfway between a roar and a howl. Cole stepped back, clenching his fists, and a similar thing happened. I opened my mouth, thinking to tell them both to get out, when the unimaginable happened. Before my eyes, the two men wavered, and then disappeared, and as the furniture was pushed backwards by the two large bodies, a very large wolf and that large black cat appeared in my house, circling each other. I did the only thing I could have done in the circumstances, and promptly fainted.
Nine
“Get your hands off her you dirty dog”.
“Fuck off, pussy”.
The angry voices penetrated the haze of unconsciousness, but instead of sitting up straight away, I pretended to be asleep while I analysed my surroundings. I was laying on something soft – my own bed I presumed. The voices sounded like those of Cole and Bram, but not as I had heard them in the past, although they were like the voices the men had used just before they disappeared and those monsters had appeared in my house. I wondered whether it would be safe to crack open an eye and have a peek when I heard a familiar voice at my ear.
“Baby, it’s ok, you can stop pretending to be unconscious. We won’t hurt you. We might kill each other, but we won’t hurt you”.
My eyes snapped open at that, and I saw both men in my room, one standing either side of my bed.
“What’s going on? Has someone been drugging me? Am I hallucinating or going crazy or something?”
I saw an inscrutable look pass between the two men, before Cole spoke.
“Nothing like that. This wasn’t how I wanted to tell you Diane, but we can’t ignore what happened. Remember that panther at my farm? The one who chased you down? That was me. I wouldn’t have hurt you, you know. But I saw you, and knew you were meant to be mine, and when you ran, I couldn’t help myself but chase you”.
“Yeah, right”, scoffed Bram, “when was that? After your goons tied me up so I couldn’t escape and get back to my mate? I’d already claimed her, and she already claimed me. It doesn’t matter what you think you did – and if you did what I think I’m still going to kill you for it – but she’s already mated to me, and you can want all you like, but she will never be yours”.
“Hold on”, I shouted, interrupting Bram, and stopping Cole before he would speak again, “What’s all this ownership talk? That’s pretty rich coming from you, Bram, after the way you ghosted me. In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t belong to anyone, just me. I don’t even know who you are, really”.
Bram looked at me then, his features softening after glaring at Cole. He sat on the bed, looking sad as I flinched, then withdrew a little so that he was sitting towards the end of the bed, looking at me where I lay towards the head.
“I’m a wolf, Diane, the alpha of my pack. The day we met, I was called into a meeting at Parliament House, to discuss recent troubles” – and he looked at Cole – “and I knew when I saw you that you were my mate and I was yours. If we weren’t, we never would have made the connection, and we wouldn’t have bitten each other, sealing our union”.
“Wait, you bit her?” intoned Cole, angrily. “I didn’t see anything”.
My face flamed as I remembered the bite at my back when Bram was pounding into me from behind. I buried my hands in my face as I remembered how I had first bitten him, and how I had bitten Cole too. What was wrong with me? I found my hands being gently peeled from my face, Cole looking at me with concern.
“Is this true, Diane? Where did he bite you and why didn’t I see it?”
If I could have gotten any redder I would have, as Bram’s fists clenched when he realised that Cole had obviously seen me naked too.
“My neck. He bit me on the back, where it joins my shoulder. You didn’t see it because, well, we didn’t do it that way”, I whispered.
Cole sat down on the other side of the bed from Bram, so that now the two of them were looking at me. Obviously shaken, he looked at Bram before looking at me.
“Well, I think we have a problem then”, he began, “because she’s my mate too. She bit me, initiating the union, and I accepted her. I marked her breast. I didn’t know she had already mated with you, but it wouldn’t have made any difference anyway. I felt the pull as soon as I saw her. I would have done it anyway”.
Bram turned to look at me, seeming more confused than angry.
“I’ve heard of it happening with my kind, but not with yours, is it possible?”
“My kind accept it too, but I’ve never known the mating bond to cross the species barrier. What do we do now?”
My head was swivelling between the two of them, and I held up my hands to stop them talking.
“Can you two speak English please? What are you talking about? What’s all this biting and offering and mating and stuff? I’ll admit to biting the two of you, and I think it’s pretty obvious that I had sex with the both of you, but you aren’t making sense right now”.
Cole looked at me, then looked at Bram. Bram indicated that he should proceed, but every time he looked at Cole his nostrils flared and he looked angry. Strangely enough, he didn’t look angry when he looked at me. Cole spoke.
“Just for a moment, accept that there are more types of humans that walk the earth than you know of. Some, like you, are just human, only one spirit inhabits their body. Some, like us”, and he indicated himself and Bram, “have two spirits, one human, one animal. I share my body with a panther, Bram shares his with a wolf. Both of us are much older than you would believe, as our kind live longer than yours. Luckily for us that we do live so long, as for each of us, there is only one mate, so sometimes it takes many years to wait until we meet her. It appears that in our case, we both are fated to be with you, and we haven’t encountered it before”.
