The Challenge Two Alphas, One Girl

Chapter 14: Alpha Analysis  

Friday’s POV

“Come on, let’s get you some proper food, some protein and vegetables,” he said, looking at my popcorn distastefully.

He pulled me up and led me away from the theatre. There was a restaurant nearby. People stared at us, recognising their Alpha, some greeting him, some scurrying away, heads down.

“Do you like being an Alpha?” I asked him, peering out over my menu at him. He sat opposite me at a booth in Lupine Canines, a restaurant that calculated the grams of protein, carbs and fat in everything for you and put it on the menu so you could feel guilty.

He looked surprised, like no one had ever asked him that before. “I like…being…powerful,” he said, slowly. “Physically and socially.” “And rich?” I added. He snorted. “Ok, sure, Friday,” he said patronisingly.

“If you weren’t an alpha, just a regular werwolf with a regular job, not a pack leader or warrior and you’d found out I was your mate, would you still have rejected me for being wolf-less?” I asked. I was not sure why I cared, but I did.

“No, of course, not,” he said, without a second thought. “No one would care who my mate was, in that case. The purpose of my mate would be…my own pleasure and no one else’s approval.”

“Whose approval? Your parents?” I asked, in terms of whose approval he was looking for. “Yes, and the wider community of werewolves,” he said. Igave him a scenario.

“If you win the challenge, and Thaddeus goes back to Berryndale, I’d still be the same wolf-less unimpressive girl you rejected,” I said plainly.

The thought of Thaddeus returning to his pack, leaving me behind in Marigold, like I’d never existed, made me feel physically sick. That stirring was back, it wanted to find Thaddeus and hold him, make

sure he was real and well and here still.

“My brain rejected you. My body and my wolf were going crazy. They hate me now. I’m at war with myself,” he said.

I wanted to comfort him. Comfort him for being conflicted about rejecting me! Ugh. The mate bond really was a pain.

Thaddeus’ POV

I was going crazy. How was I going to survive fourteen more days like this: the alternate days of the challenge when Maze got to spend the day with Friday? He did not deserve her. She was too sweet and special to be with someone who could scarcely appreciate that. Her lack of a wolf actually made her so… introspective. She did not have strong instincts like the rest of us to rely on so she had to think everything through herself.

I felt a weird pang, something pierced through me suddenly and I knew instantly that I was feeling Friday’s emotions through the mate bond. She was missing me too. It was strangely comforting but I hated the idea of her being in any kind of despair. I paced all day. I did some conference calls, managing some issues back home in Berryndale over the phone and the internet. The pack members at home had gotten word of me finding my mate. They were all extremely curious to meet her, especially the Gamma’s human mate who thought that Friday being wolf-less meant that a random human couple could have a

I went for a run, my first run in my wolf form since I had been here in Marigold. My wolf was dark brown with the same blue eyes my human form had. I darted through trees and thickets. I did not care that

Friday was wolf-less but it would be nice to run through the trees with her. The beauty of a lupine existence was unique. It gave me an idea.

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I arrived at the pack house, in a reasonably fair mood. The healthy food that Maze had force-fed me was decent. I felt I understood him better now after our chat. I wondered if Maze wanted to talk this evening. Thaddeus had said his day ended at midnight. I wondered if Maze would insist on being in my roomor presence up to the last minute of our first day together of the challenge.

Fang stopped me on the Beta floor before I could take the last flight of stairs.

“Come here, baby sis,” he said, peeping out of his room.

I turned to walk away which was a mistake. I hate super speed. In a flash, I was in his room. It was a slightly smaller version of the alpha bedrooms. He put me in one of the chairs. He was being surprisingly gentle. He sat opposite me, his gaze intense.

“I’m not an i***t,” he said.

A million amazing comebacks from the too easy to the truly witty filled my head but Maze was doing some alpha thing all the way downstairs amidst some noisy pack members and I had been told Thaddeus was out running in the woods. No one would hear my screams so I held my tongue rather than test my brother’s patience.

I simply nodded.

“I know you must be all taken with Thaddeus,” Fang said. “He’s seven feet tall, he has no standards when it comes to his mate so he’s cool with you being wolf-less…”

Wow, thanks.

“He’s your dream guy get it. A foreign alpha who doesn’t see you as a loser cause he doesn’t really know you,” Fang continued.

If I had had any shred of respect left for Fang, his words would hurt.

“I mean… spied on you, through your window,” he said. What?! That stirring inside me was so angry, like I could…kill. “Hey!” Yelled Fang, snapping me out of my thoughts. “What?!” I said. “You…your eyes just now…they looked…never mind, it’s dark in here,” he said. The room was brightly lit. I shrugged.

“And I saw you guys,” my brother continued. “You and Thaddeus doing everything just short of mating.”

My face burned, bright, hot and red. I took a deep breath. Anger and embarrassment battled inside of

“So, I know how that is,” Fang said. “I don’t hate you, you know. I’ve never really given you advice or taught you anything like a bigger sibling normally would. Astrid and I, we used to do anything and everything, besides actually the deed because her parents wanted me to marry her first and they would’ve smelled it if she’d been technically mated.”

I squirmed. What was the point of this conversation? I found myself foolishly clinging to that part protner. i wantea to nug nim, just to be nela platonicauy Dy a man, something I could not get from Thaddeus or Maze.

“So, I know your mind and heart are filled with Thaddeus,” he said. “But you can’t choose him. You know that, right?”

“What? No, I don’t know that. Why not?” I said, folding my arms, closing myself off from my brother.

“Because you’re the daughter of the former Marigold Beta and the sister of the current Beta, being the mate of the Marigold Alpha makes sense when you factor in who you’re related to. It makes sense to join those two Marigold pack families. I get why it was fated now,” he said.

I did not buy that for a second. “Tell me what you really want to tell me,” I said as sternly as I could.

My brother’s smile faltered. Fang sighed. “Friday, you’re gonna mess up everything your family has worked so hard for just to what…bag the tallest alpha? There’s an alpha right here for you and he’s

changed his mind about rejecting you. You’re gonna forgive him and you’re gonna stay in Marigold where you belong,” Fang was whispering, but he was leaning in, almost nose to nose. He practically snarled all of that at me. He took a hold of my shoulders, applying pressure, squeezing. I was suddenly not afraid of him anymore.

“Be careful, Fang,” I warned, “any mark you leave Thaddeus will find.” Fang released me as if i had electrocuted him. His eye were black. “Just get out!” He snapped.

I stared at him. “Out! Now!” He bellowed in his Beta voice.

Iran from the room and right into the arms of Maze, who was just outside the door.