Taming the Alpha

Step Eighteen

"I love that smile." The words slipped out of my mouth as my thumb glided against his dimples. He froze under me, the smile disappearing from his face. I cursed in my head for ruining the mood, but stopped when I saw his eyes flare.

"Say that again." He growled. His grip on my hips tightened, causing me to let out a gasp.

"I love..." I started but he caught me off by pressing his lips to mine.

"I love you." He whispered into the kiss. It was my turn to freeze as he pulled away from me slightly. It wasn't that I didn't love him, because I did, but I wasn't expecting him to love me. I always thought I would be the one to tell him I loved him first. Expressing his feelings was never his thing so this was a giant surprise to me.

"Here I was thinking I'd have to say it first." I chuckled. The smile reappeared on his face as his lips met mine again.

"Say it." His chest rumbled against mine.

"I love you." I smiled. I leaned down to kiss him again, but we were interrupted by a wave crashing into us. I let out a yelp as Brute's laughter filled the air. I pulled away from him and stood up, only for him to stand up also and wrap his arms around my waist. I yelped again as he spun me around, letting go of me. I flew through the air a little before crashing into the water. My body was quick to hit the sand, but the water was deep enough to where it didn't hurt. I got back onto my feet and my eyes narrowed as they landed on my mate.

"My hands slipped." He shrugged, the lie slipping off his lips with ease. I rolled my eyes, we both knew he threw me on purpose. It didn't matter, though, he was happy and having fun. If only my pack could see him now, then they would really realize how much he had changed.

"So your boyfriend is stopping by during your lunch?" Julie, my coworker, asked. We worked together at the zoo, of course, and I would consider her my only friend in San Diego. She was a little older than me and worked at the zoo when she wasn't taking her college classes. She was studying to become a nurse, but I had a feeling animals would win over her future career.

"He's supposed to bring me lunch. It'll probably be fast food since he can't cook." I answered. Julie loved hearing about Brute, especially after I showed her a picture of him. Let me tell you, that picture was almost impossible to take because Brute hated having his picture taken. Brute knew I had the picture and he hated it, but he let me keep it to make me happy.

"Good thing we have the same lunch break." She grinned, wiggling her eyebrows at me. I rolled my eyes, but I understood her interest. Brute was the most attractive person I had ever seen. Jealousy and anger formed in my stomach, but I pushed them down. Brute was my mate and he loved me, plus Julie was a human who just admires an attractive man.

"Are you really going to ruin my lunch date?" I groaned. I pleaded to her with my puppy dog eyes, but she wouldn't budge.

"I'm meeting him whether you like it or not." She said. I let out another groan, but I didn't argue with her more. Instead I let her go on a rant about the new guy she was seeing. It wasn't going to last long since she always got bored after the third date, but she rambled on about how he was the one, like she always did. I hoped that one day she'd actually be able to find the love of her life. I didn't understand how humans did it anyway. Because of the wolf spirits, werewolves had a specific wolf they were destined to be with. Our mates were decided even before we were born, but humans didn't have that luxury. Instead they had to go through many different people without knowing who was the one meant for them.

My phone alarm going off pulled me out of my thoughts, telling me that it was time for our hour long lunch break. I barely had time to put my computer mouse down before Julie was pulling me away from the reception desk and towards the maned wolves. They were not the same species as us, but they were the closest thing to wolves in this zoo. We had an understanding of each other while a lot of the other animals either hated or feared me.

"He's supposed to meet us there, right?" Julie questioned. I nodded and she picked up her speed, literally dragging me along at this point. With her speed and the way people moved out of the way for her, we made it to the maned wolves in only a few minutes. Brute wasn't there yet, causing nervousness to flow through me. Did he forget about our lunch date?

"Maned wolves? Seriously?" A voice spoke up, sending the good kind of chills down my spine. A smile spread across my face as I spun towards the voice. Brute stood behind me, a sonic bag in his hand. My legs almost gave out from under me at his presence, but I managed to keep myself standing as he walked over to me. He wrapped one arm around me and pulled me close to him. He planted a kiss on my lips that I didn't want to end. Someone clearing their throat pulled us apart, though, and we turned to see Julie with her hands on her hips. She looked Brute up and down, causing me to hold back a growl.

"Are you going to introduce us?" She raised an eyebrow at me. She had an attitude, which was what I liked about her. From the way I saw Brute's lips pull up into a smirk, he liked that about her also.

"Julie, this is Brute, Brute this is Julie." I introduced them. Julie held out her hand, which caused Brute to stiffen a little. I nudged him and he reluctantly shook her hand. When it was acceptable, he was quick to pull his hand away. He wasn't good with interactions, especially with humans. I'm surprised he was quick to allow contact with me. Touching definitely was not his thing.

"You stand up to your expectations." Julie commented, and I knew she was referring to his physical features. Not only was he attractive, he had a body that would make anyone drool. I could tell you from experience that there was an eight pack under his shirt.

Brute didn't say anything back to Julie, instead he just stared at her with a blank expression. I knew he didn't know what to do, so he was retreating into his cold shell.

"Julie, I'll see you when lunch is over." I hinted. She didn't look too happy about the fact I was kicking her out of my lunch date, but she still nodded and walked away. I had no doubt she was going straight to the penguins.

"I don't like her." Brute mumbled.

"You don't like anyone." I pointed out. He merely shrugged and swooped his head down, giving me another kiss. I quickly pulled away from him and sat down at the bench in front of the maned wolf enclosure. Brute sat down next to me and I realized he wasn't hiding his scent or power. After moving here, he always hid his scent and power when we were out in public. Why did he have it out in the open now?

"There's a guy giving you a lost puppy look." Brute growled, answering my silent question. I followed his gaze to my coworker, Adam. He was cute and shy and had a major crush on me. I always hinted that I wasn't interested and that I had a boyfriend, but he was still head over heels for me.

"That's just Adam." I shrugged, tearing my eyes away from my coworker. Brute glared at Adam, red sparks starting to form in his eyes. I rolled my eyes and stood up, pulling my mate with me. I pulled him into the closest staff room, which was thankfully empty. I pushed him onto the couch and climbed on top of him. I wrapped my arms around him and held him close to me, causing him to stop shaking.

"You're jealous." I whispered. He let out another growl and wrapped his arms around me, roughly pulling me to him.

"Anyone would be with an attractive mate like you." He muttered, kissing my neck. I could feel a blush forming on my cheeks, something I still wasn't able to control even with my new personality. Of course I was going to blush when he gave me a compliment, those didn't happen that often. Even though Brute was changing also, he was still a giant asshole.

My phone going off pulled me out of my thoughts and I detached myself from Brute. He let out another growl at that and pulled me back to him, but I still stood as he sat on the couch. I looked down at my phone to see Lucas was calling, causing my heartbeat to speed up. Lucas and I still kept in touch behind our parents' backs. He even sent us some money to help us stay on our feet along with my high school transcript. He managed to pull some strings to help me get my diploma, which helped me get my current job. It wasn't like him to call in the middle of the day, though, so that worried me.

"Lucas?" I answered. The line was silent for the longest time and fear started settling in my bones. Brute stopped rubbing his hands down my hips and looked up, giving me a confused look.

"Ally, you need to come home, it's dad..." 

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