Chapter 21: Fortress
Roman
I didn’t have to hear the entire story to know that Austin was telling Samantha about the aftermath of the death of Theo’s family. There’s only ever been one time in my life when I lost control and killed innocents, and it was that day. It’s not something that I’m proud of and I’ve made sure to never lose control like that again, but I can’t bring those people back any more than I can bring Theo back.
Since
my mate doesn’t need any more reasons to hate me, I interrupt their conversation letting her know I’d like her to accept me as her Alpha. I may not be willing to force my mark on her, but I need her to be part of the pack so I can find her or reachi out to her mentally when needed.
1 expected her to fight me, but instead she falls into step beside me. Rather than complete the simple ceremony in front of the pack. I take her up to our room. While she was meeting the pack, I unpacked some of her things for her and left room for other things in my drawers, closet and bathroom. I left the few personal things that she had in her bag for her to put away Since she has a ridiculously small amount of personal belongings, it only took a few minutes to put her things away.
want to show you our
u our room. No arguments. I won’t touch you until you’re willing, but we will share a room and a bed, Samantha You’ll need more clothes. If you’re not comfortable ordering clothes for yourself, I can do that with you. You’ll need more than the omega clothing that you have. You’re my Luna. I want you to look and dress like it.”
When I don’t get any snarky response, I look at her. She’s deep in thought, but when she realizes I’m looking at her she quickly responds.
“Okay.”
I sigh internally. I can’t wait to know what’s going on her head.
i
‘Do you think she’s just going to open her mind and let us in?‘ Pierce asks. He’s so utterly in love with our mate. I swear he just stares at her swooning.
“What’s not to swoon over? She’s amazing. Look at the way our pack instantly responded to her. She’s a true Luna. A true
Alpha‘
Yes, she is
“You can order whatever toiletries you need for the bathroom as well. We have some things in storage for quests that you are welcome to use while you wait for your things to be delivered, or you can use mine. It’s up to you,” I say, stopping at our door. “After dinner, I’ll show you around the pack. Pierce would love to go for a run with your wolf as well…”
“No.”
I turn and give her my full attention. “No?”
“No. If there is ever a time when I accept you as my mate, which I doubt, but if that time comes, then Pierce can run with my
wolf”
Pierce whines in my head.
“Does your wolf agree with this?” I ask.
“She does,” she says, surprising me.
“Are you going to at least tell me her name?” Pierce is practically desperate to know the name of his mate.
She looks at me so long that I expect her to decline. I can see that she and her wolf are having a discussion about it, so I let
them talk
+25 DOYUS
“Ayla. Her name is Ayla,” she finally says
Instantly, Pierce starts purring so loudly that I’m pretty sure the walls are rattling
“A beautiful name for a beautiful mate,” he purrs, pushing forward.
“You haven’t even seen me,” Ayla says, her voice deeper than Samantha’s
don’t have to. I already know you will be beautiful to me. Always”
I watch Samantha’s face turn to a scowl and then Ayla is pulled back “Shall we?” she asks, gesturing to the door, but Pierce
isn’t done yet
“I think you’re beautiful too, my mate,” he purrs at Samantha, reaching out to stroke our fingers down her cheek.
“Stop flirting with me and my wolt, Pierce,” she says, but there’s no bite behind it and the gentle pink that flushes her cheeks gives her away.
“I can’t help it. The Moon Goddess has blessed me with an intelligent, strong, beautiful mate. I am not a wolf who takes those things for granted.“.
I give Pierce another moment to purr at our mate, making her squirm uncomfortably before I turn and open the door.
When we step inside, I watch her eyes roll back in her head as Ayla lifts her nose in the air, sniffing my scent. My cock goes
instantly hard as Samantha’s back arches, and her mouth falls open softly as my scent overwhelms her.
I’ve never brought a she–wolf to my bed. Yes, I’ve slept with other she–wolves, but this room, this place, was always meant to be a sacred place for me and my mate. Samantha and Ayla won’t smell anyone in this room except me and maybe the hint of the omegas who come in to clean my room a couple times a week. Personally, I can’t wait to walk in this room and smell her tantalizing green tea, white ginger, and vanilla scent.
I gently run my fingers down her back, snapping her out of the mate bond fog that she’s in.
“Closet,” I say, pointing to the walk–in closet. “Bathroom,” I say, pointing to where the bathroom door is standing open. “And our room,” I say, gesturing to the room around us
“Are you sure you can trust me to sleep in this room with you? I might try to kill you in your sleep, you know,” she says. Her words are lacking their usual snark and I realize she’s trying to regain her composure.
“After seeing the way the pack responded to you today, I would hope if you somehow managed to kill me that it’s because you intend to take over this pack,” I say, making her frown.
Tignore that and turn to face her, holding out my hand, palm up. “Are you ready to accept me as your Alpha?”
“Do I have a choice?” she asks, turning to face me.
“I can’t force you to accept me, but eventually, you’ll start smelling like a rogue. I mean, I already have concerns about your
bathing habits…” I say, grinning as she growls at me
Fine Let’s do this. And I do NOT stink!
I smile, extending a claw over my hand and slicing my palm
I hold my palm out to her, Pierce forcing the wound to remain open so she can lick our blood
“1. Samantha Chapman, accept you, Alpha Roman Hartwell as my Alpha,” she says, taking an extra moment before bringing my hand to her mouth and licking my blood. My already hard cock twitches in my pants
I’m a bit surprised when I feel the Alpha link click into place since I know Samantha isn’t her real name. Maybe it’s real
enough that it worked
The next thing I realize is that unlike any other pack member I’ve ever brought into my pack, rather than having access to Samantha’s thoughts, I come up against what feels like a fortress surrounding her mind
Fuck, she’s powerful. I’ve never heard of anyone who could keep their Alpha out of their mind if he wanted in Out of habit, I push to enter her mind and I’m met with unrelenting resistance
She, on the other hand, takes advantage of the new link between us and begins racing through my mind, like a wolf running through the forest. I’m almost too slow to slam the door on the parts of my mind I don’t want her in, the loss of the Brenners, Theo, Samara, the overwhelming grief that still haunts me to this day. One by one, I slam those doors shut just as she’s about
to blast through the memories
The Alpha in me wants to snarl but I hold it back. If this is what she needs to learn to trust me, then l allow it. It’s hard, I’ve never given anyone this level of access to my mind before, but I let her search my mind for everything except the parts that
are still too raw to share
“My mate is a very powerful Alpha female,” Pierce purrs in my mind. When I see Samantha jolt, I realize he said it for her benefit, not mine.
She skims through my mind. I’m not sure if she’s looking for anything in particular, but she doesn’t linger too long on any one part of my life or memories. She slows, only momentarily, when she gets to the relationships I’ve had with other she- wolves. But seeing that they were nothing more than sexual endeavors, she moves on quickly. She slows again when she gets to my memories of Theo, when he and I were younger. She spends extra time going through my memories of him, Sawyer, and even those where Samara would come chasing after us and Theo or I would treat her bumps, bruises, or scrapes,
then one of us would carry her home on our wolves.
I hold still until she’s done. Then she steps back and looks at me, frowning like she didn’t find what she was expecting to find.
“Did you see anything in there that did not warrant me having at least some access to your mind, my mate?” I ask. I’m hoping, really hoping, that she’ll at least open up to me a little. I gave her nearly complete access to my mind, my thoughts, and my
life.
I hold my breath, waiting for her verdict. Then slowly, as if the drawbridge of the fortress lowers, she allows me entrance into
her mind.
Cooper
Roman and Pierce are learning just how strong Samara is.
