My Forbidden Alpha (The Power of Bonds Saga #1)

Playful Shenanigans

Elijah

I push my chair back, the scraping sound ringing in the now quiet kitchen, and get up from the small oak table that stands to the side of the kitchen. It’s a lot smaller than what it is in my memories, back when I was younger and there were just three of us…

For a moment I remember when Mom stripped it down and re-varnished it. I helped her, and although I probably fucked things up even more, not once did she scold me.

It’s worn out again but it doesn’t seem like anyone really cares to preserve it.

Mom always found the beauty in the smallest things…

Scarlett mumbles something as she begins washing the dishes, dragging me from my thoughts, trying to squash those unnecessary memories, and my gaze dips to that ass again. Now that’s one fucking perfect peach.

“So, what were you saying?” I ask her.

“Not much, just that Mama is like two damn different people,” she grumbles.

Why the fuck does she wear such skimpy clothes? Those leggings are like a second skin, and they aren’t leaving much to the imagination. I throb and look away, feeling like a fucking pervert, glancing down at the front of my pants.

This is the fucking reason I’m meeting Fiona tonight. I need to fuck every thought of Scarlett and her sexy bubble butt out of my mind. I advance towards her stealthily, wanting to scare her, replying through the mind-link.

Oh yeah? So, what makes you go from feisty bitch to- I grunt when she elbows me sharply in the ribs.

Fuck, she’s stronger than she looks. What the fuck is this woman made of? And I’m impressed that she even noticed me. She now turns and glares scathingly at me.

“First of all, don’t call me a bitch. Secondly, stay away or next time I’ll be hitting you where the sun doesn’t shine!” she threatens menacingly before she turns back to the sink grabbing one of her mother’s china plates and scrubbing it viciously. No wonder Jessica’s worried about her dishes. She’s aggressive.

I cock a brow, refusing to be deterred by her sassy attitude. I’m the Alpha around here. I wrap my arms around that tiny waist and step forward, crushing her between my body and the countertop. She gasps, tensing when she rubs her ass against my cock.

“What are you doing, Elijah?” she asks breathlessly. Is it wrong that I love the effect I have on her? That I enjoy the rhythm of her racing heartbeat? I smirk, silently inhaling her intoxicating scent when my nose brushes her hair.

“Just trying to see what makes you turn into a weak-kneed high schooler,” I whisper seductively in her ear. Her erratic heartbeat is only enticing me further. My fingers brush her taut stomach, my gaze fixed on her heaving breasts.

Fuck, she’s hot…

“Elijah.” Her voice is firm, although I’m sure it trembled.

“Scarlett,” I imitate her tone. Her name sounds good on my tongue, foreign even. I’m used to calling her Red. But Scarlett… just roll that R and it sounds as sensual as she fucking looks.

I throb against her and she gasps, shoving me away, her cheeks flushed.

What the fuck? Was I getting turned on by her?

I keep my face impassive, not wanting to show her exactly how I fucking feel or show her my surprise.

She turns, staring at me, and I look her dead in the eyes, swallowing hard. Unable to ignore how good her plump pouty lips look.

I don’t know what the fuck is going on between us, but this hunger I feel for her is growing dangerously. Why am I struggling to keep my eyes and hands off her?

“Stop messing around, I’m warning you,” she says quietly, her eyes flashing. She’s not playing, and I think I’ve pushed her enough for one night. I don’t know what I’ll end up doing if I keep at it.

“It’s really a pleasure getting a reaction out of you,” I taunt, tapping her nose mockingly before I grab a dishcloth and put some space between us. The heat of her body and her scent are already getting to be too much. And although I’m trying to fucking play it off, I’m getting confused inside. “Get a move on it. I don’t have all day to dry the dishes.”

“You’re actually going to dry them?” she asks in disbelief, but I notice she is avoiding looking me in the eye, her cheeks are still tinted with a touch of pink. She moves up against the sink once more and begins washing up quickly.

“Well yeah, that’s why I’m here, right? Dad did say to help you out,” I say, trying not to look at the curve of her ass.

Is this woman doing squats every damn day?

Fuck, I wouldn’t mind helping her out if it meant getting some alone time to check her out.

Seriously, Elijah? I really need to get these pent-up hormones out of my fucking system.

She doesn’t reply and my mind turns to far more serious matters. “So, why did you lie to Dad about the attack?” I ask quietly. “That’s no joke. This could put the safety of the pack in jeopardy.”

It’s not a lie, this pack is my responsibility and Dad’s, something like that can’t just be taken lightly.

She tenses and I hear the change in her heartbeat. “That wasn’t my intention. They were part of our previous pack, a pack that’s miles away from here. They shouldn’t have been here. I don’t even know how they found us,” she replies quietly, rinsing a cup and placing it down.

The sound is loud in the now silent kitchen, the playful sexual tension replaced by something far more ominous.

I pick up the cup she just placed down and begin drying it slowly, a small frown on my face.

Then how did they find her? And why? I don’t really know anything about her old pack. Dad only ever said she had an abusive father, and for their safety he wouldn’t disclose anything more than that. Just that they were in need of protection.

“But why would they come for you? What did they fucking want from you?” I ask, my frown deepening.

She pauses, swallowing hard before she looks at me. “I don’t know how much Dad has told you about my biological father… but he…” she frowns, pausing as she looks down.

“But he what?” I ask, placing the dishcloth down and taking hold of her elbow, tugging her around to face me. Our eyes meet and she swallows hard. Whatever it is… it’s not easy for her to say.

“It doesn’t matter-”

“He what, Red? Tell me,” I command. “Or I’ll go to Dad right now.”

That works. She glares at me. “He is an alpha.”

My eyes widen as I stare at her.

An alpha’s daughter? She’s a fucking alpha’s daughter, now her wolf makes sense – somewhat, anyway. It’s still crazy big for a woman.

“What?”

“He was abusive, ruthless, cruel and plain evil. He hated that Mama didn’t give him a male heir. An alpha son to take over.” She looks away, her eyes fixed on the tap, which is still running.

“That’s really rare. It’s almost unheard of for alphas to have female heirs. I mean, there have been cases where the firstborn is a female, but then she would have a brother who holds the alpha power. So basically, Dad’s in a relationship with another alpha’s fated mate… that goes against an unspoken code. That’s grounds for war.”

“Dad did what he did to help us.”

“Yeah, but it’s fucked. And he has another alpha’s daughters here. So all this time you’ve been hiding from him?”

“Yeah… I’ll always be grateful to Dad. When we needed it the most, he was there for us. We hoped he’d never find out. Mom faked our deaths back then. She had the strength to sever the pack tie and reject my biological father.”

“That’s not foolproof. There’s a difference between the pack-link breaking, a mate dying and a rejection.” I look at her sharply and she nods.

“It was a risk we had to take,” she answers quietly. We stare at one another and that’s when something hits me.

“Your father doesn’t have a male heir… Fuck, no wonder you’re fucking huge! You’re an Alpha heir. I don’t know how or if that’s even fucking possible, but it’s the only thing that makes some kind of sense. Fuck, Red, don’t you see it? You might possibly be an Alpha Female.” I step back, letting go of her and run my eyes over the five-foot-two frame of the bombshell in front of me.

I’ve never heard of an Alpha Female before, but that’s the only thing that makes sense, especially with her aura and her wolf. She isn’t even huge. Usually, alphas are big and muscular in comparison to others in human form but she’s not. Ok, she’s toned but she’s not some she-hulk.

But it comes down to, regardless of her build, she is an alpha wolf. That is enough proof for me.

“Actually, before you think you made some amazing discovery, you aren’t the only one to come to that conclusion,” she retorts with a glare as if my staring was offensive.

I scoff before smirking mockingly. “I’m probably wrong, you’re a midget, there’s nothing alpha about you.”

That gets her frowning. “Yeah right. What is it? Did your alpha ego get bruised that I might just be an alpha? Or is it the fact that you can’t wrap your head around the fact that a female can be an alpha?”

Her irritation is clear when she picks up the washing sponge and dollops a big blob of washing-up liquid onto it before flicking some soap suds at me, irritated. I duck and it misses, only for me to earn another scathing glare.

“You know, if you weren’t wearing such tight pants, that pretty much give away exactly what’s down there, I might have wondered if maybe you had some balls and a dick down there,” I tease, smirking before I whip her ass with the dishcloth, making her yelp as she jumps. “Then again, it might be a micro penis. I heard tape works well to hide everything you need to-”

“Elijah!” she growls.

“Hey, don’t get offended. If you want to see what a really good dick should look like, I won’t mind being your model, for research purposes obviously,” I snicker as she glares at me, her nostrils flaring. “But then again, you yelped like a girl.”

“You are such a jerk!”

I simply smirk at her before it fades when the gravity of the situation hits me once again.

“I told him our pack name… this is serious. We can’t keep this hidden, Red. We need to tell Dad, so we are prepared in case there’s an attack,” I say quietly.

“Yeah, I realised that, but they were there. They knew I would come that way. I feel like they already know where we are, or where I am. I wondered if he even knows that Mama’s alive.” Her heart races, “Or Indy…”

“So, you think he’ll just focus on you? If he knows you’re here, he’ll know about them too.”

“I can’t put them in danger… I… I can handle him better…” She’s talking more to herself but seeing the worry in her eyes when she talked about Indy and her mom gives me a glimpse of the woman behind the front that she always puts up.

“No one needs to handle him. Alright? You have a pack now, regardless of the past.”

“I know, but I can’t risk people getting hurt because of me. What if I go pay him a visit and ask what he wants-”

I shake my head. “Are you insane? That’s risky.”

“I get that, but I don’t want Mama to go through that again. She’s happy now, and even though she rejected him, that bond still exists. I fear that if they come face-to-face, he might use that against her. I don’t want her to go through any more suffering simply because he wants me. Cade was there for me. I’m strong. I can handle myself.” She turns and looks at me defiantly. “I-”

“Whoa, hold up feisty pants. Are you really planning to go see Daddy Dearest all alone? Do you actually think that might work? What the fuck is wrong with you?” I growl, my Alpha aura rolling off me.

She flinches slightly but although I’m still far stronger than her, she’s not as affected as others would be, only reinforcing my assumption of her somehow being an Alpha Female. I rein in my Alpha aura, not wanting to use that power against her.

“Look. All I’m saying is that this is something we really need to think through properly. Dad knows that your dad is an alpha, correct?” I ask, running my fingers through my hair as I try to control the anger I’m feeling towards her father.

Alphas are meant to protect their pack, and above all, their family.

“He knows, but he never mentioned it to anyone for our safety. But they only want me, so we could avoid involving Mama and Dad. I am not afraid to go ask him what he wants. Maybe then he’ll just back out of my life,” she says quietly as she finishes off the dishes before taking the rubber washing-up gloves off.

“That’s not smart, Red.”

“There’s no other option,” she answers quietly, tilting her head to the side as she washes her hands gazing distractedly at the fairy lights and small colourful lanterns that decorate the garden. They are courtesy of Indy; she sent me pictures when she put those up.

I’m struggling with trying to understand her and what my head is telling me to do. I know I should tell Dad before things get even more fucked up. Looking at her now, she looks even more mature with that expression she’s wearing. She’s the picture of a woman who is trying to deal with her issues by herself.

There’s more to Scarlett than she lets on and for some reason I want to know that woman.

I look out at the lanterns, my mind made up.

“Then I’ll come with you.”