Posing for the Omega (For the Alpha #2)(20)

I could understand his point of view, but I still had a bitter taste lingering in my mouth about the whole thing. My entire life I’d dreamed about having someone like me to talk to, to not be alone, and then the blood wolves come along and that’s what I get for dreaming about wolves like me. Except, my mate was like me, and I think - no I know - that it was the secret that burned me the most. It only meant one thing. “You don’t trust me.” I said and it wasn’t a question — he didn’t trust me.

Black eyes tracked over me, assessing as much as they were caressing. “No, Ira. I trust you. You are my mate. The night you competed for the alpha mate I’d already made up my mind.”

“Because I was like you?” Was that the only reason he’d chose me? Not because I was someone he could love for who I was but because of what I was?

Zora frowned more tension forming in his shoulders and chest. “Yes although that was not the only reason.”

“No? I couldn’t even catch a deer on my own. The only reason I actually caught one was because I scared it to death with my face!” Ugh, why did I admit that. I could have died with that secret, but no had to put that out there. “Well not with my face I just surprised it...to death, but that’s besides the point. I’m not a good hunter and you chose me.”

Alpha smirked, the soft expression easing some of the hard lines on his face. “I did not need a good hunter for an alpha mate. I wanted something more than another pack member. I wanted a mate that would make me happy.” Zora moved forward getting close enough to touch my muzzle and along my jaw. It was tender and I couldn’t help but lean my head into his strong hand. “You have since the moment I first saw you, brought only joy into my life and that has nothing to do with what you are. I love you because you make me happy.”

Warmth spread to every part of my body all the way to the tips of my fingers and toes. Ok, I could accept the intimidating fact of telling a secret he’d kept for so long. I could accept that he’d mated with me for more than just being another luperci, but there was still so much more I wanted to know. “What about Azya and the other pups you sired? Are they like us?” Dey had said that Vey had only sired one pup that was luperci out of all of them, but would it be different since Zora was an alpha luperci who’d bred with a female wolf?

“I do not know.” He shifted his hand from my face down to my abdomen, caressing our pups in my belly. “I believe they are wolves like the others. I cannot say for certain as I didn’t change until I was almost fourteen winters. It is possible anyone of them could be.”

Oh oh oh wouldn’t that be a hot poker to Naga’s pride. A pup just like me. No bad Ira, that’s evil to even think that way. Revenge shouldn’t be on my agenda….it really really shouldn’t, but that would be pretty damn amazing seeing her face. Just saying. “Dey said that Vey’s pups were all wolves except for one, so I think the odds are that yours won’t be luperci.”

Zora paused his hand, looking up at me again. “How do you know about the luperci? When you came you did not know such things, and I know Deyanna does not know Veyeran’s true species.”

Deyanna? Veyeran? “Wait who...do you mean Dey and Vey?”

“Yes Ira, that is their full names.” Zora said with an odd look.

“Everyone just called her Dey! How should I know it was a nickname? Wait your name isn’t a nickname is it?” Oh puppy tails please I don’t need anymore surprises in my life right now.

“No mate. My name is Zora. I need to know how you found out about the luperci.” He urged, a serious tone taking over his voice.

How did I tell him? I was afraid, more now than before. “There was a night...and I—” Oh mother how did I say any of this? “I had a dream that I was walking into the woods, that something was calling to me. In this dream I was following the call that came from the forest and then suddenly I woke up and I wasn’t in the den.” I rubbed my belly anxiously. I didn’t like remembering that night. I’d never been so scared in my entire life, and not just for my own safety, but my pups too.

Zora’s eyes widened and a soft growl slipped out of him. “The night Deyanna brought you back to the den. The same night you had changed.”

I nodded. “I had been sleepwalking - I think - she didn’t lie about that.” I didn’t want him to be angry at the older she wolf, not when she had kept the secrets I’d begged her to keep. “I-I was deep in the woods and I was going to walk back. I figured I’d been sleepwalking but then there was a voice. He spoke from the shadows, taunting me. I didn’t know what to do.”

Zora’s nostrils flared and his hands fisted as he clenched at the bedding beneath us. “Why did you not call for me?”

“I was afraid if I called for you or the pack someone would be hurt. I couldn’t let anyone get hurt because of me. I was scared alpha and when I saw him I—” I couldn’t keep the pitiful sound inside of me. I didn’t want him to know how bad I’d messed up. How much danger I’d put his pack and our pups in. A rumble escaped my alpha as he stood quickly and grabbed my face between his hands and rubbing his face along my jaw in comforting reassurance. My eyes burned as tears slid down my cheeks and I clutched at my mates naked hips. I hadn’t wanted to admit to myself how horribly that night had scared me, but it had.