The Alpha's Other Woman by Vielle Nye (read a book .txt) 📗

Jason groaned again, this time in annoyance, when the door swung open. Porter walked in.

"Are you two at it again?" he asked. He sounded annoyed, rather than the playful grousing he used to do before his mate difficulties began.

"What do you need?" Jason asked as I got off his lap and stood beside him.

Porter slammed down a sheaf of papers on the desk. "Bluegorge is trying to block our pack applications."

"What? What the hell is in it for them?" Jason growled, his wolf making his territorial possessiveness known.

"I don't know, but it's bullshit." Porter's expression was as angry as Jason's. "They're probably afraid of competition."

The anger of the alpha and the beta fed through the pack connection, and my own joined theirs. This was none of Bluegorge’s business, and yet they were interfering. My wolf growled, and I grabbed the papers and began to flip through them. Each sheet only made me more angry. "All the excuses are ridiculous. We're too dangerous? What, Bluegorge can't protect itself from a measly pack of twenty-nine—maybe thirty-two? Our territory is too close to theirs? We'd have to run for more than a half hour to accidentally set foot on their land. We're a front for rogue activity? Well, maybe there would be less rogues if packs like Bluegorge weren't a bunch of exclusionary judgmental assholes!”

As the luna, I should probably have been trying to calm my mate down, but I was as angry as he was. How dare they try to stop us when we were doing nothing wrong? The obvious injustice of the situation made my fury only grow.

I got through Bluegorge's ridiculous excuses. "So there's to be a hearing in front of the Alpha Assembly about whether we have a legitimate claim to be a pack, in six week's time, at the usual gathering."

"Let me guess, more fucking paperwork?" Jason groaned.

"More fucking paperwork," I agreed. "The more I think about it, the more I think all this application garbage is just to make it difficult for new packs to start. It's like you said, Porter. The established packs are a cabal and they don't want little startups as competition."

Jason swore under his breath. "We're going to beat this challenge, and any other that comes our way."

I met his deep eyes and nodded. "We are, alpha."

Porter nodded. "I'm going to try to see Amanda again, and then I'll come back here and help. She's been refusing to talk to me at all."

"Don't push her too hard," I cautioned him.

"What choice do I have but to try? She's never going to learn to care for me in return if she doesn't see me, Carrie."

I sighed. "Go and see her, but if that doesn't work, I'll try talking to her. Maybe I can help open up her mind." Besides the fact that the pack needed its beta to be stable, I genuinely felt bad for Porter because being pushed away by one's mate hurt, and for Amanda because as a human she wouldn't understand exactly what she was refusing. At least all that mate difficulty between Jason and I was over quickly.

The door slammed shut behind Porter, and I kissed my mate again, my wolf needing the comfort of his touch.

Before I could slip back down onto his lap, he walked over to the door and locked it with a wicked smile.

"Weren't you saying something about how your alpha needed a break?"