The Alpha's Runt

Phoenix, along with everyone in the room, held his breath as he waited to see what would happen next. Phoenix cradled Mira in his large arm as his other hand cupped her face.

The pad of his thumb gently glided over her full lower lip. He lowered his mouth to her ear, whispering, “Mira. Please stay with me.”

Jenna and James held each other tightly, losing hope by the second.

Destan wiped his tearful eyes as he got up from the floor, moving closer to Alpha Phoenix. His eyes started to widen as he looked at Mira.

She wasn’t pale anymore, and he could hear her breathing becoming normal. Mira’s lavender eyes slowly fluttered open, only to be met with Phoenix’s blue eyes.

“Hello there, munchkin,” he whispered, making her blush with a smile.

James hugged Jenna, both full of happiness as they realized their beautiful daughter would survive, and all thanks to Alpha Phoenix.

“I KNEW IT!” Grandmother shouted, making everyone jump but laugh at the same time.

Everyone quickly rushed toward Phoenix, who still held Mira in his arms. She was still weak, but he allowed Jenna to come close to kiss her forehead.

“Mira, Mira, my beautiful baby girl.” Jenna’s tears of joy flowed down her cheeks.

“How are you feeling, princess?” James kissed Mira’s forehead after Jenna moved out of the way to give him his moment.

“I’m feeling good, actually. I feel . . . healthier.” Mira’s eyebrows went up in question at Alpha Phoenix. “Wh . . . what happened?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“We were about to lose you, and I couldn’t let that happen, so I marked you.”

Her lavender eyes opened wide. “Y . . . you . . . you marked me?”

He only nodded at her question.

Her small fingers lightly touched her mark, making her eyes widen. “But the council . . .”

Phoenix growled at the mention of the council, making Mira gasp and shrink into his arms. Phoenix realized he’d scared her, but he had to make her understand one simple thing.

“You are mine. You belong to me, and no council will take what rightfully belongs to me.” Without warning, Phoenix claimed her lips, taking her breath away with his aggressive kiss.

That kiss told her she indeed belonged to him. Mira heard someone clear their throat, reminding her that she and Phoenix weren’t alone. Mira blushed as she turned to her sisters.

Aqua and Misty pushed their parents away, grabbing their sister’s hand and squeezing it gently. “We thought we lost you.”

Mira smiled, then her eyes fell on Destan. Mira looked at Phoenix, pleading to be released so she could go to her brother.

Phoenix nodded as if reading her mind and reluctantly let her go to a still distraught Destan. His eyes were watery, and he was slightly shaking.

“Destan,” Mira whispered as her small hand reached up to touch his cheek.

He bent down to embrace her small frame.

Mira’s arms wrapped around his neck, trying to comfort him. “Shh, it’s okay, Destan. I’m not going to die. I’m still here.”

Destan took a deep breath, then crushed her in a tighter hug. Phoenix’s inner wolf was getting more jealous by the second and wanted Mira back in his arms. Now!

Everyone turned to look at him when he growled. Mira quickly hurried back to her mate to calm him down. Phoenix picked her up bridal-style, nuzzling his nose into the mark he’d made.

“Mine,” he growled again.

Alpha James and Luna Jenna smirked as they looked at each other.

“Remember when you used to do that whenever another male wolf attempted to look at me? Even my own father.” She chuckled at the memory.

“What do you mean ‘used to’?” He grabbed her by the waist possessively, pulling her tightly to his side. “I’ll rip any male wolf’s throat—”

Jenna quickly silenced him with a kiss. Misty, Aqua, and Destan all scrunched their noses.

“Ewww! Go to your room and do that shit in private.” Misty crossed her arms over her chest.

“Yeah, seriously, Mom and Dad. I’m a child, for fudge sakes.” Destan rolled his eyes.

James was about to say something to his kids when Beta Dalton walked in.

“Is everything all right?” He looked at his Alpha and smiled when he saw he held a very alive Mira in his arms.

“Alpha James, Luna Jenna . . . I hope you don’t think of me as disrespectful, but after what happened, I took it upon myself to escort Councilman Fredrickson off the premises.”

James and Jenna nodded with a smile at him. Dalton looked at Misty and saw the gratitude in her eyes. She didn’t need to say anything. They nodded toward each other.

“What happens now?” Aqua asked, breaking the silence in the room.

“Mira leaves with me back to my home.” He looked down into her bright eyes. “Our home.” Phoenix started to walk out of the room with Mira still in his arms.

“Wait, Alpha Phoenix,” Mira pleaded, getting his full attention.

He stopped when he was at her bedroom doorway. “You call me Phoenix.”

Her cheeks blushed as she looked into his intense blue eyes. “C . . . c . . . can we stay a couple of days? Please?”

His heart softened when he looked into her eyes.

“I just want to spend a little more time with my family before we leave. Is that okay with you?”

Phoenix sighed, knowing she already had him wrapped around her little pinkie. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. He’d kill for her. His nose touched her nose, and he smiled.

“Okay,” he whispered, making her give him the brightest smile he’d ever seen. “I’d like to speak to my mate in private.”

Everyone nodded and quickly exited the room to give the new couple privacy.

Phoenix gently placed Mira on the floor. Once her feet touched the ground, he pulled her by the waist, her chest against his multiple strong abs.

Phoenix’s hand cupped her face as he looked into her lavender eyes. “We will stay a couple of days as you requested, but I have conditions.”

Mira didn’t say anything, so he could continue. Phoenix was satisfied she didn’t interrupt him with questions.

“You stay by my side at all times. Don’t go anywhere without me, and you are to sleep with me, and . . . I get to touch you.”

Mira blushed at the last request as she bit her lower lip, making Phoenix growl. She saw his blue eyes turn black with lust. “T . . . touch . . . me?”

His grip on her waist became tighter, making her moan from his actions. The mate bond between them was already taking full effect.

“Phoenix,” she whispered as her small hand gently touched the side of his five o’clock shadow. “You have a deal.” She was breathless, which made him smirk.

He nodded then smiled at her.

“I have another request.”

Phoenix’s left eyebrow went up, making her body shiver with . . . excitement.

“I’d like for us to walk in the garden and talk. You know, get to know each other a little better.”

Phoenix reached down to her thighs, lifting her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, making her squeal from the unfamiliar action.

“We have all our lives to get to know each other, munchkin. But I can’t wait to get to know you on a different level.” He began to kiss her neck, then down to her mark, sucking and biting it.

Mira’s eyes closed as she moaned, losing her fingers in his thick raven hair. She couldn’t help but welcome his lust for her. “Kiss me please,” she pleaded.

Phoenix crashed his lips on her parted ones, shoving his tongue in her mouth. Mira moaned at his aggressiveness as she pulled him closer to her.

Phoenix’s free hand caressed down the side of her ribs, down her waist, and down to cup her bottom, which he squeezed. They broke the kiss, breathing heavily.

Phoenix tangled his fingers in her thick black, wavy hair, bringing it up to his nose and inhaling it. “You’re going to be the death of me, Mira.” He claimed her lips once again, but this time gently.

“Phoenix,” she whispered. “Not here. I want us to mate in our home.”

Phoenix stopped, knowing what she meant, and she was right. Even if he had to wait a couple of days, which he knew would give him balls the color of his eyes. How ironic.

But being here at her parents didn’t mean he couldn’t kiss or touch her.

“All right, Mira. Let’s go for that walk, shall we?”

They entered the garden walking side by side, fingers intertwined. Phoenix liked the feel of her small hand in his much, much larger ones. She may be small, but she had a huge presence.

“Phoenix?” She brought him out of his reverie.

“Yes, munchkin?” His eyes glanced down to her as her lavender eyes met his.

“I really like your tattoos, and . . . you have one with the name ‘Calypso.’ Who is that?”

Mira’s heart pounded as she waited for him to indulge her curiosity. Was it an old lover of his? A former Luna that passed and she was a replacement? His mother? Late mother?

Phoenix, feeling her anticipation, smirked. “Calypso is my daughter.”

Mira stopped walking, which made him stop walking as well. “You . . . have . . . a daughter?”

Phoenix knew this conversation was going to come up sooner or later. Once he took her home, she would bump into Calypso.

Phoenix sighed and sat down on a big rock, bringing Mira to sit on his lap, resting his left hand on her right knee.

“Mira, what I’m about to share with you . . . well, you may not like, but I want you to hear it from me. Also, please keep in mind I am no longer like that.

“I have you now, and you are all that I need. Do you understand?”

Mira nodded, urging him to continue.

“For a long while, I had many, many . . . many different women, and during one night of drunken horniness, I impregnated one of my lovers.”

He looked at Mira with a huge sense of guilt, but he noticed she wasn’t giving him an angry or disappointed look. She wasn’t judging him. Just listening.

“After Calypso was born, her mother dropped her off at my door and vanished. I’ve been raising her alone for almost four years.”

Mira cupped his face with both her hands. “You don’t need to raise her alone anymore. I’m here.”

Phoenix’s blue eyes stared into the depths of her lavender eyes, looking for any sign of lies, but he found none. Mira was genuine, and she spoke from her heart.

“I know I’m not her mother, but I will love and raise her as if she were my own. We both will.”

Phoenix crashed his lips on Mira’s, and instead of being taken by surprise, she welcomed his soft lips and intruding tongue.

Mira’s small hand tightly gripped his hair, making him groan as he pulled her closer to him. She placed her hand over Calypso’s name, letting him know she was there for the long haul.

Phoenix’s hand slid from her knee up to her hip, waist, and up to underneath her right breast. Mira broke the kiss but still kept her lips on his.

“Touch me, Alpha,” she whispered against his lips with hooded, lustful eyes.

Phoenix growled, deepening the kiss as his large hand cupped her firm, full breast, squeezing it, earning him a satisfied moan from Mira.

“You are going to be the death of me, munchkin.” He kissed her passionately, as if he couldn’t get enough of her.

Phoenix knew in that moment he’d made the right choice and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to protect her.

***

After getting to know each other a little more, they headed back to her parents’ house holding hands and laughing.

Luna Jenna noticed them enter through the back garden’s French doors as she held a large tray of food to take to the dining room.

“May I help, Luna Jenna?”

She graciously nodded, allowing him to take the tray from her. “Thank you.” She brightly smiled at him then at Mira.

Jenna couldn’t help but hug her daughter. She was alive and would continue to live, all thanks to Alpha Phoenix. “I love you, Mira.” Her eyes welled with tears.

“I love you too, Mom.” They hugged each other tightly.

“Mom, where is Misty and Aqua?”

Jenna pulled away, wiping her tears with a paper towel she was holding. “Aqua is with Delta Roman, and Misty is out in the warrior training field with Destan. Why?”

Mira smiled. “I just want to talk with them, that’s all.”

Both ladies walked into the family room to a bunch of hungry wolves eating everything in sight. Aqua and Delta Roman were cozy on the couch, talking and kissing until Mira cleared her throat.

They both jumped to their feet, running toward her. “Are you okay, Mira?” Aqua held her at arm’s length.

“Lady Mira, do you need a doctor?” Delta Roman quickly inquired.

Mira shook her head, laughing. “No, no. I’m fine. I just need some time with Aqua, if that’s okay with you, Roman?”

He quickly nodded. “Y . . . yeah, of course, Lady Mira.”

Mira glanced at Phoenix and noticed he was already staring at her. She mouthed, “I’ll be upstairs with Aqua,” getting a quick nod of approval from him.

He quickly mouthed back, “Be back quickly or I’ll come get you.”

Mira smiled then winked at him. Phoenix licked his lips seductively, making Mira blush.

Aqua, watching the show before her, smirked as she grabbed Mira by the arm, pulling her away. “I can tell you have many questions that have to do with sex.”

Mira’s eyes opened wide. “H . . . how did . . .?”

Aqua chuckled.

“Because now you have a mate, you’re curious to know what it will be like, and I am more than happy to share my personal experience.”

Mira blushed, knowing she was about to learn what her sister Aqua and Roman had been doing.

Aqua took her to her room, knowing Phoenix would look for Mira in her own room. That way, they wouldn’t be interrupted for another few seconds before he barged in looking for his mate.

Both girls sat on Aqua’s bed with Mira grabbing a pillow to embrace it. Aqua turned to her with one leg resting on the bed and the other on the floor.

“So, now that Phoenix marked you, you will feel all types of sexual urges throughout your body.

“And I mean urges that can be from just his touch on your arm or leg, a kiss, his stare, his closeness—well, everything. The same will happen to him with you and only you.”

Mira knew what Aqua told her to be true. When they were in her room and kissed, she felt it. She felt it again in the garden, and again when they were mouthing to each other cutely.

“I suggest you both wait until you’re both at his home to get down and dirty.”

Mira rolled her eyes at her sister’s choice of words.

“Phoenix is a biiiigggg man, and I’m sure he has a biiigggg dick.” She used her hands to expand in measurement, making both her and Mira giggle.

“You don't want Mom and Dad hearing you getting busy.” After getting their giggles under control, Mira bit her lower lip and shyly asked her next question.

“Did it hurt?”

Aqua’s eyebrows went up as she sighed. “Yes, it did . . . at first . . . but after a while it felt so fuckin goooooooood.” She stretched it out, rolling her eyes back as if she’d just experienced an orgasm.

“Roman was gentle at first, until I got used to his size, then he pounded into me like a jackhammer.”

Mira’s mouth fell open, but then she let out a laugh as Aqua demonstrated with one hand, punching the palm of her other hand fast.

They heard a knock on the door, making them control their loud laughter.

“Come in,” Aqua yelled out.

Phoenix walked in, fixing his eyes on Mira. “By the blush on my munchkin’s face and the loud laughter coming from this room, I take it you’re talking about fucking.”

Both sisters looked at each other and giggled again.

“Leave the sex talk to me, munchkin, but I’d rather show you.” He waggled his eyebrows, making her blush once again, and Phoenix had to chuckle.

Mira stood up, thanking Aqua for the talk. She went to Phoenix, who grabbed her by the waist, pulling her to his side.

He bent down and nuzzled her neck, kissing her mark, making Mira feel all kinds of urges.