The Kane Mate Series Book 2: Alpha Xander

Xander

Her surprised expression mirrors my own as I stare at the woman in front of me. I didn’t expect her to be here. If I had, I would have sent someone else to escort Kyle to the infirmary.

Realizing that I’ve been staring, I immediately blink my eyes to clear my thoughts away. Clearing my throat, I look down to avoid seeing her as I help guide Kyle over to the nearest bed.

From the corner of my eye, I can see her moving around the desk to come over to us. “What happened?”

“Just an accident during training,” I respond gruffly without looking at her. It’s so hard being around her. My whole being is drawn to her like a moth to the flame.

It’s not just the mate bond either. She is admittedly gorgeous. Her petite frame and large, brown doe eyes make her look so innocent.

Her olive skin looks smooth and supple, making me want to run my hands all over her. Her luscious raven locks are shiny and silky, falling down her back in soft waves. She looks a bit exotic and wild with her dark mane.

And her curves…oh my Goddess… Her curves are to die for. Damn it. I need to stop thinking about her.

“Do you know how to set bones?” I ask as I try to distract myself from where my thoughts were taking me.

“Of course,” she replies softly after clearing her throat. It’s obvious that she’s uncomfortable with the situation too.

Though, that’s probably all my fault. “You think?” my wolf responds sarcastically. I roll my eyes before he continues.

“If you would stop being such a stubborn asshole, we would be happy and with our mate and you wouldn’t have to worry about things being uncomfortable.” He stresses the last word and my jaw clenches in annoyance. Ever since Cassia showed up, my wolf and I argue a lot.

He says I’m stubborn, but he’s worse. My attention is drawn away when I hear Kyle’s voice as he speaks to Cassia. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re gorgeous?”

She immediately blushes as the blood rushes to her cheeks at the compliment. I smack him upside the head as I scold, “Hit on someone your own age.” After all, Kyle is only seventeen whereas my mate looks to be in her early to mid-twenties.

Kyle instantly makes a face at me as he gestures toward Cassia. “But look at her!” I frown at him and his persistence. “There’s no way you don’t agree with me,” he insists.

Quickly giving my mate a sideways glance, I can see that the red of her cheeks has deepened. “Enough Kyle. You’re embarrassing her. Let her work.”

He shrugs as he mumbles, “If she’s embarrassed then maybe she needs to get compliments more often.” I feel my irritation growing as my jaw clenches.

“He’s right, you know? Our mate is gorgeous. And she definitely deserves more compliments,” my wolf sighs with content as he can’t take his eyes off her. Suddenly, his lips curl into a snarl as he continues, ~“But she should only get those compliments from us.”~

I inwardly roll my eyes before questioning aloud, “Are we about done here?” Cassia hastily finishes off the final touches before raising her hands. “Yep! You’re all good to go!”

Giving a curt nod, I help Kyle into a standing position. “Thanks,” I remark before leading him out of the room as he shoots a wink over his shoulder at her. I hasten our steps and we are finally out of the room.

***

After I drop Kyle off, I go to my office to work. I’ve been using my home office more and more lately since Cassia moved into my pack house. My pack is known as the Eclipse Pack and they have their own living quarters separate from the packs of my brothers.

My gamma Carlos and his younger sister Elena had helped her move in as soon as she was discharged from the infirmary after the battle. Carlos has been helping with that a lot lately since the packless wolves have also been in the process of moving into the city.

They were disbursed between all three of our packs, Ethan’s Crescent Moon Pack, Alex’s Lunar Pack, and my Eclipse Pack. Families received help to get their own houses or apartments while everyone else moved into one of the three pack houses.

It’s been pretty chaotic because of everything that has been going on lately. Luckily, Carlos and my beta Jax have been able to handle it while I focus on all of my businesses. I oversee three restaurants, two nightclubs, and a movie theater.

I’ve always been interested in entertainment and leisure whereas Ethan is a technology genius and Alex is really into numbers. He is the CEO of Crescent City Financials Group which is the primary bank in the city. He also takes care of auditing the financials for all of our various businesses.

Because of our wide array of interests and talent between the three of us, Crescent City has been quite profitable and grew at an astounding rate. Now, despite the clear evidence of the Great War of Supernaturals, the city center is well-developed and modern.

It boasts the hustle and bustle much like what cities used to be like. Soon, I’m filing everything away so that I can head downstairs to one of the state-of-the-art gyms that we have where I’m supposed to meet Jax for some more training.

Jax is already there warming up when I walk in. “It’s about time man! Where have you been?” he exclaims as he spots my approach. “Oh come on! I’m not even late!” I argue as I throw my duffle to the side and we start off doing some warm-ups and cardio before lifting some weights.

After that, we move on to sparring.

“So, what’s going on with you and your little witch?” Jax asks with a smirk as he waggles his eyebrows at me. Not many people know that Cassia is my mate.

The only people that know are the ones that had been present when I first found out, my siblings, Jax, and Carlos. However, I’m not sure if anyone spread the word at all or not. My men that had been with me when I first found out about Cassia had been ordered not to say anything.

Not everyone knows about my past, but most wolves do know that they shouldn’t gossip about something like finding one’s mate. It is customary for a high-ranked wolf to officially announce their mate to the pack. Ethan and Scarlet’s situation didn’t seem to work the same way, but that was likely due to the rampant speculation following their chance meeting that landed her in the hospital.

I haven’t heard anything about my own predicament, so I am hoping that means everyone knew to keep their mouths shut until I decided to make it public.

I haven’t really wanted to tell anyone about Cassia, at least not until I know what to do about it. However, I did end up telling the rest of my siblings along with my second and third in command. I have decided they should know that type of information since most of them would have found it to be important regardless of what I decided.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts before responding to Jax with a huff. “Nothing.” I throw a right hook, showing him that I am done talking about this particular subject.

He dodges before sending his own fist toward my side. “You know, you’re going to need to accept or reject her soon. She’s already caught the eye of a few of our wolves.”

I scowl as I block him. “What the hell do you mean?! Who?!” I demand angrily. Kyle is one thing, but now there are more?

The thought of anyone else touching her or even looking at her the wrong way makes my body vibrate with jealousy. Jax chuckles at me and shakes his head as he ducks another attempt to hit his face.

“My point exactly.” He smirks.

Letting out a low growl, I jab at him. He simply laughs harder as he blocks me.

“Dude,” he says, “haven’t you heard the saying ‘you can’t have your cake and eat it too?’

“Well, you can’t ignore your mate and expect her to turn down any male that comes calling. You obviously want her, so you need to tell her. Not to mention, if you don’t want her getting that kind of attention you need to put a mark on her and claim her as your mate.”

“Hey boys,” a familiar feminine voice calls out, distracting us from our current conversation. I can’t say I mind though. I’m not in the mood to talk about my mate.

Nor do I want to get lectured right now. “Hi Serena,” I reply as she strolls up to us with a smile. She is one of my pack’s warriors.

“I was hoping to get a workout in. Would one of you want to do a few sparring rounds with me?”

“Yeah, sure,” I respond before Jax backs away and Serena takes his spot in the ring.

“Thanks, Alpha,” she answers with a smirk as she takes position.

She is good, but I am better. Though she moves fast, I am able to keep up with her. Plus, she doesn’t match my strength.

She knows what she needs to do, but since her training is outlined by me, she is no match. We do several rounds and I win every single time. I pin her down under me with her leg locked in an awkward position, ending our fifth round.

Serena taps out with a huff, and I climb off of her and hold out my hand to help her up. “Okay, I think I’ve had enough of getting my ass beat,” she states with a laugh as she brushed herself off.

“All right, well, I’m going to get going then,” I respond before I go to grab my things. I walk out of the gym and into the hall that leads toward the elevator when the sweet strawberry scent of my mate fills my nose.