Alpha Bond

Oliver’s POV

When we return to the territory, it is past midnight. After a lot of persuasions, Donovon and Ivory agreed to stay for the night.

They will be living in my chamber, a place which I have learned to call home during all these years.

I had to call an urgent meeting of the guardians and share the details with whatever has happened. It is not surprising for me to find out everything is back in order in the clan when we return because this is how we work. The wards are already up and strengthened, and inside the clan also, everyone is back to their duties.

Some of the high-ranking guardians are still unhappy with me being their Superior, but much to my relief and happiness, the rest of the clan, has shown their trust in me.

Even though everything has come to an end, and the danger which was hovering above us is no more, the restlessness inside me is still there.

The lives which I have taken are haunting me. The faces of them just before they died makes me wonder could I have helped them? Maybe they could have been saved.

Walking to the marble column of the front stairs, I blankly look ahead towards the vast ground covering the front of the building.

A dent forms between my eyebrows when I notice Elena sitting alone in the middle of the ground as she looks at the moonless sky.

She turns her head to me when I sit beside her on the grass.

“What are you doing here out here, alone?” I ask, leaning back on my palms and crossing my legs in front of me.

Her lips tilt in a half-smile as she turns her head back without responding to my question.

“How can you not care?” This question abruptly comes to my mind, and I can’t stop myself from voicing it while recalling her words when she told me how killing doesn’t bother her.

She glances at me again and looks at my face as if she is trying to understand what is going on in my mind.

“We can pretend whoever we want to be, but the truth is that we all are predators... killers.” Her gaze travels back to the sky as she mirrors my position, “If a predator starts caring about its prey, then it will not survive and will become someone else’s prey. To survive, you have to fight and eliminate every danger no matter who they are.”

“We can’t save everyone, Oliver.” She gives me a small but comforting smile, understanding my dilemma. “If it makes things better for you, then think that by killing them, you are helping them and everyone else by saving them from the evil.”

My gaze is filled with amazement as I look at her. It is hard to comprehend how much strength and wisdom she has hidden behind her playful nature.

“It is hard for me to believe that you are seventeen.” I chuckle lightly.

“Circumstances have forced us to grow up way before time.” The seriousness in her words causes me to stop laughing because there is truth in her words, “No child should have to see their parents being killed, no child should have to experience the fear of being alone, and no child should have to kill to defend their loved ones. Because the moment you experience this, that is the moment when you know it is time for you to grow up and give it back to the world what they give you.” There is no anger or bitterness in her tone, just acceptance.

I know she is talking about my and her experiences.

I can’t deny that she is wrong. The child in me died with my parents. Suddenly I was not a little boy whose biggest fear was dark. The world which I was curious to know about became haunting and cruel.

“But everything happens for good.” She places her hand over mine, “Because we wouldn’t have become the person we are today if we hadn’t faced those challenges in our life.”

“Look how awesome and amazing I am.” She smirks, flicking her hair behind her shoulder, “So no complains.” She winks, causing me to laugh because the haughty Elena is back.

Not wanting to leave Elena alone in the dark, I decided to stay with her as we both shared different stories of our life. I told her about my training, which she was really thrilled about, and asked me to train with her so we both could learn from each other. At the same time, she told me about her dream to become a warrior and how she has been training hard since her childhood to fulfill her dream.

“I hope I am not being replaced.” Ella jumps on my back and pushes me to the ground while laughing, “I don’t think I need to remind both of you that I am your best friend.”

Quickly sitting back, I catch her when she is about to run and pull her in my lap.

“And that’s my cue to leave.” Elena makes a grossed-out face as she moves away from us, “I don’t have any interest in watching you two being all touchy-touchy. It will be far weird than kissing him and trust me, that tops the list of the times I have felt disgusted.” She gags.

“Can we please not talk about that ever again?” I cringe, trying to shake off that awful feeling which makes me feel weird.

“Yeah, that was gross... super duper gross, and I would like to erase that memory from my mind.” Elena quickly nods her head while still making a face.

After sitting for a few more moments, Elena went to her room because she felt tired and wanted to sleep.

Ella leans against my chest and crosses her arm over mine. Burying my nose in her hair, I inhale her scent, which brings a strange sense of comfort to my wolf and me.

We both silently enjoy being in each other’s embrace as, for the first time, we don’t have to worry about anything.

For the first time, we are actually allowing ourselves to embrace the bond we have been blessed with.

“Tomorrow, we are going home.” Tilting her slightly to the side, Ella looks at me with a smile, “Finally, you will be home with us.”

Holding her chin, I lean down and gently kiss her smile.

“I am at home.” Tracing her lips with my thumb, I kiss her again as contentment fills every corner of my heart, “Whenever I am with you, I am at home.”

“It is strange, but even I feel the same. I feel this is where I belong.” She looks into my eyes, making my heart clench in my chest, “With you... in your arms... gazing at your face, this is where I truly belong.”

Lifting her face, she presses her lips against mine and kisses me while freeing me from every pain that my heart has endured.

“I don’t know what the future has held for us, but I promise you in every step of yours, you will find me right beside you. I wish there were a way to tell you what place you hold in my life and how much I love you.” I hold her tightly against my heart, and the feeling of completion brings a strange joy to my heart.

Love is not the right word to name my feelings for her because what I feel for her is so strong that it is impossible to confine those feelings in words.

She is my savior, the one who saved me from being lost and helped me reunite with myself. If it weren’t for her, I would have never recognized myself and would have been living a dark life.

“I am not great with words like you are.” She smiles, looking at me through tear-filled eyes, “But I need you to know that the love which I have for you will never fade. No matter what challenges we face, my love will continue to grow for you. You will always be my comfort and my safe haven.”

Eliminating the distance between us, I capture her lips, sealing the promise I made to her and myself.

Abruptly, she breaks the kiss and pushes me away, causing me to fall on my back. Lifting myself on my elbows, I look at her with raised eyebrows when she begins to unbutton her shirt.

“Ella, what are you doing?” I ask her, unsure where her mind is heading towards.

“What do you think I am doing?” Her lips move to the side as she continues to open the button of her shirt. “I am removing my clothes because what I want to do feels better with no clothes.”

“Ella, we are out in the open.” Quickly, getting on my feet, I pull back her shirt over her shoulders when she unbuttons the last button and shrugs it off her shoulders.

“Who said we can’t do in the open?” Bringing her lips closer to mine, she brushes against mine.

Damn, she is driving my wolf and me to the edge of insanity.

“It is not a great idea.” Shaking my head, I try to sound reasonable.

“Since when is it a bad idea not to let your wolf out?” She tries to keep her face straight as she looks at me.

“I will show what it means to tease me.” Playfully, narrowing my eyes at her, I try to grab her. But she breaks free of my hold and runs away from me while laughing.

“You know how much we love the chase, Ella!” I begin to run after her as my wolf becomes excited with the little game his mate has started.

Turning her head, she winks and then shifts into her wolf and runs off in the woods with lightning speed.

Picking up the speed, I follow her in the woods. Leaping into the air, I shift mid-jump as the game of chase begins.

I pounce on my mate when I find her being distracted by the leaf that falls on her nose.

She lets out a growl and snaps her teeth at me, but I lick her face unbothered by her annoyance.

She playfully attacks me, and I let her take me down, enjoying this play fight with my mate. She again sprints off in the opposite direction, causing me to follow her again.

After playing and chasing each other for some time, we rest near the pond. She slumps against me and licks my face, and nuzzles my neck.

Moving her head to the side, she shows me her neck and lets out a small whine.

Happiness erupts inside my heart because my mate wants me to claim her. Not wasting a moment, I lick her neck and soon plunge my teeth deep into her neck.

After marking her, I continue to lick her mark until it is fully healed. Then nudging her lightly, I show my neck to her, eager to wear her mark.

The moment she bites down my neck, marking me as hers, our bond floods with so many overwhelming emotions. The feeling of love is the most dominant one, as the bond between us strengthens.

Our bond is still overflowing with the intense feeling of love which we have experienced in our wolf forms. We don’t even realize that we have shifted back into our human forms.

The desire to claim each other as ours makes it difficult to see anything past it. I can see in her eyes even she wants us to complete our mating and claim each other.

When she wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me to her, I push back every irrational thought and decide to honor the mate bond with which we have been blessed with.

The moments our lips touch, a feeling of passion spreads over our heart, as the world around us seems to fade as nothing else matters to us other than each other. We allow ourselves to lose in each other as the sky above us becomes the witness of our union.

Finally, I found the light that was meant to chase away my fears.

Ella is that light that brought me back from the darkness and gave me the courage to dream about the future. The future in which I have her with me, beside me, and leading me.

I, Oliver Emerson, accept Ella Whitmore as my mate, love, and Alpha.