Stealing the Alpha’s Heart

Someone had tried to hurt Lyssa.

Someone had tried to hurt Lyssa!

When Emma called me, I pulled a one-eighty in my car and raced back home. I broke pretty much every speed limit along the way, but no one stopped me. I didn’t even bother to park my car, leaving it in the valet section of the apartment building to be dealt with.

The first thing I noticed was that my apartment had no door, and a curtain was hung over it. Several neighbors were out in the hall, looking curious, and I gave them the best chagrined expression I could manage.

“Jealous ex. She won’t be allowed back into the building.”

Some looked like they bought it, and some didn’t, but honestly, I couldn’t care less. After a quick text to Theo to get me a door and a cleaning crew ASAP, I slid inside.

Naturally, my eyes went to Lyssa first, who was holding one of Emma’s hands as my sister carefully wiped b***d from her face at the kitchen sink. Considering what she told me, I had expected an absolute bloodbath. It was a relief to see she’d only made a mild mess. At least for a wolf, that was.

“Theo’s sending a crew soon,” I said, going over to my mate and pulling her into a hug. “I’ll cancel the dinner with my parents.”

“What? No!”

I was surprised at Lyssa’s objections and looked down at her, taking in her wounds. Emmaline said she wasn’t that hurt, but I could see a bruise blooming on her chin and a thin cut on one of her arms.

“Baby girl, I don’t think you’re in the right place for an in-law meal.”

“No, I want them here,” she insisted, looking up at me with her big, beautiful eyes. “I want to be surrounded by family.”

As stressful as the situation was, her saying that still filled me with all sorts of good emotions. She saw my parents as family. That… that was huge. Goodness, I loved her so much.

“Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yeah. I know you don’t have time to cook, but maybe we can just order something and plate it up?”

“Sure, whatever you want. But let’s get you looked over and cleaned up a little, shall we?”

In truth, I wanted to get her away from the body and all the b***d while it was taken care of. So I ushered her to the bedroom and carefully tended to her.

More than anything, I wanted to tuck her into bed and let her rest, but she seemed to be looking forward to dinner with my parents. It was a very bizarre situation, but I wasn’t about to argue with her.

Putting witch hazel on her chin and making sure she took some pain meds, I paid close attention to her scent and her heart rate. She was rattled but didn’t seem to be in shock or shutting down. That was good but a bit surprising. I would make sure to pay close attention to her for the rest of the night.

The cut on her arm was so thin that I just had to wipe it down with alcohol pads and then use some butterfly bandages to make sure it didn’t open later. When that was all settled, Lyssa showed me the outfit she picked out and then changed.

Both of us ignored the sound of people coming in and cleaning. Knowing Theo, he set up police tape outside and probably had Brenton out there while the new door was installed. Theo was always good at the details like that.

What a strange day. I was certainly glad Lyssa was safe, but someone knew where she was. Someone had cared enough to hunt her down. All of my worst fears had been confirmed and shoved into my face.

But I tried not to let my panic show. Lyssa didn’t need that on top of everything else. I kept her occupied by suggesting different socks, tights, or house shoes I thought would go with her outfit. When I eventually ran out of that, I asked her what we should order and was grateful when finding the right place and putting the order in took a good chunk of time.

All in all, it was a little over an hour before Emmaline and Theo knocked on my bedroom door, their scents concerned but not abjectly aggressive or scared.

“Yeah?” I asked, opening it to find that my sister had cleaned up and Theo was as spotless as ever.

“Door is in, cleaning crew is done, the body is dealt with,” was my right-hand man’s efficient reply.

“I called our parents to tell them what was up. They said you could cancel if you wanted, but I explained Lyssa was pretty adamant.”

I nodded. “I appreciate that. But I still want two bodyguards on patrol on this floor and a permanent one for Lyssa on work days.”

“Wait a minute,” Lyssa objected, walking over to lean into the doorframe with me. “I do not need some babysitter!”

“Lyssa, you were attacked and nearly taken today!”

“But I wasn’t! Besides, I’d already scoped the guy out before. It’s not like he had the total drop on me.”

“What? Are you kidding me? You’ve seen this guy before?”

“Yeah, outside of Emmaline’s shop.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I was still trying to gather more info on him.”

I let out a grunt of frustration and realized it was not the time to yell about it, even though I wanted to. If Lyssa had just warned me, we might have avoided the attack altogether. If only she weren’t so determined to always do everything all on her own.

Turning away from her, I decided to address Theo instead. “Get a DNA test on that man. Try to find out what a human was doing attempting to kidnap someone from an alpha’s territory.”

“Yes, alpha.”

He headed out, but Emmaline stuck around. She was a godsend, as Lyssa suddenly seemed pretty angry with me. But I didn’t have the wherewithal to deal with it, so instead, I hopped into my inner circle’s chat, updating them and setting up a meeting for the next night.

Urgency was running thick in my veins, so I messaged Samson too, telling him I needed to meet with him the next day, which was nonnegotiable. I didn’t wait for his reply, as I was notified that our food had arrived.

The rest of the night seemed to speed up after that, with Lyssa and me barely getting the food out before my parents arrived. It was a little awkward, trying to have a normal meal while what happened hung in the air, but Lyssa seemed plenty soothed by it.

And when push came to shove, I would choose whatever made Lyssa feel better every time. She was my center, my haven, and I would not let anyone harm her.

Ever.

Thankfully, my parents were adept at rolling with the punches and heaped plenty of praise onto Lyssa, from her outfit to laughing loudly at her jokes to even jokingly badgering her about grandchildren. Well, that last one was my mother, and while I normally, usually wouldn’t let that fly, Lyssa seemed amused by it.

They stayed well into the night, and I got the feeling they were just as much making sure Emmaline and I were okay as they were Lyssa. I felt… alrightish, but it was hard to ignore the bubbling rage building within me.

A line had been crossed and there was no going back. I couldn’t procrastinate any longer or try to give the situation space. I was getting our pack’s moonstone back and breaking Lyssa’s suppression, one way or the other.

It was nearly eleven by the time my parents left, and Emmaline went with them, no doubt anxious not to be alone.

“Let’s leave the clean-up for tomorrow,” I murmured to Lyssa, taking her into my arms. Strangely enough, she seemed almost back to normal, if not pretty weary. What kind of stressful life had she lived as a street urchin to deal with trauma so well? I knew plenty of wolves who would implode if they went through half of what she did. “I’m sure Emmaline will want the day off.”

“Yeah, probably,” Lyssa murmured, intertwining her fingers with mine. “Was that her first kill?”

“No, but she hasn’t had too many. She’s much more of a pacifist than I am.”

“But she did it for me.”

“Of course. She adores you. She’d fight anyone who ever threatened you.”

“I know. And… it’s nice not to be on my own anymore. Thank you. For everything. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the man.”

“I know you didn’t do it intentionally,” I soothed. “Come on, why don’t we get you to bed and put this awful night behind us.”

“Okay. But it wasn’t all bad. I had an amazing spa day and a lovely dinner with your parents and sister.”

“Yeah, that was nice, wasn’t it?”

Hand in hand, we walked to the bedroom. Both changing into loose pajamas, we slipped under the covers, and Lyssa nestled safely in my arms. I didn’t think I would be comfortable letting her go for a good long while, but I was sure she wouldn’t complain.

I was all set to go to sleep when Lyssa pressed a k!ss to the underside of my jaw, kittenish and soft. I looked down at her, so full of affection and concern, only for her to k!ss my l!ps.

It started tentatively, barely there. But she increased her pressure quickly, an underlying urgency to the act. Surprised, I let her continue until she pushed me onto my back and straddled my wa!st.

“Lyssa, what are you doing?”

“I would have thought that part was obvious,” she answered, looking at me through half-lidded eyes. Her l!ps were curved wickedly, smirking at me like she was a succubus in the flesh.

“Lyssa, it’s been a strange day. You don’t have to….”

“I want to,” she murmured, leaning down to k!ss me again. “I love you, Mahlan, so much. And I want to be connected to you tonight.”

She loved me.

She. Loved. Me!

It was the first time she’d ever said it aloud and it moved me, moved me right down to my core. I gripped the hair at the back of her neck, holding her to me as I deepened the k!ss.

Our tongues moved against each other, my body quickly heating up as she ground against me. Heart thundering, I knew I would give her whatever she wanted.