Chapter 4 Mate?!

EDWARD

I watched the door click shut behind Alria, and my heart was still thumping against my ribs.

I looked down at my hand, the one that had held her arm just moments ago. My skin still felt hot where I had touched her.

It made no sense and it annoyed me. I have spent my entire life avoiding physical contact because it makes me feel exposed and weak.

My father taught me that an Alpha who depends on anyone is an Alpha who is ready to be replaced. But when I touched Alria, I didn't feel weak. I felt like a battery being plugged into a wall. I felt a surge of energy that pushed back the gray fog in my brain.

I looked at my forearm and peeled back the edge of the white bandage. The cut was thin, but the edges were still red.

Usually, a wound like this would be gone in an hour, but the silver allergy is a curse that ignores my natural healing. It is a slow, stinging reminder that I am not as invincible as the rest of the city thinks I am.

The door opened again, and Theo walked in. He didn't say anything at first, but his face was grim and his jaw was set tight. He walked over to the desk and stood there, waiting for me to acknowledge him.

"What is it, Theo?" I asked, pulling my sleeve down to hide the bandage.

"Victor Matteo is downstairs," Theo said, his voice low. "He’s asking a lot of questions about the 'incident' yesterday. He told the front desk that he heard a loud noise coming from your office and wanted to make sure his favorite CEO was still in one piece."

I cursed under my breath and slammed my hand onto the desk.

Victor was like a vulture circling a dying animal.

He was my father’s old Beta, and he had spent every day since the funeral pretending to be my mentor while he waited for me to make a mistake. He wanted the company, he wanted the Pack, and he wanted the Ashbourne fortune. I hated his fake smiles and his friendly tone more than anything else in this city.

"What did you tell him?" I demanded.

"I told him a heavy piece of furniture fell over while we were rearranging the office," Theo replied. "He didn't look like he believed me. He stayed in the lobby for twenty minutes, just watching people come and go. He’s suspicious, Edward."

"He’s always suspicious," I said, standing up and walking to the window.

“We have to keep the silver poisoning a secret at all costs. If the pack elders or the rival families find out their Alpha is vulnerable to a common metal, I’ll have a dozen challenges for my position by sunrise. They’ll see it as a sign that the Ashbourne bloodline is failing."

"I have the guards on high alert," Theo said. "But we can't keep that girl here forever without people noticing. She has a life, even if it’s a small one."

"She stays until I say she leaves," I said. "She’s the only reason I’m standing right now, and I need to know why."

Just then, the door opened and Evan hurried in.

He was holding a tablet, and he looked even paler than usual. He was sweating, and his glasses kept sliding down the bridge of his nose. He stopped at the edge of the desk and looked from me to Theo.

"I have the preliminary blood results for the girl," Evan said. He sounded like he had just run a marathon. "It’s... it’s not normal, Edward. Not at all."

"Just tell me what it is, Evan. I don't have time for a science lecture."

Evan tapped the screen of his tablet and turned it around so I could see the charts.

"Her blood is full of a chemical compound I’ve never seen before. It’s some kind of synthetic salt, but it’s been modified. It’s acting as a massive suppressant. It’s basically putting her entire body into a chemical coma."

I frowned, looking at the red lines on the graph. "A coma? She’s awake and screaming at me every ten minutes. How is she in a coma?"

"Not a literal coma," Evan explained, talking faster now. "Her nervous system and her hormones are being flattened. It’s like someone turned a dial all the way down to zero. Whatever this stuff is, she’s been eating it or taking it for a very long time. Her body doesn't even know how to function without it."

I leaned back against the window frame.

Alria had mentioned some kind of salt her grandmother sent her. I realized the girl had been drugged her whole life, and I wondered why someone would go to such lengths to keep her quiet.

I thought about the way she had stood up to me earlier.

She didn't have any power, no money, and no backup, but she hadn't backed down for a second.

Her green eyes had flashed fiercely that I couldn't stop thinking about. She was a spitfire, and even though she was a delivery driver who had accidentally poisoned me, I couldn't look away from her.

Despite the danger she represented and the fact that she had brought silver into my home, something was changing inside me.

I felt a low, vibration in my chest. Deep in the back of my mind, my wolf was pacing, scratching at the walls of my skull. It was shouting one word over and over, a word that made my blood run cold.

Mate.

"No," I growled out loud, silencing the beast in my head.

Theo and Evan both jumped at the sound. They looked at me with wide eyes, but I didn't care.

I couldn't have a human mate. It was impossible. The Alpha of the North Pack needed a strong Luna, someone from a powerful bloodline who could lead beside him. He didn't need a clumsy courier in an oversized hoodie who ate drugged salt.