The Alpha's Property

“Do you want me to talk dirty to you, Shortie?” I ask her, secretly hoping she says yes. The thought of her getting off to my words and promises makes me hot and hard. I want her desperately. I have never wanted anyone like I want her.

“AIDEN!! No, I don’t. I thought we could get to know more about each other?” Her shout makes me laugh, I embarrassed her. She is just adorable, and so different from the usual women I would normally associate with.

“Okay, keep your hair on, Shortie… How about a nice wholesome game of twenty questions?” I ask her in a moment of inspiration.

“Yeah, I can do that. Do you want to go first?” Excitement grows in her voice, and it pleases me to please her. I didn’t realise the Mate Bond was so multidimensional. I had never had much faith in fated mates after my mother left but Eva has blown that out of the water. This could actually be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

“No, Eva, ladies first.”

*** Eva ***

“Tell me about your family,” I ask him as my first question. I already know he has a sister, Amber, but I wonder about the rest of his family.

“Well, you’ve met my sister Amber, she is my only sibling. My father, Former Alpha John Goldrick, lives on the border of our land with his chosen mate. I believe they will start a family of their own soon. And I suppose my pack is the rest of my family, we are all connected in some way. Now, I want you to answer the same question.”

I notice he doesn’t mention his mother, which makes me curious. “I have very little family: there is me and Summer, as you know, and my mother lives in the south of France with her sixth husband. What about your mother, Aiden?” The line goes quiet until I hear him sigh.

“I don’t know much about my mother, she walked out on the family when we were young and we haven’t heard from her since then. She rejected my father and weakened him as Alpha, but she was never a warm person. She wasn’t loving like you are with Summer.” My heart goes out to him. I know how it feels to have an absent parent and it was always something I never wanted my own children to go through, but look at Summer: Ryan has never held her or spoken to her. I made such a mess of things.

“I have never met my biological father. Apparently my mother fell pregnant with me after a short fling with him and when she finally told him about me, he was already married to another and didn’t want me to sully his marital bliss. I always wanted better for my own children but Ryan has never acknowledged our daughter; he didn’t want me to continue with the pregnancy when I found out I was expecting.” Tears of hurt and shame sting my eyes but I refuse to dwell on this anymore. This is Ryan’s loss, not mine and certainly not Summer’s.

“So, if we were to get together properly in the future, would it be a possibility for me to adopt Summer? And to raise her with you, alongside our other children?” Overwhelming shock and joy and awe fill my heart. Maybe Summer could get better than what I had after all.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves but it makes me happy that you’re open to something like that. My daughter will always be my priority, the most important person in my life and it's imperative that the person I share my life with understands that. How many children do you want, Aiden?” He starts to laugh at my question.

“Loads,” he replies with a hearty laugh, and I can’t help but smile back. I always wanted a big family, I hated being an only child, but with the situation with Ryan being what it was, I resigned myself to only having Summer. Now that bigger family might be a possibility after all. “We’ll obviously want a sister for Summer and a couple of boys to keep the family name going and then we'll need the baby of the family who’ll keep us young and never leave us.” I giggle along with him; he is so sweet, and I just love the picture of our future he is painting for me.

“How are we going to afford all these children, Aiden?” I say through my laugh, and when his voice becomes more serious when he replies, I realise as much as he has told me jovially, everything he says is genuine and real. Aiden would give me all the children in the world and be happy to love and raise them together. I could weep with happiness.

“I will look after you, Summer and all the pups that come from our union, Eva, I will take care of us and make sure there is plenty to go around. I promise my life on that.” His certainty and earnestness stuns me. Aiden is like the polar opposite to Ryan and I couldn’t be more thankful that he is.

“Do I get to at least ask one risqué question, Shortie?” He has been so honest and open that I relent and allow him one risqué question until we continue our game tomorrow, and I can feel his excitement growing. “What is your favourite sexual position?”

My stomach drops. It’s time for me to be honest now.

“Aiden, I need to be honest. I don’t think I’m a very sexual person. I don’t want to lead you blindly into something when I don’t really enjoy any of them.” Well, that’s it then. I have been honest, but now I expect him to run and find a sexual, sensual, lusty woman with a healthy appetite, someone who can satisfy him and any needs he has.

“Maybe it’ll be different with your fated mate, Eva? Would you be willing to at least give it a try? Let me show you how amazing we can be together. I know you find me appealing, I smell it.”

“You smelt it? Oh, my lord!” He laughs down the phone, and it makes me feel at ease. I could never discuss anything like this with Ryan. Aiden is a breath of fresh air, and I trust him. I want him. I really want to try. He reminds me of his heightened senses so I understand his stronger sense of smell which explains why he could smell my want of him.

“I will try. I want to try with you. Oh, my! I can’t believe I’m actually saying that. I can’t rush it though, Aiden. As much as I find you appealing, I also find the thought of intimacy intimidating and scary. So, if you’re okay with taking it slow, I’m okay with giving some stuff a try.”

“How about we make a deal? We go on a date and afterwards we try one thing. If you like it, we keep it and if you don’t, we’ll never do it again.” How did I ever manage to meet such a considerate man?

“That sounds like a plan. Okay, I agree to that. So, about this date…”The excitement in my voice is clear to both of us and for once, I don’t even try to hide it.

*** Alejandro ***

Sal has been sitting silently in a dazed state of shock and I feel helpless. Mrs Morales has been sent to bed by the doctor with a mild sedative to aid her sleep. She has spent the past 40 years of her life married to Jose and her pain is tangible. She finally cried when she saw her daughter, but I know they were both struggling to process that Jose was gone and wouldn’t be coming back. Salma’s mother congratulated us on our engagement and told me I knew what Jose thought the best course of action would be. She told Sal her father would be proud of her and that she was happy to bless our union in both of their names.

As I watch Sal looking at her engagement ring, I think back to when Jose first gave it to me, and I wonder if Jose knew the time was coming for him to meet his maker?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~*~ Flashback ~*~

~~~ Two Months Ago ~~~

“It’s important that it’s this ring. If you show her this ring, she will know that marrying you is the right thing to do. Your word, Ale, I need your word.”

I relent. This man is training me to lead his firm with his daughter and giving me his blessing to marry that daughter and providing me resources so in the event of his death she would know what her father thought would be the best way forward.

At first, I tried to argue with him. I didn’t want some dead bird’s ring. Sal deserved her own, new, and special ring, I wanted to pick one for her, I was happy to buy her one. I wanted to buy one for her. I had accepted almost five weeks ago that I wanted Salma, that I was falling for her deeply and irrevocably, and although she hated my guts right now, it was my aim to win her over, marry her and for us to become a power couple to rival all others. We would lead together.

“You can buy her a million rings but if you propose with this one, my Sal will know, she’ll know I orchestrated this and will be more accepting of it. It needs to be this ring. Besides, she loves this ring, that is why I saved it for her.”

So, I accept the dusty ring box from Jose Morales after I give my word that if we haven’t married by the time he croaks it, I will propose with this ring in the event of his death so Salma has a sign from beyond the grave of the right path to follow. I just hope it works.

I take the ring to our jeweller who whistles long and low. “Where did you find this beauty, boy? That’s got to have set you back a couple of hundred grand!” I’m surprised, it doesn’t look that spectacular to me. However, once the jeweller cleans it up and finds a nice new presentation box, the ring seems to glow like a beacon. How could I have missed how spectacular the ring is, how fitting it would be for Sal and how nothing in the mass-produced market could rival this ring?

Set in platinum, the Victorian ornate ring has a large clear diamond and sits on a ring of smaller rubies. It is sophisticated and beautiful and unique, just like Salma. I commission a matching eternity ring in the hope that if she does accept the ring and my proposal, she will know I have thought about her past and our future when I present this one too.

~~~ End of Flashback ~~~