Chapter 6: I'll take her

Nikolais POV

"Alpha Nikolai, I am so sorry about one of my workers, last night. She was bang out of order to disturb you." 

Zade says. His acting is great, I'll give him that, but I didn't miss the way her body went rigid when his fingers dug into it. I didn't like the reaction my body seemed to have to his outburst either, which is new for me.

"No worries. Just another worker, huh?" I say, feigning indifference toward the woman who caught my attention in a simple meet-and-greet.

Mate.

The word tastes weird coming from Rex. The number of times over the last 10 hours that he's said that word is making me want to turn him off completely.

"She's a handful"

"Who is she?" I ask not bothering to speak about anything else. Work-related anyway. My mind isn't functioning today. Not the way it should be anyway because she has taken up a lot of my thoughts.

"Havoc. She causes numerous amounts of problems around the pack and doesn't listen. We all assume she's deaf and just lip reads."

"She hasn't been diagnosed?" I ask because it's pure bullshit. She isn't deaf because she understood exactly what I was saying last night, but something is going on—something that she doesn't want them to know about. The only problem is that I will find out what it is and get her to talk, whether it's three weeks from now or three years from now. She will start to be honest with me.

"No. She refused to go to the doctor for it. My father and I ... we have tried with her but she's quick to lose that temper. So was her father," he says as if I know who he is or what it is that her father used to do. I'm not bothered about that but what's making my skin itch is the fact that I've apparently been mated to a psycho woman but my instincts are not wrong when my gut is telling me he's bullshitting me.

"I'll take her" I say before I can even begin to think about what I've just done. All I know is that I can't and I won't leave her here.

"Excuse me?" Zade says slowly. "You want to take...one of my workers?"

"Have you ever tried to tame a wild horse into submission Alpha Matthew's"

"I'm not following your path here"

"Let me put it this way ... when you're training a wild horse that's never been a submissive mare or handled correctly, you get kicked. Trampled on. Ruined. But eventually, they fall in line just like the others. They always do and I have never been one to back down from a fight nor shall I ever back down from breaking someone into submission. I'll be damned if I start now."

"With all due respect Nikolai-"

"Alpha! That is your first and last mistake. I will not have a rookie Alpha disrespect me no matter whose pack I am sitting in!" I say in a tone that I feel is calm. 

However; that may not be the case when the idiot actually pales.

And he calls himself a bloody leader. An Alpha. He's a toddler using training wheels in a big park, that's what he is.

"With all due respect Alpha...my staff here work well. They have respect and show teamwork" he lets the lies roll off his tongue so naturally. What is he hiding that he doesn't want me to figure out?

"Yet you just said that she causes trouble? Doesn't work well and isn't submissive. You are her Alpha and it is within your role to make her respect you. Forcefully or otherwise. I'll take her back to my pack as part of my deal for your treaty and get her working there. She will be submissive toward me or else she faces my consequences" I explain and it's only then that I hear the shallow breathing and the drool-worthy scent coming from outside the office door. My hearing is top-notch and any Alpha, beta or even Gamma can hear the smallest of sounds no matter how far or how close.

Shit.

The last thing I wanted to do was terrify a woman into submission. She won't be working in my pack and she sure as shit won't be a deal I had with her soon-to-be former Alpha. She's mine. Done. No deal required but I won't allow this muppet to catch a whiff of the truth.

"I'm sorry Alpha Nikolai but I can't allow you to take her-"

"Okay. Then our time here is finished. Thank you-"

"Wait! Hold on. What about our-"

"Unfortunately if you can't bend to my terms then I won't have anything to do with your pack" I explain before gathering my thoughts and things.

"Right! Right okay, take her! She's a pain in the ass anyway" he says but there is something there that is haunting his conscience.

Pain?

Regret?

After signing the original documents that require both signatures and blood oaths, I gather my things and go on a search for my confusing mate. 

'Nik! Nik bro you have to know that her wolf, Mina by the way is great! We are keeping her right?' My own wolf asks. Chuckling to myself I must admit that it is going to be great knowing her old life and habits out of her and showing her the ropes to what could be her future.

'Yes. Yes, we are keeping her but no speaking of this until I figure out how she can hear but can't talk' I say.

'She can talk. Mina told me she can talk but chose not to

Oh. Interesting.

Very fucking interesting indeed.

'And what else do you know about her?'

'Nothing yet. Mina is not disclosing much.' He says while prancing about in my head. I can smell her before I even set my eyes on her. She's standing in the kitchen with the same woman from last night.

Posie?  No. Ah, Rosie!

"A little birdie tells me that this-" she gestures with her false sense of security along with her fake ass everything. "-Is coming to a bitter-sweet end. I mean, bitter for you but sweet for me knowing another Alpha will see you for who you truly are" she whispers at her but I hear her as if she's speaking normally.

Her voice is nasally and pushy and it makes me

Want to pull her voice box out.

My mate signs something with no show of emotion on her face but I have never had any need to sign before.

Guess I'd best start learning it.

Pulling out my phone I send a quick message to the group chat that holds my mom, dad, aunts and uncles, brother, sister and best friends.

Nikolai: Heading back soon. 9-hour drive back. Bringing my mate home. 

My mom is the first to reply. I can just hear her screaming and cheering through text.

She's that obvious.

Mom: bout time!! Oh my god, who is she? What's she like? Tell me everything.

Nikolai: Mom. You'll see her later okay? Don't crowd her just let her have some space first.

Putting my phone away even though it's going off like mad I make my presence known to everyone in here. Everyone straightens and bows their heads. Even her.

"Go and get all your things. You'll ride with me on the way to my pack" I tell her loud enough for everyone to hear.

She nods her head and looks at the woman next to her in question.

"Go! You don't want to keep Alpha Nikolai waiting honey" she says with such fake annoyance I am seriously considering her voice box being removed.

ASAP.