An Alpha's Duty

Chapter 53

Ryan smiled to himself as he looked down at his beautiful mate. Twirling a lock of her dark hair around his fingers, he watched it shimmer in the sunlight peeking through the window. He knew she was awake because of the way her breathing had changed but still he watched her markings move across her skin. He thought of the way he'd traced them with his fingers only hours ago.

After their bath, they'd grabbed a quick breakfast before he'd carried Lenah back to bed. He could tell she was tired from the amount of times they'd made love in the last couple of hours. His wolf had refused to have her leave their side before he had properly claimed her, her scent blending with his, so that no one would doubt that she belonged only to them. Even now he had to resist the urge to bury his face in her neck and rub his own musky scent over her.

The bond pulsed between them as Lenah turned to face him. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at his smug smile.

"What are you smiling about?" Her words caused his smile to grow wider as he nuzzled his head in the space where her shoulder met her neck, placing a soft kiss against his mark, feeling her shiver slightly.

"I never imagined that I would ever have someone like you in my life. The day the council enforcers showed up to question Poppy was supposed to be the worst day of my life but it was also the day I met you and everything changed." He pulled back and sat up further in the bed, the sheets falling to his waist leaving his defined chest and stomach uncovered for Lenah's hungry eyes.

She would never tire at seeing her mate like this but it was her mark on his skin that made her proud. She realised this must be what Ryan felt every time he saw his mark on her skin.

"Since I met you, I've seen things, done things that I never thought possible." He pushed her hair behind her ears before carrying on.

"We've gone from being an isolated pack, too stuck in its ways to even help itself, to being accepted into another pack and being honoured to have a shadow walker as a Luna. Hell, I think most of our pack was beside themselves at the ceremony with all those paranormals walking around. Just months ago they would have been terrified but yesterday I saw curiosity. You've given them that. They don't feel afraid of new things now, they can see change isn't always a bad thing." Lenah laughed at his adoring expression, brushing off his compliments as she usually did.

The buzzing of Lenah's phone on the bedside table interrupted their moment together. It was not the first time either of their phones had gone off so they both ignored it, feeling happy when the ringtone died out, but before they could enjoy the silence it started ringing yet again.

Kicking the duvet away, Lenah swung her legs, so she was now sat up on the edge of the bed. She reached over and picked up the phone. As soon as she answered, she had to hold the phone away from her ears from the amount of noise radiating down the line.

"You shouldn't be bothering them. This is an important time-." That was Luke's quick voice who was being completely ignored by Morgan.

"We might not have much time if we're going to figure out what the hell that shadow walker did or how she even created that spell." Morgan's voice was irate as she continued to argue with Luke.

"That's still no excuse for interrupting them-." Once again Luke tried to make her see reason only to have Morgan interrupt him before he could carry on talking.

"For Goddess' sake Luke they can make kissy faces all they want once we figure out what happened. They can do bloody doggie sty-." Lenah had heard enough of the bickering so quickly spoke into the phone before Morgan could finish a sentence that was slowly causing a blush to creep into her cheeks.