The Alpha's Other Woman

37 Relieve

Jason

It was great seeing my former pack mate and meeting her mate, but Andrea's near constant stream of words did start to get a bit tiring at a certain point. How she managed to talk without breathing was a mystery to me. I let it wash over me, while occasionally nodding, when distress leaked through my bond with my mate. Although I didn't like her experiencing negative emotions, I also didn't think too much of it at first since she was frequently furious with Bluegorge or the Alpha Assembly.

But the feeling only increased, and if it was just her temper, she would have calmed down. "Carrie? What's wrong?"

"Jason?" she almost sounded surprised to hear my voice.

"Yeah. You feel upset."

"Sorry about that," she said, and she shut her feelings away from me totally. It was frustrating when she did that, and it reminded me of how she had acted when she wouldn't tell me about her past.

"What is it?" I asked again, since she hadn't actually answered.

"Nothing. I'll tell you later."

I stood up from where we were. "Sorry, Andrea, Trevor, but I've got to check on my mate. Something's up. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not. We know what it was like to be newly mated," Andrea said with another knowing smile.

It was probably not what she was thinking, but I didn't argue.

I hurried to the office, and Carrie smelled even more enticing than usual. Pushing open the door, I found my mate sitting in my chair behind the desk.

Sitting, and wiping away tears. Her eyes widened when she saw me, as if she hadn't expected me to come to her after her shitty response to my questions.

"What is it, babe?"

She opened her mouth and then groaned. She leaned her face in her hands on the desk. "I'm so stupid."

"About what?" I asked, not letting her get out of answering so easily.

"About...ugh, I felt pain, and then I just...it's my heat."

I was confused. "It's not your heat?"

"It is," she said.

"Then what?" I was confused about what was upsetting her. Heat was, from what I had heard, only really excruciating if the wolf's mate wasn't around to help deal with it—a situation that rarely happened since it was the mate who triggered it by marking. I walked around the desk. She whimpered, and I put my hand on her bare arm and slid it up to rub her shoulders. "Does that help?"

She nodded.

"Then, what did you assume, if not your heat?"

She moaned. "I started imagining something ridiculous."

"The wrong thing?" Suddenly it made sense. "You thought I might cheat on you?"

"Not really, not when I think about it, but I was jealous of how happy you were to see Andrea, and I've been feeling off all day. Don't be angry, Jason. I know I was being irrational. Please. I think the heat's messing with my emotions."

I wasn't angry, but a bit of a sick feeling that infidelity would even cross her mind formed in my gut. I knew we hadn't been together that long, and our first meeting hadn't gone that smoothly, but things had been so good since, surely she knew well enough by now how much I already adored her.

"I just, I don't know, still feel undesirable after everything that happened at Greenwoods, like why would you want me? I mean, I understand the bond..."