Chapter 26: Her Second Chance Alpha

Soft hues of red and orange light were filtering into the room from the windows of the balcony. I watch as the sun slowly sinks in the sky, casting even more colors of light into the room. Turning over and stretching my body, I wince in pain. Memories of the events from this morning begin to fill my mind, causing my body to instantly heat up just at the thought of my mate.

Reaching up, I touch my marking spot and a shot of electricity runs through my body. A slow smile spread across my face. He marked me, I think to myself.

Sitting up and pushing the thick blanket off my body has chills erupting all over my body because of the loss of warmth. Swinging my legs off the side of the bed, I try to stand up, my legs shake slightly and my knees start to buckle, but I am able to catch myself on the edge of the bed before falling to the floor.

Standing up slowly again, I carefully made my way to the bathroom. Debating on using the shower or the massive bathtub that sits in the center of the room. I turned on the faucet to the deep tub, filling it with hot water and a lavender-scented bath bomb. The relaxing scent quickly fills the entire room.

Turning around, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror above the sink. I can see my new mark for the first time. I stared at it for a few moments. I never thought I would have another mate and it feels so surreal. Reaching up, I ran my index finger across the spot, a shot of electricity ran through my body.

I turned back to the tub and turned the water off. Stepping in, I lower my aching body into the hot water and leaning back I let the water completely cover my body and loosen my sore muscles.

As the water starts to grow cold, Jason's scent of sandalwood and frankincense invades the bathroom suddenly.

"Hello Little Mate" Jason says, his voice gruff as he watches me from the door of the bathroom.

Standing up from the tub of now cold water, I keep my back facing my mate, a low deep growl comes from Jason.

"Hello to you too mate," I smirked at him, turning to look over my shoulder. His eyes were swirling with red, his chest rising and falling quickly.

I wrap a fluffy white towel around my body and step out of the tub. Walking over, I placed a small kiss on his lips as I tried to walk through the door.

Jason stops me by wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me to his chest. His eyes are dancing with amusement.

"And where do you think you are going, Little Mate?" He says, leaning into my hair taking in my scent. "I have missed you." He adds as he nips my new mark, causing a jolt to shoot through me, a moan slips past my lips.

I can feel him smile at my reaction. Giggling now, I pushed his chest to get him to release his grip on me. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to sleep as long as I did." I said, leaning my head back to look up at my mate.

"It is okay, it was a very eventful morning." He says, his smirk turns into a smile that lights up his face.

He leans down, capturing my lips in his, he lightly nips my bottom lip, causing me to gasp in surprise and he takes that moment and his tongue dives forward, exploring every inch of my mouth.

Pulling away from his lips, I tried to catch my breath. Jason peppers even more kisses across my cheeks and nose.

Placing both my hands on his chest, I giggled again as he continued to kiss every inch of my face.

"I have to find your mother" I said, now laughing even more. "Jason, you have to let me go. I need to see when your mother wants to do the dress fitting since I slept the entire day."

He literally pouts at me now, "She will be at dinner. You can ask her there." He says, pulling me back into his arms, his smile growing even more as his eyes swirl with Knights red.

"You know you will have to let me go sooner or later, right." C*cking my eyebrow at Jason.

"I disagree with that. I can keep you in my arms all day." He says, a warm smile crossing his face as he looks down at me.

Laughing as I pushed on his chest again, getting him to finally release me. I made my way across our room to the closet to look for something to wear to dinner then.

Settling for something that is simple and comfy, I grab a pair of leggings and a flowy shirt that has flowers printed on it.

Dropping the towel, I grab a black bra and panties set. Jason watches me the entire time as I dress. His eyes are almost completely red now.

Applying a light amount of make-up and running a brush through my long hair, I put it into a simple side braid at the side.

"You look beautiful" Jason says, the truth behind his words easily visible in his eyes as he wraps his arms around my waist from behind me, looking at our reflections in the vanity mirror.

"Thank you" I said, turning and placing another kiss on his lips.

.

Taking my hand, he led me out of our room and down the stairs of our apartment. As we approached the front door, I realized then that I was starting to truly think of this place as my home. A broad smile spread across my face then.

"What has got you smiling like that", Jason says with a wink.

Looking up at my mate's handsome face, "Just about how this really is becoming my home now. It's a little surreal" I said, reaching up, I placed my hand on his cheek. "But I am so happy to be here."

He lays his hand over mine, his smile growing even bigger if that was even possible. He places a kiss on the inside of my hand then laces his fingers with mine.

"I am so happy that you are finally here with me." He says, his eyes shining.

We walked down the hallway to the packhouse to the dining room in a comfortable silence. I had expected it to be bustling with activity like it normally is for dinner, but it was much quieter tonight. Only Jason's parents, Eric, Ella and Sara are there tonight.

Broad smiles are on everyone's faces as we make our way into the dining room. Luna Alison looks as if she will burst into tears at any moment, she rushes to me and embraces me tightly.

"We are so happy for you dear, for both of you!" Luna Alison says.

I realized my mark was what this was about and I instantly blushed bright red. Andras snickering in my head, reminding me that everyone now knows exactly what happened earlier today and why I have been MIA all day. This only causes my body to become even redder. I swear I blushed from my toes to my hairline.

Sara stands directly in front of me, her own eyes shining with unshed tears as she tries to hold them back herself.

"I am so happy you walked into the shop that day. You are going to make a very wonderful Luna." Sara says, also hugging me tightly. As soon as her arms left me, another set of arms wrapped around my waist from behind me, Jason leaning down, kissing the top of my head.

"Yes, she will be an amazing Luna," he says. Andra puffed out her chest a little at her mate's compliment.

Jason leads us around the big table and we take our seats, Jason sitting at the head of the table with myself sitting to his right, Eric and Ella to his left. Jason's dad sits at the opposite end of the table with his mother to his right and Sara sitting between the two of us.

Conversation begins to flow about everyone's day and about the Luna Ceremony as the Omegas begin to bring out the dishes. Steak and grilled shrimp with baked potatoes and a side salad now fills the table and everyone begins to dig in. After a bit more talk, Jason gets everyone's attention by clicking his fork to a glass, drawing all our eyes to him.

"I wanted you all here tonight for a few reasons. One of the most important is to let you all know that a representative from The Halo Pack is being sent in for Holly's Luna Ceremony."

Everyone, including myself, stared at Jason as if he had grown two heads.

"Why would they do that? They have never visited other packs for Luna ceremonies, so why would they fill the need to come to mine?" I quickly asked, a panic starting to settle in.

Looking around the table I can see that the very same question I just asked is also on everyome elses minds as well.

"We can't be sure of their reasons until they arrive, but we will be increasing security again " Jason adds.

"I will walk you through everything you need for their visit Dear." Luna Alison says, a giant smile on her lips. "We will get your fitting done first thing in the morning and we can go through the last bit of preparations that are needed."

Nodding to Luna Alison, I began to wonder exactly why the royal pack would want to be there for my ceremony. Andra is quiet on the subject as well, not offering any advice or ideas.

Jason's voice pulls me from my thoughts, "There is another matter that is just as important," He says, looking at Sara. "Sara has brought up the fact that the rogues who attacked when Holly first arrived may have been under the influence of Black Magic." Jason says now.

An audible gasp could be heard around the room.

"Son, do you really believe that witches would be involved in this?" Alpha Charles asks his son.

"If this is Alexander and I highly suspect that it is, I would not put it past him to stoop as low as using Black magic to obtain Holly by any means necessary."

"But why is he after her in the first place?" Charles asks.

Jason looks back at me now, taking that as my cue to speak up and explain why the a**hole is obviously obsessed with me again, since the former Alpha is the only remaining person who did not know that Alexander was my first mate since he was not at the lunch the other day. "Alexander was my first mate, he rejected me on my eighteenth birthday because he said I was too weak." I look down at my hands in my lap twirling my fingers as my nervousness begins to rise.

I felt Jason grab my hands from under the table. He began to rub small circles across my knuckles in an effort to calm me down. It helps and my heart rate and breathing slowly return to normal. I raised my eyes to his mouthing a 'Thank you'. He nods his head, still holding onto my hands, giving them another gentle squeeze.

"And if we are able to find proof that this is the case, that the rogues were indeed under some kind of spell, then Knight and I have agreed to take the death sentence off the table for Liam."

Sara breaks down then, tears running down her face as she does her best to wipe them away. I wrap my arms around my friend as her emotions begin to settle she looks up to Jason. "Thank you Alpha, Thank you so much."

"Don't thank me just yet, we still need to find some kind of proof that he was not acting of his own free will and that Alexander and Silver Bow are the ones that are behind it." Jason says.

"How do you suggest we go about finding this proof?" Ella asked, looking at her mate.

A sigh leaves my mate, "That I haven't figured out just yet." Jason replies.