Chapter 24 Stealing Her
Calhoun's POV
It's frustrating, seeing Kristen with another guy who isn't me. The way she laughs and smiles at everything Ivan says makes me want to punch my fist into a nearby wall.
They excused themselves from the table when dessert was being served, and I am here wondering why they're this close when it's just the first time of them meeting.
"Good heavens, Calhoun! I've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes," Alpha Landon almost yells and this makes me snap my gaze away from my mate to the man at my side.
Natalie clears her throat and puts her hand on top of mine, wearing that fake smile once again. Something which repulses me. I quickly withdraw my hand because I don't want to be touched by a woman who isn't my mate. I'm indeed letting my wolf take charge here because I don't want the mother anymore but the daughter.
And I don't fail to see how pain flickers over her eyes but then she quickly masks it all up.
Speaking of how fast my feelings for Kristen eclipsed that for Natalie just proves that I never love her as much as I thought, or because I'm not afraid of wanting Kristen anymore.
"Let's leave the women to the table, shall we?" I offer and Alpha Landon immediately agrees to this and Bruce accompanies us to the balcony.
I'm using this as a means to spy on Kristen and Landon's son.
The boy even has his hand on her shoulder, and she lets him keep it there without even bothering to push him away.
Can she not tell him she's mated to another, and that he has no right to touch her like that?
"I need you to lend me some money, Calhoun. My company is at its peak of crumbling, I'm near bankruptcy. If the elders find out that I'm having financial issues, they could join heads together to strip me of my position." Alpha Landon blurts out, looking anywhere but me.
Silence relapses as Bruce and exchange a glance.
"How much will you be needing?" I fold my arms across my chest and try as much as I can to not look at the youngsters once
more.
"$5,000,000," I'll say it took Alpha Landon a lot of courage to tell me this
"That's quite a huge amount of money,"
"I know, but I'll pay back in a year. I just need to get some shit together to stand on my ground. My wife and Ivan don't even know about this,"
"Fine, I'll send you the money."
Alpha Landon has a grateful look in his eyes as he thanks me. I credited his account when he gave me his bank account details. "I've never seen my son this smitten by a girl before," Alpha Landon says sometime later, as he joins me to look at Ivan and Kristen.
Hearing this from him makes me clench my teeth until my jaw begins to hurt.
Bruce clears his throat and adjusts his collar. He only can tell that I am upset at this.
"Who knows if they'll be together someday,"
"Shut your gob!" I snap before I can even stop myself.
"What?" Alpha Landon has a confused frown on his face.
"It's me and not you, Alpha Landon," Bruce hurriedly comes in between us, feigning offense, "I asked him how many babies he'd like to have with Natalie. Four, five, or eleven like a football team," he jokes, trying to ease the tension in the air.
"Oh," Alpha Landon fakes a laugh, clearly not buying any of the lies that my beta just told him. He has already mind-linked with me to know it's him I was referring to. Now, mind-linking has to do with just Alphas and Betas. And Landon is no ordinary person, he's an Alpha like me but only of a lower rank.
"I should go see what Lucy is up to," he points behind him and uses this as an excuse to leave.
"You're losing control, Calhoun," Bruce remarks when Alpha Landon is completely out of sight.
"What are you implying?" My voice is a bit resentful because Kristen just glances at me to see if I'm watching, before sliding her hand on Ivan's arm.
Dammit! Is she doing this to get at me!? Because it's working. I want to crush the skull of that boy with my bare hands. "Why haven't you rejected Kristen yet? You didn't show up at the council hall and went to Nana Joyce's for two days." "How in the hell did you know I went there?"
"I phoned her because my Alpha abandoned his pack."
Knowing this statement requires no response, I push my hands into my pants pocket.
"You don't even look at your wife like you used to, it's all Kristen and I saw what you did at dinner an hour ago. You were pulling away from her touches, hurting her in the process."
"That's not true."
"She's in pain, Calhoun. All because you don't want to let Kristen go."
"That's enough."
"I meant what I said earlier, Alpha Calhoun. You're losing control because of Kristen. You need to reject her before it's too late." "You don't tell me what to do," I growl.
"Kristen doesn't want to stay mated to you, see how she's trying to send you a message with that boy, Ivan?" Bruce gestures his head in their direction.
When I push my gaze to them, fury boils deep within me.
Because Kristen is deliberately letting Ivan flirt with her, to irk me.
"What are you doing, Alpha Calhoun?" Bruce is stunned to see me near their side.
Kristen sees me first and then raises her hand to touch Ivan's shoulder, but I am quick enough to catch hold of it.
"Alpha Calhoun?" Landon's son has the balls to stare at me with a questioning look.
"Stay away from her," I bark this order at him as if he's one of my servants.
"Stop this, stepfather," Kristen tries to wiggle her hand free from my grip, but I tighten my hold.
Hearing her call me 'stepfather,' just upsets me even more. When we've fucked twice.
"Don't you ever, call me that again!" My voice is accompanied by the growling of thunder and Kristen's eyes widened in fear.
Without warning, I throw her over my shoulders like a sack of potatoes, except she almost weighs nothing.
"What are you doing, Alpha Calhoun? Let me go," she struggles to get herself down from me as I take a different door and start descending the stairs.
I am too blinded by jealousy to think straight. Kristen has messed up with my mind way too much.
"What the fuck is going..." Bruce doesn't even let Ivan finish when he puts him to sleep, by giving his neck a little snap.
"I'm afraid you can't witness this, buddy, it's all a dream," he whispers to Ivan's body and lays him on the floor.
Then he hurries to shut the doors and windows on this side because he doesn't want anyone to see me and Kristen like this.
"Where are you taking me?" She asks me.
"Quiet!" I slap her butt and she gasps.
"Oh my god, you pervert!" She exclaims.
And I did it again.
"Keep talking and I'll keep smacking your bum," this shuts her up for good.
Kristen doesn't speak until we're outside and I am putting her into one of the cars.
"Where are we going?" She questions. The servants around are puzzled to see me and my wife's daughter like this. But I don't
even care.
"Where are you taking me, Alpha Calhoun?"
"I told you to skip my title when you want to address me. And you want to know where I'm taking you? Far away from here, we need to talk," the urge to attack her lips is overwhelming when I fasten her seatbelt in the shotgun, but I control myself.
"Mom will grow suspicious that we suddenly disappeared," the frown on Kristen's face is huge.
"I don't care." I grit out, "We need alone time without people coming in between."