Chapter 42

Adrian.

I stretch my arms into the air and look over at the two naked ladies in my bed, sleeping like babies. I sure wore them out, but I’m still nowhere near feeling like my sexual needs are sated.

I get up and head downstairs to get something to eat. It’s still dark throughout the house. I open the fridge to see what’s there to eat when I hear a tapping at the front door.

I close the fridge and walk over to the front door to open it. My eyes widen when I see who’s standing there with her back facing me.

“Poppy?”

She turns around and gives me a shy smile.

“What are you doing here?”

Poppy shrugs while tucking her hair behind her ear.

“I don’t know why I’m here. I can’t explain it. I was lying in my bed, and something inside me told me I had to come see you,” she admits to me.

I lean against the doorway while her eyes roam up and down my body. She licks her lips and bites her lower lip.

I chuckle.

“See something you like.”

She nods her head.

“I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but I want you, Adrian,” she says to me as she gets on her tippy toes and runs her fingers up my chest to my shoulders.

I let out a growl before scooping her up into my arms and wrapping her legs around my waist. I stare into her silver eyes, which show need and desire for me. I place my hand on the back of her neck and pull her closer to me.

I can hear her heart racing against her chest as I place my lips upon hers. She responds with fervor as she runs her fingers through my hair and fists them.

I let out a moan while pulling her inside the house and closing the door behind me. I carry her into the kitchen and place her on the counter, keeping myself between her legs. I continue to kiss her lips; they are just as plump and sweet as I imagine them to be. I lay my hands on her legs and slowly move them up her thighs.

She yanks on my hair, forcing my head back and pulling my lips away from hers. She whispers into my ear, “Yes, Alpha, just like that.”

I pull back from her with a look of confusion written on my face. She never refers to me as Alpha when she talks to me, and her voice is different than before.

My eyes pop open when I hear giggling around me, pulling me back into the present with the two girls surrounding me in my bed.

It’s just a dream.

I stop in the middle of our play session.

“Alright, girls, that’s enough. Play time’s over; I’m tired and want to be left alone. So get your clothes and be on your way,” I tell them.

The girls look at each other before looking back at me and pouting.

“But things are just getting good, Alpha. Please let us stay so that we can finish.”

“Yes, please, Alpha.”

My nerves are restless, and my patience is wearing thin. Why are they not listening to my orders? Good for nothing, selfish girls.

I release a snarl out at the girls.

“Are you challenging your Alpha?”

Both girls leap away from me and hug each other for support.

“No, Alpha, we’re sorry. We will leave.” They both say in unison before grabbing their clothes and rushing out of my room.

I try to close my eyes and get some rest, but all that keeps racing through my mind is the dream about Poppy.

Great. Now, my subconscious is playing games about Poppy with me. I scrub my face with my hands. Why can’t I get her out of my mind? If she’s my mate, my wolf would cry out, MATE, and claim her as ours. But that’s not the case.

Why is the world making it so difficult for me to find my mate?

You haven’t made an attempt to go out and find our mate. My wolf rattles in my head.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I pull the covers back and get out of bed.

Fine, I’ll make an attempt at finding our mate. It beats laying around here in my bed while my head fills up with thoughts of Poppy.

I open my door to head downstairs and see Dare on his way up.

“Where are you heading out in such a hurry,” Dare asks.

“I’m going for a run; I need to clear my head. I will check in with all the warriors at the border checkpoints while I’m out there.” I tell him as I pass by him to get to the bottom of the stairs.

I also want to have a little chat with one of my captains.

“Hey.”

I stop down on the last stair but refuse to turn around to look back at him.

“Are we okay?”

I close my eyes as frustration starts to fill up inside me, but none of it has to do with him.

“We’re fine. I just have a lot on my mind right now,” I tell him before leaving.

I know that I’ve been moody and not acting like my usual self. But I don’t know how to explain everything that’s happening to me. No one will understand the craziness I’m going through when trying to find my mate and fix our pack so that we continue being the strong pack we need to be.

The second I get out the door, I shift into my wolf and take off running, heading down to the closest border near the pack house. We’ll start there and see where we land after checking in with all the checkpoints and the borders.

After spending over an hour running between the border and the outskirts of the pack territory, it’s close to sunrise when my wolf ends up in a house I didn’t expect myself to see this early in the morning.

Poppy’s place.

I internally groan at my wolf’s shenanigans. Why, you sneaky, sneaky dog?