“You growled at her?” Ollie yells.

“I…I didn't mean to.”

“You shouldn't have even raised your voice, Vanessa. I told you she’s been through a lot.” Ollie grumbles rubbing his forehead.

“That's why I came to you, I need you to tell me exactly what happened.”

“No. Read the file if you want, but I'm not going to break her trust like that. It's bad enough that I read the file in the first place.”

“Fine. Give me her file.”

Vanessa huffed as she sat down in her chair. She had been looking at that stupid file all-day. She hadn't decided if she wanted to open it or not. She wanted to know so she could help….but Ollie was right it would break her trust. “Alpha?” Vanessa jumped at the sudden noise. “Sorry, didn't mean to scare you,” Alex smiles, standing in front of the doorway. 

“You didn't,” Vanessa says grabbing the file and shoving it into the nearest drawer along with a few other papers hoping Alex wouldn't notice the folder hidden in the pile.

“That my file?” Damn it.

“Yeah, I wasn't going to read It.” Vanessa stood waving the other woman in to join her.

“Wouldn't have mattered if you had,” Alex shrugs, taking slow hesitant steps into the alpha’s office. 

“It's an invasion of privacy,” Vanessa frowned.

“You're my alpha, you have a right to know-”

“What are you talking about? I have no right to know your favorite color if you don't want me to let alone anything personal in your past,” Vanessa’s voice raised, passion flooding her body. Vanessa’s words died in her throat at the sight of the minute flinch in Alex’s body.

“Sorry. I need to work on that,” Vanessa gently stepped back.

“You're fine. I'm just not good with loud noises..”

Vanessa sighed, rubbing her forehead, “Look I’ve always been seen as the big scary alpha and I don’t blame you for thinking the same thing. But looks can be deceiving, I’m not the big scary alpha you see- well at least the scary part,” Alex chuckled, “what I mean is I’m basically a teddy bear. I want cuddles and kisses not fear and an heir. I want you to come to me after a long hard day and complain about it while we eat ice cream. I want you to feel safe with me not fear me and I know that will take work but for me to know what I need to do…” Vanessa trailed off.

“You need to know what happened?” Alex sauntered toward the alpha, Vanessa nodded in a daze. “My first few alpha had never had a female Beta work alongside them and they didn't like it very much so I was bounced around a lot, when I came to my last pack the alpha seemed indifferent about my gender…at first. You’ve heard about titled wolves claiming each other for power?” Vanessa nods, “Well he came to me with what was a proposal at first then…it was a demand and before I knew it the whole pack thought I was the alpha’s mate. When I denied and refused to go along with the ruse he…let’s say didn’t like that answer.” Vanessa frowns, stepping closer, “Don’t worry he didn’t do anything…sexual to me.”

“He shouldn’t have touched you at all.”

“Ness.”

“He hurt you-“

“What he did to me is nothing compared to what I did to him,” Alex smiles, “For weeks he continued to pressure me into being his mate. He went so far as to change the locks on her door and move all of my belongings into his room. When I confronted him we fought and I finally reached my limit. I told him it would never happen, he wasn’t and isn’t my mate and I wasn’t going to ruin my future with my real mate just to feed his ego. He got one punch in, doctors say it was hard enough to cause a bleed in my brain. I could have died if I hadn't gotten surgery, they still don’t know how I was able to be conscious enough to pummel the guy let alone kick him through the huge glass window in his office, or how I survived walking halfway to the hospital.” Vanessa stood in shock, flashes of anger flashing on her face, “Someone called an ambulance after seeing me walk down the street looking dazed with a nosebleed. I'm fine now, they closed the bleed, and my skull is healed.”

“Are you sure?” Vanessa shot toward her mate, rubbing her finger over the woman's forehead too focused to notice the huge smile on her mate's face.

“I'm sure,” Alex pulls the alpha into a hug, Vanessa freezes for a moment before embracing the beta as carefully as possible. “I'm not going to break.” Alex teases.

“What happened to him?”

Alex pulls away just enough to look her mate in the eyes, “He survived. The council did an investigation and found he had a thing for power, he had approached other female alphas with the same proposal but had been rejected so he turned to me. The pack's Beta had been keeping tabs on the situation, they had even gone so far as to confront their alpha but he just pulled the alpha card so they went to the council. By the time the council got word of what was happening, I was already in the hospital and the pack had dragged him to the pack hospital.” Alex shrugged.

“Then what?”

“He was charged by the council. He was exiled for the next 20 years and his pack was given to his younger brother who had been acting as captain of the guard, he was also an alpha but because he was younger his brother was chosen to take command of the pack and he had never spoken against his brother's leadership until that night.” Alex says fidgeting with a loose thread on Vanessa’s shirt.

“Is he a good alpha?”

“Oh, yes. We still stay in touch. The only reason I was reassigned here was for my safety.”

“Safety?” Vanessa frowns.

“They worried the original alpha would return and cause problems so they wanted me as far away as possible.” 

Vanessa sighs, pulling her mate closer, “Can we still get ice cream and cuddle?”

Vanessa looked down at her mate with a smile, “Of course, you don't need to ask for cuddles-” Vanessa felt her arms catch Alex at the sudden jump. “Or kisses…or ice cream.”

“Good to know,” Alex whispers against Vanessa’s lips, “To the ice cream,” Alex pointed, and all her mate could do was laugh and follow the order.