7 Unrest

Alec got back an hour later. Maia couldn't help but hugged him tight. She didn't even care that other's were giving them looks. She breathed in his wonderful scent and let herself calm down. His mere presence excited her like no other.

He did the same to her. But it didn't take long for him to notice something. "Maia, why do you have another lycan's scent on you?"

He sounded serious but she couldn't be bothered from his warmth. "Yeah, I was about to tell you, I met a lycan earlier. He was so rude."

He pulled back and looked at her face. "Did he do anything to you? Did he say anything?" The worry on his face warmed her heart.

"I'm fine, Alec. I was just pissed. He insinuated that our relationship isn't serious so I told him off. Is your relationship with other clans not good?"

He didn't answer, she noticed.

"Are you telling me that all the other clans hate us?" She was incredulous, even more so when he looked so amused by her outburst. "Why do you look so happy?"

He shook his head, still grinning. "You said 'us'."

"Y-yeah, well-" She became flustered. It was pretty presumptous of her, wasn't it?

He looked genuinely happy though. He kissed her forehead. "We get along just fine with the other clans in the north, here... we don't really interact or know much about them, that's why I'm worried."

She forgot what she was about to say when she noticed the two men behind Alec. They were a bit shorter than Alec but both were quite tall by anyone's standards. Were all lycans tall? Not to mention ripped. They looked like they could open a coconut with their bare hands. She squeezed Alec's arm subconsciously.

"About time one of you take notice!" exclaimed the younger man. Looking closely, he resembled Alec a lot, he's definitely his younger brother. But instead of grey, he had light blue eyes. "You totally forgot about us, didn't you?"

"I didn't forget, I just chose to ignore you," Alec corrected. He turned to her and pulled her closer to him, as if to give her assurance. "They followed me. I really don't want to lead them here but I don't want to waste time trying to convince them to go home."

"Why would you do such thing?" she adminished him. She turned to the blue-eyed man and extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Maia. You must be Nathan. Nice to meet you."

Nathan looked at her intently. He glanced at Alec before taking her hand. "I finally got to meet you. I thought my brother fully intends to keep you all to himself."

It's her turn to glance at Alec. "Yeah, he's very... possessive."

She was joking but much to her surprise, Nathan agreed. "Tell me about it, I've never seen my brother being so lovestruck before."

"Of course, she's my... she's special," Alec interjected.

Her smile widened. She took a mental note to kiss him senseless later. Her eyes turned to the other man behind Nathan.

Alec introduced him to her. "This is Matthew Vergara, our cousin. He's like our researcher of sorts."

The second Matt took a step closer to take her hand, he looked... weird. He looked surprised and stared at her for a moment before looking at Alec.

Alec acted like nothing's out of the ordinary. He introduced his brother next. "Nathan's just... well, Nathan."

"Can't you introduce me a little better than that?" Nathan protested. "I'm the best fighter in our clan. Next to Alec, of course."

"Yeah, Alec's the best in everything. Sniping, tracking, wrestling, name it. Everyone's requesting for him in our agency." Matt pitched in.

"More than half of them are from rich ladies though."

"Oh, really?" she looked at him with an eyebrow up.

Alec shot his brother a deadly glare.

"But of course, my brother is very professional. He never got involved in any of our clients," Nathan hurriedly added. He nudged Matt.

"Uh.. yeah, Alec is always so serious about his job," Matt remarked under the pressure from both brothers.

She rolled her eyes heavenward. "You don't have to try so hard, I know you're all on his side. You're all his family after all."

"He'll be the next alpha too," Matt added. "Especially that you're now here, the clan will stop at nothing to make that happen. And soon."

"Wait, what? I didn't hear about this." She looked at Alec, "You're the next alpha? That's like the leader of the pack, right?"

The two men looked at each other nervously. They knew they screwed up.

Alec sighed. "You really shouldn't mind them, the alpha thing is not even set on stone. Don't think about it, okay?"

She didn't answer.

"Nathan and Matt are leaving, I just want to talk to them for a sec, can you wait for me in the car?" He gave her his keys.

She sighed. He's shutting her out from his family's business, wasn't he? So much for being his mate. She snatched the keys from his hand and turned to leave. She said goodbye to his brother and cousin first. They looked at her with worry in their eyes but couldn't say anything.

"You're an ass, Alec," Nathan chided him as soon as Maia left.

"I just don't want her to be pressured into anything," he protested.

"Well, from the look on her face, I think you screwed up. She accepted you, didn't she?"

"And yet, you rejected her."

"I did not reject her."

"`Did too."

He sighed. "In any case, make sure to survey the area. This place reeks of the southern clan. They made contact with my mate." That came out harder than he intended. Just the thought of the el Espiritu clan approaching Maia filled him with anger.

The two exchanged looks. It was Nathan who spoke up. "What do you think they want? They couldn't have known who she is and are now targetting her, right? And why make a move now? They've been keeping to themselves for decades."

"I don't know but I'm not risking Maia's safety no matter what."