The Alpha and his Mate

Annabelle’s POV

I woke up the next morning feeling warm, to warm for it to be normal. Have the Leftens suddenly let me have heating in my room or something? No... that doesn’t sound right, if I don’t deserve hot water why would I deserve heating?

As I came too, I starting to take in more of my surroundings and panicked when I realised I wasn’t in my room. Where was I?

“Go back to sleep Annabelle” a voice grumbled behind me and I froze for a second, but when my brain caught up with everything and I recognised the voice I relaxed instantly. I was with Jax and I was safe. I sighed in relief and turned over to come face to face with a still passed out Jax. He looked so tired as I noticed the bags under his eyes, to be honest I probably wasn’t helping the situation with my nightmare and everything else. I mean had he even properly slept since he found me?

I sighed and stroked his cheek, feeling the stubble against my fingertips. I wonder when I was going to feel the tingles of electricity, or whatever he called them, that came with being mated to someone. I hoped soon because I really wanted to feel as close to Jax as he did to me.

Jax shifted in his sleep, muttering something about cotton candy and I couldn’t help but giggle at his sleep talk. Who dreams about cotton candy? I smiled down at him, stroking his cheek one more time before getting up and walking down the stairs towards the kitchen. The least I could do was make breakfast for him after everything he has done and continues to do for me, after all he said I could use the kitchen whenever I wanted.

I padded bare foot along the tiled and wooden floors as I made my way into the stainless-steel kitchen where I quickly went about making him the works.

Forty five minutes later I was just plating the last of the food up and putting it onto the island in front of me when I heard my name being shouted in alarm from upstairs. I frowned as I took in the panicked tone, why was Jax yelling for me? Had I done something wrong?

I walked behind the island in the kitchen, hoping to put some distance between us, as I heard him running down the stairs, frantically yelling my name as he did so.

“Annabelle! Annabelle where are you?” He continued to shout as he ran into the kitchen, looking a little panicked. He seemed to instantly relax when he caught sight of me though.

“I thought you’d been taken or something when you weren’t in bed...” he began to say but trailed off when he got a look at what was in from of him. “What’s all this?” He asked suddenly changing the subject and gestured to all the food laid out on the counter.

I shrugged “a thank you” I muttered, feeling a little embarrassed at his wide-eyed reaction to the food.

“A thank you for what?” He asked genuinely confused. How could he not know what I was thanking him for.

“For...everything" I smiled as I looked up at him shyly.

A grin was plastered on his face and he ran his hand through his bed hair, god he looked adorable in the mornings. “I... umm... didn’t know w-what you liked so I just made everything I could find the ingredients for” I explained as I looked down at the ridiculous amount of food I had ended up making for just him.

Jax looked over to me with a bright smile on his face, showing off his perfectly white teeth. He hesitated for only a second before he walked over to me, slower than he would normally walk though which I’m guessing was because of my ridged posture. He didn’t want to move to fast just in case he scared me. When he rounded the kitchen island covered in food and stood in front of me he waited all of one second before pulling me into his open arms and towards his chest.

“Thank you my Angel, I really appreciate it” he mumbled into my hair as he kissed my forehead, showering me with his praise and affection.

I blushed at his kind words as I nodded my head, not knowing how else to respond. I was never thanked for doing anything like this at the Leftens, it was always just kind of expected of me, so I was still very new to taking compliments and people being genuinely appreciative of what I did for them. It was going to take some getting used to that was for sure.

I watched closely as Jax moved around the island to make a plate up for himself, making sure I payed special attention to what he liked and didn’t like. If I wanted to do this in the future I was going to have to know what his favourites are.

As I continued to watch him my eyes grew wide at the amount he was piling on his plate. He had taken a bit of everything, from the pancakes and waffles to the eggs, bacon and sausages. No wonder this man always makes big portions of food for me, next to his mountain of food the stuff he always made me looked tiny.

“Oh my god these waffles are amazing!” Jax exclaimed through a mouth full of food before he quickly shovelled another fork full into his mouth, his eyes closing every time he tasted something different.

I giggled at him as I went about heating up the last of the chicken soup that I had been eating. I’d have to whip up another batch for myself so that I had something to eat for lunch, that is unless I can convince Jax to let me eat something solid. The soup was amazing, but after staring at the amount of food that was in front of me and not being able to eat any of it yet, I just wanted something solid.

“So what did you want to do today?” Jax asked around a mouth full of chocolate chip and peanut butter pancakes.

I just shrugged and went back to preparing my food, taking it out of the microwave once the beeper had gone off. I never really had much free time in the past and even when I did, I was never allowed to do anything like most people. Even when I did have a spare five minutes after I had finished all my chores for the day, I was never allowed to go outside or watch some television. I would usually escape the household by hiding myself in my room and looking at my small box of treasures that I kept hidden in a lose floorboard under my bed.

I didn’t have much, just the old photo of my parents, a necklace I had been wearing when I had been taken from my old house and a book that I had taken from the rubbish bin when Natalie had thrown it out. I had thankfully already been taught the basics of reading and so with the help of the stolen book I had managed to teach myself a few other words. I knew I was extremely behind in both reading and writing for my age group though. I wonder if Jax wouldn’t mind teaching me?

“I could take you to the mall and get you some of your own clothes if you’d like? That way you wouldn’t have to keep wearing my oversized things anymore” he laughed as he looked me over. I was wearing another one of his t-shirts and a pair of track suit bottoms but the top was so big it was more like a dress on me and the bottoms were rolled up a number of times so that my bare feet were able to poke through the bottom.

I stuttered for a second, wondering if I was up for something like that. One look at Jax’s encouraging face though made my mind up for me “You’ll come with me?” I questioned; I knew I would only be able to deal with such a scenery change with him by my side.

He smiled reassuringly at me, thankfully after he’d finished swallowing his previous mouthful. “Of course I will, you can’t get rid of me me that easily” he joked.

I smiled at him and took a sip of soup from off my spoon. I wonder what I’ll get from the shops? I hope it’s easy shopping, I’ve never done it before. I’ve seen snippets of TV shows and films when I was doing some housework in the living room but that was my only point of reference when it came to buying clothes. It looked like the girls doing it were having a lot of fun, picking out different tops and shoes that they liked, I just hope it was the same for me.

I got up to clear Jax’s plate once I was sure he was finished, but when he took it back out of my hands, along with my own, I frowned at him in confusion.

“It’s not your job to cook and clean any more Annabelle, you don’t have to do everything on your own anymore” he explained as he walked over to the sink and started cleaning up.

I smiled at his back, slightly overwhelmed by his generosity.

“JAX!” a voice suddenly shouted from the front door as they made their way inside. “JAX WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!”

I looked over at him in panic, who was this person? I quickly edged over to him and slightly hid behind his body as the footsteps got closer.

“In here Hannah” Jax replied as he took my hand in his, obviously sensing my nerves. His hands where wet and soapy but I didn’t care, the feel of his skin on mine was enough to calm my racing heart down slightly.

“Am I interrupting something? There’s a strange new scent all around your house-” the voice spoke but suddenly broke off as a girl, not much older than me, came into the kitchen and spotted me. “You going to introduce me?” She asked, a knowing smirk playing on her lips.

Jax sighed and ran a hand through his hair “Annabelle this is Hannah my sister, Hannah this is Annabelle... my mate”.

“Your...I didn’t know you had found your mate!” Hannah squealed and I cringed slightly at the high-pitched squeal. “Hi, I’m Hannah, it’s so lovely to meet you” she squealed again and started to quickly make her way around the island and towards me.

I shrunk away from her and into the back of Jax, not understanding what she was doing. Her loud screams told me that she was unhappy or scared about something but her smiling expression and the fact that she couldn’t stand sill said that she was happy. How could someone be happy and sad?

I felt Jax turn around slightly until I was now facing his chest instead of his back. “She’s not going to hurt you little mate” Jax whispered in my ear as he brought his arms around me in a comforting hug “she just wants to say hi to you properly that’s all. Remember what I told you? No one here in this pack is ever going to hurt you” he reassured me.

I nodded my head in understanding and he kissed me on the forehead with an encouraging smile. Maybe she screamed when she was happy as well as sad?

“Annabelle is a little shy around people at the moment, especially strangers, so why don’t I call you tonight and we can catch up” Jax said as he turned to talk to his sister, not releasing me from his warm embrace.

“Sure I guess” Hannah muttered, obviously upset about something I was unaware of. “What are you doing today anyway? Why can’t we catch up now?”

Jax sighed, “because we are going shopping today to get Annabelle some clothes, she’s probably fed up of wearing my stuff by now”.

I looked over at Hannah to see her eyes light up at the mention of the word shopping, but she was holding herself back out of respect for me and her brother. “Can I... can I come with you guys?” She whispered.

Jax sighed again, looking uncomfortable “maybe another time okay Han?”

I couldn’t help but feel guilty at the sad look on Hannah’s face, she only wanted to hang out with her brother and it was all because of me that she wasn’t able to. I took a deep breath and prepared myself to say the words I may very well regret later “you can come”.

Hannah’s face immediately lit up like the lights at Christmas Day and she started jumping up and down whilst clapping her hands. “Oh this is going to be so much fun, I’ll get to show you all of my favourite shops and what your colour wheel is and the different types of cuts you’ll be needing...I’ve always wanted a sister and now I’ve actually got one” Hannah continued to squeal as she clapped her hands. This girl sure did squeal a lot, and not in fear or pain like I usually did.

“You have no idea what you have just let yourself in for” Jax mutters with a chuckle.

It couldn’t be that bad...could it?