The Bully Alpha's Fake Alpha Mate (BL)-Chapter 39: INTO THE WILD

ASHER

Wednesday morning came too fast, I’d barely slept the past two nights. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Reed’s face. Heard his threat.

If you die out there, it won’t be the rogues who kill you. It’ll be me.

Now I was standing in the main hall at 5:45 AM, my pack loaded with supplies, and watching other paired students file in with expressions ranging from terrified to grimly determined.

Reed was already there, of course he was. He stood near the front, arms crossed, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. His pack was military-precise, everything strapped down and organized, and mine looked like I’d thrown random shit in a bag and hoped for the best because that’s exactly what I’d done.

D

The Dean entered at exactly six o’clock.

"Listen carefully," he said without preamble. "You will be in the field for seventy-two hours minimum, and longer if conditions require it. Each pair has been assigned a sector based on recent rogue activity patterns."

A map appeared on the screen behind him, divided into color-coded zones.

"Sector 7," the Dean continued, and I saw Reed’s jaw tighten, "has seen the highest concentration of rogue pack movement. Two confirmed kills of Academy patrols in the past month."

My stomach dropped, and of course we got the most dangerous sector, all thanks to Reed. He has to be the strongest student ever and thanks to him, I have to fight to survive in a dangerous sector.

"Your mission objectives are as follows: Track rogue movements, identify pack structure and numbers. Engage only if necessary for self-defense, and report findings via radio at twenty-four-hour intervals."

The Dean’s eyes swept across the room.

"This is not a game, and this is not a training exercise. The rogues in the contested territories are feral, organized, and extremely dangerous. If you encounter a pack, your priority is survival, not heroics."

He paused for a brief second before he spoke out again.

"Questions?"

No one spoke, no one dared to because even if we protest, we still have to go. Nobody wants to be humiliated for being kicked out for not attending a school mandatory course.

They are all Alphas, and it will bring humiliation and disgrace to their respective packs.

"Good. Transport leaves in fifteen minutes. Dismissed."

The room erupted into nervous chatter as students filed out toward the waiting trucks.

I grabbed my pack and headed for the door.

"Graham." I heard a familiar voice called out to me and I turned to see Reed standing a few feet away, his expression unreadable. "We need to establish ground rules before we get out there," he said.

"Fine."

"Rule one: I’m in charge. My tracking skills are better than yours. My combat training is better than yours. If I give you an order, you follow it without question."

"Fuck that."

Reed’s eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

"I said fuck that," I repeated. "This is supposed to be a partnership. Not you playing Alpha dictator while I follow you around like a submissive Omega because I am no omega and I ain’t going to be submissive to you.."

The word slipped out before I could stop it.

Reed’s expression shifted. Something flickered in his eyes that I couldn’t quite read.

"Interesting choice of words," he said slowly.

My heart was pounding. "You know what I meant."

"Do I?" Reed took a step closer. "Because it sounded like you have some very specific ideas about pack dynamics."

"Reed—"

"Rule one stands," Reed interrupted. "Out there, I’m in charge. You can hate me all you want when we get back but in the field, you follow my lead or you die. Understood?"

I wanted to argue, I wanted to tell him to go to hell but he was right and as much as I hated to admit it, Reed was the better tracker. The better fighter, and if I wanted to survive the next seventy-two hours, I needed him.

"Fine," I said through gritted teeth. "But if you try anything—"

"Save the threats for later." Reed turned and walked toward the trucks. "We have a job to do."

He said before heading out not caring if I was tagging along or not.

The truck ride took three hours, we drove deeper and deeper into the wilderness, the roads getting rougher, the trees getting denser, until we finally stopped at what looked like the edge of civilization.

"This is your drop point," the driver said. "Radio check-in is at twenty-one hundred hours. Miss a check-in, and we assume you’re dead."

’How comforting.’ I thought to myself, before I could say anything Reed climbed out of the truck with our packs, and I had no choice but to get down too.

The driver pulled away without another word, leaving us alone in the middle of nowhere.

I looked around, trees in every direction, no trails, no markers, just wilderness.

"Sector 7 is northeast," Reed said, handing my bag to me before pulling out a compass. "We hike for six hours, make camp before dark, and start tracking at first light."

"Six hours?"

"Problem?"

"No." I adjusted my pack. "Lead the way."

Reed started walking and I followed.

The first two hours were silent. Reed set a brutal pace, moving through the undergrowth like he’d been born to it. I struggled to keep up, my pack feeling heavier with every step.

By hour three, my legs were burning and by hour four, I was seriously regretting every life choice that led me to this moment.

"Keep up," Reed called back without turning around.

"I’m keeping up."

"You’re falling behind."

"I said I’m keeping up." I yelled out, and suddenly Reed stopped abruptly, and I almost crashed into him.

"What—"

He held up a hand for silence, and I froze.

Reed’s head tilted, listening to something I couldn’t hear then I caught it, a sound in the distance. Low, rhythmic, and howling.

"Rogues?" I whispered.

"Maybe or regular wolves." Reed pulled out binoculars and scanned the tree line. "Either way, we need to move. Now."

He took off at a faster pace, and I followed, my heart pounding. We made camp just as the sun was setting in a place where we fit to be safe, or rather where Reed claimed was the safest spot for us. He had found a small clearing with good sightlines, defensible positions, and access to water.

"Set up your sleeping bag over there," Reed said, pointing to a spot about ten feet from where he was setting up his own. Without saying a word to him, I dropped my pack and started unpacking.

My sleeping bag was standard issue, military grade, and designed to keep you alive in subzero temperatures. It was also enormous.

I spread it out in the spot Reed had indicated but then I realized the problem. The clearing was smaller than I’d thought, and with both sleeping bags laid out, there was maybe three feet of space between us.

Three feet, that was nothing. I could already smell Reed from here. Pine and smoke and something that made my body want to react in ways I couldn’t afford.

Speaking of that, I dug through my pack, searching for the bottle Ms. Chen had given me.

Found it, I opened it, and stared at the contents. Five pills left. Five pills for a minimum seventy-two-hour mission.

Ms. Chen had given them to me after I’d run out of injectable suppressants. Emergency backup, she’d called them. Weaker than the injections but better than nothing.

I was supposed to take one per day to maintain the suppression. I was going to run out.

"Problem?" Reed’s voice made me jump and I quickly shoved the bottle back in my pack. "No, just checking supplies."

Reed’s eyes narrowed, but he went back to setting up camp. I took one pill dry, forcing it down.

Four left.

This was going to be a disaster.

We ate dinner in silence. MREs that tasted like cardboard but filled the stomach. Reed kept glancing at me across the fire, his expression unreadable.

"What?" I finally asked.

"Nothing."

"You keep staring at me."

"I’m watching the perimeter."

"Bullshit. You’re staring at me."

Reed’s jaw clenched. "Has anyone ever told you that you’re paranoid?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you’re a terrible liar?"

We glared at each other across the fire.

Finally, Reed spoke. "There’s something different about you."

My blood ran cold. "What?"

"Your scent." Reed’s eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my skin prickle. "It’s changing."

"I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Yes, you do." Reed leaned forward. "It’s been changing all day. Getting stronger and sweeter like–"

He stopped.

"Like what?" I demanded, my heart pounding.

Reed’s eyes narrowed. "Like you’re hiding something."

"I’m not hiding anything."

"Then why do you smell like that?"

"Like what?"

Reed’s nostrils flared. "Like you’re about to go into heat."

The words hung in the air between us, and my stomach dropped.

No, no, no. Does that mean the pills didn’t work? Ms Chen had warned me they weren’t as strong as the injections. That they might not hold up under stress, and being in the wilderness with Reed Jackson definitely qualified as stress.

"I’m not going into heat," I said, keeping my voice steady. "I’m an Alpha. Alphas don’t go into heat."

"I know what Alphas smell like," Reed said slowly. "And you don’t smell like one."

"Then maybe your nose is broken."

"My nose is fine."

"Then maybe you’re imagining things."

"I don’t imagine things." Reed stood up, his eyes never leaving mine. "I know what I smell, Asher, and whatever you’re hiding, it’s getting harder to hide."

He walked past me toward his sleeping bag.

"Get some rest," he said. "We start tracking at dawn."

Then he climbed into his sleeping bag and turned his back to me. I sat by the fire, my hands shaking.

Reed knew, maybe not everything but he knew something was wrong, and if the pills ran out completely?

He’d know exactly what I was, I’d be exposed, vulnerable, and at the mercy of an Alpha who’d already declared war on me.

I climbed into my sleeping bag eventually, exhaustion winning out over fear. The ground was hard, the air was cold, and Reed was less than three feet away.

I could hear him breathing, I could smell him even through the suppressants. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep but I woke up sometime in the middle of the night.

The fire had died down to embers, the forest was dark, and Reed was staring at me. He was propped up on one elbow in his sleeping bag, his gray eyes reflecting the faint moonlight, watching me with an intensity that made my breath catch.

How long had he been watching me?

"Reed?" My voice came out rough, and he blinked then he turned over without a word.

I lay there in the darkness, my heart pounding, staring at Reed’s back.

What the hell was he doing?

Why was he watching me sleep, and why did the look in his eyes make me feel like a prey?