Alpha Asher and Lola novel Chapter 163

Read Alpha Asher by Jane Doe Chapter 163 – I hadn’t so much as skimmed my fingers over the cover page when Asher came through the front door. Ajolt of surprise swallowed my voice and made my heartrate jump, forcing me to snap the book shut and slip it back into my bag.

Asher rounded the corner and appeared in the kitchen before I could question my sneaky behavior and why the feeling churning in my gut told me to keep the book a secret-even from him.

The next few hours I spent with Asher were anything but relaxing. Even after taking out the rest of my frustration in the cushy master suite he had designed for us, there was still plenty weighing on my mind. I’d always envied Chelsea for her lack of conscience, especially lately.

Both Maya and I knew that keeping Cordelia’s book was wrong and that thievery, no matter how it happened, had consequences. The urge to return it with a heartfelt apology was strong, but there was something even more powerful brewing in the back of my mind.

It had found it’s way into my bag for a reason, I assumed. One could only wonder if the reason was to look inside, to use its magic to protect my mate, pack, and kingdom. Even though the feeling lasted but a few seconds, it was the excitement that gripped my heart in its hand that ultimately influenced my decision.

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“Are you alright?” Asher’s voice was soft, which was warning enough that I’d been quiet for far too long.

Unable to forget what had transpired not that long ago between him and a certain Judge, I lifted an eyebrow in his direction. With a drink in each hand, he abandoned the bar cart in the lowered alcove that served as our lounge and made his way to the canopied bed I was currently sprawled across.

I took the glass from his hand and took a drink, feeling the strong-scented liquor sting my lips before racing across my tongue. Forcing away a grimace from the taste was easy enough. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”

“You should.” He grunted, and from the deep scowl that hardened his jawline and made those soft lips of his fall, I knew his next words would be worth my while. Only after a long drink of his own did he finally speak. “I won’t apologize for what I did to Clint Armstrong, but I’ll admit I did act rashly.” For a split second, his eyes unfocussed and confusion filled their depths until all traces of gold faded from his iris’s. “I…I haven’t been feeling like myself lately. There was some part of me that wondered if magic was involved, but both the witches have checked me over and neither one felt anything.”

“Could it be stress? At training today, Cassidy mentioned we don’t know everything there is to know about Alpha’s. There’s a chance this could be what happens when an Alpha’s pack is threatened from all sides…” I stumbled for a reason, startled by the feeling of helplessness that encased my lungs.

Asher didn’t struggle, he conquered. When he lost his footing he’d come back stronger, fight harder until his opponent snapped in two. Seeing him like this, with genuine confusion in his eyes, it was jarring.

“I know what stress feels like, believe me. I’ve had a lifetime of it, even before you stumbled into training late that first day.” He said, his voice quickly morphing from dry to light and amused. My own lips perked up at the sound of his laugh, and of the memory that pitted the two of us against each other. He sat down on the edge of the bed and took another drink. “When you turned yourself into your father’s men, that was the most stressed I’d ever felt. All of this…this is nothing compared to that.”

“Asher, you can’t mean that. We’ve got witches, vampires, and now werewolves coming for our throats-“