An Alpha's Pride [tribal bonds 2] by Stormy Glenn

hesitation.
“You’re going to get us all killed,” Ben whispered as he glanced up at the ceiling.
“What would make you say something like that?”
“He’s the electus of a fucking vampire tribe, Carlton.” Ben glanced back at Carlton. “What do you think is going to happen? We’ll have little tea parties together? You’ve doomed us all.”
“Daniel does not mean us any harm.” Carlton could feel agitation taking bites at his control. He never realized until today how much hatred Ben had toward vampires.
“He’s a vampire!” Ben shouted, confirming Carlton’s thoughts.
“He’s also my mate!” Carlton shouted right back. He stepped up closer to Ben, leaning into the man as he let his eyes flash with anger. “And you need to remember who in the hell you are talking to.”
Ben sneered as he looked Carlton up and down. “A vampire’s pet? A pin cushion? A walking blood bag?”
Carlton growled and wrapped his hand around Ben’s throat, extending his claws just enough so that they sank into Ben’s throat, creating little trickles of blood instead of rivers.
“Watch your mouth!” Carlton snapped. “No matter what you think of me, I am still your alpha and you will give me your respect.”
“Not when you mate with a bloodsucker.”
“Then you can leave!” Carlton tossed Ben away from him, more incensed than he could ever remember being in his life. He hadn’t even been this angry at Daniel, and he had been enraged at the man.
“You’re”—Ben rubbed his throat, frowning—“you’re banishing me?”
“I don’t want to, Ben, but you’ve left me no choice.”
“You can’t do this.”
“I can.”
“Because I don’t think you should bring a bloodsucker into our pack?”
“Because you think I have a choice.”
“He’s a bloodsucker, Carlton.”
“He’s also my mate, Ben, and I will not deny my mate.”
“Well, that’s certainly good to know.”
Carlton’s eyes widened when he heard a voice behind him. His heart thundered in his chest as he swung around to stare at the man leaning casually against the doorframe.
“Daniel,” he whispered on a breath. He heard Ben snort from behind him, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from his mate, not even to lay into Ben for his disrespectful behavior.
The sight of Daniel standing in his doorway was more than he had dreamed of when he woke up this morning. Daniel looked glorious, tall, and sexy as sin. His dark-brown hair brushed gently against his shoulders, and his gray eyes swirled with a hint of mystery.
As Carlton looked closer, though, he began to notice that there was a slight ashen pallor to Daniel’s skin, and he look gaunt like he hadn’t been eating properly. Even his shoulders seemed a little hunched.
In a word, Daniel looked like shit.
“Leave us,” Daniel ordered without looking away from his mate.
Carlton stepped into the room to give Ben room to walk by. As much as he didn’t want to, Carlton’s eyes strayed to Ben as the man started out of the room. He growled low in his throat when he saw Ben sneer at Daniel.
Carlton was across the room, pinning Ben to the wall, in a blink of an eye. He leaned in close to Ben, barring his teeth, and barely restraining himself from ripping the man’s throat out.
“You will apologize to my mate,” Carlton snapped as he swung Ben around and forced him to his knees in front of Daniel. He placed one sharp claw against Ben’s throat. “Ask for his forgiveness.”
Carlton felt Ben swallow hard before he looked up at Daniel. “I apologize for my disrespect, Electus Everson. Please forgive me.”
One perfectly manicured dark eyebrow arched on Daniel’s face. “Interesting technique you have there, Carlton. I think he actually means it.”
“He’d better.”
Ben stumbled to his feet when Carlton released him. Carlton crossed his arms over his chest and glowered at the man as he watched him walk out of the room, shutting the door behind him. He’d deal with Ben at a later time. Right now,