Alpha Wolf

Chapter Ten

Scarlett looked down at the floor as they walked out of the bedroom in Cole’s house.

She held onto Michael’s hand tightly. It felt odd to be leaving New Orleans. For better or worse, despite the small memories she had of her first three years of life, and even those she wasn’t sure where they actually were from, she’d lived here her whole life.

Abruptly they came to a stop as she, and she assumed Michael, were all but overwhelmed by the scent of forty-five wolves.

What do you think they all want? She loved hearing his voice speak telepathically in her mind.

Maybe they’re here to say goodbye. She doubted it, but she hoped that was what it was.

Michael squeezed her hand and walked down the stairs next to her, stopping to regard the group at the bottom.

“What’s going on?”

Michael spoke to the group, not one person in particular. Scarlett supposed anyone could answer.

It was Barge who spoke. Out of the three of them—Todd, Barge and Seamus—he’d always been the quietest.

“Don’t leave, Michael.”

She couldn’t imagine what it cost emotionally for him to say that. He kept his face stoic, his emotions hidden.

“I have to. I came here for a reason.” Michael shrugged, but she could feel the tension in the way he held her hand tightly. She didn’t want to squirm as she tried to loosen his grip. After a second, he pressed less hard. “As it turns out, I didn’t find my sister, I found my mate. Still, I need to go home.”

Barge wasn’t finished. “Make this y’alls’ home.”

Scarlett wanted to shout at them to be quiet, to not ask this of Michael. She’d seen what Michael had gone through in the brief moments she’d witnessed him as Alpha.

He could lead, but the absolute truth was that he didn’t want to be. There was nothing about it that appealed to him. She wished to scream at them to be quiet, to not make him have to tell them no, to cause everyone pain. Instead, she stayed silent. This was happening.

Michael shook his head. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Why not?” Todd stepped forward. “You’re making everything better. We’re better, our wolves are better.”

Michael let go of her hand and leaned against the banister of the stairs. “They will keep getting better, all of you will, if you just follow your instincts and don’t do things that feel wrong.”

Seamus stepped forward and Scarlett wondered if they’d coordinated this, practiced, in the hope he would agree.

“You could be our Alpha. You don’t have to go home and be just a member of the pack. Couldn’t you do that?”

There it was. The question Scarlett hoped they wouldn’t ask.

To her relief, Michael smiled. “I can’t.”

Seamus opened his mouth and Michael raised a hand to stop him from speaking.

“I wish I could, but one of the things you will all learn as you get older is who you are. I’m not a supreme Alpha. I tried it for thirty years. I like being a member of the pack.”

Todd scratched his head. “But you’re so Alpha, how can you like to follow anyone?”

“Being an Alpha wolf is not about leading. It’s about who you are.” Michael sat down on the step. She moved to sit next to him. “There is nothing in me that is stifled by listening to Tristan’s good judgment. He runs our pack and I make it easier for him.

Besides, if you think I’m powerful you should see what some of my pack members are like. You can feel their power a mile away. It’s really amazing.”

“Michael.” Scarlett spoke up, getting his attention. This idea had brewed in her brain since they’d scented them all at the bottom of the stairs. She never would have risked stating her mind in public before, but now that she carried Michael’s soul inside of her she knew there was nothing she could do that would make him stop loving her.

His eyes found hers. She could see the stress this took on him. He never wanted to disappoint anyone. “Yes?”

“Take them with us.”

There, she had said it.

Silence filled the room.

Michael smiled but there was no mirth in it. “Truth is, I don’t even want to bring you there. It’s not safe. Westervelt is under constant attack. I could never ask anyone to live that life.”

Todd squatted so he was below Michael’s level on the floor. His intent couldn’t have been clearer: submission.

“What if we wanted to come? Would Tristan take us?”

“Tristan would take any shifter who wanted to join our wolf pack, as long as they swore loyalty.” Michael stood and moved up the steps. “But that’s a permanent thing.

You don’t join Westervelt and then leave it. I can’t stress enough how dangerous it is and you’d be giving up everything to follow me. Think about that. Do you want to renounce your life here to come with me to certain danger? You might not even like me in a few days.”

Todd opened his mouth to speak and Michael stopped him again this time by speaking over him.

“Okay, here’s the deal. I needed to stop at Joe’s before I leave. Something he said yesterday is bothering me. When I get back in a few hours, anyone who wishes to come with me can. If you don’t want to, and I think you should seriously consider not coming, then consider this goodbye.”

Grabbing her hand, Michael pulled them both down the stairs and through the group of shifters.

When they were a safe distance away, he slowed his speed. Smiling with a sad look in his eyes, he sighed. “Sorry about the near-run out of there.”

“I knew they weren’t going to just let you leave.”

“Maybe we should have snuck out in the middle of the night.” He shook his head. “I could never do that.”

She squeezed his fingers. “I know you couldn’t, which is why you’re you.”

“It won’t be easy for them. They’ll have to be trained. Cullen and Gabriel are taskmasters. Then there’s the constant fear of being blown up by my father.”

“Yes, there is all that.” She cleared her throat. “But there is also having you there, having a real leader, having a chance at a real shifter life, having something to fight for instead of just fighting.”

He shook his head. “Don’t romanticize it.”

“I’m not.” She stopped walking. “Are we really going to Joe’s or did you make that up?”

“We’re really going to Joe’s.”

“Okay, then we need a car unless you want to walk all day.”

He laughed, some of the joy that had vanished reappearing in his gaze. “Good call. If it’s just you and me going back to Maine, we can fly. If it’s more than us we’ll need to drive anyway since we’ll never all get on the same plane.”

“Should we go to the car rental?”

She knew where that was. Every time Zack had destroyed one of his cars, she’d had to go rent him a new one while he picked out the next one to buy. In the meantime the rest of the pack took the bus everywhere they went, since all of their money went to Zack, Cole or Nero.

“Do you have a driver’s license?”

“I do, but I don’t have a car.”

Where was Michael going with this? The hair on the back of her neck stood up as she realized her mate was up to something.

“Great. Let’s go to where we can get a taxi.”

Without another word, he pulled her down the street.

* * * *

Hours later, she still couldn’t believe what had happened. Michael had bought her a car. She sat in the front seat of it, gripping the steering wheel; still unable to believe he’d done that.

She hadn’t even known you could walk into a car dealership and walk out with a car the same day. Evidently you could if you paid cash and you bought one that was already on the lot. Her hands shook on the steering wheel as she pulled it into a space outside Joe’s store.

“I’m still without words.”

He grinned, the same satisfied smile he’d been giving her since he’d marched into the place and picked out a car for her. “I think it handled really nicely. You do like the color don’t you?”

She did. It was silver. Having never thought to own a car, she found she liked everything about it instantly, down to the position of the cup holders. “Are there are a lot of cars on Westervelt?”

“None, actually. We don’t have roads. We leave our cars in a lot we own on the mainland.”

Gasping, she gripped the wheel tighter until it felt as if her hands might bleed. “You want me to leave it somewhere? What if someone takes it?”

“It’s a covered, monitored lot. As far as I know, no one has ever had a problem with theft. Not too much of that going on in rural Maine. However, if you’re concerned, let me reassure you that the insurance on it will replace it if it’s stolen.”

Tears filled her eyes. “You have to understand, no one has ever bought me anything…and this is huge.”

“Hey, there.” He pulled her across the center console into his arms. “It’s okay. This is just the first of many gifts.”

“No.” She shook her head. “You don’t have to buy stuff for me. You just have to be you.”

“Buying stuff for you is me being me.”

It was the same argument they’d had at the car lot.

Her wolf panted inside of her. Don’t make him mad.

If most people had to fight their wolves for dominance, she had to argue with hers not to make her more afraid than she should be. It was a strange circumstance, considering she’d never been that brave to begin with. Now, however, she had Michael’s soul to strengthen her.

Michael undid his seatbelt. “Let’s go inside.”

Scarlett sighed, leaning her head against the window.

Michael paused as he raised an eyebrow at her. “What’s going on?”

“I really don’t want to leave the car.”

He laughed, one loud “ha” that vibrated through the car. “Scarlett, I had no idea when I got this for you that you were going to have separation anxiety about a motor vehicle.”

“Make fun if you must but…”

He interrupted. “Oh, I must.”

“Fine.” Turning off the engine, she opened the door and stepped out. Using the remote control on her keychain, she locked the car. Then she locked it again. And again.

“Are you going to get OCD about this?”

Oh no, you’re making him mad. Her wolf hid her face under her paws.

She grinned. “My wolf thinks I’m making you mad.”

He shook his head. “She’s going to have to get used to my teasing you.”

“What are we doing here, anyway?”

With all the excitement of being taken to the dealership and then bought a car, she’d neglected to ask him what he wanted to do at Joe’s. Personally, she’d hoped to be done with this place now that the proprietor was dead. Her hands still shook a little bit and she hoped the occurrences of her withdrawals would cease soon. Although, she supposed it could be much worse. She wasn’t stuck at home vomiting or shaking under the covers.

I’d like to go home.

Her poor wolf. Maybe they were going to have to attend some sort of counseling together.

Michael answered her question as they walked through the front door of the shop.

Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say that Michael broke into the shop by pushing at the door until it gave way.

“I don’t like how much he knew about the death of that witch.”

Scarlett remembered Joe had briefly spoken about the witch the Westervelt Wolves had killed. Michael still felt a little ill about it.

“It bothers you that you ordered her death.”

He sighed. “It doesn’t bother me she is dead or that I had to order her death to save Tristan. No, what bothers me was that it was one more bloodstain. Thirty-five years ago more than half my pack was butchered because of a curse. At some point, the bloodshed has to end.” Looking at her, he rubbed his nose. “That’s why I can’t be Alpha. Because I would say ‘enough’ and an Alpha never can.”

For her part, she was glad he wasn’t. “You’re Alpha enough for me.”

Pulling her into his embrace, he kissed her. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

They walked together, stepping over the broken glass that now littered the floor.

“Looks as if the group wasn’t satisfied with just killing Joe. They made a mess of the whole thing.”

“It was smart actually. The cops will think robbery.”

A thought dawned on her and her stomach fell. “Are we going to find Joe’s dead body?” She closed her eyes, trying to stem off the nausea at the thought.

“No.”

She exhaled and opened her eyes. That was a relief. “How do you know?”

“Use your nose. Do you smell rotting corpse in this building?”

Taking a deep breath, she extended her sense of smell as far as it went. There were a lot of disgusting things in here, rotting food, urine and somewhere on the street someone had puked but no dead body.

Michael kept speaking. “You’ve always had your ability to scent. The rest of the things you inherited when you got your wolf you’ll have to get used to but not that. If you learn to trust yourself, you’re ten steps ahead.”

That was true, but it was also easier said than done. “Okay, I’ll work on it.”

“Or don’t. You’re pretty perfect as you are.”

She swatted his arm. “Michael Kane, you’re going to give me a big head.”

“If that was possible, I’d work on it.”

“What are we looking for in here?” The sooner she got out of the building the better.

Joe had received real pack justice here. She’d seen it before and coming back on the scene gave her the creeps. It was too soon since his death. Maybe she had an overactive imagination, but she always felt as if places that had seen violence held onto for it a while.

“His computer.”

“You’re going to hack into his computer?”

He coughed and let go of her hand as they approached the back office with Joe’s desk. “It’s stale in here, isn’t it? If I could, I’d open a window. Anyway, no, I don’t know how to do that.” Looking back at her, he had a crooked smile. “Weren’t you the one who pointed out I must have a decrepit brain at my advanced age?”

“Okay, you’ve got memory loss and I’m obsessive compulsive about the car. We make a great team.”

“We do.”

“So what are you going to do with the computer?”

“Pick it up and bring it back to Westervelt in the back of the car so my friend, Malcolm, who is a security expert, can break in and tell me what it says about how the witches know our business.”

That made sense. As Michael unplugged and then grabbed the computer like it weighed nothing and walked toward the front door, she picked up some of the notebooks strewn around just in case they proved to be important later.

Following Michael out the door, she turned around to shut it behind them .It was broken now and for some reason she still felt the need to close it like it could seal. She couldn’t help but feel that this was more than just a moment of leaving the store. No, it was the last time she’d see this place.

A slight drizzle of rain had started while they were in the store. It was typical New Orleans for the summer. If you didn’t like the weather, wait a minute. She raised her head to the sky, letting the light drips hit her on the face.

I want to go home. Her wolf whimpered.

We’re not going back there anymore. This is goodbye. Doesn’t it feel that way?

This was never home. This was why I didn’t come. We need to go home.

Somehow this didn’t surprise her. She walked toward Michael. Where is home?

Get in the car with Michael; he’ll take us there.

That was settled. Her wolf had wanted to be there in the first place.

Michael leaned against the car still holding the computer. “Pop the trunk for me?”

She pushed the button on the remote and the trunk opened. That was so fun.

He placed the computer into the compartment and she pressed the button again to close it.

Walking toward her, he stopped and leaned on the car. “Ready to go?”

“More than.”

And that was the truth.

* * * *

They pulled up to Cole’s house. She turned off the car and got out, locking it behind her. Just once this time, even though she thought a few times about hitting the button again. If it was silent she might do it, but Michael would hear the telltale chirp the car made when she pushed the button and know she was giving into her mania about the car again.

She was going to make her obsession her own private little thing. She’d never had anything like it before; if she wanted to, she could privately worry over its care.

They walked together toward the house. Michael turned to look at her. “How many do you think realistically are coming with us? I can’t imagine it’s more than ten. Who would want to put themselves through Westervelt hell if they didn’t have to?”

She would. But she didn’t say that aloud to him. Michael wasn’t taking his own advice. He ignored his sense of smell and his hearing. He was nervous, she could tell from the way his shoulders were rigid and the sound of his jaw clenching.

If he’d done what he told her to do, if he didn’t ignore his wolf, he’d know exactly how many people waited in the house to come to Maine.

Every single one of them.

Just before they opened the door, the scent must have become too much for Michael to pretend he couldn’t tell the number.

When Michael moved to look at her, she couldn’t help beaming at him. He had no idea what he’d done to her pack. They needed him, not like she did, in an entirely different way.

He might be bringing them to Tristan for the other man to lead, but it was Michael they counted on right now.

That was what he was at his core: absolutely dependable and just the person you wanted with you in a crisis. He was hers. He was magnificent.

Even if he didn’t know it.

When he spoke to her, it was with a gruff voice and she realized instantly how much emotion he hid from the world. She could feel it, as if it were her own.

“This is going to be a logistical nightmare. How am I going to transport them all across country?”

“I’ll take care of everything.”

This type of endeavor, she was good at.