Alpha Wolf

Chapter Two

Scarlett stared dauntingly at the bed. So far she’d managed to follow all of his instructions. She’d taken a bath, but she hadn’t had any clothes to put on afterwards so she’d taken one of the bathrobes she’d found in the closet. Biting down on her lip, which caused her enough pain to bring tears to her eyes, she quietly hoped he wouldn’t mind that she’d looked in the closet. He hadn’t told her it was okay.

But he was her mate so it should be fine, right?

Rolling her eyes, she sat down on the end of the bed. Who was she talking to? She had no wolf to answer her. Never had, never would. So why were tears forming over this issue now? Sniffing, she climbed onto the bed, wincing with every jerky movement.

The tears were because she now had a mate, a handsome, strong shifter from a royal family of a famous wolf pack who would no doubt, despite his best protests, throw her over for a non-broken wolf the first chance he got.

And then there was Cole to deal with. He was going to be furious she hadn’t brought Michael straight to him, especially after he offered her protection. But she hadn’t completely disobeyed him. She hadn’t told Michael about Angel yet. Cole had been clear.

No one told Michael about Angel Kane but Cole. That much she could handle. She hoped.

The door swung open and she tried to sit up, groaning in pain as she did. Michael strode into the room wearing different clothes than he’d had on when he’d put her in the cab. In the bar, Michael had looked like a secret agent. He’d been dressed in all black, with curly hair cut short and high cheekbones that framed his long face. His chin was covered with dark brown stubble and the eyes that had regarded her were a warm, chestnut brown with specks of green in them. When he’d stood up, he was so tall she’d had to lean all the way back to look at him.

Oh and how he’d smelled, it had been so right. His scent was like coffee, like cloves, like cinnamon and like the woods. Well, what she imagined the woods smelled like. No one let her go to the woods.

Now, however, as he walked into the room on nearly silent feet, he wore a Harley Davidson t-shirt and pants that were too big on him. Not to mention he smelled like …

Seamus. Oh heavens, had he killed Seamus and taken his clothes?

Michael walked to the end of the bed and looked down at her, still not uttering a word. His silent regard made her gulp. What did he want? Had she done something wrong? She’d get out of the bed and take off the robe if he wanted. She’d move as fast as she could.

“Don’t say a word, I know I stink to high heaven like Seamus and probably Todd and Barge too.” He held up a bag he carried in his left hand. She recognized it as belonging to one of the local drug stores. “After I shower and get the aroma of those three imbeciles off, I’m going to bandage you up.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but she had no idea even where to start. Had he killed all three of them? She’d been terrified they would destroy him. How was it possible? He’d been all alone. Then there was the complete novelty of someone saying they were going to take care of her. What was she supposed to say to that?

“Thank you.”

He nodded, his smile indicating he was satisfied with that answer.

“Um … are they all dead?”

“No, they live to be idiots another day.” He shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“They suffered, though. Let’s say I gave them what they gave you and if there are any others out there who were involved, I want you to tell me because I’ll do the same to them.”

There were tons of others and she was sure she would never tell who they were. Not ever. Michael’s good luck at besting Seamus, Barge and Todd couldn’t be relied upon to last. No, she would protect him.

Michael crossed the room to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Seconds later, the water in the bathroom turned on. Scarlett swallowed as something that should have occurred to her earlier dawned on her at once. He was probably going to want to have sex with her. Tonight.

She pulled the covers up tightly till they touched her chin. Oh. Gods. She did not want to do that again. And Michael was so big. All of him would be that way. Suddenly, all of his masculine beauty scared the hell out of her. She realized her hands shook and she hid them underneath the sheet.

Would he discard her like so much garbage afterwards? If they had sex did he have to keep her as his mate?

She heard the water turn off. Seconds later, Michael bounded out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. His hair was wet, the curls, for the moment, looking straight and plastered to his head. He hadn’t shaved and the whiskers she’d seen earlier were still there.

His chest and abdomen were muscular, but also angular at the same time. He didn’t have the look of what she thought of as a “shifter gym rat”. Still, he was obviously an athlete.

He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a pair of boxer shorts. Dropping the towel for a second gave her a view of his tight ass. Strange warmth pooled between her legs.

His body was so spectacular, at least as it was viewed from a safe space. She wasn’t sure how she’d feel with it pushing down on top of her while it assaulted her insides.

“Alright.” He smiled as he turned around and walked to the bed. “Let’s have a look at your wounds.”

“You really don’t have to.” She wasn’t sure she wanted to start the touching the process. The more skin-to-skin contact they made, the more he would decide he was entitled to. Nothing good was going to come from that.

He narrowed his eyes. “I do have to.”

As she watched, he pulled out two ice packs and manipulated them until she heard a crack. “There, that should work now.”

He climbed onto the bed and scooted up next to her. This close she could feel the warmth that radiated off him all the way to her bones. “Was it a hot shower?”

“That’s the best kind.”

Gently, which surprised her, he placed one of the ice packs up against her jaw. She flinched. Gods, it hurt. Anything touching her face was almost beyond bearable. For days and days, they’d taken turns giving her pain. She closed her eyes. If she had endured that, she could make it through this.

“I don’t mean to cause you pain.”

She laughed, it was better than crying. Besides, she had her eyes closed. It was always easier to say what you wanted with your eyes closed. “No one ever means to.”

“I don’t think that’s true. I think most people who cause pain mean to do it. At least my father always did.”

Opening her eyes, she regarded him. He was looking at her cheek as he held the icepack to her. His expression seemed pinched, pained. It did appear as though he cared a great deal about the fact that she had discomfort.

“Your dad is Kendrick Kane, right? He’s famous.”

His eyes found hers again. “For many reasons, I imagine.”

“Angel was hidden in New Orleans with us from the time she was a baby to keep her safe from him.”

“And now I’ve come to take her, and you, back with me.”

Her heart stuttered. “You want me to leave with you?”

“Of course, I do. You’re my mate. You go where I go.”

“I can come with you. Angel can’t.”

Damn. She closed her eyes again. Two minutes talking to Michael and she’d gone and done what Cole specifically told her not to do.

“Why can’t she?”

He didn’t sound angry. Just sort of curious so she opened her eyes again. At this rate, opening and closing her lids she was going to get dizzy.

“I’m not supposed to tell you.”

“Oh no?” He removed the ice from her cheek. “We’ll leave that off for a moment or two and then put it back on. I want to examine your cuts. You need disinfectant.”

He opened up a tube of antibacterial ointment and starting applying it to her open wounds. She wasn’t currently bleeding anywhere. Some of the more recent ones hadn’t completely scabbed up yet.

“Who told you not to tell me?” His hands stayed gentle as he bandaged her up. But maybe he was one of those men who got all of a sudden mad. There was no build up.

There was just explosion.

“Cole.”

“I’m going to meet Cole first thing tomorrow morning.”

That was probably for the best. If they showed up first thing in the morning, Cole would be less mad. Yes, that made sense.

“Okay.”

“Listen,” Michael started speaking and she almost blanched. This was it. She knew it was coming. He was done with her. He’d done his duty, fixed her up and now they were through. “I need you to explain your pack to me, okay? I’m confused.”

So was she. That had not been what she thought he was going to say. Not at all.

“What’s causing the confusion?”

“Where I’m from we have an Alpha. Shifters meet and they fall in love, mostly with another shifter but sometimes with a non-shifter. They mate. It’s for life and beyond. We almost always travel together to the Great Beyond. When the Alpha passes on, someone steps up to be the next Alpha. In my long lifetime, that’s only ever happened once. Our Alpha, Tristan, wasn’t ready to take control so I held the pack for him until he could. If there’s a challenge, it’s one wolf against another, fight to the death.”

When he’d spoken, he moved closer to her until he was so close she could feel his warm breath against her face. He smelled sweet, like mint and shifter and man.

She rubbed her nose, which gave her a twinge of pain. “For a long time, Nero was our Alpha. My whole life, actually. But he didn’t hold us together very well and men have always had a choice in the women they get mated to. No one would want a mate like me, for example. I’m going to pollute the bloodline of any children I might have.”

Michael sucked in his breath. “Not true. My great-grandmother was latent. Her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren are all pretty damn talented.”

Really? Michael was making her head spin with all the things he said. In his pack everyone accepted and loved their mates? The Alpha held everything together?

“Your pack sounds pretty fantastic, Michael.”

He nodded. “I’m not going to lie to you ever. It was fantastic and then it wasn’t and now it’s struggling but it will be again.”

“Something happened with your dad?”

Michael stood up and pulled the covers back on the bed, removing the top bedspread.

She had no idea what he was doing. Did he not like to sleep with sheets? Without realizing it, she must have given him a questioning look and he smiled.

His grin made her heart stutter. Michael had one dimple in his left cheek. Gods, she was so pathetic. There was no question he was dreamy, but there was no point in her fluttering around about him especially because she did not want his hands on her.

“The bedspreads in hotel rooms are always infested with bacteria. I’m removing it from the bed.” That being said, he dumped the floral monstrosity on the floor.

“Are you a hypochondriac?” As soon as she asked the question, she shut her mouth in horror. You didn’t ask Michael Kane that. She dropped her eyes down. Now she had done it. Now he would flip out.

“Not at all. I’ve slept in horrendous circumstances much worse than this. But, I’m thinking of your open wounds. I don’t want anything happening to you.”

He climbed up on the bed next to her again, this time lying down with his head on the pillow. Scarlett’s heart pounded hard. Where was the attack? She waited and waited, but he lay silent next to her.

Finally, she lifted her eyes to look at him. His head slightly turned, he regarded her with one eyebrow raised. “To answer your question from earlier, my father got drunk with power. His objectives changed. He no longer cared about being a good Alpha, he wanted more. He wanted to make more of us. So he got involved with a very bad man, and between the two of them, they found a witch who cursed all the mated men in my pack to kill their mates.”

She gasped, a vision of that night filled her eyes even as Michael kept talking. She could almost see them as it happened. Michael had been there, he’d tried to stop things, he’d tried to help, and he’d been attacked on all sides. Ten different wolves, all shifters he’d grown up respecting and caring about, they’d tried to kill him too…

“You okay?”

She nodded, coming back to herself. “Sometimes I have this weird thing happen where I can see what people see when they tell me stories.”

“Ah.” He smiled and reached out to stroke her hair. She had to admit, she really liked when he did that. She didn’t want his hands on her body; her hair was a different story.

“You’re a vision-seeker.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s part of the female magic line. Men may be the stronger shifters, but the female pack members hold all the magic, keep the pack right with the universe. Yours is an old ability, very rare these days.”

Wait a minute. That wasn’t even possible. “Michael, I’m latent.”

“Doesn’t matter. Just because you can’t shift doesn’t mean you can’t do anything else. You have the sense of smell, you have the magic. Surely, even here, someone explained it to you.”

Scarlett was beginning to suspect that nothing that had ever been explained to her was ever true. “No.” She cleared her throat. “Please continue.”

“Oh, well after that night, we struggled. My mother had hidden away all the unmated females when she got wind of my father’s plan. Then he killed her. We spent thirty years floundering around in agony before Tristan found Ashlee, his mate. After that, he took his place as Alpha of the pack.”

She wasn’t sure why exactly, but Scarlett heard something in Michael’s voice that told her he was holding back something from this story. Something personal. Maybe it was the way he’d rushed through the backend of it. More likely it was because she couldn’t see what he talked about. He must be holding something back, something that made the story incomplete.

“And Angel came to live with us because your mother hid her from her father.”

That much she was aware of. Scarlett had been five. She could still remember the day the beautiful infant had arrived. Dark hair, dark eyes, and a smile that made everyone in the pack grin back.

“Yes, that’s when Angel got sent away. We all forgot about her. It was part of the magic my mother did to protect the women. Only recently did we become aware of her existence again.” He rolled over and turned off the light before turning on his side to face her. “But we aren’t going to talk about Angel Kane any more tonight. Cole told you not to and you don’t trust me enough yet to know that I would never let anyone so much as speak harshly to you let alone punish you for disobeying an order.”

She leaned back, wincing at the pain the slight movement caused her. The darkness usually scared her. With only her smell and no ability to defend herself, she always felt the most vulnerable in the dark. Tonight, however, was a different story.

Michael had made no move to touch her in an unwanted manner and she had to admit lying next to him did make her feel less alone. She knew if anyone showed up, they wouldn’t get to her without him trying to kill them first.

She opened her eyes wide at the thought. It was an odd thing for her to think and she wasn’t sure how she knew it but it was true. Michael wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her tonight.

Exhaling, her shoulders sagged and tears fell from her eyes. Gods, when was the last time she could lie in a bed and know she’d been fine?

“Hey.” He pulled her against him in a gentle hug. His stomach pushed against her back. “What are these tears?”

“I think, if you want to know the truth, they’re relief.”

“Scarlett, I don’t want to frighten you, ever. But I have to tell you this and I want desperately for you to believe me. Whatever you’ve gone through, and I hope someday you’ll trust me enough to tell me about it, no one will ever harm you again.” He kissed the back of her head and she shivered, her core getting warm and tingly. “You’re my mate. I’ve waited two hundred and ten years for you.”

Now that was some interesting information. “Two hundred and ten?” No one in her pack ever made it that long. They all died from something long before then.

“Today actually. I am two hundred and ten years old today.”

“It’s your birthday?”

“For about two more hours.”

She sighed, feeling warm. “Happy Birthday, Michael.”

“Thank you. I got the best gift imaginable.”

“What?”

He laughed, low in his throat. The sound brought chills up her back. “You, Scarlett, I got you.”

“I might prove to be more of a curse.”

“No.” His voice was firm, unrelenting. It was easier to speak to him in the dark facing away from him. She didn’t feel like looking down this way. “I know curses. I’ve lived under one. You’re a gift from the gods.”

Tears pooled in her eyes again. She was like a weeping machine. He patted her hair, pushing his head up against hers on the pillow. “Go to sleep.”

“I never sleep very much or for very long.”

“You will tonight.”

As if on command, she yawned. “I am really exhausted.”

“I know. I can feel it. My wolf is pacing around like he’s caged because he’s so worried about your level of tiredness.”

She would love to know what that felt like. What did it mean to have two entities inside of you?

“Scarlett?”

“Yes, Michael.” She could feel her eyelids drooping down.

“What is your last name?”

“Knoll. Scarlett Knoll.”

The heaviness of sleep beckoned her and she wanted to roll around in it like a warm blanket, but she also didn’t want to give up this feeling of being held by this Hollywood handsome man. Of course, if he were to be believed they’d have lots of time to do this again.

“Stop thinking so hard.”

“Michael?”

He laughed. “Yes?”

“How did you get Seamus’ clothes?”

“I told him to give them to me.”

That was surprising. “And he did?”

“Almost everyone does what I tell them to do.” He rubbed her neck. “Go to sleep.”

Her eyelids closed.