Chapter 10 - The Alpha Dire Wolf

“I’m just saying. The magic knows.” He shook his head, shaggy chestnut hair bouncing everywhere. “And you saved her from it?”

“I killed a rabid bear because it’s not natural,” I growled, not appreciating the insinuation from my best friend.

Or perhaps I was irritated because I couldn’t tell who I was trying to convince of my reasoning more-him or myself.

“Right. Well, the elders will riot if any of them smell her on you. After all, she’s the direct descendant of-“

“Yes, I know all about who she supposedly is.”

Roman’s eyes widened with that same frantic energy. “Supposedly? She absolutely is. It’s why we cut ties with them decades ago.”

“Iknowthe history, Rome. Thank you. I am the alpha of our pack after all. It’s my job to be aware of this stuff. I don’t need the reminder.”

“Right. Of course,” he said, looking away, hurt by the sharpness of my retort.

When had he gotten so sensitive? Either way, I really didn’t have time to dwell on it, so I went to push past him and head home.

“The elders will make your life a living hell if they find out,” he offered as I stepped around him.

“I’m the alpha. Not them.”

Roman nodded. “True. But doing so will open a path for those who don’t support you to challenge that. You know they will take any opening they can get and pry it wider.”

“Let them come,” I said, but we both knew better. As much I hated to concede the point, he wasn’t wrong.

Things with the pack were precarious at the moment. Roman wasn’t the only one on edge with the death of the old witch and her granddaughter’s return. Pair that with the tension rising in the air the past few weeks, and the very forest itself was starting to press in around us by the day.

My people were antsy, and I couldn’t blame them one bit. Something was happening, and we could all feel it. We just didn’t know what.

“I’ll be okay,” I told my best friend, clapping him on the shoulder. “I promise.”

“I hope so.” Roman didn’t sound convinced.

If he knew that at that very moment I was fixated on the long, shapely legs of a woman who might be out to destroy us, he would sound even less so.

Heading home, I climbed into the shower, turning the water on as cold as possible to try to wipe away the slow stiffening her memory was bringing over me. It didn’t work.

She and I were not done. Not by a longshot. Fate was going to bring us together again. I could sense it in my very bones.

The question that lurked over my head was whether or not I could control myself when I saw her next.

Sylvie

The darkness was all around me, impenetrable and absolute. I thrashed and clawed at it, trying to tear through the layer to get to the light I knew had to be on the other side, but it closed in tightly, like a liquid plastic adhered to my skin. I tried to scream, but there was no air.

Then, somewhere in the dark, the beast growled, the one that had been stalking me incessantly. Never giving up, no matter how fast I ran. Every time I thought I was free, it was there, right behind me.

Twisting around, determined to confront my hunter, I was greeted by the sight of two giant eyes. One bright icy blue. The other cold, hard amber. Teeth flashed and light exploded everywhere.

I jerked upright, covers sliding off me in a tangle as I finally woke from the nightmare.

“Just a dream,” I whispered to the empty room, as if it would stop the sweat pouring off me. I was drenched. The fitted sheet on the bed in the guest room I normally slept in was soaked through, sticking to me.

Just like the darkness in my dream.

I lay back to rest a moment and catch my breath, my body groaning in protest. Tight joints and aching muscles hinted at just how long I’d been locked in that nightmare.

I could only take a few seconds of being in the sticky, wet sheets before getting up. Light was already peeking in from behind the blackout curtains. It was probably a decent hour to get up then. No point in trying to get back to sleep. That decision made, I played rock-paper-scissors with myself to determine if shower or coffee came next.

Shower won.

The scalding water brushed aside any remaining cobwebs. As the sweat sluiced off my body, the darkness of my dreams went with it. In its place came questions, always more questions.

The wolf had been in my dreams. Hunting me. Why? It had saved me yesterday, so why had my brain made the change? It didn’t immediately make sense.

“Neither does a wolf attacking a bear to save a human. Or a wolf that can understand English.”

If that’s what had happened. I still had my doubts, despite what I had seen with my own eyes. The wolf had probably moved its head because of the sound of me speaking. I simply interpreted it as understanding me. The fault lay with me applying human emotions to animal actions. That was all.

Showered, dried off, and feeling like a new woman, I stepped out of the bathroom and let it all come undone by answering my ringing phone without looking at the Caller-ID.

“Sylvie, where the hell are you?”

I tried not to groan. “Mr. Davenport, hello.”

“Hello to you too, Miss Wilson. How odd that I have to say it via telephone and not in person. At your desk. Where you should be today. And where you should have been yesterday.

Coincidentally, you are not, and were not. Care to explain this peculiar situation?”

I bit down on my lip hard enough to draw blood. It wasn’t enough that I wanted to absolutely skewer him for being a complete asshole, as a person and as a boss. On top of that, he knew I was far better at my job than he deserved, given the crap-tier pay and benefits his firm offered.

Unfortunately, I needed the job. A few more years at Davenport Investments, and I would be able to write my ticket to nearly any firm I wanted. I just had to put up with

Mr. Edgar Davenport … The Second,in the meantime. He actually introduced himself that way to people. It was obnoxious. Which fit his personality far better than the poorly tailored suits whose price tag he loved to brag about.

“Well, Miss Wilson? Do you have an answer, or shall I consider this your resignation? To not show up without calling, two days in a row. That’s skirting the edge of what I’m willing to accept. I couldn’t imagine ever acting in such an inappropriate manner.”

I could just imagine his bad toupee flopping around with the exaggerated head tilt he would end that sentence with.

“Mr. Davenport,” I said through clenched teeth. “I will be back next week.”

“

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