Page 92 of Freeing My Alpha

I deflate. “Oh. I guess you’re right.”

Noah gives me a sad smile. “I know. It’s frustrating as hell.”

“It is...” I bite my lip.

“But what?”

“But I still feel like it’s too important to rule out just yet. I just feel it in my gut, like you said. It feels like someone chose them, specifically, and it’s too much of a weird coincidence that they happened to be two hugely important members of the pack. Especially if those weren’t just wolf hides, and were actually Lycan. I don’t even feel like we should discount the hunters being other Lycans.”

Noah’s eyes flicker between mine. “Okay. I won’t discount it either, then.”

My shoulders soften. “Thank you.”

We reach across the countertop, giving each other’s hands a soft squeeze.

But as Noah’s stare burns into the wooden countertop, a sick, dark hum rumbles in our bond. “That’s the other thing, though: they aimed at your dad first, so I didn’t think it was to steal my dad’s title. But when they shot my dad, he died instantly. It took us way too fucking long to find them both, so—” Noah rubs his head. “I couldn’t track them without feeling them in our bond anymore. I’m so fucking sorry, Aliya. I still feel like I should’ve gotten there sooner to— To help them—”

“Noah.” I pull him closer, blinking away hot tears. “You know I don’t blame you, right? You couldn’t have done anything to change what these hunters decided to do to them. To all of us.”

My mate can’t look at me.

I watch the oven’s digital clock, and for a full three minutes, we sit in pure silence—minus my soft sniffling.

Until Noah mutters, “What else do you think feels off?”

I sigh. “Well, I think it’s weird: if they masked their scents with wolf hides, they expected wolves to smell them.”

“So no matter what, you think they were hunting wolves?”

“Right, which is very illegal.”

Noah’s jaw flexes. “And also explains their bullet choices.”

“Oh, you’re right. I used to always wonder why my human dad was shot with bear-sized bullets, when all I used to see in the forest is deer.”

“Yeah, and the bears and mountain lions steer clear of our pack, so even the humans know they rarely show up here. Which means...”

Our bond flickers into a newfound darkness, shoving my breath out in sharp bursts.

“Fuck. Yeah, they were hunting our pack, in particular,” Noah hisses.

Noah stands so rapidly that I have to catch his stool from falling. He doesn’t even notice, running his fingers through his hair over and over again as he paces across the kitchen.

Noah suddenly stares deep into my eyes, yellow irises glinting back. His agitated wolf paces with him.

I grip my barstool. “N-Noah—"

He gasps out his words. “It’s still my fault. Especially if it was a dominance challenge.”

“What?! No—”

“I should’ve sniffed them out,” he growls. “I should’ve still gone on the perimeter run. I should’ve—”

“Stop, right there.” I grip his hands, halting his frantic pacing. “I didn’t share my main point yet.”

Noah freezes in place, his breath rapid and shaky.

“It’s even less of your fault if this is all true. With how massive, terrifyingly strong, and menacing you are in your wolf form, I’m willing to bet they specifically looked for a day that you, Noah Greenfield, weren’t there to stop them.”

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