Page 98 of Freeing My Alpha

Noah slips into panicked whimpers. “I-I think I’d die if he kills her, I’d want to—”

Before I can rush to Noah’s side, he’s swarmed with wolves gripping him from all angles.

“Alpha, slow down. We can have someone with our future Luna at all times for her safety.” Elder Terrence grabs Noah’s arm, but Noah shrugs everyone off, backing off with rapid steps.

“No! Why should she lose all her autonomy because of someone else’s behavior? Hart needs to face actual consequences.” Noah grips his head as everyone else gapes at his rising meltdown.

Anger bubbles in my core, threatening to burst.

Then it hits me: I’ve been reining my wolf back, but she’s been clawing to be let out this whole time.

Noah taught me something huge about her through the mattress. Her anger isn’t irrational. It’s to protect us.

As I set her free, my voice comes out sharp. “Excuse me. I have something to say.”

I’m already standing, but I gather the room’s attention with their collective flinch.

Shit. My Alpha-weirdness must be showing.

But I’m too upset to care what they’ll think of me, fists clenched at my sides. “This whole conversation is pointless. Why aren’t we talking about Noah’s health in all this? He’s already being stalked!”

The Elders gape at me.

But Yasmine, Dave, and Rainn nod their heads along with me, meeting each other's eyes.

“I don’t care if he’s supposed to be the strongest wolf here, no one should have to be okay with being stalked. We’re all sitting here, acting like it’s totally acceptable, just because some random guy is power-hungry. But Noah has already beaten Mason multiple times. There’s no reason Noah should have to tolerate this.”

Noah’s breath restarts a few times, shaking as he sputters out, “I-I’m okay, I—”

Yasmine scowls. “No you’re not. Our future Luna is right, this is barbaric.”

Then a voice speaks up that I’ve hardly heard from this meeting.

Lilian’s monotone, quiet voice stills the room. “Alphas deserve protection too. We all do. And Noah provides that protection for us. The least we could do is provide it back.”

My eyes bulge. Lilian just defended Noah.

It’s about time.

But my heart tears into shreds as Noah’s breaks. “I-I’m fine. I don’t need reminding that you think I’m w-weak, Mom.”

Her stoic stare dissolves into disgust. “Are you serious? Now you’re mad at me for having your back? After all those times you’ve been upset with me for—”

Noah points at the door, his breath rapid and shaky.

Lilian rises to leave without another word.

I shrink where I stand, guilt crushing my breath for bringing this all up. With one look at my cowering stance, Noah dissolves into guilt.

“I-I’m sorry,” he rasps.

“It’s—”

“No. It’s not okay. And...” Noah shakes his head. “I’m sorry for more than that. That everyone here didn’t have a proper goodbye to your last Alpha, and you all just got stuck with my bullshit. I wanted to work on it more before I took charge—go back to an outpatient thing to never act like this again—but I ran out of time. I ran o-out of time. I couldn’t even give Dad a retirement to enjoy before he was fucking shot, and now—”

My favorite Elder, Beta Terrence, comes to the rescue with a comforting hand on Noah’s shoulder. “Alpha Noah, no one here blames you for what happened to Alpha Ritchie—”

“It’s fine!” Noah shouts. He winces, lowering his voice to where we can barely hear him, as if he’s trying to cancel it out. “You can. I'm fine.”

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