Page 56 of Forced By the Alpha

“They’ll get back to us,” Devon said, nudging her with his shoulder. “Have faith.”

***

Weeks went by without a response from the Rosewoods. Each day, Devon went to the spot where he had instructed them to leave a response; each day, he found it empty. He brought Jonah with him, and sometimes Beth, but feared an ambush when she was by his side. Cautious, he led them out at a different time each day, trying to be as unpredictable as possible.

Beth was beginning to unmistakably show now, her stomach pressing against her dressed and drawing the fabric tight. She’d felt the baby move inside of her, but Devon had yet to feel it from the outside, though he spent each night resting his hand on her stomach, wishing it to happen.

They’d started to turn one of the rooms into a nursery, painting the walls a sunny shade of yellow and pulling up Devon’s old crib from the basement. He repainted it in a pale green, and Beth drew daisies on the side. The work of preparing for the child’s arrival kept his mind from dwelling too long on Rosewood’s silence.

Emma kept up her suspicions, needling Devon about when they would launch their attack on the Rosewoods, reminding him of their dwindling resources. It was Caleb who brought their first news of something amiss.

“I was with Amy the other night,” he told Devon, voice pitched so that Emma, seated nearby, wouldn’t overhear, “and she said a Rosewood wolf came into their bar. In our town.”

Devon drained his glass of whiskey and dragged Caleb to his office on the pretense of refilling it. Emma’s eyes followed them from the room. He locked the door behind them.

“Is she certain? How did she know it was a wolf?” Devon poured himself a refill and a second glass for Caleb.

He didn’t drink much now, knowing he did not want to follow in his father’s footsteps, but the news had shaken him. Swallowing a gulp of the burning liquid, he felt his nerves steady.

“She wasn’t at first, just that it was a stranger, unusual enough in these parts,” Caleb said, leaning back against the window. “But she watched them leave, and when they hit the dirt road, they shifted. She knows us all, obviously except Beth, and she didn’t recognize them. I asked around and no one was in town that night, so I know she didn’t make a mistake.”

“Do you think they’re looking for Beth?” Devon asked. Of course Caleb wouldn’t know the answer, couldn’t know, but the thought spilled out of him before he could stop it, and terror gripped his chest.

They couldn’t risk a fight now, not with Beth pregnant. It would put her in danger, and she’d be distraught at the violence of it, her old friends facing off against her new pack.

Caleb shrugged, unsure. “She said they didn’t ask any unusual questions. Just came in and had a drink, but they were looking around as if searching for something, but they never seemed to find it. At least, they never really talked to anyone else there. Just came, drank, and left.”

The Rosewoods were getting bolder, brazenly pushing into White Winter territory. If they weren’t looking for Beth, they were looking to instigate a fight. But why now? He wondered if his letter hadn’t reached them. It could have been blow away by the wind, though he’d weighted it down with a rock. The tree was in a meadow where the breeze was not tempered by surrounding trees, standing alone as it did.

Or perhaps some Rosewood had found it, neither their alpha nor Adria, and had torn it to shreds rather than bring it to the intended recipients. After all, that’s what Emma would do, and likely most of the rest of the White Winter pack.

“What did they look like?” Devon knew a few of the wolves, and Beth would know them all.

Caleb described the woman, and Devon felt a tug in his gut—it sounded spot on for Beth’s closest friend, Adria. What did it mean? He needed to talk to Beth about it. She was resting in her room, finding herself more tired than usual lately, with the growing baby taking much of her energy.

“Thank you, Caleb. Do me a favor and keep this to yourself, will you? I don’t need the pack tearing off to find this woman and starting a war, not right now. I’ll figure this out.” Devon squeezed Caleb’s shoulder.

Caleb nodded. “Of course. I wouldn’t want the pack piling in to Amy’s place and tearing it apart anyway. You know how they get when they’re worked up. Start destroying without thinking.”

Concern tinged his words. The human woman had a hold on Caleb, whatever his situation was with Emma. There was trouble there, or would be soon. It wasn’t safe for wolves to mix with humans in that way. But he was already asking a favor of Caleb, and forbidding him from seeing his lover would not aid his cause, so he dropped it for the moment.

“Take care, and keep your feelings for this woman close,” he warned, as Caleb made to leave. “I thought you were back on with Emma, and if she thinks the same, she won’t take well to this renewed competition. It's obvious you care for her, for both of them. Just mind, you don’t wind up in the middle of a bloody triangle.”

Caleb saluted. “I’ll keep them well apart. Anything else, boss?”

“That’s all, thanks Caleb. Keep me updated if you hear anything else from Amy, but caution her against trying to dig into it on her own.”

Alone in the office, he finished the last of his whiskey before making his way to his bedroom. Their bedroom, now. He cracked the door open without knocking in case she was asleep, but she was sitting up in bed with a book on her knees, smiling when she saw him.

“I’m not asleep, don’t worry,” she said, patting the bed beside her. “Come in and sit and tell me what’s making that wrinkle on your forehead deeper than usual.”

He rubbed his thumb over the wrinkle in question, forcing it smooth as he took the seat beside her. “Maybe it’s nothing, and you can focus on resting. This one is your priority right now.”

Devon lay his hand across her stomach, holding his breath in case he felt a kick. But the baby remained still, their movements felt only by Beth.

“Don’t,” Beth warned, frowning at him. “I’m not a hothouse flower, and I won’t be treated like one. Tell me what it is, or I’ll work myself up digging it out of you.”

He sighed and leaned his head back against the headboard. A candle burned, wooden wick crackling on top of a dresser, perfuming the room with scents of pine and lilacs. “One of the people in town, Caleb’s girl, says she saw a Rosewood in the bar.”

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