Page 36 of Betrayed By the Alpha Wolf

Nodding at her, I grinned. “Sure thing, doc. I just need to find the kitchen in this maze of a house.”

***

I wandered a bit through Kaiden’s halls before I found the kitchen. Nothing in particular sounded good, so I just grabbed an apple and some bread. They were astoundingly basic, but it felt like the best option for my stomach, which was still a little shaky.

When I’d eaten the few slices with a bit of butter and most of the apple, I began to notice that the din of several other voices that I’d heard down the hall picked up. They were getting louder, especially so, and I was curious why everyone would be making such a ruckus.

Mate.

The word came to me from both my wolf and who I now had to assume was the embryo growing inside me. As unsettling as that still was, I knew there was very little I could do about it. Plus, it was very hard to consider the alternatives to being pregnant when I could actually communicate with said unborn spawn.

Because yeah, you’re a spawn right now, squirt.

“Ugh,” I sighed, “fine. I’ll go check it out.”

Getting up from my chair, I left the kitchen and followed my senses until they led me to a stairwell near the back of the building that went down just a foot or two. The air in this corridor was so much colder than the rest of the house, and something about it made my hair stand on end.

This was the Collins compound before my brother took over. I knew that Terrance had been a particularly ruthless bastard when he was still alive. Something down here had stained the essence of the house. It was like foul energy still coated it, particularly down this hallway that was leading me to the sounds of impassioned shouting.

What’s going on down here?

I kept going, and when I arrived at the massive room that opened up at the end of the long corridor, I was genuinely shocked by what I saw. Both packs, Edwards and Williams, were gathered in this enormous space, crowded around something that looked like a fighting pit.

The walls were constructed from logs and recycled wooden crates, and in the center was Grayson.

“What the hell?”

Brutal was a nice way of putting his current interaction with Choal. They were beating the ever-loving shit out of each other, and it didn’t look like either of them were going to let up any time soon.

It was challenging to track their movements, the two of them charging and dodging and slashing out at each other. My heart leaped into my throat as I watched Grayson be pummeled by Choal’s fist. Blood stained Grayson’s mouth, smearing overthe Williams candidate’s knuckles, and my mate collapsed to one knee.

“No.”

I was too far away to do anything useful, and no one could hear me. Moreover, I was frozen to the spot, my feet unmoving like they’d grown roots that jutted into the earth. My hand went to my stomach, and nausea flared again. In the back of my mind, a twinge of concern for whatever was inside me kicked hard.

Don’t leave us.

The thought was ridiculous and so stupid of me. But there was nothing to be done about it. It’s how I felt, and I wasn’t ready to examine what that meant. Hell, I wasn’t ready for any of this, and I was pretty damn sure that I’d make a terrible mother—especially if Grayson left me alone to do it by myself.

Standing there like a statue, all I could do was watch as Choal went after Grayson again. However, something happened as my mate knelt there, something that neither Choal nor I were prepared for.

Grayson channeled his wolf, and I thought for a moment that he was going to shift. But he didn’t, not entirely. His body pulled forward the claws and fangs he needed, sprouting with a layer of fur as his body elongated. Still, it wasn’t a total shift. Grayson looked like those odd versions of werewolves depicted in human stories, and my eyes went wide as I stood there unblinking.

Too fast to track from so far away, Grayson launched an attack at Choal right as he leaped into the air to take him down. There was a terrible tearing sound, and then Choal collapsed to the floor.

Red oozed over the cement, coating Grayson’s claws, and his low growl made it all the way across the room to me. He’d won whatever this fucking fight was, and he’d done it by calling on his wolf in a way no one had ever seen before.

I was sure that Grayson was about to kill Choal. He stood over him, saying something I couldn’t hear, but then he stepped back.

The shock permeated every part of me as Aspen came into the middle of the ring and lifted Grayson’s arm, declaring him the winner.

How…how did he do that?

Nothing in reality seemed sure anymore, and then I saw Grayson’s eyes scanning the crowd. Movement finally returned to my body as I turned on my heel and fled the room. I wasn’t sure why I was running, but I just couldn’t be seen by Grayson right now. I had no idea what I wanted to say to him or how I was going to tell him about the pregnancy.

So, like I’d been doing a lot lately, I ran.

Chapter 14 - Grayson

---