Page 12 of Alpha Scorned

Selina

There wasa general buzz of excitement in the air. At the clinic, I’d heard the women chattering about something to do with the Prime’s council but hadn’t paid them any attention. Gossip about Connor’s brothers was often in the air, especially since most of them were still single. No matter how much I wanted to listen to that gossip for snippets of information about Owen, they clammed up when I stepped in the room. As much as my employees and clients respected me, they also knew I was in the Prime’s friendship group, if loosely. They had no idea I was soulmate to one of the most eligible and powerful alphas around, nor that I’d rejected him. Mother Wolf, I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t imagine the gossip that would cause.

I could ask Shane what was happening. The trouble was, I’d only seen him a handful of times over the past two months, and I’d not seen him at all since we’d had dinner two weeks earlier. He’d told me about some of our perimeter guards going missing, and he had been distracted during our dinner. After he’d read Devon a bedtime story, he’d left early. I’d walked over to his house during my lunch break a couple of days ago to make sure that he was okay, but he’d not been there, nor had he been there at night. I was worried about him. I’d usually see him every few days, even if it wasn’t on a personal basis. And with what he’d told me about the guards bouncing around in my head, I was itching to find out if he was okay. If I didn’t see him today I’d ask Robin.

I supposed I could go to a pack evening meal. Those were a good time to pick up on gossip, but I didn’t really take part in pack social activities anymore. For a start, I had Devon, and I was too busy and usually too exhausted to bother.

Devon pulled back against my grip, his strength astounding for a small boy. He was half-demon, half-shifter, but I had no idea what that meant, not really. Would he be able to shift? Did he even have a wolf spirit to call on, or was there a demon like those that had sired him, lurking inside his soul? Thinking about that had my blood turning cold, so I pushed it away, just like I always did.

Devon cried and pulled backwards, refusing to walk fast at all. Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling helped a bit, but keeping my temper on a leash was hard. I was already late for work, and Devon had been really difficult with everything this morning.

Shane often offered to help with Devon, but I hadn’t ever accepted his help. He was a kind Alpha, but hell, he had a harem of lovers, and I didn’t need the hassle of pissing any of them off by having him help me regularly with my son, not when I just wanted to be left in peace to figure out my own messed up life. My wolf still hadn’t made an appearance, stubbornly refusing to shift every full moon. I was tired, weak, and had lost weight. Worry over my wolf was dragging me down, not to mention my son’s heritage and the emptiness that consumed me every night when I tried, and failed, to sleep.

For now, my plan to deal with my issues was simple. Keep out of everyone’s way from a social point of view, then the pack might never realise I couldn’t shift. Of course, if Shane, as my Alpha, demanded it, I was in deep shit, as I didn’t think even his compulsion could get my wolf to show herself. She had never forgotten the torture inflicted on her the first, and last time, I’d forced her to change. It had been when the demons had left off the silver collar that suppressed our shifter spirits. I’d been desperate and believed it was an opportunity for me to escape. I’d been wrong. So very wrong. They'd been playing with me. They’d figured out I was a virgin when they’d raped me the first time, so figuring out I’d never shifted either hadn’t been hard. They’d dangled the possibility of escape in front of me, and like a fool, I’d forced her forward. Those motherfuckers had been lying in wait for her to appear. Then they pounced. She’d fought so valiantly to protect me, but with nothing but their claws, those demons had carved her up, until eventually, even our rage and fear hadn’t been enough to sustain us. When we’d been breathing our last, the demons had cast their evil and brought us back from the brink of death—only to remove the collar and start their games all over again, and again, and again. My wolf had been an alpha, fiercely protective of those she loved, but now, only from a distance. She still gave me her alpha strength, but refused to leave the safety of my body again, and nothing I tried was ever enough to coax her back out.

“Devon, honey, please, come on. Mummy’s late for work, and I need to get you to daycare.”

Devon shook his head, his jaw set stubbornly, and dug his heels into the gravel path. “No go. No go, Momma!” he squealed.

Lucas eyed me from where he worked on his truck at the pack’s garage. He straightened and wiped his oil covered hands on an old rag. “You okay there, Selina?”

I gave him a tight smile. Lucas was a good looking male with dirty blond hair and deep blue eyes. He was a nice enough guy, but even though it had been more months than I cared to remember since I’d cut ties with Owen, my heart still felt frozen. And as far as sex went, I brought myself to the finish line, and that was the best I could do. I couldn’t stand the thought of giving my body to anyone other than Owen, which was both frustrating and ridiculous. “Yes, thanks, he’s just being a little difficult this morning. Aren’t you sweetheart? He’ll be fine.”

Lucas grinned at Devon’s stubborn look. “Okay, let me know if you need any help,” he said with a wink.

My answering smile was tight.Asshole.I was tempted to invite him to come on over. If he thought he could handle my son better than me, then maybe I should let him. It would be fun to see him flounder.

“No go!” Devon stamped his foot, dropping my hand and crossing his arms over his chest.

Damn it, I was losing patience, especially as Lucas kept eyeing me with a grin on his all too handsome face. The clinic was still a ten minute walk, my first appointment was in fifteen minutes, and I still had to get Devon to the pack’s daycare center. I had no idea what was up with my son today. He was strong willed at the best of times, but he’d been as difficult and obstructive as only a three year old could be this morning, refusing to eat, then refusing to let me help him get dressed, and then screaming the place down when I had to. It had been one of those fight that fight or be late for work kind of situations, and I couldn’t be late. My first appointment was with a woman who had been a victim of domestic abuse by her mate in an American pack. She’d fled and made her way here. She was a timid soul, an omega wolf and submissive by nature, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t learn to value herself and not accept abuse and bullying from others. I needed to be there on time.

Devon stamped his foot again and tugged down sharply on my hand. “Rars! Rars!” he yelled, pointing eagerly with his other hand.

I looked to where he gestured, and sure enough, two of the pack’s off road vehicles were pulling up in front of Shane’s office. Like all of the other buildings in our newly built pack town, it was constructed of wood and brick, more sturdy than pretty. The roads and footpaths had been laid just over a year ago, and the new road that had been built across our pack lands to our private airport had changed the way we lived. Since the prison had been destroyed by Ember and Connor, we’d rebuilt the airstrip and constructed a new control tower. The airstrip was the main way in and out of our secluded township. That limited access kept the pack safer. Shane knew who was in our midst and all new shifters had to have Shane’s permission to enter our territory. Drake Alexander, a wealthy tech businessman who’d been imprisoned with Connor, was a good friend of all of Connor and Owen’s brothers, and had fought right alongside them, had donated all of the technology for the town and the airport and even upgraded it to include state of the art flight technology and weaponry.

The driver’s door of the SUV opened, and Robin, Shane’s Beta, jumped down. I lifted my hand in greeting and nodded. Robin and I weren’t exactly friends, but I’d respected her enough to hand my position over to her after I’d persuaded Shane to change the rules. I’d wanted to step down, but only after I’d ensured that I changed the outdated shifter rules. Now they stated a female wolf was allowed to be Beta of the Canadian pack. I’d wanted that opportunity for balance and equality for all of the females who’d been oppressed by powerful males in the past. The pack had voted on my proposal and it had been decided by a majority; even if that majority had been small.

Shane had ensured all the opposers knew the new ruling had his full support. He’d kicked some alpha ass to make it clear, as had I. I wasn’t able to shift, but my wolf still lent me her strength when she knew I was in danger. The decision, and my part in it, had painted a target on my back for a while and I’d had to fight hard to keep myself and my son safe when Shane wasn’t around. Once he’d found out, my would-be abusers had been banned from the pack—once they could walk again.

I’d always been an alpha personality. As a teenager I’d fought hard to survive on the streets, and my incarceration and abuse had solidified my survival instinct. In prison the demons had forced shift after shift on me so that they could toy with my wolf. But it hadn’t broken me. And threatening my son, or those I loved, was one sure fire way to get me to lose my shit.

Having a female Beta had resulted in some of the more domineering and vicious males leaving in disgust, but whatever. There were still shifters in the pack who’d survived the abuse in the prison, and preventing that from happening again was more important than the gender of those we chose to protect us.

The second car skidded to a halt. I wondered if Shane was in one of the vehicles. Had he been away? Was that why he hadn’t been in touch for a while?

“Momma. Rars!” Devon squealed excitedly.

“Yes, honey, rars. Now come on. Don’t you want to go and play with George and your other friends?”

Devon shook his head. “No. Wen! Wen!”

My stomach lurched, my heart stopping before it drummed a crazy rhythm against my chest wall. From the moment he could speak, that was what he’d called Owen. My gaze flew to the passenger door of the SUV.Shit!My knees wobbled at the sight of my mate sliding from the seat. His feet landed solidly on the ground and he straightened his powerful body. Remembering how that body had felt pushed against me, my stomach lurched, and I couldn’t stop my eyes from raking over his body, taking in everything about him. A black t-shirt hugged the thick muscles of his torso, his biceps stretching the material until it looked like it might rip. Tan cargo pants hugged his hips straight down those muscular thighs, with shitkickers completing the visual of kickass hotness. Heat invaded my face. He looked good.Reallygood. My breathing hitched as I raised my gaze. His hair was longer and such a rich brown it shone in the sunlight. He looked harder and leaner than ever, and his jaw was covered in a couple of days of scruff. My mouth dried out. Owen had always been sexy, but seeing him for the first time in nearly a year, I felt like a starving woman. I drank him in, every defined muscle, every dip and plane of his large shoulders, his hard biceps, his flat stomach. Mother Wolf, I might have rejected him, but my body seemed to have missed the memo. My attention dropped to his tight ass as he turned around and grabbed his bag from the back seat. I was ogling him, but I couldn’t help it. It was impossible to drag my eyes from the way his muscles rippled as he moved. He was stunning, and my whole body was reacting.

“Wen! Wen!” Devon cried out and launched himself across the yard before I could stop him.

Owen spun. Devon’s speed must have surprised him because he only just dropped his bag in time to catch my little boy. Grinning, he lifted Devon up and held him close. Devon wrapped his arms around Owen and clung onto those broad shoulders like a limpet. Heat flushed my whole body and my heart squeezed so painfully I could barely breathe.

Owen kissed Devon’s brown curls. “Hey, Dev,” his voice rumbled, his face twisting as he closed his eyes tightly, and gripped onto my son.

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