Page 22 of Pregnant By the Alpha Wolf

“No one would ask you to surrender your mate,” Griffen replies, “but if you’re asking me for advice…well, I’m the last person to give it. But tread lightly. The pack feels threatened, and Willow’s loyalties surely still remain at least partly with Kaiden’s pack. Now may not be the time. But what do I know of these things?”

There’s a bitterness in his tone that hits differently now that I have experienced the strength of the bond myself. If anything, having watched my friend navigate his own grief, the thought of losing Willow is only amplified.

“Did you ever try reaching Loretta?” I ask, knowing I should have asked long ago.

The look on Griffen’s face is murderous. I know it’s not aimed at me, but anyone else would have run for their lives or readied to fight. I simply wait for his answer. He stands, shoving the chair backward. “This isn’t about me. My mate is no threat to this pack. She’s probably not even alive. But no, she severed the bond. She rejected me and everything we are.”

The pain in his voice is barely masked by his rage. He doesn’t wait for an answer. He simply storms out. I turn back to the window and watch my old friend trudge through the snow toward the lab, knowing he’s going to watch over Willow. Not for the first time in my long life, I thank the goddess I have him.

But his words linger—she rejected him.

Loretta was a powerful witch. An outcast herself and hunted by the same groups, one might have imagined she’d be an ally, but she feared the vampires, too. She said we were inherently violent and could never be trusted. She did forsake him, but at the last minute, she was also the one who saved them, creating a powerful storm that allowed them to escape almost certain death. The knowledge that Griffen still grieves to the extent he does hundreds of years later is sobering. I can’t lose Willow the way he lost his witch. I can’t have her turn on me.

Suddenly filled with raging frustration and unanswered questions, I move quickly through the house, out into the backyard that borders the forest, and shift. My beast feels strong as my wolf runs through the undergrowth, sending animalsfleeing in my wake. I head for the ridge, pushing myself faster and faster along those well-trodden trails, trying to burn off this unyielding rage.

Just as I crest the ridge, an unexpected scent causes me to stop abruptly. Human, and something else. I think it’s a shifter, and it smells familiar but somehow different, as though it’s masked or confused somehow. But there have definitely been humans and at least one shifter here recently. How is that possible, so close to the town?

They’re long gone now, and I turn back, looking down the trail, my eyes falling on the lab—more questions than answers, but more than anything, the dawning realization that we have a traitor. I take in the shifter scent again. It’s so familiar, but it’s like my senses are scrambled, and I can’t identify who it is.

Staring at the lab, my mind reaches out to Willow. The tendrils of my vampiric beast drift down the mountain trail, searching for his mate.Let me in.Calm sweeps over me as I wrap myself around her body, my soul seeping into hers. There’s no resistance now. She is mine, and I am hers. She’s in the lab, looking through a microscope; I lean down and trail kisses along her ear. She gasps and shudders, glancing around, not sure if anyone can see how affected she is.

It’s not enough. It never is. Feeling enraged by the threat around my mate, around my pack, I set off back down the trail, heading straight for the lab, only stopping to collect my discarded clothes.

I storm through the front doors, causing several wolves to look up in alarm. I know my face must be thunderous as they back away.

The only one not cowed is Sara, our medic. She was just about to enter the clinic but turns as I walk by.

“Everything okay, Rowan?” she asks warily.

“Where is Griffen?” I reply, trying to temper my tone. Sara is one of our most dedicated pack members, and also an incredibly powerful she-wolf. She doesn’t tend to put up with bad manners, and I’m in no mood to get into it with her.

She puts her hands on her hips and looks ready to say something, but the look in my eyes must stop her, and she bows her head. “Conference room.”

I nod and flash her the tiniest smile to appease her before continuing through the building. No one else dares get in my way. I find Griffen in the conference room reading a book with his feet on the table. I storm in and slam the soundproof door behind me.

He puts the book down and raises his brows at me. “Why do you look even more pissed off than the last time I saw you?”

“I went for a run out to the ridge for patrol,” I say. “There’s hunter activity. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I picked up on some kind of masked shifter scent.”

Griffen takes his feet from the table, his expression serious. “If it’s masked, how do you know if it’s shifter?”

I run a hand through my hair in frustration. “It’s worse, Iknowthe scent. I know who it is. I just can’t identify them. It’s masked somehow. Humans out here must be hunters. I’ll alert the other alphas.” I pause. “That trail is the closest to the lab; if I were going to meet with hunters, that’s the one I’d take.”

“That would be a hell of a risk, though,” Griffen exclaims. “We have patrols; we’d know if they were here.”

“But they were here, Grif. If they can conceal a shifter’s scent, who knows what else they can conceal? I think we have a traitor,” I tell him.

Griffen’s expression grows dark. “I’m going to say this only once, so don’t bite my head off, okay?” I turn, waiting for him to finish. “If this gets out, who will the pack suspect first? They’re going to suspect the newcomer with access to all this research.”

I growl, fighting my instinct to drive my fist into his face at the mere suggestion. “That is not an option.”

“I know,” he says, his hands up to calm me like few can. “I will gather a small circle. We will handle this.”

I nod, calming my raging beasts. “Call a meeting. I’m going to check on my mate.”

He nods, and I don’t miss the subtle smile on his lips as I realize I’ve just called her my mate. I growl again, fling open the door, and head toward her office.

Her back is to me, still working on the microscope. I lock the door, and she turns slightly, a smile on her lips, and her cheeks flushed. Recalling our subconscious encounter, I approach wordlessly and gently trail kisses along her ear.

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