Page 13 of Wolf Found

Graham woke to pounding.

His first thought was that the sun was up and he was running late. Everyone was going to be waiting on breakfast if they weren’t already, and he was going to be in so much trouble. What if the alpha took the kitchen away from him? He threw back the blanket and sat up, his stomach sour and churning.

Then he remembered that he wasn’t home.

He was in a guest bedroom in Asher Martingale’s home, with Asher’s new pack. They didn’t expect him to cook anything. Back home, someone else was making breakfast. Or had made it, already.

If he did decide to go home, they definitely would take the kitchen away from him. He had proven himself untrustworthy, unreliable. Life would never be the same, no matter where it took him.

The mere thought of going back made him feel sick again, and not just because he’d be back on dish-washing duty for the rest of his life.

The pounding came again, and he realized it was a fist against a door. The door to the bedroom he inhabited was open already, Hannah likely having left it that way when she got up, so the knocking wasn’t for him, at least not immediately.

A door nearby banged open, and Dez’s distinctive voice growled, “I seem to remember you being told to get out of our town.”

“You have our omega,” Amos Martingale’s voice followed immediately, almost interrupting the alpha. Graham shuddered at the sound of it, and the disturbing, if predictable, statement. “You turn him over and we’ll go.”

“That’s funny,” Dez answered. “I don’t recall saying you should make demands before you leave.”

“You also lied about having our omega, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t give a damn about your words.” Graham’s mouth fell open in shock at such a disrespectful tone aimed at an alpha. Any alpha. Graham would have been sent to his room without supper to think about his behavior if he’d ever said such a thing to anyone, let alone an alpha.

There was a long silence, and Graham felt a surge of fear in Amos’s pack bond. At least he knew what he’d said was far out of line. Well, that, or he was worried Dez was going to kill him.

“Well hello again,” Gavin’s voice called out, friendly and amused, and Graham’s stomach turned again.

Amos was always the first to agree with and raise up the alpha’s thoughts as what everyone should be thinking and doing.

He treated the alpha’s words as though they were old wolf scriptures and would probably agree with the alpha even over those if necessary.The alpha said he’s the promised wolf, even though he clearly isn’t. The old words must have been mistaken.

Graham slipped out of bed and tiptoed over to the doorway, just out of sight of the front door as Gavin strode by.

“Dez, why don’t you go get Betsy? I think she’d manage an appropriate greeting for any remaining Martingales on our territory.”

Who was Betsy?

And instead of sounding annoyed, Dez laughed boisterously. “Sorry, boss, had to leave my sweet lady in the army when they dumped me. You’ll have to do the job yourself.”

Gavin clicked his tongue and sighed. Dez retreated from the foyer, meeting Graham’s eye and winking as he did so. He didn’t seem concerned, and he’d been so kind the night before. Gavin too.

Surely they wouldn’t just tell Graham to pack up and get moving? He glanced over at his bag, sitting on the plush wingback chair in the bedroom, next to the drawer where Paige had slept.Shouldhe just go?

He didn’t want to be the cause of any fighting.

He still wasn’t sure what he wanted for himself. Part of him wanted to be back home, safe, at a time before any of this had happened. The same part of him wanted nothing more than for all of this to be fake. For the alpha to not be a liar.

Graham peeked out, trying not to let himself be seen, but unless Amos had learned how to see through wood, he couldn’t catch so much as a glimpse of anything inside the house.

Gavin had the door opened about ten inches or so, one foot wedged behind it, so it couldn’t be pushed farther. He had a smile on his face that didn’t look anything like the one he’d worn most of the previous night. It looked like a doll, or one of the smiling faces on the internet ads Graham had to scroll past to order groceries. He leaned against the wall next to the door, looking as casual as possible, even as he held it mostly closed.

“Let’s just recap, shall we?” he asked, scratching his chin. “You showed up in our shop last night, uninvited, after hours, and insulted all of my packmates and me. You were told, in absolute and clear language, to leave. All right so far?”

“You told us you didn’t have our omega,” Amos argued, his voice taking on a whiny tone, like he was a child who thought he’d convince the alpha he was being unfair.

Gavin’s smile widened, but continued to look... wrong somehow. “Actually, if I remember correctly, what we said was you can’t own humans. I’m pretty sure that’s still true.” He turned his head back toward the house, paused when he caught sight of Graham and winked, and yelled toward the kitchen, “It’s still illegal to own people, right? The thirteenth amendment is still a thing?”

“Yep,” Sawyer called back, then lowered his voice and asked what Graham had previously wondered. “Who’s Betsy?”

Dez chuckled. “My M2010.”

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