Page 9 of Cruel Alpha

Another grunt. I didn’t trust myself to speak in that moment: no matter what I did, my voice would come out gravelly and aggressive.

“Say please!” The little voice took me by surprise, and I turned to look at the girl—Emmy. She was sitting up straight in her chair, on top of three cushions so she could see over the table, yogurt decorating her cheeks and chin, one soggy piece of toast clutched in a chubby hand. Somehow, I still felt chastised. I cleared my throat.

“Uh—please,” I mumbled, and Leo nodded.

“Coming up, buddy.” I could tell he was desperately trying to keep a straight face, and when I glanced over at Alyssa, she was the same. For a moment, our gazes met; her eyes were sparkling with mirth, warm and liquid, and a shiver of pleasure zipped down my spine. It was over in a second: she looked back down at her plate almost instantly, and the loss of something I’d had so briefly hit me like a truck. I’d fix this mess when we were back on Lapine; I’d do whatever it took to keep the mate I didn’t deserve.

The rest of breakfast was as quiet as it could be with two toddlers present, and the morning was still relatively young when another Jeep was brought around for us.

“Bring it back whenever,” Leo said with a shrug. “There’s a radio in there if you want to let Liam know you’re on your way, or I can do it from base here.” It irked me sometimes how casual he was about resources that other Packs would kill for: most Packs had one or two cars between them, and they certainly didn’t have comms radios in them. Being so far removed from the mainland, the Nightfire archipelago didn’t receive their telephone signal, and we relied on comms radios to communicate between islands: most Packs had one large ham radio and a few walkie-talkies for emergencies, but not Argent, not Leo. I shouldn’t begrudge him those things, though, not when he was so generous with them.

“Pick it up when you come by next week,” I said as Alyssa strapped the twins into the backseat. “I want everyone on Lapine to strategize.”

“You think Arbor isn't gonna let it go?”

There was always the chance that they might just forget about it, not wanting to risk hostilities with a neighboring Pack. I knew the Arbor Alpha, though. He’d always been proud, always chafed at being stuck between three strong Packs and considered the lesser of his neighbors.

“Can’t take any chances,” I said, and Leo nodded.

“I’ll call around,” he said.

“Thanks. For everything.” I put a hand on his shoulder, and he pulled me into a quick hug, slapping my back before he released me

“Any time,” he said, his smile—as always—warm and easy.

The atmosphere in the car was distinctly frostier. The twins were babbling away happily to each other in the back, but Alyssa’s body was turned in her seat so that she was facing the window, giving me as much of her back as was physically possible. I sighed as I slipped into the driver’s seat, taking a moment to orient myself in an unfamiliar car. I didn’t drive often—it felt redundant when I could run almost as fast in my wolf form—but I knew enough to get around on the islands. It wasn’t as if we had freeways or intersections like the humans.

It was a route I knew well: off Argent East and across the bridge to Ferris. It was a longer route than if we turned back and went over Arbor, but I wasn’t going to risk that. Ferris was friendly land; on a normal day, I’d stop and check in with Ethan on my way home, but I was too anxious to get Alyssa back on Lapine.

As familiar as I was with the road, I always found myself surprised by how long it took to get out of Argent town and onto the woodland road. They had a larger population than us, sure, but that didn’t account for a lot of the buildings I drove past. When I’d first toured the island almost four years previously, Leo had shown me their theatre, their gym, their covered market, and a whole host of other buildings that we’d never even thought to have on Lapine. We did well enough with our sturdy cottages and a central hall that could be almost anything we needed it to be.

Was that enough for Alyssa, though? She’d told me that night, the night I cherished and regretted in equal measure, that she’d always wanted to travel, to leave Lapine behind for new islands and new Packs. Would she be happier somewhere like Argent? Somewhere witches were not just tolerated, but accepted? I shook the thought away. Alyssa was my mate, shebelongedon Lapine. She belonged with me. I just needed to convince her of that.

“You’ll be staying with my sister until we find you something more permanent,” I said, cutting through the twins’ babble. I hadn’t told Julia that yet, but she didn’t really have a choice in the matter. After begging to be allowed her own cottage rather than continue living with me when she turned eighteen the year before last, the least she could do to thank me for my benevolence was play host for a few weeks. Besides, my little sister could never say no to someone who needed her help; where she’d gotten that particular trait was a mystery, but I loved her fiercely for it. While our father liked to pretend she didn’t exist, I’d always thought she was the strongest of us.

“I think the two of you will get along,” I added.

“Great,” said Alyssa, not moving an inch from where she was curled up against the car door, staring out of the window. She didn’t sound enthusiastic about the prospect, but she’d change her mind once we arrived. Julia was a couple of years younger than me, a year or so younger than Alyssa, and while that didn’t usually prevent Lapine kids from knowing each other—we weren’t a large Pack, everyone knew everyone else’s business—my father had kept Julia on a short leash, wanting to keep the “embarrassment” of having her out in public to a minimum. I imagined that she and Alyssa would have a lot to talk about.

Alyssa and I, on the other hand, had nothing to say to one another. Or at least, there was nothing we could say in a car with two little kids in the backseat. I wanted to make an attempt, though.

“Let me know what you lost in the wreck yesterday,” I said. “I’ll see about getting a collection going for replacements.” All property was considered communal within a Pack; if one member was wanting, it was expected for others to give up anything unnecessary to make sure everyone was comfortable. For Alyssa, I might get some pushback—my father had declared that she was no longer a member of the pack, after all—but I could get it done. Alyssa seemed to disagree.

“Sure,” she replied, her voice heavy with sarcasm. She pulled her feet up onto the seat, looping her arms around her shins so she was curled up in a little ball. I’d never understood why the other girls on Lapine always called herbig,loading the word with implication. I knew they meant that there was roundness to her belly, that her boobs stretched out her jerseys and her thighs jiggled when she walked, but she’d always seemed sosmallto me. She barely came up to my pecs, and her large hazel eyes put me in mind of a startled fawn ready to bolt.

“You’ll be safe on Lapine,” I blurted. “I promise.”

This, she didn’t even dignify with a response. Silence descended, heavy and oppressive, over the car.

“Baby Shark?” came a voice from the backseat. In the rearview mirror, I could see that the kids didn’t look quite as happy as they had done when we left Argent. It was a long car ride, and we didn’t have anything to keep them from getting bored.

“No Baby Shark, Jackie, sorry,” Alyssa said, her voice heavy and tired.

“Baby Shark?” he repeated, more insistently.

I couldn’t see Alyssa’s face, but her distress was palpable in the air. I glanced up at my rearview again; the twins were definitely getting antsy now, and their mom was in no condition to deal with it. It hurt to look at them: every movement and every sound was a reminder that Alyssa had let some other man touch her, and it sent anger coursing through me. If I could, I would have paid them no attention at all, but that wasn’t an option; if I wanted to keep Alyssa happy, that meant keeping them happy.

“What’s Baby Shark, Jack?” I asked. He looked shocked that I had spoken to him at all, retreating into his car seat, suddenly shy. His sister answered for him,

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