Page 21 of Her Cruel Alpha

I listened as they continued to joke and poke fun at Henrik. But it was friendly. I sank into my cushion, finding that the people surrounding Henrik were people he truly trusted. I could see it in the way he looked at them.

“Speaking of outside, how do you get onto the wall?” I asked.

Everyone went silent, and I felt I had spoken out of turn. But Kent gave me a soft smile. “The town has meetings every quarter, and if anyone thinks that the Alpha deserves to be put up, they have a vote. You have to have the majority vote to get your picture up.”

“And you haven’t?” I asked, looking at Henrik.

“He’s only been Alpha for a few years,” Kent added. “Sometimes it takes years before you even get your first vote.”

“But he deserves it more than some of those that are up on that wall,” Davina commented. “Honestly, some of them, I’m sure, purchased their way on that wall.”

“Each and every one of them made their way up there for good reason,” Henrik said, shaking his head at Davina. “Some just…lose their way near the end of their ruling.”

“Our last Alpha let this pack fall apart, and Henrik has been working to put all the pieces back together again,” Kyle said. “It’s a lot of work, and sometimes people don’t notice the changes, but they are there.”

I didn’t know what the pack looked like before, but it was stunning now. It was clear that it was being taken care of. The meeting went on for a few more minutes before we headed out.

Henrik took me around town, showing me some things they had worked hard on. It surprised me just how much work he’d already done, only being an Alpha for such a short time.

“Why hasn’t anyone nominated you to be on the wall in City Hall?” I asked as he drove us back home. “It seems to me you’ve earned it. You’ve done so much. You redid the river walk you guys have. You put all the new lamp posts up and redid the roads.”

Henrik shrugged. “I just haven’t.”

I thought it seemed rude that he hadn’t. He clearly loved his pack. I could see it from the way people waved at us and the way he spoke about everyone.

As we got home, I slipped my shoes off and stretched. Henrik then looked at me. “Would you like to go to the next meeting? We’re going to be talking about the school and local shops. Should be a good meeting.”

I headed for the hallway, and Henrik followed me. I looked at him. “Sure, was there any specific topic?”

He nodded, and his eyes sparkled. “I know the school is bringing up a new program they want to use in the school. It’s to help get kids focused on the sciences and math fields.”

This caught my interest. “Oh?”

He nodded and continued to talk. “Yeah. They said they have a hard time getting kids into it, but they know there are kids who want to be. So, they want to start an after-school program that gets them on a career focused in that. So, the students would visit hospitals, clinics, and shadow people. We even reached out to some local shops if they had anything they would be willing to let kids shadow for.”

“That would actually be a really good thing. Being able to see what is out there would actually pique some kids' interest. What do you have so far?”

“We have a few nurses and a doctor willing to offer up one day a week. We have the police station offering up a desk and an officer twice a week. The meeting will actually help see who else is willing to help.”

I turned and I hadn’t realized how close Henrik was standing or the fact that he followed me all the way into my bedroom. I felt a heat cover over me like a blanket, and swallowed.

I scrambled my mind for anything to say. My mind was suddenly hyper-aware of where we stood and how close he stood to me. My bed was just to the right of us, and it seemed to be beckoning us.

“Where did you even get this idea?”

Henrik looked at me and smiled. It was a soft smile. “The school brought it up to me, but I just thought of how I wishedthere were more people out there like you. That saw the world differently.”

I blushed and watched as his eyes looked down at my lips. I could see a glimmer in his eyes, and then they flicked past me. “Sorry, I didn’t realize I followed you all the way in here. I’ll let you get some rest.”

I suddenly felt a tug as he turned, stepped out of my room, and headed down the hallway to the kitchen. My shoulders sank, and I frowned.

Why did I feel sad when he walked away, though? Wasn’t that a good thing? Isn’t that what I wanted? Space?

No. That’s never what you wanted. You just wanted to be noticed, and he noticed you.

Chapter 8 - Henrik

I slammed my door shut and headed up towards the meeting building. I could hear Frank instantly as I stepped inside, finding him sitting in his usual spot with Jones. Frank had always been the most vocal of the group, but when Jay and I first got our positions, he’d been the first to give advice on how to handle difficult situations. He was the one who made you think he didn’t have brains, but he was rather smart. Not a genius like Katie, but he knew what he was doing.

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