Page 10 of Alpha Unchained
This time, I won't run.
This time, I strike first.
CHAPTER 4
ELENA
The bell above the door gives a half-hearted jingle as I lean against the counter in the Moss & Ink, watching Main Street come alive one slow heartbeat at a time. Sunlight slants through the windows, climbing the spines of stacked paperbacks and making the dust motes shimmer in the air.
I should be arranging the new shipment or fussing with the display table, but I can’t settle. My body feels like a coiled wire, every muscle tense, nerves humming with restless energy that refuses to let me go. I try to shake it off, but the tension lingers in my jaw, my shoulders, my fingertips—like my entire system is bracing for something that hasn’t even happened yet.
My senses don’t settle like they used to. The creak of floorboards next door makes my pulse jump. My muscles twitch when the bell above the door jingles, like I’m ready to lunge. This body isn’t just mine anymore—it’s something keener, sharper, alive in ways I cannot help but feel.
The front door swings open, and Kate breezes in from the mercantile, balancing two steaming coffees and juggling her keys with one elbow. Her braid is half undone, and there’s a smudge of dust on her cheek—a sure sign she’s been wranglingdeliveries since dawn. She gives me that sideways grin of hers, equal parts mischief and sisterly worry.
"You look like you got ambushed by a thunderstorm. Did you even go upstairs, or just pass out in the poetry section?"
“Does it count as last night if I never actually slept?” I manage, rubbing my brow. My smile is brittle, my whole body still humming from everything that happened—Luke, the break-in, the fight I barely survived with my own wolf.
Kate grins, sliding a coffee across the counter. “So, are we brooding, spiraling, or plotting murder today?”
I snort, wrapping both hands around the cup. “All of the above. I’m trying not to come apart at the seams. If one more person asks if I’m ‘okay,’ I might just bite them.”
Kate leans closer, voice low. “If you start biting, at least do it outside business hours. What’s going on? And don’t tell me you’re fine.”
“I feel wrong, Kate.” The confession comes out thin, raw. “It all happened at once for me—the night he turned me, he got me pregnant, too. One minute I was just me, human, and the next I was carrying all this wildness and his baby, all tangled up together. Now it’s like the wolf never lets up. I wake up angry. I wake up wild. And when I saw Luke...”
“You forgot every reason you had to be mad,” she finishes for me.
"But only for a moment, and then I remember he's at the root of all this chaos and unrest."
She nudges my elbow gently. “I’d say you’re allowed a little chaos. My brother’s got a face that makes good women do stupid things. Doesn’t mean you have to forgive him.”
I sigh, staring down into the swirl of my coffee. “I want to hate him. I want to lock the door and pretend he never existed. But my body—my wolf—she remembers every second. She wants him and she wants to tear him apart, sometimes both at once.”
Kate’s eyes soften. “Welcome to life as a she-wolf. You’re not broken, Elena. You’re just… different now. And that’s okay. The pregnancy will ultimately strengthen you and your position, but you’re still you.”
“I don’t even know if that’s true. Sometimes I don’t recognize myself. I’m afraid, Kate. Not of him or even your uncle Waylon or the McKinley Pack. It's almost like I'm afraid of myself. Of what I might do if I lose control.”
Kate’s voice is steady, fierce. “Have you shifted since you found out?”
I shake my head, my throat tight. “I don't know how. I’m terrified to even try. What if I hurt the baby?”
Kate shakes her head, giving me that look that says we’ve had this talk before. “Elena, you’ve got to quiet your thoughts—just breathe, let everything else go, and call your she-wolf forward. Don’t force it. Trust her. Trust yourself. Your body knows what to do, and shifting won’t hurt your baby. Shifters have carried and protected their babies in wolf form for generations. Pregnancy just makes everything sharper, but it doesn’t break you. You’re built for this. And remember—clothes don’t survive the change, so always stash them somewhere safe before you shift. Trust yourself.”
Her words are a balm, and I want to trust her—really trust her—but it’s not that easy. I glance at the shop windows, shelves, the stack of deliveries I should be unpacking. The idea of just leaving the Moss & Ink untended makes my stomach knot with guilt and anxiety. But the pressure building inside me is worse. My entire system aches for release, for freedom, for air that isn’t thick with everyone else’s expectations.
I swallow hard, torn, and finally admit, "I need to get out of here, Kate. Just for a little while. I need to let it out before I do something I regret."
Kate slides her coffee aside, nodding. “Go. I’ll watch the shop. If you’re not back by lunch, I’ll send out the cavalry.”
“Thanks,” I murmur, managing a weak smile. “And Kate?”
She lifts an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
"If Mrs. Wallace comes in, don’t let her near the romance display. You know how she loves to hide the spicier books by Delta James, Sage Matthews and Vanessa Ellington behind the gardening guides—then acts shocked when someone finds them. I'm never sure if it's because she thinks they're inappropriate or she just likes to watch people get all flustered."
Kate laughs, shaking her head. “Oh, I know all your secrets, Elena Clark. We've been best friends a long time, and I'm that baby's aunt. I know you and all your quirks—your taste in books, your need for order, your secret habits, even the things you worry about when you think no one’s watching. You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I get it.”
