Page 16 of Alpha's Baby Girl
Now I wanted to grovel, to do anything to win her attention once more, even if she held her heart arms-width away from me.
Before returning to the hotel, I checked in on my pack. Some of them were out, working in the town. They partied hard, sure, but I made sure they all contributed to the town. Grocery store jobs, working in the library, cleaning up the town hall, one was even a minute-taker for the council meetings. I wanted my pack involved in the town to make a difference, to know who they helped. It was Conall who I saw. He checked in, asked how the Games were, and, for once, I could completely drop my guard.
Over another beer, I told him all about Thalia, our history, and her participation in the Games.
“So she was that girl you were always looking for?” he asked with a sly grin.
“I was?” I tipped my head back to drink deeply.
“Yeah, man. Every game, you checked the bleachers. There was one time where she had to do the mandatory year of track that all shifters have to do and you couldn’t take your eyes off her. Coach nearly benched you for the next game.” He shook his head at me. Conall was smaller than me, proving himself to be one step behind me all our lives. His slightly smaller stature put him beneath me but still ahead of the others in the pack. He shifted into a strong, brown-furred wolf. A girl last year had once asked to brush his fur and we’d never let him live it down, that preening happy purr he’d given as she brushed and doted on him.
“What even happened?” I sighed, scrubbing my hands over my face. “Like, I was good with girls back then. I don’t remember just pining from a distance.”
“Well, you did.” He swigged his drink. “You said shit would get complicated and you were too young. Two years you protested it.”
I knew that part but I couldn’t imagine being so awful that I would just ignore her. Did she even know I’d wanted her all that time ago, too?
“As my best friend, I trust you to be real with me.”
“Shoot,” he said.
“Am I doing the wrong thing?” I worried. “Did I do the wrong thing years ago when I rejected her?”
Conall laughed quietly and looked away from me as if he already knew something I didn’t. That came a second later when he answered. “We’re the ones who bullied you into this but why do you think? We had a guess of who would sign up. It’s a small town, Fen, and there was a good chance she’d try her luck.”
“She just seems so angry with me.”
“Of course she’s angry, man.” He leaned forward. This, him being real with me, was what I needed. “She’s not just an ex-girlfriend that you broke up. Yourejectedher. And if she truly is your mate, then that would have almost destroyed her. I’ve seen it happen. Sure, we all watched at the time because our priority was our championship game but looking back… I’m sort of judging you.” His tone was light even if his words could have been harsh. But it was the reality check I’d never let myself have.
“Maybe you weren’t ready back then,” Conall said. “But the question is are you readynow?”
He asked me that and then tipped his empty bottle at me. “Want another?”
Lost in my own head, I shook my head. “No thanks. I need to get back.”
“Fenrys.” He paused, on his way into the house. “Just see it from her perspective. Don’t be an alpha right now. Be Fenrys. Think about her feelings as well as your own. She’s come back to give you a second chance and not everybody gets that. She needs her anger, too. She has a right to that. You’re my best friend but you needed to be reminded of that, it sounds like. I’m rooting for you, no matter what your best interests are, but consider that it could be her.”
I nodded, and my best friend disappeared, leaving me with too many thoughts in my own human mind. On my way back to the hotel, I shifted and gave up some space in my head to let my wolf instincts take over instead.
Chapter 9 - Thalia
The days we got to take off from the Games extended longer than I thought. I got to check in with my parents and visit Sasha. She made me promise to take her out for a drink soon. She knew about Kato’s plan with me but not all of it, and she wanted to toast to what I was closer to accomplishing.
I’d checked in with him that morning to let him know of the next trial but he already knew about it. He gave me a reminder of how good this trial would be to grow closer to Fenrys. I wondered how he got that information.
Shiba was a tornado, constantly moving, causing chaos around her the more she remained in the hotel room. She wouldn’t shift and release her energy for worry that Fenrys would return and announce the next trial, but I wished she’d gosomewhereaway from us. Her energy was making Dakota nervous, who’d spent most of her downtime on FaceTime with her parents and brother.
On the fourth day, we were called down to the lobby. Some of the she-wolves were still dressed in silk pajamas. Others, like me, were in comfortable lounge clothes, easy to move in, ready for most things. I looked around at them, wondering if any of them also worked for Kato and was feeding him the information.
“Good afternoon,” Fenrys greeted as we all gathered once again in the lobby. Now, down to five of us the group didn’t seem as big. His eyes were tired, as if he hadn’t slept well. “I hope you’ve had a few days of rest that proved to be… Restoring.” He gave a small smile as he looked around at us. I couldn’t deny that I had missed him, a shock thought that stunned me. I couldn’t help wondering how he’d spent his days off.
When his eyes met mine across the lobby, my heart kicked up a frantic pace, and a shiver went down my spine.
“Please follow me outside.”
“Wait, can we—” One she-wolf tried to speak up, but Fenrys held up a hand, a silent command for silence.
“Your second trial begins now.”
