Page 14 of The Wild Moon
“Oh, Dad,” I said, gripping the journal tightly.
It didn’t explain what had happened to them that night, but reading the note made it feel like he was there beside me. I had read the entire thing in his voice.
I turned to tell Jo what it was. I’d heard her get up and follow me, and she had to be dying of curiosity by now.
“Anything good?” she asked, leaning against the doorframe.
I shook my head. “N–”
The front door exploded inward under tremendous force, ripping one of the hinges free as someone forced their way into my house.
Chapter Nine
Lars Aldridge entered the house like a storm surge crashing over a ship lost at sea. The overwhelming Alpha power washed over Jo and me, pinning our wolves down with ease and driving Jo to one knee.
Anger at the intrusion into my parents' house gave me a burst of defiant strength which I used to keep myself upright, though I was forced to prop myself up on the desk to do so. Resisting Johnathan’s order had been a challenge but doable. Anything more than what I was doing now would be impossible with Lars’ power beating me down.
“You,” he said, addressing Jo, though he didn’t even bother to look at her. “Get out, and don’t think about coming back.”
Jo cast an apologetic glance up at me, but I shook her off. This wasn’t her fight. She didn’t need to get in the middle of anything. Most of all, I didn’t want her to get hurt.
“It’s fine,” I said quietly, urging Jo to leave.
She got to her feet, head bowed, and started to walk toward the front door.
Meanwhile, Lars stood in the middle of my family’s living room like he owned the place. His eyes glared at me, golden fire blazing in their amber depths. Lars was bald by choice, and that, combined with the fierce white goatee that he rocked, made him look like some sort of outlaw biker.
I was fairly positive he’d chosen the look for that very purpose, intimidation, and right now, it was working. I was fucking terrified. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to cower before him, even if Lars was clearly expecting it.
“Stupid meth-head spawn,” Lars spat as Jo went past.
He snapped at her, his teeth going for her neck in a display of arrogance I found despicable. Jo whimpered and bared her neck to him, submitting on the spot as he blasted her with another wave of Alpha command.
This is the man you want to be our Alpha?I shot the words at my wolf, adding some contempt to it, showing her how little I respected her opinion when she chose to try and ignore displays like this. This was a prime example of why we couldn’t stay here.
To my surprise, my wolf shook off the Alpha-induced lethargy. She, too, was angered by Lars’ intimidation game against Jo. That wasn’t how an Alpha should act in her mind, and she growled, the sound echoing in the back of my throat.
Lars’ attention snapped to me at the sound. I’d hoped it would. If one thing were to force him to focus on me instead of Jo, it would be defiance, even the tiniest bit. He didn’t brook any of that in his pack and had even attacked pack members for little more than what I had just done.
“Leave,” he snarled at Jo, who scampered out the front door so fast she didn’t stop to grab her shoes.
Meanwhile, I strode out of my father’s study and down the hallway, approaching the pack Alpha. I didn’t want him in the room. It was my father’s study, his private area, except when he invited me in, and I intended to do my best to keep it that way until he returned.
I didn’t let myself consider the idea that he was dead instead of just missing.
Lars let me approach, watching me come closer with something akin to amusement replacing the anger in his eyes.
“A defiant one,” he mused quietly, lifting one arm to take my chin as I stepped right up to him.
I tried to resist, but he cranked my head left and then right.
“Useless pup,” he spat. “Good for nothing.”
I bared my teeth.
“Sit,” he snarled.
I sat abruptly, squatting down on my haunches as I took the full brunt of his Alpha, the single barked word slapping my wolf and me down. It took everything in me to twist my head up to look at him.
