Page 70 of The Alpha Dire Wolf
I needed a shower. A hot one. I cranked the water as far as it could go and thrust myself under the scalding liquid, turning my skin red and irritated as steam filled the room. It still wasn’t enough to wash away the stain of my words and lies.
“It is lies. Isn’t it?” I asked the tiled wall, seeking solace in the inanimate.
The question was legitimate. After all, Iwastrying to figure out more about Sylvie. Who she was, what she was doing, if she had any inkling whatsoever of who she truly was. I also needed to find out more about the pull between us. It wasn’t natural, and I knew she felt it too. But how could that be if she was the supposed downfall of my pack?
It didn’t make any sense, and I didn’t like it or anything associated with what I was saying.
I was the alpha. I should lead with integrity and openness, but instead I was lying to everyone. Deceiving them.
If there’s any truth to her being evil, to having a plan to destroy us, I will deal with her myself. Whatever it takes to protect my pack. This I swear.
Hopefully, it didn’t come to that, because if I had to kill her, I wasn’t sure I could live with myself after.
Whatever the complicated truth is here, at least you can now spend time with her without issue.
In fact, I was expected to do just that, and despite the complex nature of the truth of the situation, spending more time with her still brought a smile to my face. It was something I wanted to do.
Drying off, I got dressed in fresh clothes, a ghost of a smile still on my face as I went down the stairs, already thinking ahead to when I could see Sylvie next.
A figure was in my kitchen, hunched over the fridge, scrounging through it.
“Sure, go ahead. Make yourself at home, why don’t you?” I said.
Rome glanced over his shoulder. “Okay. I will,” he said, stuffing a handful of bread into his mouth. He tossed out some leftover steak strips and went about fixing himself a sandwich that used both the last of the steak and my bread.
“You can tell me now,” he said, plunking himself down at the table with casual comfort. But his face was serious.
“Huh?” I had no idea what he meant. “Tell you what, Rome?”
My best friend sighed theatrically. “Your real plan, obviously. Whatever it is you’reactuallyup to, Linc.”
I wished I could. A part of me still longed to open up to him, to tell him everything that was going on. About the way I felt about Sylvie, about the connection forming between us, one that defied everything I’d been told.
But I couldn’t. Not now. Not since I’d become alpha. There were things now that I had to keep to myself. That I couldn’t reveal, because that was the place of a leader. To play politics, and appease the dozen or so various factions within the pack.
I hated it.
But with Rome’s grandfather firmly in opposition to me, and the most outspoken critic of Sylvie, not to mention the biggestfearmonger in the pack, I simply could not let Rome in as much these days.
“You already know it,” I told him, hating that he could no longer be my confidant, only a friend. “I’m not up to anything.”
Rome laughed. “Yeah, right. You can tell me the truth, Linc.”
“I am telling you the truth,” I said, my teeth grinding together. “I need to know more about her, and find a way to protect us from her.”
“That seems simple.”
I arched an eyebrow.
“Just kill her. Wouldn’t that be easiest?”
Struggling to fight down the abrupt lunge from my wolf for his throat, I forced a nod. I couldn’t allow myself to react. Not now, despite seeing red at the suggestion.
“No, Rome, it wouldn’t,” I said stiffly. “Otherwise, it would have been done ages ago. Don’t you think? We don’t know who she’s working for or what magic she has hidden up her sleeve. Killing her could unleash worse. Witches have to be dealt withverycarefully. You know that. Or did you already forget what happened when one of the vamps took out old Twisted Tianna?”
Rome shuddered.
“Exactly.” I shook my head. “Her omega curse burned him with daylight from inside his dick outward over the course of two weeks.”
