Chapter 5 #2
“Only when he likes someone.” Evan wiped his eyes, still grinning. “Which, for the record, hasn't happened in a decade. So congratulations. You broke the Alpha.”
I watched Daniel disappear up the stairs, shoulders stiff, ears red.
Something warm and complicated settled in my chest. Something I wasn't ready to examine too closely.
“I should probably go apologize,” I said.
“Probably.” Evan's expression softened slightly. “But Michael? Don't apologize too much. He needs someone who calls him on his bullshit. It's good for him.”
I climbed the stairs to the office, leaving the laughter and wolf-whistles behind. Daniel stood at the window, back to the door, radiating embarrassment so strongly I could practically feel it from across the room.
“For what it's worth,” I said, “I thought it was kind of sweet.”
Daniel didn't turn around. “Please stop talking.”
“The hovering. The protective thing. It's...” I searched for the right word. “Endearing.”
“I am not endearing. I am an Alpha. Alphas are not endearing.”
“You're a little endearing.”
He finally turned, and his expression was caught somewhere between mortified and something else I couldn't quite read. “Can we please pretend the last hour didn't happen?”
“Absolutely not. I'm going to remember this forever.”
“I hate you.”
“No you don't.”
He stared at me for a long moment. Then, despite everything, the corner of his mouth twitched.
“No,” he admitted quietly. “I don't.”
The moment stretched between us, weighted with something neither of us was naming. Then Daniel cleared his throat, shook his head, and that careful professional mask slid back into place.
“We found someone on our border yesterday. A wolf. Half-dead, bleeding.” He moved toward the door, all restless energy looking for somewhere to go. “He was being chased by rogues.”
“Is he okay?”
“Healing. Thanks to Gideon.” Daniel paused with his hand on the frame.
“And you're telling me this because?”
Daniel turned, and something in his expression shifted. Vulnerable, almost. Like he was asking for help and hated that he needed to.
“Because I'm better at giving orders than having conversations.
You've seen how I am with people. I bark, they obey. Works fine for pack business, but this...” He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.
“This kid is traumatized. Scared. And I need to get information out of him without making it feel like an interrogation.”
“You want me to play good cop.”
“I want you to be yourself. You read people, Michael. You notice things I miss because I'm too busy thinking about territory and threats.” He held the door open. “Just... talk to him. See what you see. Tell me if I'm wrong to want to help him.”
I followed Daniel out of the office and down the stairs, through the mill floor where workers had returned to their tasks. A few still shot knowing grins in our direction, and I pretended not to notice the way Daniel's ears went pink at the tips.
Daniel led me through the main floor, past common rooms that smelled like coffee and woodsmoke, up a staircase to a hallway that ended in a door reinforced with steel.
Gideon stood outside, arms crossed. He nodded when he saw us.
“He's awake. Been asking where he is, who saved him. Seems genuinely confused about how he got here.” His eyes flicked to me. “You sure about bringing a civilian into this?”
“Michael's going to help me talk to him.” Daniel's voice carried that Alpha weight I was starting to recognize. “I want his perspective.”
“Your call.” But Gideon's tone suggested he had opinions. “Fair warning. He's charming. The kind of charming that comes too easy. Watch yourself.”
Daniel opened the door.
The room was small. Bare. A bed, a chair, a window that looked out on the forest pressing close against the glass. And sitting on the edge of the bed, watching us enter with eyes that were amber and too bright and entirely too aware, was the wolf they'd saved.
Dark hair that fell artfully across his forehead, sharp features that caught the light just right, a body that managed to look vulnerable and dangerous at the same time.
His expression shifted when he saw Daniel. Relief flooding his features, genuine and raw.
“You came back.” His voice was rough, damaged, like he'd been screaming for hours before going silent. “I wasn't sure you would.”
“Told you I'd check on you.” Daniel's tone was careful. Neutral. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. The pain is... manageable now.” Those amber eyes moved to me, and I watched him catalog my presence. Not suspicious. Just careful, the way prey animals were careful. “I don't think we've met.”
“Michael Harrington.” I stayed near the door, watching. “My son is mated to Daniel's son.”
“Ah.” Something clicked behind his eyes. Understanding, maybe. Or calculation dressed up as understanding. “Family, then. That's... that's good.”
Daniel shifted his weight, uncomfortable with the sentiment. “We need to know who you are. What happened to you.”
The wolf was quiet for a long moment. His hands fisted in the blanket, knuckles going white.
“Rafe,” he said finally. “Rafe Holloway.”
The name came out rough, like he was testing whether it still fit. Whether he was still the person it belonged to.
“What pack?” Daniel asked.
“Ash Hollow. Small mountain pack, Colorado territory.” Rafe's voice cracked on the name. “We kept to ourselves. Didn't bother anyone. Didn't have enemies, or at least we thought we didn't.”
“What happened?”
Pain flickered across his face. Real, visceral, the kind you couldn't fake.
“They came for us in the night. Three weeks ago, maybe four.
I've lost track.” His breathing went shallow, ragged.
“Coordinated attack. Middle of the night.
We didn't even have time to shift before they were inside the Alpha's house.”
“Who's they?”
“I don't know.” Rafe's laugh was bitter, broken. “That's the worst part. I don't know who killed my pack or why. Just that they were organized, efficient. They knew exactly where our defenses were weakest, exactly when our patrols would be changing. Someone told them. Someone who knew us.”
He looked up at Daniel, and his eyes were wet. “Alpha Warren went down first. Then his mate. Then everyone who tried to fight back died in less than an hour.”
“And you survived,” I said quietly.
Rafe flinched like I'd struck him. “I ran. Like a coward. I was supposed to be second Beta, supposed to help protect them, and I ran.” His voice dropped to a whisper.
“That's not cowardice,” Daniel said. “That's survival instinct.”
The room went quiet. I watched Rafe's shoulders shake, watched him fight to hold himself together, and felt something twist in my chest. Because underneath the pretty face and the careful words, there was real grief. Real trauma. The kind that left marks you couldn't see.
But there was something else too. Something in the way his eyes tracked every movement, cataloged every reaction, even while the rest of him performed vulnerability. Like he was watching us as carefully as we were watching him.
“How did you end up here?” Daniel asked.
“I don't know.” Rafe shook his head slowly. “I just ran. Forest to forest, avoiding roads, avoiding people. Something was chasing me. I could feel them behind me, getting closer every day. The wolves that attacked my pack, or something connected to them.”
“You're safe here,” Daniel said finally. “For now. Until we figure out what's going on.”
“You believe me?” Hope flickered in those amber eyes. “You believe I don't know what they were talking about?”
“I believe you've been through something terrible.” Daniel's voice was careful, measured. “The rest we'll figure out together.”
Rafe's shoulders sagged with relief. Real or performed, I couldn't tell anymore.
“Thank you,” he said quietly. “You didn't have to save me. Most Alphas wouldn't have. They would have left me to die rather than risk bringing trouble across their borders.”
“We don't leave wounded wolves to die. That's not who we are.” Daniel moved toward the door, paused. “Once Gideon clears you for travel, we're going to go to Ash Hollow. Verify what happened. Look for other survivors.”
“There won't be any.” Rafe's voice went flat. Dead. “I heard them all die. Every single one.”
“Then we'll find proof. Evidence of who did this.” Daniel's jaw tightened. “And we'll make them answer for it.”
Something shifted in Rafe's expression. Gratitude, maybe. Or hope. Or something darker that wore hope's face.
“Thank you,” he said again. “I don't... I don't have the words for what that means. Having someone willing to fight for justice when I couldn't.”
We left. Closed the door behind us.
“Poor kid,” I said quietly.
Daniel nodded, scrubbing a hand over his face.
“You believe him?”
“About his pack getting slaughtered? Yeah.” Daniel leaned against the wall, suddenly looking as tired as I felt. “That kind of grief isn't something you can fake. Not the way his voice broke when he talked about Alpha Warren.”
Gideon made a sound of agreement. “His healing's coming along well. Another day or two and he should be strong enough to move around. Maybe join the pack for meals, start getting his bearings.”
“Good. Being stuck in that room can't be helping.” Daniel pushed off the wall. “Once he's cleared, we will go to Ash Hollow. See if we can find out who did this.”
“And if you can't?”
“Then at least he'll know someone tried.” Daniel's jaw tightened. “Nobody should have to carry that alone. Losing everyone, not knowing why.”
We walked out of the pack house together, into afternoon light that was starting to go golden at the edges. The forest stood quiet around us, doing that thing forests do where they feel like they're listening even when nothing's moving.
“He seems like a good kid,” I said. “Underneath all the trauma.”
“Yeah.” Daniel was quiet for a moment. “Reminds me a little of Evan, actually. That same stubborn survival instinct. The way he keeps trying to hold himself together even when he's falling apart.”
“Maybe that's why you saved him.”
Daniel's mouth quirked. Not quite a smile, but close. “Maybe.”
We parted ways at my truck, Daniel heading back inside to deal with whatever Alpha business was waiting for him, me driving home with the afternoon sun warm through the windshield and my thoughts full of a wolf named Rafe who'd lost everything and somehow kept running until he found somewhere safe to fall.
I hoped we could help him.
I hoped safety was something we could actually give.