Chapter 9 - Alpha to Alpha
Brent’s POV:
I walked out of the hospital doors and immediately set course for the pack house. Everything was so close together here, being such a small pack. Anderson followed closely behind. Neither of us speaking, too stunned for words that we had such an insane breakthrough fall into our laps so suddenly. Why the hell had he not only cheated but pushed that through the mate bond? Surely he had to be aware that Alyssa knew? Pushing into the mate bond had to have been intentional and I'm going to find out what his intentions were, but first I needed to brief his Alpha. This could turn ugly and I needed to get my affairs in order.
We walked for a bit and found ourselves in the lobby of the pack house. It was nice enough. A large, rustic cabin-style building with five floors. Nothing like our massive pack house, but we were a much larger pack and required the additional space. I found an omega scurrying around, tidying up the main floor.
"We need to speak with your Alpha. It's urgent." I said in a clipped manner, not wanting any of my time wasted. I wanted to get back to Alyssa.
"Alpha O' Connor!" She shrieked in surprise. "I will send for him right away, Alpha." She said, bowing her head in submission.
After several minutes, and a worn carpet path from my excessive pacing, what appeared to be an office secretary finally descended the stairs, "sorry for the delay, Alpha O'Connor and Beta Briggs. Please follow me to Alpha Jacob's office."
"May I offer you something to drink or eat?" The secretary asked before letting us into the Alpha's office wing.
"I'll take a white chocolate mocha and a lemon blueberry scone," Anderson gleefully responded.
"Coffee. Black." I responded with a side eye to my Beta.
'Don't judge me. You go and drink your hot bean water. I will enjoy my coffee with a little cream and sugar...' he mindlinked .
'More like you'll enjoy the creamer and sugar with a little bit of coffee...' I interjected.
Rolling his eyes at me, we both entered the Alpha's office.
"Gentlemen, have a seat," the older Alpha outstretched his hand to the two leather chairs opposite his desk.
"I am going to get straight to the point," I said while sitting down.
But before I could begin the office doors opened again. An Omega with our coffee orders quickly came and set our items down before bowing and closing the door.
Clearing my throat, "as I was saying. I am going to get straight to the point as I need to get back to my mate. Gamma Pembrook cheated on Alyssa. This is what spurred her to drink the silver."
"What? Betrayal? Sure - Surely not! Why, that's unheard of between destined mates," the old man stuttered.
"Are you calling my mate a liar?" I asked him dangerously, my wolf pushing forward.
"No! Absolutely not! Wait - is Alyssa awake?" He asked incredulously.
I took a deep breath to calm myself, "no, she is not yet awake, but she wrote a letter to her mother. A letter that she then placed in the mail, intending for it to be delivered to her mother once she had passed." The last part came out in a rush as I hated to think of Alyssa dying…
I passed the letter over to him and remained silent as he read.
"My Goddess," he gasped as he passed the letter back to me.
"I don't know what to say," he stammered.
"My Beta and I will handle this from here. We will conduct a full investigation into this and we will be questioning both Dalton Pembrook and Caitlin Smith."
The man looked at me with dread filled eyes and a deeply furrowed brow, "Caitlin... my Beta's daughter?" The man struggled to finish the remainder of his sentence before falling into his chair, "there has to be an explanation for this. She is a good girl and her father has served me faithfully. She's Alyssa's best friend for Goddess’s sake!" He was nearly shouting now.
Anderson, "woah, hold on..your Beta's daughter and your Gamma were banging? What kind of fucked up pack is this?"
Letting out an exasperated sigh, "My Beta is my age, we've been best friends for years. Gamma Pembrook, Caitlin, and Alyssa are all the same age. Dalton took over as Gamma after his father passed suddenly just last year. He is young but eager.."
"A little too eager I'd say," scoffed Anderso n
"Enough," I growled lowly. I had been taking all of this in while my Beta went tit for tat with Alpha Jacobs and I was growing more agitated by the minute.
"Regardless of who Caitlin is, and regardless of who her father is, she will be treated as any other wolf and will be interrogated. I am having Caitlin and Gamma Dalton arrested as we speak."
"YOU WHAT!" Shouted the older wolf.
I was across the room and had him pressed against the wall in moments, "I am your Alpha of Alphas and you will do well to remember that. Do I make myself clear?" I snarled at the man.
A glimmer of fear flashed over his face, "Yes, Alpha O'Connor."
Dropping the struggling man and with one last glare, "good" I snarled before sitting down once more.
"I will be as low key as I can, but that is completely up to the cooperation of Gamma Pembrook and Caitlin," I stared at the man, daring him to say anything against me.
"I expect that you give us consent to begin the interrogations?" More of a statement than a question as I stood to leave.
"Yes, of course. We will have a pack representative to sit in with the Gamma and Caitlin. I will get to work on that now."
"Good. The faster the better," I gave him a nod of approval and then turned back toward the door.
Turning back to look at Alpha Jacobs once more, "oh, and one more thing. Do not tip off the families as you did with getting Gamma Pembrook out of the pack house before we came up here. "
"I don't know what - " he began.
"Yes, you do," I said looking around his office.
"His.. stench is all over this office," I said waving my hand across the room, "and while it took almost half an hour for us to be brought to your office, it took minutes for an Omega to bring us our coffee orders . You were stalling. "
"I was only trying to prevent my office from being ripped to shreds by two men mated to the same woman. I have no intention of interfering with any investigation, I assure you," he was on full defense.
I was back at the old man's desk in seconds. My claws dug into the edge of his desk as I half shifted with my face inches from his, "let me make this very clear, Alpha Jacobs," my wolf pressing through once more with my voice in a low growl, "my mate is MINE and will be mated to me, and only me. Do I make myself clear?" Baring my canines, a growl ripped through my chest.
"Yes, Alpha O'Connor. Forgive me for misspeaking," I could smell his fear as my Beta stepped between the two of us.
"Okay, Alpha. Let's head back to your mate, she needs you," Anderson offered.
Hearing that my mate needed me was all it took for my wolf to back off.
Adjusting my suit jacket, I walked back to my previous position. Reaching for the door handle I glanced back once more, "Alpha Jacobs, no interference. I mean it."
"Yes, Alpha O'Connor, you have my word."
Slamming the door I exited the office and then the building .
"I want surveillance on him," I said, staring straight ahead as we walked back to the hospital.
"You don't trust him not to interfere?"
"I don't trust anyone here when it comes to my mate."
"That's understandable. I'll call Ryan as soon as we get back to the hospital."
The rest of the walk was silent as we both let the weight of the situation settle in.
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We finally arrived back at my mate's room where the nurse was finishing up today's lab draw.
"When will Dr. Grace be in with today's report?" I asked expectantly.
"Alpha O'Connor, Dr. Grace has told me that she will come in and give you today's update about an hour after we get this blood to the lab for testing," she said as she tilted the lab tubes back and forth gently in her hand.
"Thank you, I will be here."
She bowed her head as she left the room. With Anderson in the hallway on the phone with Ryan, this left myself and Mary sitting on opposite sides of Alyssa's bed.
We sat in comfortable silence for a moment and then Mary looked at me, "do you think she can hear us?"
"No one can tell me for sure, so I just act as if she can," I replied, sitting back in my chair with one foot on the bed frame and tapping my finger on my lips thoughtfully .
Leaning toward her daughter she whispered, "wake up my beautiful girl. You have a second chance mate and he needs you. You're a Luna. You have a pack relying on your recovery."
My eyes misted over. I had no idea if her mother meant for me to hear her, but with my enhanced Alpha hearing, it was almost impossible to get anything by me. A sudden wave of emotion took me by surprise. I never cry, but my heart ached to see Alyssa in her role as a mother. Tenley and I had grown so close, despite my very best efforts to keep from becoming attached. The little redhead and her mother had my heart. I had even let Tenley show me what her "perfect pink bedroom" would look like and I had gone out on a limb and purchased all of it, holding on to hope that Alyssa would accept me.
Her mother stood to her full height, which wasn't much, and walked over to hug me, "she will wake soon. She's a fighter, I feel it."
Goddess, I hoped she was right.