Chapter 2
Braun
He was either the worst shoplifter ever or he was the most indecisive person in history.
It was hard to tell which, though. He actually seemed hungry for one of the candy bars but he was shifty as fuck…
.and he kept watching the angry woman who was fighting with her husband about the brands of bottled water we carried like he was waiting for them to move where they couldn’t see him.
They weren’t going to move until they finished the fight and they’d been going at it way too long for the argument to be about which brand of water tasted better.
“I’m done.” The first part came out at an ear-bleeding screech, but thankfully it dropped to a more manageable level as she stomped away from her frustrated partner. “My needs never matter to you.”
Reminding myself over and over that I was not supposed to make smartass comments to the humans driving through, I managed to keep up the mantra until they’d left the store without buying anything and I was just left with the possible shoplifter.
Interesting.
He actually let out a sigh of relief and looked over at me. “If I promise not to scream about bottled water, will you be nice to the possibly crazy math teacher?”
Humans were weird.
“No.” I was Alpha. I didn’t lie. “I’m just not a nice person in general. It’s not personal.”
“Oh.” Looking slightly confused, he straightened and I had to remind myself that he wasn’t trying to raise my instincts. “Well, that just can’t be helped. I was actually hoping to talk to the older man who was here last week. Is he in the back?”
What?
“No one comes to talk to Dietrick. He’s mean. He’s meaner than me.” That was the reason we kept him running the gas station. No one even thought about robbing the place when he was around. “He’s sick.”
Fucking hangover from hell from all their partying.
I didn’t care how excited they’d all been for the wedding, I shouldn’t have been the only fucking sober person in the whole pack. I’d been traveling nonstop and hadn’t slept in two days and I was beyond tired.
“Well, that’s an issue I hadn’t anticipated.” Frowning, he actually started looking like a math teacher as he crossed his arms over his chest and began pacing across the front of the store. “Plan B. That’s okay. I’m very intelligent.”
That was yet to be seen, but I wasn’t supposed to say anything rude.
For some reason I chased off customers when Dietrick didn’t…which made him an even bigger asshole.
My possible shoplifter turned and gave me a hopeful smile. “You wouldn’t be willing to give me his number, would you?”
“No.”
His sigh said he’d been expecting that answer. “I thought so.”
Then why had he asked?
What was he doing?
Could it possibly be pack business?
What had they been doing while I’d been gone?
Dietrick was way too old to be chasing a human this guy’s age and I couldn’t think of anything else they’d have in common. The human said he was a math teacher? No, that wasn’t helpful either. Dietrick didn’t even have any grandkids in the right age range.
“I’ve known him for a long time, so if you let me know what the problem is, I might be able to help.” At the very least I’d be able to point him in the right direction. “What did he do?”
“Nothing.” Swallowing hard, the odd little human straightened again and slowly moved to place himself closer to the door. There wasn’t a subtle bone in his entire body, but he wasn’t a physical threat to me, so I wasn’t worried.
Just confused and grumpy.
Not a single fucking break all day.
Someone was—
“I can do this.” He might’ve been talking to himself, but I nodded anyway because it seemed to be the only way to get through the conversation. “I’m Dorian. I know. It’s not a very math teacher kind of name but I didn’t pick it out.”
How was that relevant?
“Braun.”
He blinked a few times, making me wonder what he was thinking.
“I’m going to stay on track.” Yep, I was still wondering what was going on upstairs. “I promise I’m not insane, but I need to ask if his growling tendences are something that you’re…aware of. I just can’t tell the difference between your…your different types. I’m sorry.”
He seemed to think that made sense but kept rambling as I gave him a confused glare. “It’s really not my business. To each their own. I’m very openminded, though, but I’ve made a new friend who could use some help and he’s…he’s of the growling persuasion.”
What the fuck?
Growling persuasion?
Oh.
Growling.
Wait.
Did he know about wolves or did he think Dietrick was kinky?
Fucking hell. Humans made everything more complicated than necessary.
“Yes. I am aware of his growling and I can help with anything of that nature.” If he thought I was in the lifestyle and looking for a human playing pretend, well, I’d been accused of weirder things. “I will not get angry with you for growling-related issues.”
Gods above, humans made me say the strangest things.
“Well, I’m running out of ideas and things will get awkward fast if I don’t get this settled. They’re going to call in the vet.” The way he was shaking his head said that was a bad thing but I had no idea what he was talking about. “Um, well, yes. Charging right in is the best idea.”
If he said so.
“I promise to leave if you think I’m…not quite sane. Don’t worry about that.” He wasn’t making a lot of sense but I nodded again anyway to keep him going. “Good. You’re nicer than you think. It’s the whole image thing. You just project. Oh, maybe that is growling related.”
He seemed to think he’d figured something out but I wasn’t going to start randomly guessing.
“Back to the point. Yes.” Giving his head a shake, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“I volunteer over at an animal shelter about twenty minutes from here. Last night they got…well…it seems to be a young wolf…a young wolf that’s frustrated about being in a cage and he’s… he seems overly intelligent.”
What?
“How intelligent?” What the fuck had happened last night? “I need a bit more information.”
“He’s…well…he seems like he’d be a teenager if he were human…
the rolling their eyes and being a smart-ass kind of teenager…
and he’s highly intelligent for something that falls in the canine category.
” Going still, he looked apologetic for a moment.
“If that’s rude I didn’t mean it that way.
I’m not up to speed on the…science of it. ”
For fuck’s sake.
Scrubbing my hands over my face as the human finally sighed, I did my best not to sound like I was the Big Bad Wolf going after the cute little pig…or human in this case. A human who smelled entirely too good and kind of like bacon.
Stay on track.
“I’m just going to spell this out since no one would believe you anyway. Are you telling me that one of the teenagers in my pack is in the fucking pound?” When I focused back on the little human, he was nodding and shrugged.
“Yes, he’s got a bit of an attitude but that’s to be expected. Teenagers all seem to be alike even if they’re not…well…not human.” Throwing up his hands, the human sighed again. “I’m a teacher, though. You can’t take it personally.”
That was so true I almost laughed.
“Yes, and he was safe when I left him a little while ago but the vet is going to be in first thing in the morning. I’m not sure that would be a good idea.” Before I could agree with him, he frowned again. “It seems like it would be violating at the very least.”
Fuck.
“One second, please.” Manners since he’d actually been a helpful human. He seemed to appreciate it based on how his stress seemed to deflate like a balloon.
I probably should’ve tried to put him at ease but I had people to scream at and had already picked up the phone.
One.
Two.
If it took more than three rings—
“Hey, Alpha. Did—”
“WHO IS MISSING?” I didn’t bother holding back the magic that made me Alpha and I could feel it going through the phone because technology was fucking amazing. “WHY WASN’T I TOLD ONE OF OUR PUPS WAS MISSING?”
“He was hit by a car. I don’t remember if I mentioned that.” The helpful human shivered at my tone but didn’t actually seem upset, which was slightly confusing. “There’s just been a lot going on, but do you know if we’re allowed to say pound? No one seems to use that word any longer.”
“ONE OF OUR PUPS WAS HIT BY A FUCKING CAR!”
Jessen tried to interrupt, but I wasn’t ready to be rational yet.
“WHY DO WE HAVE PUPS WHO DON’T KNOW HOW TO CALL FOR THEIR ALPHA?”
Still not ready yet.
“HE GOT PICKED UP BY HUMANS AND IS IN THE FUCKING POUND. I DON’T KNOW WHO’S MISSING!”
“Teenagers are stubborn.” My helpful human actually took a step closer to me. “They’re ridiculous and he just might not have wanted to appear weak.”
Looking down at his hands, he turned them over and studied them. “His paws were quite large for his size, so if he thinks he’s going to grow up to be powerful, he might be extra stubborn about the situation.”
He was the weirdest human I’d ever met.
“I’m not sure about how calling an Alpha works, but he was picked up far enough away from here that he might be from a different…
pack? That was the correct word, right?” He let out a breath when I nodded.
“That’s good. None of my neighbors seem to be the right type of people to help. They’re interesting too, though.”
Where the fuck did he live?
“My mailman grumbles a lot about humans being frustrating.” The little human shrugged like it couldn’t be helped. “We probably are but someone needs to tell him to stop saying that around humans.”
Yeah, he probably sounded insane.
“We’ll see if we can handle that after we figure out who the teenager is.” Something I’d said made the little human smile and he inched closer again. “One problem at a time today, but I promise it’s usually a lot quieter around here.”
“When it rains it pours.” Shaking his head, he glanced around at the store. “You have a very nice business, though, and he was confident someone here would be able to help. I listed off all the…the interesting people I knew of and he recognized the gas station.”
Yeah, no one forgot Dietrick.
When he focused back on me, though, there was a distinct look of disappointment on his face. “I don’t know about cultural differences, but shouldn’t someone have noticed their child was missing?”
“Yes.” There were no cultural issues big enough to excuse that, no matter what differences our species had. “And I will figure out why an alarm wasn’t raised. Even if he isn’t local, we should’ve been notified of any missing member within a three-state radius.”
It used to be a smaller distance but modern technology made it possible to go a lot farther a lot quicker.
“A…Alpha?” Jessen had either finally realized it was safe to talk or had found information because he risked a lot bringing my attention to him.
“A lot of pack members are still hanging around the main house and right off the bat none of the parents are worried about their kids. Several slept over at your mother’s house last night because she bribed them with R-rated movies and a new brownie recipe. ”
Great.
She was a menace.
“And?” There’d better be more.
“We’ve started touching base with everyone else in the pack, but a few are out of town due to family issues.
Macy’s brother died, you remember that, and we’ve got a few others traveling to go check on family because of the storms. Oh, and Fred’s sister is having a baby so he and his family went up to visit her.
That’s just a stupid decision, but he’s trying to be helpful and you know his wife. ”
Fuck…for a variety of reasons.
Fred was a moron…his sister was not going to want visitors.
“Finish touching base with everyone here and get me a replacement at the gas station in five minutes.” The or else wasn’t necessary to say based on the way he sucked in a breath. “I’m going to go get the pup and there will be too many questions if the station closes early.”
And we were the only one in twenty miles, so we couldn’t close early.
“Yes, Alpha. Dietrick is already on his way and should be there any second.” Jessen sighed. “Um, he wasn’t happy when he realized no one else went to help you.”
I bet.
He was an asshole but the station had become his baby.
“He’s not the only one unhappy with that.”
Before Jessen could make up another excuse, I disconnected the call. My little human was just waiting like he talked to Alphas every day and there was nothing odd about the situation at all. “Dietrick will be here any minute and then we’ll go rescue the pup.”
Digging out his phone from his pocket, the human nodded.
“We should catch the shelter still open if we hurry, but it does have cameras. Unless your…your species has ways not to show up on camera? Well, then we’ll have to wait until the morning otherwise because I’m not going to jail for breaking and entering. I’m a teacher.”
“We show up on camera.” What had he been reading? “We’re not fucking vampires.”
“Oh, they’re real too?” He didn’t look nearly as concerned as he should’ve been about that fact. “That might explain one of my other neighbors.”
Letting out a sigh, he turned as Dietrick’s pickup finally pulled into the lot. “I think I might be the only human in my neighborhood. I’m starting to understand why I got such a good deal on the rent.”
Humans were insane.
But this one was helpful and smelled like breakfast…so I was going to keep him…he was openminded, though, so I wasn’t worried about it.
Now the fucking pup…that was another story…I was going to worry about him.
A vet.
Gods above.