Chapter 15
Wolfe
I left the office.
I’d never thought I would be the kind of alpha that sat in an office, reading reports, managing a pack on paper.
Lars had been very hands-on, and in Stonefang, it was easier, I guess.
We were more communal. Smaller. Compact.
I looked over Blueridge Hollow as I took in the fact that they were more than just spread out.
Some of the wolves here lived so far from the main pack hall that you could go days without interacting with them.
Everyone had their place, both in the pack and in the hierarchy—I guess that was the best way to describe it. How did I improve that?
I didn’t want to force people to mingle; the very idea of it made the contents of my stomach curdle, but this pack was…
I couldn’t think of the word. Reclusive was how I’d described them earlier, but were they?
They didn’t like outsiders, I knew that, but as I walked the paths that separated houses and pack, I wondered if they liked insiders either.
I saw Adair hanging out washing, and I hesitated.
I liked the young female. She’d been a child when I left, but I remembered how, even then, she seemed older than her years.
Adair looked up and saw me. She raised a hand in a wave, but like many of her pack, it wasn’t in invitation; it was a simple greeting.
I see you, move on. I returned the wave and did as she silently requested.
I wondered if they knew how unintentionally uninviting they were. With determination in my stride, I turned and walked back, seeing her look up and straighten slowly as I approached, a slight frown line forming as she held my gaze.
“Alpha?”
She was pretty. I don’t think I’d noticed before.
My eyes were on only one female shifter in this pack, and everyone else dimmed in comparison.
But looking at Adair with her short hair, wide eyes, and smooth complexion, she was attractive.
I don’t know if that was what surprised me or the fact that she was so…
adult. I remembered a young, albeit serious, wolf, not this strong shifter in front of me.
“You grew up,” I said with a smile.
Adair looked puzzled at the greeting, but she smiled. “Happens to us all,” she said serenely. Her voice was gentle but strong. She didn’t whisper or lower it, she was quite happy if people heard her, and I liked that. “How are you today?”
“Good.”
Her head tilted and her nose wrinkled. “No…” She sniffed the air. “No, I think you need to try again to convince me, Alpha.”
She’d always had that aura about her, making you think she could see more, sense deeper. I was going to insist it was nothing, but I opened up, surprising myself. “I’m tired,” I admitted. “The more I look, the more I uncover, but it’s not out there…”
Adair’s gaze dropped to her washing. Stooping, she lifted a garment and began to hang it. “The pegs are there,” she told me, and I started to hand her pegs as she hung her clothing. “You’re finding the cracks in the Hollow,” Adair said. This time, her voice was low.
“Yeah, something like that.”
“There are not many,” she told me with confidence. “Although…” Her hands stilled. “I did not know that some ran as deep as they did.”
So, she hadn’t known about Hollis and his family. I wondered if she knew about Lyra.
“You watch a lot,” I told her, handing her a wooden peg.
Adair frowned. “Watch? I don’t think I do, but I see more than some.”
“Do you share what you see?” I asked her curiously.
She shook her head. “It’s not for me to open the eyes of others, Alpha.” Her clothes were hung, and she stooped to pick up her basket. “Tea?”
“Sure.” I followed her inside, and the scent hit me immediately. “Tell me he was here to ask questions and nothing else.” I was not praying to Luna that it would be anything else. Adair’s smile told me everything I needed to know, and I held back the groan. “I see.”
“He is enigmatic,” Adair said dreamily, and I questioned everything I had ever thought about her being wise.
“Diesel is not enigmatic,” I corrected her with resignation. “He is really very basic.”
Adair’s smile told me she thought otherwise.
“You know there were others?” I asked her, cautiously. She was still young, so maybe she thought there was a romance to be had, and I needed to dissuade her of that very quickly.
She started making tea, glancing at me once. “Are you concerned your enforcer is going to break my heart, Alpha?”
I let out a huff of laughter. “He has a tendency to break things,” I admitted.
She poured water into the clear teapot and added two spoonful’s of tea leaves into the tea basket. Placing it on the table, she turned back and picked up two cups. Adair sat opposite me, her elbow on the table, and she dropped her head into the crook of her palm and studied me for a long moment.
“You aren’t worried he’ll break me,” she said after a moment. “You’re worried there are more women in this pack who Diesel’s had sex with. You know of…two?” She guessed, and I nodded. “I make three, and you’re thinking how many more.”
“He can be…generous with his time.” I sucked my teeth as I looked out the window.
Adair’s delighted laugh made me look back at her. “He is definitely generous,” she told me with a wink. She poured the tea. “Now tell me what’s on your mind.” She blew across the top of her cup. “And I don’t mean about your man in my bed.”
“You’ve heard the rumors?” I asked, picking up my tea and taking a tentative sip. Lavender was the first scent, then something more floral, rose? I took another sip. Licorice? No, aniseed and simple black tea. “This is an interesting blend,” I told her.
Adair smiled. “It’s a blend of my own. I’m pleased you like it.”
I didn’t correct her.
“I heard Solana is leaving soon, taking her children with her. I heard Hollis is in a bad way in a newly created cell and that he can’t shift to heal.”
“You hear a lot,” I murmured.
“People forget that when you lower your voice to whisper, more ears than you want pick up to hear what’s being said behind hands.”
“Is that why you always speak evenly?”
She smiled again. “Maybe. Or maybe I have nothing to hide, Alpha.”
“From me? Or anyone?”
Adair slowly lost her smile as she watched me.
“You think I knew?” she murmured, and this time I heard her surprise.
“I didn’t. I knew there was something amiss in Solana’s marriage, but her husband was fond of homemade moonshine; I would not have said he was capable of being a traitor to his pack. ”
“Because he was a good man or because he was a drunk?”
“A drunk,” she answered honestly. “Alpha Malric tried to clean him up,” she continued. “Even Lewis spent time with him, but Hollis always fell back into the bottle.” Adair sniffed, taking a drink of her tea. “Well, he brewed his own; it was more jugs than bottles.”
“Sherry?” I asked.
“Made really good pumpkin pie.” Adair sighed. “Out of this whole pack, two shifters have surprised me in completely different ways.”
My fingers drummed on the table. “Who wouldn’t surprise you?”
Adair toyed with her cup. “Diesel already asked me.”
I grimaced. “Yeah, well, it appears Diesel did more than just ask you questions, so humor me. Tell me your list again.”
I spent the next hour with Adair, drinking her interesting tea blend and listening to her run through her observations of her pack. I left her with more questions than answers, but I was glad I had stopped and listened.
It didn’t stop me from reaching out to my enforcer when I left her house, testing to see if he was near. There was no answer from Diesel, and I knew he was too far away.
Axel.
Alpha? His response was immediate.
Before I get any more surprises, how many women did Diesel bed before he left?
Surprises? Axel asked, and I could hear the undercurrent of amusement.
Adair.
I could feel his surprise and something else. I knew what that something was, and I made a mental note to have a strong conversation with Diesel when he returned.
I think there were maybe five, six, including her.
He’d only been in the actual Hollow for a little over a week.
I shook my head, but was I surprised? Not really.
I’d noticed it ever since I met him. Women were drawn to him, and I had no idea why.
He was big, muscular, had long hair, and his tattoos…
Okay, I knew exactly what was attracting women to him.
Fucker needs to keep it zipped up, I muttered to Axel. Where are you?
Training.
Of course he was, where else would they be? I made my way to the training ground and noticed there were no Hollow wolves in the formation.
The Stonefang wolves moved like they’d been born to the dirt. Fluid, fast, precise. Not polished like Hollow fighters—these weren’t warriors who trained for show. These were survivors. I’d been training with them for years. I knew their grit.
But as I walked down the lines, inspecting their form with the eye of a general, I noticed something I didn’t expect. As I watched them, I noticed more than half were watching me.
It wasn’t like it was before. No, their eyes met mine with something that looked a lot like suspicion.
I stepped in front and looked around. They came to a stop, feet apart, hands behind their backs. Ready.
“Five of you, front and center,” I said, pulling my shirt off. “Now.”
I loosened my neck as five came forward, three males, two females. Their eyes flicked to each other, communicating how best to attack me as they circled.
Stepping in front of a younger male, I blocked a strike, twisted his arm behind his back, and dropped him flat in the dirt. He grunted, wind knocked out of him. I didn’t wait for applause or praise—we didn’t train for that.
They circled again. I motioned for the next one to come forward.
Jarik stepped into the center. Tall. Broad. Too confident. One of the wolves who’d made his opinion of the Hollow and Rowen known without ever saying her name.
He came at me fast. Testing.