Chapter 3 - Noah #2
In the back corner of the restaurant, around a large table, were four men.
I quickly recognized Joe, and he stood to greet me first. I shook his hand and he introduced me to the others—Samson of the Saltfang pack, Scott of the Shadowbay pack, and Jayce of the Blacktide pack.
None of them was as easygoing and welcoming as Joe, but that was to be expected.
He was the anomaly in his calmness. I was already feeling on edge with all the competing Alpha energy in the room, but I kept reminding myself that there was no threat.
These weren't enemies, and my pack could use all the allies I could get us. I had to keep my cool.
Joe gestured to an empty chair once introductions were done. "Sit."
I could feel the eyes of all the other Alphas as I did so, but no one was antagonistic. At least not yet.
"Let's cut to the chase," Samson crossed his arms, voice low. "Has anyone seen any signs of the rogues in their territory?"
The other Alphas confirmed that they hadn't seen any disturbances, either.
I gathered that Scott's mate had just had a baby, and it had him even more on edge than the rest of them.
There was a certain sense and structure when fighting with other established packs, but rogues were unpredictable and tended to take huge risks without the grounding connection of the pack.
Wolves weren't supposed to be alone. It made them crazy.
A memory fought to make itself known inside my head as the other men talked amongst themselves.
I knew way more about rogue wolves than I should, and listening to the other Alphas' reports didn't make me feel cautious like it did for them.
Instead, I felt angry and sad, but I still couldn't pinpoint why.
"We've searched the coastline and forest edges," Scott offered. "There are a few cave systems along the cliffs that make me nervous because they're impossible to patrol, so we've set up a few security cameras in the area."
"How sure are we that they'd actually dare to come back?" Joe asked, leaning back in his chair.
"It's hard to tell," Samson answered. "We know they want to recruit other wolves, claim territory, and take she-wolves.
Our four packs are the densest grouping of wolves, which means they have a better chance of finding someone vulnerable or someone disgruntled enough to leave and join them, but we're also probably the best defended and most dangerous packs to mess with because of the alliance.
I'd like to think they've moved on, but.
.." he shrugged one shoulder. "There's no telling, since they're all insane. "
Then Joe spoke up, and I bristled at having my business put out there without being consulted first, but I couldn't blame him.
It was pertinent to the conversation. "Noah here has some memory loss due to his attack, but he tells me he's confident the rogues have something to do with his injuries and why he was in my territory. '
"I was tracking someone or something," I added. "I don't know if it's connected, but it seems to make sense. There's a big gap of time that I can't recall, but I feel like whatever I was chasing might have been connected to the rogues."
"We'll definitely need to find that out," Jayce said, looking at me. "You're welcome in our territory as a guest, but you need to give us something more before you can be trusted."
"I don't plan on staying. Just until I'm healed, and I'm sure I can make it back to my pack under my own strength. But I'll still keep in touch about anything I remember."
"Good," Jayce nodded, "If that's all the news on the rogues, then let's move on."
***
The meeting lasted a little over an hour, and after having lunch, I was exhausted. I knew I was pushing my healing body harder than I should, but Alphas don't have time to just lay around and wait to be back to 100%. I needed to be moving so I could get home sooner rather than later.
There was one thing I wanted to do before I returned to Silvervine territory, though, and I was afraid I might have already missed my chance. My fear was now that I was self-sufficient, Sage would stop coming by the cabin, and I'd never get a chance to see her again.
Loping through the woods, there were only two things on my mind—Sage and the missing bits of my memory. If it had just been anger connected to those empty spots in my head, it would be
an easy conclusion to guess that I was hunting the rogue wolves for one reason or another. But the echo of heartbreak and sadness had me second-guessing that conclusion.
I was still lost in those thoughts when I came to a stop outside of the cabin, shifting back to my human form painfully. I didn't know I had an audience until after I was on two legs again.
"What are you thinking!? You shouldn't be shifting already."
I whipped around to see Sage, who had just arrived at the cabin, stomping over with her hands on her hips. She was in the same uniform as always, a white button-up shirt and navy blue slacks, but her hair was down, and she had a bag thrown over her shoulder.
"I'm fine. Just a little sore."
Her brows shot up. "A little sore? You were unconscious for days!"
"Well, I'm not unconscious anymore." I swallowed, reminding myself to be careful with her.
Sage arriving at the same time I did was a stroke of luck, and I didn't want to run her off now that I was capable of having a real conversation free of the medicine haze.
"I'm fine now. Thanks to you, of course.
" I took a step towards her, and while she didn't back up, she did freeze in place. "Thank you, Sage."
"It's my job, Alpha Aldridge." Sage had gotten over her initial annoyance and was brushing past me to go inside the cabin before I could tell her to stop.
Her formal tone pissed me off, "Is that what we're doing now, pretending to be strangers? Would you like me to address you as healer Williamson now?"
"It wouldn't be a bad idea," she said primly, setting her bag down on the counter inside. "Go ahead and take a seat on the bed, and I'll assess whether you need any magic-based healing today."
I did as she told me, but I wasn't done talking. "I know you feel our bond waking up. This cold, professional facade isn't going to work on me, Sage."
She snapped her bag shut with an angry click, a complicated series of emotions flashing over her face before she spoke again. "You don't get to do this, Noah. You made your choice five years ago, and you should be thanking me for continuing to abide by it even after all this time."
"Can't we just—"
"No. We can't do or discuss anything unless it's related to your treatment.
I don't owe you any information about my life since I joined this pack.
You aren't going to force it out of me just because the mating bond has you thinking you deserve access to me and what I've been up to.
Now, shut up and get undressed before I lose my cool.
And no funny business. Keep your boxers on, or I'll call the male healer in to finish the exam. "
No matter how cold Sage acted, her telling me to undress, even for medical reasons, had my blood running hot.
I did as she commanded, and she looked away, fiddling with her tools until I took my seat on the bed again.
Then she turned and approached, keeping her gaze locked on my face and refusing to look lower until the exam started and she was forced to look over my body.
"Don't be nervous," I chuckled, unable to stop myself. "I'm sure you saw all of me when I was first brought in, considering I was beaten basically to a pulp."
"There's a big difference between a knocked-out, gravely injured man and a cocky, conscious one. Mainly, that your mouth works now, which is a distraction, so try and keep it shut, please."
The moment her fingers brushed my skin, my breath caught in my lungs. A desire so powerful that I had to clench my fists to ignore it flared to life within me, and Sage gasped, jerking her hands back like she'd been shocked.
"Don't. Do that." She said sharply.
"I didn't do anything," I was telling her the truth. "It's the bond."
She didn't look convinced, but Sage took a deep breath and continued. She poked and prodded at my injuries, and when she came to one of the deep bruises on my ribs, she pressed her fingers into the area, and I hissed in pain. Fuck, that hurt.
"You've at least partially rebroken this rib, shifting and running through the woods like an idiot. I'm going to have to mend it again. Hold still. Healing a bone can take some time."
Her touch drove me mad, but Sage wouldn't look at me, wouldn't speak, and her oppressive silence forced me into my own head. Not into the murky unknown of the past week, but much, much farther back.
Being so close to Sage made it impossible not to think about our past and what had shattered the once-strong connection we had.
We were just kids when we met, Sage, 13, and me, 14.
She'd been cornered by a group of older teenage wolves who were picking on her, a small she-wolf with her arms full of school books.
. I'd pushed myself in without a second thought, knowing no one would challenge the Alpha's heir.
I'd offered Sage my hand to help her up once they were gone, and she took it.
We became secret friends from there. I knew my father would disapprove of me being close with a weak she-wolf pup, but we just got along so well. Sage and I would sneak into the woods
to spend time together, listening to music, playing games, and running through the trees in wolf form whenever the opportunity presented itself. She trusted me with things she'd never told another soul—her hopes, fears, and dreams of the future.
As we grew older, we both knew that our friendship was in danger, but we never gave it up.
By the time Sage had turned 18, she'd become beautiful, and I would have had to have been blind not to notice.
But I didn't want to ruin the friendship that we had, and I didn't pursue her romantically, even if I was dying to do so.
That same year, her magic manifested, marking her as a witch...and a pariah in our pack. Not to me, though. I promised that I would protect her and keep her safe, just like I'd always done. She kept her magic hidden, but it was the beginning of the end for us.
I still don't know how my father found out, but it's likely he was taking notice that his now-adult son was spending a lot of time hidden from sight and sent one of his wolves to spy on me.
He was furious, not just as my father, but as my Alpha, and no matter how many times I told him that Sage and I weren't romantically involved, he didn't believe it.
He was disgusted that I was interacting with a witch at all and told me that if I didn't cut her off, he would make sure she suffered.
He was still too strong at the time for me to challenge, and I knew that he could make Sage's life a living hell if he wanted to.
So, filled with rage and grief, I went to her and told her everything.
I promised that when I took over the pack, we could reconnect, but we had to separate until then to keep her safe.
Sage was not happy, to say the least. She was slow to anger, but the stress of her new magic had her on edge already, and everything boiled over. She screamed, she cried, and she beat on my chest with her fists, trying to get me to understand how I was the last steady thing she had in her life.
I grabbed her by the shoulders, my emotions running equally as high, and before I could stop myself, I kissed her. The ground had tilted beneath my feet, and I pulled her into my arms as our mating bond clicked into place. Sage was my mate.
The truth of it hit us both like a truck, and for a brief moment, I was overjoyed. She was mine, and it felt like somehow I'd always known we were headed down that path. I'd just been waiting for the proof.
But of course, my joy was erased by a terrible dread. If my father were threatening Sage just because we were friends, what would he have done to her if he found out his only son was mated to a witch?
I did the only thing I could think of to keep her safe.
I rejected her, saying horrible, vitriolic, awful things to her, knowing that they would carve her right open.
I used all the secret things she had trusted me with, and by the time I was through, she was as pale as a ghost, shaking.
I hadn't even given her a few minutes to bask in the glow of our new bond.
I tore it all apart before she even had time to breathe.
Those were the last words I said to her until I woke up in the same hospital bed I was currently sitting in. I'd expected Sage would stay away, and when I was finally able to take over the pack as my own, I would be able to apologize and repair our relationship without the fear of a vengeful Alpha.
Except Sage didn't wait around. She left the pack the very next day, and I didn't see her for five long years.
I've been haunted by the last vision of her, pale and broken by my cruelty, and it had taken a massive amount of self-control not to ransack all of the other packs on the East Coast just to find her.
But now, sitting with her hands pressed into my sore ribcage, her magic washing over me like cool water, I came to the conclusion that I had been dancing around since I first woke up. My mate had slipped through my fingers once, and I wasn't going to let it happen again.