Little Secrets

Rose

I paced my studio apartment frantically, trying desperately to organize my thoughts. There was one singular word swirling around in my head, and I would give anything to make it go away. 

Rejection.

Just the thought of it made my wolf whimper. 

He knew, right? He had to know. How could he not? I sank down on the edge of my bed, barely noticing that I was rocking back and forth. I couldn’t do anything to stop the strangled sob that found its way out of my throat. Freyja tried to reach out and provide whatever comfort she could, but there wasn’t much she could do when she herself was curled up in a ball, heartbroken that our mate sent us away in such a way.

I struggled to my feet and made my way out of the complex, sprinting down all the short cuts - skirting behind the training complex, cutting across the field, over to the path through the woods that led to the packhouse. I made it there in possibly record time, bursting through the patio doors and began pacing the kitchen. I didn’t know where to go or what to do from here. 

My unceremonious entrance to the alpha and beta wing of the packhouse was something I could get in trouble for. Sure, my friendships with Anna and Lya provided me some privileges, and Alpha Oliver had called me a friend a time or two, but it still made me uncomfortable. My wolf especially was exceptionally on edge with the lack of respect she claimed I showed the higher ups recently. 

A light flickered on in the Alpha Wing. I whipped around, not exactly certain who I wanted to see. 

“Rose!” Lya gasped, rushing toward me. 

I hugged her tightly, letting a few straggler tears sneak out. “Oh my god, I was so scared.”

Lya pulled away, holding me at arm’s length. “Rose, what’s wrong?”

I shook my head, swiping the tears out of my eyes. “Nothing, I -” I didn’t know what to say. “Why are you asking me if I’m okay? You’re the one that was just held hostage by hunters for weeks! Don’t you dare ever do something like that again! I don’t care that you’re Luna and that you are responsible for this whole pack, that was just dumb!”

“Oh, but you’re wrong,” Lya smirked. “I’m not just Luna Lya anymore. I’m Alpha Lya now, too!”

“You… what?” 

Lya nodded frantically. “It was an accident, though,” she quickly added. 

I walked to the kitchen island, taking a seat at a bar stool. “How does one accidentally become an alpha? I mean, Alpha Oliver is okay, right?”

Lya’s tinkling laugh filled the room. “Of course he’s fine. I mean, I wouldn’t be standing here if he wasn’t fine.”

I took a moment to actually look at Lya. I wasn’t surprised to see her wearing only an oversized shirt - one I was fairly certain was one Alpha Oliver wore frequently - but it was nearly falling off one of her shoulders, leaving her neck completely exposed. My eyes widened when I saw not one, but two marks. One was well healed, but the other - the other was quite new, not even healed.

“So which story do you want first?” Lya asked, reaching up to cover her marks. 

“Uh… the alpha one, I think.” I didn’t really want to hear about mates right this second, even how in the world someone managed to end up marked twice when that was improbable at best, deadly at worst. 

Lya popped up off her barstool, reaching for a bottle of wine in the fridge. “So the Wulver Pack, right?” She passed me a well overfilled glass. 

I took a big gulp before nodding. “Of course, that’s the pack your dad is alpha of and you get your silver resistance from. Wait, is your dad okay?”

“My dad hasn’t been okay for a long time,” Lya sighed. “I mean, you’ve gotta be a pretty fucked up wolf to raise your kid as if they’re human and make them think they are insane when they start shifting into a wild animal, right? He started working with the hunters and his wolf left him. But he’s dead now.”

I froze. “Fill in the blanks any time you’d like, please!”

“Yeah so the Wulvers are like this vigilante organization that secretly assists in maintaining the peace amongst werewolves and does a lot to help keep us secret from humans. And they’re really weird about their alphas. It’s all about honor and stuff, and the alpha position doesn’t get passed down a family line. It has to be appointed or won in a challenge.”

I reached for the bottle, topping off my glass. “So I’ll just assume he got killed in the battle the other night. Did you get appointed as alpha, then?”

Lya’s eyes glinted with mischief. “Oh no, I challenged him. And I won.”

The bottle in my hand went clattering to the floor, sending shards of glass and wine everywhere. “You challenged an alpha and won?” I shrieked.

“Love, where are you?” Oliver called, all the noise drawing him out of his room. He was quick to find her, though, picking her up off the ground where she was trying to clean up glass and set her on the counter. “You should really be sleeping, you know.” 

I slipped off the stool, quickly taking over for Lya. It gave me an excuse to keep my eyes off the happily mated couple. 

“Rose is back!” she squealed, hugging him close. 

I glanced up from my crouched position on the floor and offered a small wave. “Hi, Alpha.”

Alpha Oliver rolled his eyes. “For the last time, Rose, my friends call me Oliver. Or are you going to start calling Lya ‘Luna’ now, too?”

I stood up, dumping the glass in the trashcan before reaching for a rag. “From my understanding, she would need to be called Alpha now, actually.”

“Well, that’s just confusing. Better to just use our names. Like friends would,” Lya supplied. 

I just smiled and nodded. “Well, I’ll be here for a few more days yet, so I’ll see you tomorrow, Lya?”

There was only silence, though. I glanced up at them and noticed the telltale signs of mindlinking. I wondered what they were talking about without me.

“We can just give you a ride back to your apartment, actually. We need to head over to Cody’s office,” Lya said.

“It’s fine, really. I can walk. It’s nice out.”

“No, Rose, you need to come with us, too. It’d appear some headway was made with the Wyoming investigation.”

I looked up at them, wide eyed. Of course something would happen just as soon as I left. For the first time, I was actually worried about who my mystery mate actually was. Was he one of the people on board with Gamma Derek’s supposed rogue murders? 

“Oh. Okay, yeah, that’ll be fine.”

I followed them out of the packhouse slowly. I had the overwhelming feeling of walking into a lion’s den. I was filled with guilt that I had just bailed, and for what? Because a mate who seemed like he didn’t want me told me to? 

But did I actually know he didn’t want me? Maybe he had a good reason for sending me away, and he just hadn’t had a chance to track me down yet. And how would he track me down if I was here?

Lya went right back to her chatter as soon as we were in the Alpha’s - excuse me, Oliver’s - Land Cruiser. 

“So Rose, apparently I have a brother,” she said, a bit worried. “Half brother, actually. He’s only six months older than me. He went up to take over for you, but apparently he found something up there, and he thinks it will be enough to actually press charges against Derek.”

I nodded absently, too preoccupied with my own issues to actually be worried about the pack right this moment. 

We pulled into the parking lot, Oliver turning to look at me before we got out. “Rose, Cody wants to talk to you before this meeting. He just rejected his mate, so don’t read too much into how angry he is.”

I slipped out of the Land Cruiser without a word. 

The scent hit me first, freezing me to the spot. Bonfires and cedar.

I turned slowly, eyes locking on a man leaned against the entrance to the complex. He was the spitting image of Lya, so I could only assume this was her brother.

Something flashed in his eyes. Recognition, maybe. He offered me a smirk and a wink before pressing a finger to his lips, his point abundantly clear. 

I turned away from my mate, trying to erase the image of every perfect inch of him from my memory.