Chapter 6: "Stop saying that!"

"What is your name?"

"Scarlett Johansen."

"What pack are you coming from?"

"The Greenwoods pack."

The sound of his pen as he writes on the jotter in front of him, does nothing to quell my fear.

"How old are you?"

"Forty-two."

At this, he raises an eyebrow. Like I haven't been lying to him all along and he's just noticed that I have.

"Is there any reason why you're in my territory?"

I avert my eyes from his and look around. There's something strange that happens whenever he looks at me. Something in my stomach becomes liquid and my mind can't stop bringing up disturbing images. It's shameful. If I blush, I'm going to slap myself right here and right now.

"Well...... we were driving, and Maya said she was hungry so I drove to the diner to get her something to eat. I didn't know this land belonged to the Ironclaw pack."

Alpha Roman chuckles and stands up so he can walk out from behind his table.

"Now that you know it belongs to the Ironclaw pack, and you know I am the Alpha of this pack, I wonder how you still have the guts to lie to me."

I don't even take a second before he's in front of me. His hands are around my wrist and he's pulled me close, totally flush against him, like he has to be this close for me to see he isn't joking.

His body is radiating heat, undeniably hot heat and his eyes....... they're glowing with such a harsh light that I know I'm done for.

"I wonder how one woman can be so brave as to trespass onto my land, and then proceed to lie to me about the pack she's from."

"I wasn't lying!" I look away,  "It's a very small pack."

"Liar. You're a fucking liar!"

The fear that grips me at the intensity of his growls is a living thing. I feel it standing behind me, breathing down my neck and dragging its fingers down the skin of my back.

He's going to kill me.

Maya asked to stay with his beta and I don't know why I let her, but now I see how that might be a ploy to make me comply with them. The pain in my wrist becomes sharper and I pull in a sharp breath.

"You're hurting me, Alpha Roman."

I sound so close to tears... maybe that's why he drops my hand so quickly. Like he's just been stung.

I rub my wrist and contemplate my next course of action. 

He's angry, and he has the right to be. This is his pack and there's nothing an Alpha won't do to protect their pack. At least the good ones. There's nothing a good Alpha won't do to protect their pack, and so far he hasn't done anything too brutal. He's probably annoyed because I lied to him, which means he must have known I was lying all along.

Shit.

But can I tell him the truth?

Can I admit that my marriage was a failure and now I'm on the run because I knocked my Alpha husband out and fled his pack with our daughter?

"Scarlett......." The sound of him saying my name melts my heart "My pack matters to me more than anything else. The safety of everyone in this pack matters to me more than you can ever imagine. I don't give explanations like this, so please don't make things any harder for me than they already are."

I can hear the silent plea in his voice. 

This is hard for him, being lied to and not resorting to the violence he has been famed for these past five years.

"He hurt me."

The words stick in my throat like glue but I force them out.

"My name is Scarlett Tyson. My mate and husband is Hunter Tyson, Alpha of the Nightshade pack."

Alpha Roman of the Ironclaw pack frowns and leans on his table with his hands behind his back. I don't want to believe he doesn't know what that does to his figure. His black shirt stretches taut over his body and I can clearly see the outline of the powerful body he's keeping underneath there.

Fuck.

"Why are you not headed to your parent's pack then?  That would have been safer, you have parents, no?"

"I do,..... but Hunter would turn their pack to rubble if he finds me there. He tried to hurt Maya, he's been hurting me for so long  now but I couldn't bear to see him lay a hand on her, so I knocked him out and we ran and."

"Calm down, Scarlett."

His voice does something to me.  The whispery comfort in them shakes me so hard that I let out the tears I've been keeping in all this while.

Crying in front of an Alpha is never a good thing. They'll see you as weak and manipulative, especially when they're Alphas who are on guard. I clean my eyes and tuck all those emotions back where they came from. He's watching me like a hawk and I don't dare meet his eyes.

I look down as I finish my explanation and let the fear of Hunter finding me ebb. It's scary what offending a powerful Alpha will do to your brain. The threat of them surfacing is always there. The threat of Hunter hunting me and Maya down is always there. Speaking about it has just made me realize how horrible it will be for us if he does. 

"I need to run as far away as I can. We only stopped here for food and a place to sleep for a few nights. We'll recharge, stock up on supplies, and get back on the road."

"So you can go where?"

My head snaps up to the Alpha now in front of me. 

He's still the same person that grabbed my hand a few minutes ago. My wrist still aches from where he squeezed, it's still slightly numb even, but the way his voice has roughened and his eyes are hot on me, scanning and seemingly seeing even my deepest secrets, it's unnerving.

 "I'll find somewhere for us to go. I might take us out of the country, or out of the continent. I'll go so far that Hunter can never get to me even if he is an Alpha."

"No" 

The word comes out powerful and I watch as his eyes darken, his thick eyebrows banding together like the strands of a rope.

I feel confused.

Did I say something wrong?

My heart sinks as a possibility comes to me.

He wants us to leave as soon as possible.

That would put me and Maya back on the road again, but the security I feel in this place is undeniable. Maybe we can stay for just one day. Alpha Roman looks dark and brooding but I try again.

"I promise we won't bother you too long before we leave, we can leave tomorro-"

"I SAID NO!" 

The intensity of his growl and voice resonate through my heart and my chest feels hollow as I stare at the cold glow in his eyes.

"You will go nowhere without my permission."