Chapter 9

ETHAN

She walked up to me and gave me a bright smile. It was the exact opposite of what I had witnessed. She acted as if nothing had just happened, so I supposed I should as well. I would follow her lead on this. There was no guessing all that was cut into her life.

She had changed and was dressed in a black romper that contrasted with her light skin tone and pale blonde hair. It was a good contrast that she was able to pull off. I really still liked the jeans from day one, but I was not picky.

“Hey,” I said, trying to push aside what I had witnessed. I had to get my head in the game. She looked relieved that I was not bombarding her with questions.

“What do you want to drink? My treat as a thank you for your help with my project,” she said.

I had no idea what was even good here, so I told her to surprise me. I drank most of my coffee from the pot instead of from a shop because I spent most of my time between various duties around the pack. This would be a new experience.

Coffee was more Xander’s thing. I used it to survive, but he loved it. He imported custom blends from a pack in South America which we had a trade negotiation with. I had no idea how he always knew what was good, but we never had the same flavor for long.

Emma got in line, so I took the opportunity to observe her in her own habitat. She was hesitant to explain things, so this would have to sate my curiosity for now. It was amazing how much could be learned through naturalistic observation.

She looked relaxed, except that her left shoulder leaned slightly forward. It showed that she was stressed. Okay, so far, her jaw ticking and that were her tells when it came to being uncomfortable. I wanted to ask her, but I did not want to push her. I figured she would open up sooner or later. She definitely seemed more relaxed around me. It was like her instincts were hardwired backwards.

She got to the counter and placed her order, paying with her card. Emma moved to the pickup area to wait for the drinks. A guy sneered at her. I saw her jaw tick from here, but she did not pay him any attention.

He leaned down to her and whispered something in her ear. She still ignored him, which he apparently did not like. He threw his arm around her, and I saw her fingers twitch, but she still did not respond to him.

I had seen enough. Emma was clearly not okay with the guy’s advances. Why did she not put him in his place? She put me in mine when it came to staring after all. I got out of my seat and was next to her in no time.

“Did you want help carrying the drinks, Emma?” I asked, smiling down at her.

She looked up at me with relief in her eyes and nodded. The guy looked surprised with my presence and familiarity with Emma.

“Sorry, I don’t think I know you. I’m Ethan,” I said, holding my hand out to him.

He gulped and removed his arm from Emma’s shoulders and backed away. I held his gaze until he left the coffee shop entirely. That was how people responded to us. I wanted to point out the proper response to Emma but felt like it was not the right time or place. I would later though.

Her name was called, so I picked both up and walked back to our table.

“What was that about?” I asked, taking a seat.

I could not help asking. I needed to put this puzzle together. Why was the pack against her? I felt like this did not really have much to do with the allegations of the previous leadership. Surely, her own pack would know that those allegations were falsified. No, this was something else entirely.

Emma looked uncomfortable and shrugged. “There are tiers in this pack. He’s above my tier. Here you go. It’s a butterscotch latte. I hope you like it. If not, let me know. It’s one of my favorites, so I figured it was a good option,” she rambled on.

She obviously did not want to talk about it, so I would not push. If I saw that fuckhead again, I would detach his arm from his body. This pack was completely different from ours because we would not tolerate that shit at all. We had a zero-tolerance policy for it actually.

“I love butterscotch,” I assured her and took a sip. “It’s delicious,” I said, taking a big drink of it.

She took the lid off the container she brought and pushed it toward me with a wink. The delicious scent of the cinnamon and sugar wafted upwards. I picked up one of the cinnamon rolls and took a bite out of it. I closed my eyes because they were the perfect combination of fluffy and sweet.

“Holy shit, Emma. These are rolls of absolute perfection.”

She blushed at the compliment and sat down. She opened her book bag and pulled out a few books and notes. She already had a lot of information outlined, and I was impressed. She was taking this quite seriously. She was both detail-oriented and organized. Now, I was seeing how and why she held a 4.0.

“Before we start, I just wanted to thank you. I’m waiting on some of the analyses, but you helped find the best leads that we have. Well, also the only real ones at that,” I told her.

I took another cinnamon roll. These cinnamon rolls officially made it into the number one slot of favorite foods. I needed more of them and often.

She gave me a big smile and looked a little proud of herself. Good. She should be.

“I’m glad to be of assistance. I hope you find what you need from the clues. So, I found a good bit of facts on the war, but I found conflicting reasons as its origin,” she said, turning her notebook and pointing to the section of it.

I pulled the notebook closer to read one of the passages that she marked. This girl was clearly great with organization. It was definitely something I could appreciate.

Before I could read too far, someone stepped up to the table. Said someone casted a shadow over us. I looked up to see a she-wolf standing right behind her.

“Aww, Emma. Can’t do your work on your own?” a nasally voice mocked her.

The annoying voice belonged to a chick who stood with a mocking smirk on her face and hands on her hips. You could tell she was a rich bitch, with her jewelry and designer clothes. I supposed every pack had girls like her. She was not hot at all, but you could tell that she thought she was.

No matter how intimidating she tried to be, she failed miserably. I knew pups who were more intimidating than her. Oh, how I would love to wipe that smirk off her face. There were many ways that I could do it. I was never a proponent of harming a female, but this bitch needed to back off.

Was it truly a free-for-all with her in this pack? I really did not want to think of what that might actually entail.

“Marsey, how nice to see you,” Emma deadpanned without even looking in her direction.

The Marsey bitch glared at Emma, clearly pissed off with her nonchalance. It was easy to see that Emma dealt with her a lot. I did not know what the bitch’s problem was, but she was quickly irritating me. The dude that had his arm on Emma was now number four on the list, and this bitch might become number five.

“Trust me, It’s so not mutual. Why are you even here? Did Beta Heath give you permission?”

Did she really have to have permission to go places? I never gave permission for someone to go to a damn coffee shop.

“Don’t you have someone else to annoy?” Emma asked as she looked up at Marsey with a bored expression on her face.

The moment that Marsey took a step towards Emma, I went to intervene. What stopped me was the look Emma gave me. It told me to stay put. She stood up and looked directly at her. The Marsey bitch had a good four inches on Emma, but Emma’s presence was enough to make me realize she could take her. Hmm. That would be entertaining to watch. I wondered if this place had some popcorn.

“Marsey, you don’t want to do this,” she warned, giving her a clear out.

“I can do whatever I want to you, and your pathetic bitch ass can’t stop me,” Marsey said smugly. That was further proof of what Dr. Deadshit said.

“Okay. Go for it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though,” Emma shrugged, sounding bored.

Marsey growled at her and raised her hand to slap Emma. Again, I wanted to intervene, but it happened too quickly. Right before Marsey’s hand collided with her face, Emma grabbed it and twisted, forcing her into submission with one fluid movement. Marsey was pissed and went to hit her with her other hand, but Emma did the same with the other hand as well. Emma’s grip tightened, making Marsey hiss in pain.

“I warned you, Marsey. I’m tired of your shit, and the next time I won’t show restraint. You don’t even know a tenth of the damage I can do to you. Don’t do this again.” Emma spat, glaring at her.

An aura seeped out briefly as Emma spoke. Holy fuck. Emma had an Alpha aura. How was that even possible? Alphas were male. Marsey, on the other hand, did not seem to notice the aura at all. That left me with even more questions. Why could I sense it and not Marsey?

If Emma had this power within her, why did she play the role she did? There had to be a strong motivator to endure their bullshit. I knew there was more going on than met the eye, and I was almost afraid to figure it out. But I knew I had to for her sake.

Marsey growled, but it did not faze Emma in the least. If anything, it amused her more.

“I bet you’ll have fun when Beta hears about this. I hope he gives you a big scar across your ugly ass face this time. It will mark you as the pathetic little bitch you are and remind you that you’re not worthy of or welcomed in this pack,” she snarled, wrench her wrists out of Emma’s hold and storming out.

Emma sighed and sat back down. She went back to the reading as if nothing had just transpired. How could she just brush everything off as if it was a normal occurrence? My stomach sank when I realized that it must had been.

“What the fuck was that?” I asked her after a few silent moments. She ignored me and kept taking notes. “Emma,” I growled to get her attention.

A blush crept across her face when she looked at me. She looked embarrassed that I witnessed what just happened. I could not fathom why she would be embarrassed. I was concerned for her but also highly fucking impressed with that move she did.

“It was just a bitch being a bitch,” she said dismissively.

“Why was she being a bitch?” I prodded. I needed more information than she was giving to me if I could figure out how to fix this issue.

She laughed, but it was hollow. The eyeroll she gave me was still snarky. There was that at least.

“She’s the Beta’s niece. She believes that she is entitled to do whatever she wants in life with no consequences. She’s pissy because that was the first time that I stood up to her. It’s really not a big deal,” she said, trying to drop it.

“No. It is a big deal, Emma.” I tried to reign my anger in because it was not aimed at her but at her pack. She looked at me with a torn expression.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, quickly looking away.

“Emma.”

She looked back at me, and the pain in her eyes pissed me off even more for what she had to deal with. “Please, it doesn’t matter. Can we just focus on this?”

Seeing her pleading with me scared the crap out of me. It was completely different from the other interactions I had with her so far. It was a mix between what I saw in the doctor’s office and what I saw in the clearing. It was clear that she put up with a lot of bullshit, and I was not sure how she did it. Nobody I knew could ever be that strong.

I sighed, not wanting to fight with her. My phone beeped, so I opened it since I was waiting for Johnson to hit me up about that substance and anything found on the shirt.

“Well, some of the analyses came back. Oh, first before we look at the results, one of my guys noticed that there was a small set of footprints beneath the fabric. It looked to be the size of either an adolescent or a female,” I said, changing topics.

I turned the phone towards her so that she could see the report for herself.

“It’s chemically compounded as nearly the opposite of wolfsbane. It seems to enhance natural wolf abilities instead of destroying them. They’re still trying to find any useful evidence on the shirt,” I explained.

Emma zoomed in on the screen and bit her lip. She read it over twice before handing me the phone back.

“I figured as much. It does enhance. One of the more concerning aspects is the strength it gives.”

“How do you know?” I asked. She knew the side effects of this substance, so I was naturally curious.

“Personal experience like I said yesterday. However, that’s a story for another time. Let’s get back to this please?” she asked with a wink.

She was pushing her emotions away, and I could respect her for that. She was right. I did not know her or what she went through. I did not know what her life was like. I would grant her this, because she should be allowed to push painful things aside to function if need be.

As much as I did not want to just drop all of this for now, I did as she asked. I pointed to a passage that she was notating.

“The Red River War was singularly the worst attack on our pack in the last eighty years or so. Five years ago, the Crest Line pack amassed a few allies to attack us for rights to the coal mines situated near our mountains. They utilized rogues to distract our pack while the Crest Line Alpha and warriors got through our defenses. They had multiple entry points within our territory to overwhelm our warriors and fighters. Their goal was to kill the Alpha and his only heir so that their Alpha could take over the pack.”

“Did they succeed?” she asked, furiously scribbling down notes.

The frown on her face gave away that this bothered her. After all, it was what happened to her pack. I supposed we had a few more things in common – pain, loss, and grief.

“Almost. They succeeded in killing the Alpha, Luna, and both the Beta and Beta female. The Alpha heir and the Beta heir stepped up in their roles and killed the enemies. We lost about twenty-five percent of our pack members before it was all over,” I explained with a frown of my own.

Memories of Mom and Dad floated into my mind. They were amazing leadership. They were fair and just. Mom always took flowers to the hospital for those who had extensive injuries. She and Luna Lilliana made the pack a family. When we lost them, we lost part of who and what made the pack so close to one another. The squad and their families did a great job, but it could never replace our parents, and it could never replace them having a Luna. Xander had yet to find his mate yet and would possibly just scare her away if ever they did meet.

Her brows furrowed, and she looked at me with pain in her eyes.

“That must have been very difficult for your pack. I’m sorry,” she said softly.

“It was. It still is. But the pack has learned to move forward. That’s why we’re so hellbent on security. We’ve spent the past five years training daily and building our defenses. As a result, we now house the largest pack in the South.”

She jotted down a few more notes before setting her pen down and taking a sip of her coffee. She looked at me with curiosity brimming in her eyes. Amusement danced behind them as well. She was not hiding her emotions right now, and it was amazing to see how much they brightened her eyes.

“How many of the rumors are true then?”

“Which rumors exactly?” I asked, leaning forward with a curious smirk. There were so many of them, and most were true or partially true.

A single finger tapped against her chin, thinking of where to start. I was curious to see which ones she had heard about. Plus, she really was not intimidated by us despite every bloody room floating about.

“Rogues are killed on sight.”

“Not entirely accurate. It depends on if the rogue appears to be a threat or not. If they are, then they are disposed of. If not, they are held and questioned before they are given the choice to stay on a neighboring piece of land which is our neutral zone or leave entirely. After they can be fully vetted and trusted, they are offered to be rehomed into a new pack. We have alliances with various packs they can choose from. Sometimes, they are offered a place in our pack if their skillset is something that could truly benefit the pack,” I said.

I grabbed another cinnamon roll. I would have to get the recipe or convince her to keep making them for me. Preferably the latter. I have had lots of cinnamon rolls before, but these were delicious.

Talking to her like this made it a bit easier to push things out of my mind. I had to compartmentalize everything. It was a fucked-up situation but also a fragile one. One wrong move, and she could very well pay the price. I truly hoped that the moment with the bitch earlier was just her throwing threats instead of a promise.

She tilted her head, thinking about something. “That’s actually quite fair. What about starting wars with other Alphas just for their land and resources?”

I laughed, perhaps a little too loudly, drawing the attention of others. I composed myself for a moment before I answered. That one in particular was not one we started. Any of our allies knew that it was false.

“That’s definitely false. We don't have need for additional resources or lands. If we do go to war, it's simply to protect what is ours.”

“Why does everyone fear you?” she asked curiously.

She propped her chin on her hand and looked at me. Her gaze was intense, like she was trying to figure me out. Perhaps I was her puzzle just like she was mine.

“Do you fear me?” I asked, flashing her a threatening grin.

“No,” she snorted without hesitation.

“Why?” I asked, very curious to know the answer.

Everyone feared us, and rightfully so. Yet, she never showed any hint of nervousness around me, even after hearing everything. I knew she went through shit, so perhaps that was why.

She looked at me for a moment, as if trying to figure out the answer for herself. Trust could not be something that came easy for her, so I appreciated the fact that she trusted me.

“Protecting what is yours doesn't make you a monster. Monsters thrive off of fear, pain, and chaos. They seek to possess what they want. They don't care about who it hurts in the process.”

She reached across the table and placed her hand on top of mine, and again that static wave that coursed through it.

“If you wanted to hurt me then you’ve had ample opportunity,” she explained before pulling her hand back and taking another drink of her coffee.

For once, words left me entirely.

“I’d never hurt you, Emma,” I told her sincerely.

That uneasy feeling was coming back with a vengeance. It felt like my insides were starting to twist. It was the strongest feeling I ever had, and it was nearly painful. Typically, it was just a gut instinct or thought or feeling. A couple of times there were headaches until I followed the intuition. Right now, that feeling was a thunderclap that was pointing to needing that plan right the fuck now.

“Hey, there is this place called Olly’s right outside of pack lands. I’m heading there with a buddy of mine tonight. Why don’t you come?” I asked suddenly.

I actually had no plans on going, but I hoped she would say yes. I needed her to say yes. She hesitated for a moment and looked unsure of what to say.

“I’ll even buy your drink,” I offered.

Once wolves shifted, there was not really a minimum drinking age, so she would be fine with getting a drink.

“Drinks, and you got a deal,” she said.

I felt like I won a prize. Hell, even Blaze was happy. He was already protective over Emma. He still wanted us to go back and dispose of that fucking piece of shit, douchewad from the counter, and bitchy-wolf. However, this calmed him down.

“Awesome. How about I pick you up at 8:00?”

“Sounds good.” She smiled before getting back to the research.

We spent another thirty minutes going over the ins and outs of the war. She asked great questions and ended up with pages of notes. I had no doubt that she would ace the paper.

I drove her home before heading back to the packhouse. It was gametime.

Now, I just had to convince Xander to come with me. The intensity of the feeling was getting stronger, and that was never good. I felt like I was running out of time for whatever it was that needed to happen. However, I also knew Xander. If I told him what happened, he would either refuse to let us engage or go on a rampage himself. Neither of those were good options. 

We had to be stealthy with this, but I knew we had to get her out of there somehow or someway. That had to be tonight.

I found him in his office, filling out yet more paperwork. Running a pack our size was sometimes nearly two full-time jobs. We had others to help out, but Xander always tried to take a lot of the burden on himself.

“Go get dressed. We’re going out tonight,” I said.

I dropped down into one of the desk chairs and threw my feet up on the chair next to me. I was the picture of relaxed, even if I felt anything but. I had to fake it for Xander, and I had to fake it perfectly.

He finished signing a couple of papers before he sat back and looked at me.

“We are?” he asked.

“Yes, brother, we are. We’ve been slaving away month in and month out, year in and year out, trying to keep this pack running smoothly, and we’re doing a damn fine job. We deserve a brief moment of relaxation. Plus, Callie and I are done, so it’s on to new pastures,” I said, slapping the desk and standing up.

He crossed his arms and eyed me suspiciously. “What do I gain from this outing?”

Was he serious right now? Yes, yes he was.

“Besides actual fucking fun? I will take over your mountains of paperwork for two weeks,” I offered.

I absolutely hated paperwork, but I needed to get him to agree. I could bribe someone to help me with the paperwork later.

His lips twitched at the corners, showing his damn amusement at my proposal.

“Four weeks,” he countered. Shitty move, Alpha.

“Three, you fuck, and I will throw in to cover two patrol shifts for you,” I said, staring him down.

He nodded his head and left the room to get dressed without another word. I let out a breath that I did not realize I was even holding.

Oh, he was going to be furious when he realized why we were actually going there. He had already made his stance on me seeking out Emma very clear. He thought it was a horrible idea. Then there was the whole needing to convince him to breech protocol and bring her back here where the fuckheads could not touch her again.

I ventured up to my room to get dressed. I pulled on a pair of dark denim jeans and a long-sleeved navy V-neck and pushed the sleeves up. I had a few tattoos on my forearms, so I liked showing them off. I grabbed my shit before heading back downstairs.

‘Hey, I’ll meet you at Olly’s. I need to drop some files off in town first,’ I mindlinked him and left the house before he could say anything.

He would stay far away from Olly’s if he knew that Emma was going to be there. He was adamant that he did not want involved.