Raven Flanagan
RIVER
“Are you okay?” Arlene questioned in a hushed tone.
At the sound of her voice, I could finally blink and bring my eyes from the alpha, whose gaze seared through me. Even as I turned to face my cousin, I could feel the heat from his gaze.
“I’m just full. All of this amazing food and I just inhaled it.”
Arlene looked at my half-touched plate and frowned. She looked around and sighed, knowing she couldn’t question me here like she wanted to.
Others were rising from the table to get seconds or start on dessert, and I saw the opportunity to get away.
“Excuse me, I’m going to get some water.” I pushed away from the table while Arlene was stuck in the middle of a conversation and couldn’t stop me. I felt several pairs of eyes on me as I threw away my paper plate and untouched food and slipped into the pack house.
The sounds of music and excited conversations muted as soon as the door shut behind me. Closing my eyes, I leaned against a counter. I could finally take a deep breath with no one watching me.
Despite the safety of silence, my heart was still beating a mile a minute and didn’t appear to have any intention of slowing down. Each inhale was a gasp, and my chest rose and fell quickly as I tried to catch my breath from all the things overwhelming me.
The alpha!
How had I run away from one problem to find myself in another?
Of all the people in this pack, why did the alpha have to be the one to catch me?
And with my first heat in two years…
“What are you doing inside, girlie?” I bit my tongue to hold in a yelp as my aunt entered the kitchen.
“Oh, getting some water.”
“Here, let me help you out.” She jumped right to the cabinet and pulled down a glass without a second of hesitation. “Come on back outside. Let me and Dale introduce you to more of the pack. You haven’t been out here in so long.”
Aunt Corrine looped her arm through mine to lead me back outside, and I set the glass of water down as discreetly as I could on our way out.
My aunt and uncle paraded me around their friends until finally, Arlene came to save me from the embarrassment.
“We’re about to set off the fireworks! Give her back to me!” Arlene snatched me from her mother’s arm and tugged me out to the field where her friends were.
“Fireworks too?” I muttered, following Arlene’s quick pace.
“We do something like this every full moon. Ever since the alpha took over five years ago, he has made a big deal of having the pack do things together like a genuine community. It’s important to him we not only run together as wolves at night but see each other as friends and family in the light of day.”
“I don’t remember you or Auntie talking about getting a new alpha,” I said in a subtle attempt to get more information on the man.
“Yeah, our last alpha was old and didn’t have any kids of his own, so he had a distant relative come to step in. Some of us were on the fence about him when he arrived, and we didn’t want to talk about him if he didn’t work out. But Alpha Kye has been amazing. Pack life has never been better.” Arlene sounded wistful.
Kye. I finally had his name.
There he was in the middle of the field with others setting up fireworks. Children ran around him screaming with glee, and a smile played on his lips as he worked and watched them run around.
Even far out in the field, it was as though he could feel me staring at him. Kye turned his head, and our eyes instantly met. His smile fell, and for some reason, seeing that made a stab of pain run through my chest.
Arlene pulled me to her friends, and we stood under the exploding lights going off in the sky. The entire crowd erupted in cheers and laughter as the contagious energy swept through the group. Later, handfuls of wolves shifted and ran off into the woods as soon as the fireworks ended and the sky was dark again.
“We’re going to go running. Come with us!” Arlene was tugging at my arm again, and I felt like a puppy on a leash. It seemed everyone had been pulling me around all afternoon. But suddenly she stilled. “Uh-oh,” she whispered.
She was staring behind me, and the look in her eyes sent shivers down my spine.
His presence was so encoded in the very fabric of my being that I knew who it was before I even turned around. He had followed me across the country. He had found me. This man, the reason for my scars.
“Hello, River.” His voice was light, and there was a smile on his face, but it didn’t hide the menacing steel in his eyes.
“Jared.” I hated the trembling in my voice as I looked at him, hated how my shoulders drooped with resignation.
“You didn’t tell me you’d be visiting your family,” he said as he looked around. His eyes landed on Arlene. “Hello, Arlene. It has been a while.”
“Not long enough if you ask me,” she said, throwing her shoulders back with defiance. “My parents invited her to stay with us for a while. I know the invitation didn’t extend to you though.”
Jared’s eyes darkened, and his hands clenched into fists. “Listen, bitch, I just came here to take back what’s mine.” He turned to me. “Why don’t you show me where you’re staying, and we’ll grab your stuff and leave.”
It wasn’t a request.
I knew I could say no. There were enough people around that Jared wouldn’t make a scene, but what I feared was what he would do in retaliation for my disobedience.
My limbs felt like they weighed a ton. I had been so careful. I thought I had taken every precaution so that he wouldn’t find me.
Jared growled deep in his throat, and I knew I was taking too long to answer. My lips parted to respond even as the silence stretched.
“Howdy y’all.” The alpha’s deep voice felt so familiar, and it ran through me like a smooth shot of whiskey. “About to go running?”
His words broke some of the tension, but I worried what Jared would say. I turned my widened eyes to Arlene.
“We sure are!” Arlene beamed at him. “Alpha,” she said, emphasizing his title and giving a knowing glance to Jared, “Have my parents introduced you to my cousin yet? This is River Lavaux.” She gestured to me, and I cast my eyes down as a sign of respect for the alpha.
“River.” The sound of my name on his lips made a forbidden thrill run down my spine. His southern accent made it sound more exciting than it was.
“And this is Jared,” Arlene said, her voice less enthusiastic as she waved toward him. “He knows our family, but he was just leaving. Right, Jared?”
Jared grinned, but it was different from the one that had drawn me to the wolf I once thought I had loved. “Just passing through and thought I’d take a moment to say hello.” Watching him, I could see why it was so easy for me to ignore the warning signs. He was always able to hide his darkness behind an easy smile.
I wondered why he didn’t say who he was to me, but I wasn’t about to offer that information if it meant freedom from him for another day.
Jared tilted his head as he looked this way and that. “Be careful out here, River. You could easily get lost, and no one would ever find you.” His words were a sheathed threat under the guise of care.
The alpha stood taller. “We take care of our guests in these parts. River has nothing to fear.” The low growl that followed his remark had Jared taking a step back.
He dipped his head and grinned. “Of course. It’s just that River can be clumsy at times. Right, River?”
“Didn’t you say you were leaving?” Arlene butted in. “Oh, look! There’s a group of my friends. We’ll walk you to your car.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him away a few steps, but he halted, his body not even budging as she tugged on him, and he looked at me.
His strength scared me. I knew what he was capable of, and my hand absently touched the scars over my eye. Jared smiled.
“I’ll be seeing you, River.” He swatted Arlene’s hand away and walked toward the edge of the clearing where he had parked his car. Arlene glanced at me, and I nodded my thanks. I knew she was filled with questions, but for a moment, all I could think about was where I could go next.
“May I have a word?”
I froze, and my eyes darted back up to the alpha. How could I forget he was there? His hard gaze held me in place, with nothing in his eyes to give away what he wanted.
Arlene looked between us, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.
“Go on ahead, Arlene.” I nodded at her, trying not to meet her questioning stare. After hesitating, she dipped her head and ran over to her friends, who had been standing around waiting for us. Soon, they ran into the tree line with hasty paws.
The air around me felt heavy as I stood alone with the alpha. The atmosphere was thick with heavy tension that seemed to envelop us.
I wished I had a knife to cut through it.