Stealing the Alpha’s Heart

Things changed a bit after that. I wasn’t presumptuous enough to think that Emma was fully in love with me as I was with her, but there was no denying that she felt some sort of affection for me. I’d had s3x plenty of times in my life, but none of them had ever been on the level of what I experienced with Emma. It was transcendent. Perfect. More than I could ever ask for, and yet I had it. And it seemed to me that our coupling wasn’t a one-time event. No, I was pretty sure that I could expect more opportunities to learn her body. I wasn’t going to waste a single one.

So yeah, maybe we became a bit inseparable. Maybe I followed her around even with her security, accompanying her to work and anywhere else she went. At first, I was worried that I would upset her, as that was the last thing I wanted to do, and in the beginning of our impromptu relationship, it definitely had. But Emma didn’t seem to mind at all, either holding my hand when we were close or occasionally looking over her shoulder until she found me if I wandered a bit too far.

Thankfully, if anyone thought anything of it, they didn’t say. And even Mahlan started working more hours at the office to accommodate for my absence. I still had my laptop on me and took calls so it was somewhat like I was working from home, but none of us were naive enough to think I could be as productive while being Emma’s shadow.

Despite all our apprehensions, the witches didn’t come back. Not even with the spell on Emma’s wrist staying in place. There was a chance that we had intimidated them with the last fight, but I felt like they were just biding their time for us to drop our guard. So yeah, maybe I bugged Sam once or twice a day to see if he had everything he needed to track the witches, and maybe by the fourth day, he would just answer the phone with a long string of swears. But as much as I knew I was annoying him, he never threatened to stop or purposefully slow down. He just told me he needed more time and that I was being a d!ck.

I could live with being a d!ck if it meant that Emma was safe.

My phone rang as Emma helped a gaggle of customers check out. I answered, not bothering to check who it was.

“Theo.” It was Mahlan. His tone was serious, so I sat right up.

“Yes, Alpha?”

“I’m sorry, I know you don’t really want to leave Emma’s side, but Ricky’s wife has gone into labor. I need you to take lead on his part of the perimeter for just tonight.”

I swallowed hard, my anxiety sky-rocketing at the thought of being far away from Emma. “Is there anyone else who can do it?”

“I could get Parker on it, but he’s recovering from a double he pulled yesterday. I was going to have Kaleb guard it tomorrow, Jacobian after that, then me. By then Cyprus’s pack said they’d be able to send us two warriors to fill in the gap.”

I wanted to say no. That selfish, biting part of me wanted to say it wasn’t my problem. Except it was. As the future beta of our pack, I needed to make sure that our perimeter was intact so everyone was protected, not just Emma.

“Okay, yeah. I can do that. What time do you need me there?”

“Eight pm should do it.”

“Alright. And is the baby okay?” I didn’t know Ricky well, but I was aware that it was his first child and he was quite excited for it. It was a shame that all the mystery around the packs and kidnapping had overshadowed the last couple months of his wife’s pregnancy.

“As far as we know, yes. Savvy will help deliver the baby, considering she works there, and I’m sending the biggest welcome baby basket I could find online.”

“I’ll have to send something once they’re home,” I said. “It’s the first birth in a while, yeah?”

“In this whole year. People just haven’t felt safe enough to bring pups into the world.”

“Yeah, I suppose I can’t blame them for that.” I sighed. “Alright, I gotta go tell Emma.”

“Good luck with that.”

I sighed again as I hung up. Yeah, I would definitely need as much luck as I could get.

---

“You what?!”

I waited until Emma closed her shop to tell her the news. I was aware that she wasn’t going to be happy about it, so I figured I didn’t want to stress her out any more than I had to while she was on the clock.

“Look, we both get that it’s not ideal, but I won’t be far. And Ricky has been putting so much work in for this entire month. He deserves to see his child’s birth.”

“I know, I know,” Emma said, pacing back and forth for a moment while she got her breathing under control. “And it’s not a big deal. It’s just one night, and I know you’ll be barely a run away. But…”

“But it still feels bad?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Real bad.”

“It does for me, too, if that makes you feel a little better.”

“Well, maybe a little bit, but that probably doesn’t bode well for me.”

I pulled her close and gave her a k**s on the cheek. “Hey, misery loves company and I love you, so the idea computes.”

She paused for a moment and I saw her cheeks flush at my words. Interesting, as my saying I loved her had never made her blush before. I noted that to think about that later, when I didn’t have so much worry about the shift I was taking over.

“Pfft, yeah, I guess. What’s that, the transitive property?”

“If you’re asking me to remember high-school-level math, I am not your guy.”

She turned fully to me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “I dunno, I think you’re exactly my guy.”

Well, that certainly wasn’t expected. I let my hands rest on her waist and kissed her again, this time on the l!ps. It was a dangerous gamble, making me especially loath to part from her, but somehow I managed.

“How about you finish closing up and I’ll take you home. I don’t have to report until eight so we can take some time to…occupy ourselves.”

“As much as I love all this romance,” Lyssa said, leaving Emma’s office with a slight color to her cheeks, “I’m gonna head home as well. Mahlan is out front waiting for me.”

“See you tomorrow!” Emma called as her friend hurried out.

“We probably scarred her for life,” I muttered, although I couldn’t exactly hide my smile.

“Pffft, Lyssa is a grown woman who gets d!cked down on the regular by our Alpha. She’ll be just fine. She probably just felt like she was eavesdropping.”

“Ha, you have a point.”

Somehow I managed to pull away from her, even if it was physically painful. But I still offered her my hand.

“Shall we go home?”

“Yeah,” she said, smiling at me so softly, so saccharinely sweet that it made my teeth ache. “Let’s.”

---

The night airwas cool on my back. After so long guarding Emma when she wanted space, it was almost like an old habit. The only difference was that I was in my human form for the moment, walking around the edge of a suburban area before I hit the more remote parts of my circuit.

If it weren’t for the witches, I might have even been able to enjoy myself. Unfortunately, they were an inescapable part of our reality. Not exactly something to get away from, but hopefully soon. If Sam could just work out his reverse tracking spell.

My phone rang, shrill in the night, and I practically jumped out of my skin. I thought that I’d set it to vibrate. Scrambling to pull it out of my pocket, I saw that it was Emmaline.

“Is something wrong?” I asked as soon as I was on the line.

“Just checking in that everything’s alright.”

“I just got here,” I admitted, feeling her panic dripping through our bond. “But there’s nothing alarming as far as I know.”

“That’s good.”

As much as I loved hearing her voice, I knew I needed to be serious about my shift. “I appreciate you checking in, but you know that you can’t call again unless it’s urgent, right?”

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I called right at the start. Figured I would get it out of my system until you’re back.”

“Alright. I won’t be until dawn. Are you gonna be alright?”

“I will be as long as you come back to me.”

Her words weren’t grand or particularly poetic, but they filled me with a sort of energy that rejuvenated me entirely. “I promise I will.”

“Thanks. I guess goodbye?”

“For now. And only for now.”

She let out a soft, happy sigh and exited the call, leaving me feeling…well, a lot better than I probably should.

Committing myself to my shift, I did my best to widen my senses and be the best guard I could be, crossing paths with the other guards right on time whenever I was supposed to. Surprisingly, despite the anxiety I could feel in my chest, the night went by quickly without hide or hair of someone who wanted to murder anyone. Just a surprisingly number of raccoons, considering how deep in the city we were.

But trash pandas or not, I made it through the entire shift and ran back home on all fours. True to what I’d thought before, the news had indeed reported about an elevation in wolf sightings, but I wasn’t going to let that cow me into taking extra time to reach Emmaline.

Sure enough, she was waiting in the door as I arrived, her arms out.

“Thank God you’re here,” she breathed, pulling me into a hug I didn’t fight in the least. “I know it’s silly, but I was so damned scared.”

“It’s not silly,” I soothed, stroking her back. “You’ve been through a lot lately and your guard is up.”

“It’s not just my guard, it’s everything. I’m worried about you and if our being bonded is going to make whatever curse I’m under spread to you. Or if maybe they’ll even target you next. I’m worried about the pack. I…I dunno. It all just feels kind of helpless right now, but at least when you’re with me, I know you’re safe. That I’m safe.”

Her words moved me, really and truly. After feeling like I’d failed her for so long, her saying that I made her feel safe was exactly what I needed to hear.

Goodness, I really loved the woman in front of me. I truly was one of the luckiest wolves in existence, and I was willing to fight for that title.

“You are safe as long as you’re with me. I promise that.”

“It’s crazy, but I believe you.”

We held each other for a long moment before I eventually shut the door and led her into the kitchen. There, I made breakfast for her, then put her to bed. It was the weekend, so she wasn’t going into work, and I was happy that she was taking a bit of a break.

But while she was asleep, I couldn’t quite settle. As much as I loved being there for her, I could sense that the situation was untenable. We were all being stretched too thin, trying to balance everything on our own.

So I headed down to the kitchen and made myself a shake, putting double the amount of vitamins I usually did into it. Once that was set, I went to the kitchen island and called up Mahlan.

“Hey, good to hear from you. I assume the shift went alright since you didn’t call me before now?”

“Yep, quiet as a church on a Friday night. How’s Ricky and his wife? Jamie, right? Did their kid come out?”

“Nah, she’s still in labor apparently.”

I let out a pained huff. “Have I ever mentioned that I’m very glad I don’t have a uterus?”

“Um, I don’t think that’s a normal topic of discussion for us, so no.”

“Well, let it be stated that I am very glad I don’t have a uterus. I don’t think I would survive a literal living shifter shoving its way out of me.”

“Theo, you literally have a giant wolf regularly explode from your body.”

“And so do you. Are you telling me you’re willing to get pregnant and carry some pups to term?”

“No.”

“See? Exactly.”

“You’re right, I am glad I don’t have a uterus. Now, did you call to discuss our reproductive organs or is there an actual purpose to you touching base?”

Oh right. I suppose the lack of sleep was making me a bit more distracted than usual. “While I wish we lived in simpler times where that kind of joking around was the norm, no. I actually had something pretty serious I wanted to discuss with you.”

“Ah, let me step into my office then.” I heard what had to be a smooch and guessed that he was kissing the top of Lyssa’s head, then after a couple of beats, a door closing. “Alright, shoot.”

“I think we should come clean with our pack about everything. They know that members are going missing, but not why, or who, or what exactly to be on the lookout for. They’re just adhering to curfew and living in fear for weeks at a time.”

Mahlan didn’t answer right away, but I could tell by his breathing that he was still there.

“Is there a reason why now seems important?”

“It’s something that Emma mentioned. She’s scared, but she says she feels better when I’m there and she knows I’m safe. Right now, our pack members don’t know anything. All they have are ghosts and worst nightmares. And sure, while the truth isn’t good, not at all, I think it’s better to have the facts rather than not.”

Again, Mahlan didn’t say anything. The silence stretched between the two of us for several beats before he sighed.

“You know what? You’re right. Let’s call a meeting for tomorrow night with the entire pack in the running fields. It’s for the best.”

For some reason, I was a bit surprised that he’d listened to me right off the bat. Maybe it was just from our arguing about the Council, but I’d expected more pushback. “Thank you, Mahlan. I’m glad you approve of my suggestion.”

“I do. I know you have to be tired, so why don’t you head to bed and I’ll make sure the word gets spread.”

“Thank you, Alpha. I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“As long as nothing unforeseen happens.”

“Hey, don’t tempt fate.”

A low chuckle floated over the line. “You’re right. I’ve probably done that enough in finding Lyssa.”

“Yeah, I would certainly say so.”

“Alright, well, good night—er, good morning, Theo.”

“Good morning to you, too.”

Hanging up, I looked out the window. While I couldn’t see anyone outside, I could still scent the wolves that were there. Protecting us. If I wanted to keep my strength and be able to throw down in a witch fight at any moment, I needed to get myself to sleep.

Draining the rest of my shake, I headed back to Emma’s room. While I had been exiled to my own space for a good part of my stay there, ever since the second attack, we’d been sleeping together every night. Cuddled up against one another, usually with my arms around her. Despite the fraught situation, it was possibly the best way I could spend my nights. Who would have ever thought that eventually I would find happiness in the arms of my best friend’s sister? My alpha’s sister? Certainly not I.

But I was eternally grateful that there was at least something between us. Even if it hadn’t started in the best way, I would fight with tooth, nail, and all of my soul to protect our bond. To protect her.

---

I stood beside Mahlan,my arm wrapped around Emma’s waist as our alpha stepped forward to address our pack. While we were still three hundred in number, it was far too easy for me to imagine our pack dwindling in number bit by bit until we were like Lyssa’s old pack. The thought made me nauseous, making me surer than ever that opening our communication to our members was the right way to go.

“Silent Ridge Pack, I come to you as your alpha. I know that we have already experienced many hardships, with the passing of our previous alpha, Sawyer, the abduction of our moonstone, and the disappearance of several of our members.”

There was a murmur of agreement, which further bolstered my resolve.

“We have asked a lot of you, and I cannot express enough gratitude to all of you who have banded together to protect each other. The amount of disappearances has lessened, if only because we’ve given the people hunting us less opportunities to find easy prey.”

There was another, much more shocked sound rippled through the pack. Maybe a human couldn’t hear it, but every shifter certainly could.

“And yes, as much as it pains me to admit, we are being hunted. We don’t know the exact perpetrators, or their plan, or how many of them there are. I realize that is not comforting news, but what we do know is that these witches seem to have set their sights on my sister. They’ve attacked her store twice, and I regret to admit that they’ve managed to curse her as well as make off with Julien, one of her security detail.”

I could smell the pack starting to get riled up, some reacting with anger while others were scenting both shock and horror. It was an acrid mix that burned my nose, but I was aware that it was entirely necessary. Telling the truth meant airing out all the parts, not just the convenient ones.

“We have methods in the works, methods we believe will lead us to our enemy, but I felt that we were keeping all of you in the dark for far too long. So I ask that you still maintain your curfews and stay ever-vigilant, but I also want to assure you that we will deal with and defeat this enemy the same as we have every other one that dared raise their hand against the Silent Ridge Pack!”

A small but sincere cheer rose at that. Well, that wasn’t the worst way it could have turned out. I had expected more shouts of anger or enraged demands. But no, it seemed that Mahlan had proven himself well as a leader.

I couldn’t help but be proud of him. I knew since we were young that he would one day be an amazing alpha, but I was impressed nonetheless.

“Normally, this would be where I dismiss all of you and encourage us to run together, but that’s not enough. I’m opening the floor now to any questions you might have. While I can’t answer everything, I will be as truthful with you as possible.”

Huh, I hadn’t anticipated that, but it was the right move. Plenty of people raised their hands, and one by one, Mahlan indeed did his best to answer. While it took a long while, I knew we were on the correct path.

By the time everyone seemed satisfied, it was pretty close to curfew and we all headed back into the city to our respective homes. But as Emma and I settled in for the night, I couldn’t help but feel watched.

Well, if they were watching, the witches still had no idea what was coming to them. Once Sam was ready, we were going on the offense. And if I had my way, they wouldn’t stand a chance.