Chasing the alphas son, p.23
Chasing the Alpha's Son, page 23
“You’ll be okay, blood wolf,” she says, patting me on the back. “That mate of yours will be a handful though.”
I grin so that only she can see it.
“Thank you,” Jasper says, coming forward and extending his hand; I step back to let him through. “And my apologies again. I should never have snapped like that.”
Agatha shakes his hand and smiles. “You were being protective of our little friend here. I understand. Though, you should try relaxing every now and then, you might like it.”
Blush rises in Jasper’s cheeks. “Yes, well, thank you again.”
Omar, who came back from fixing the car and went straight to work on something else, is now packing up the tent behind us.
He eyes Jasper for a moment as he gathers up the cable connected to the heater. I nudge Jasper’s side. He steps forward awkwardly.
“Listen, I’m sorry for earlier,” he says. “I shouldn’t have made assumptions.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” Omar says, unimpressed.
“And thank you for everything you’ve done. I hope… I hope you find your people.”
Omar takes a breath and I can tell he’s rolling his eyes in his mind.
“Okay, you’re forgiven. Don’t drive too fast on your way back; I don’t want you crashing and showing up back here.”
They both laugh, sort of.
“It’s a deal,” Jasper says.
“You gonna be okay, cuz?” Omar says, looking in my direction.
I join him, and Jasper steps away in the direction of the car.
“I think so,” I say, and hold out a scrap of paper. “Here—it’s my number in case you ever want someone to talk to about stuff or whatever.”
He studies the paper, then smiles and pockets it.
“It was a pleasure to meet you, Max.”
“You too.”
“Don’t let him be an ass to you, okay?”
Now I laugh. “Okay.”
“C’mere.”
Omar drops his cable and pulls me into a tight hug. He smells like petrol and oil, but underneath that, the scent of freshly mown grass, cinnamon, and coffee.
“There’s going to be someone else out there for you,” I say before I know what I’m doing.
We pull apart and Omar shrugs. “Maybe. Maybe he’ll be as cute as you.”
I nearly choke as my face burns red-hot.
“Hey, don’t go all blood wolf on me now.”
I swallow and take a breath. “I’m fine,” I say. “Thanks again. Bye.”
“See you round.”
As I turn to leave, I can’t help but notice the tiny throb of pain at the back of my skull.
Jasper and I trudge back to the car quietly, and I’m relieved to see it’s already facing the right direction, ready to speed back up the icy mountain road. We jump into our seats and Jasper flips the engine on.
“Pump the heating,” I say, rubbing my frozen little hands together. Jasper turns the knob then sits back in his seat. “What’s up?” I ask. “You feeling okay to drive?”
“When we get back,” he says, staring at the steering wheel, “is it okay if we… I still think it’s probably best if—”
“If we don’t tell everyone,” I say, finishing the sentence for Jasper, as much as I wish I didn’t have to.
“I just think it would be best until things with the packs are a little more settled.”
I twist my lip and let out a short breath, but I was sort of expecting this. It’s not ideal, no way, but I’m clued in enough to know one night in a tent wasn’t going to change everything. Down in the valley things are different—we could just be—but back on top of the mountain, the rules change, and there are people watching us.
“It’s okay,” I say, snapping my seat belt into place.
“You’re sure?” he asks and turns to look at me, his mouth open in concern but his eyes shining with relief.
“Yeah, it’s okay. We can wait to tell people.”
As Jasper shifts the car into gear and begins to roll up the steep path, I’m left wondering two things:
What is it we’re waiting to tell people? That we’re together? Is that where we’re at? Are we…boyfriends?
And if we’re waiting to tell people…how long will we have to wait?
A ROCKY FAREWELL
Walking back into the Rocky Packhouse feels like walking outside for the first time on a sunny day. I hold my hand above my eyes as if I’m shielding myself from the light, only I’m shielding myself from the noise.
The whole pack, it seems, is waiting in the parlor when we return. Jasper and I stagger through the doors, unwashed and unkempt, feeling particularly haggard in the pristine surroundings. Everyone is fresh-faced, in comfy-looking sweaters, with neat, freshly washed and styled hair. We might as well be a couple of yetis.
And despite Agatha’s medication and the charm around my neck, the voices push in at the edges of my consciousness. Already the overwhelming pain is subsiding, like a sour candy once you’ve sucked the acidic powder away. Now, the intrusive sensation is more like a muffled wave of sound, lapping at my brain. Everyone’s thoughts—their concern and relief, and curiosity, and even a little bit of disdain—are audible to me, albeit muffled by one serious herbal remedy.
I grumble quietly and Jasper places a hand on my back.
“You okay?”
With my lips pressed together I glance at him and nod.
“Max!” Katie rushes forward, and I’m so happy to see her.
Mason is a step behind her, followed closely by Olivia and Mia, who are conspicuously keeping close with one another. Gritting my teeth through the discomfort, I only have to force my smile a little.
“How are you feeling?” Katie asks.
“I’ll be fine,” I say.
“That’s a shame,” Mason says. “I thought you were going to go septic and take out the whole pack.”
I laugh a short, sharp cackle.
“It’s good to see you,” he says.
“How good is Agatha?” Mia says quietly enough so that only those closest to us can hear.
“Seriously, a miracle worker,” I say. “And great taste in scarves.”
“Ah, you’re back!” Morven’s voice rises over the noise in my head as the crowd parts for him to make his way through. “Thank goodness. And you’re feeling better, I take it? We weren’t sure where you’d run off to.”
“I just needed some space,” I say, not sure how much Morven knows about his daughter’s trips to the valley.
“We’re so happy that no harm has come to an Elite wolf on Rocky soil,” Morven continues, looking especially rosy-cheeked. I wonder if he was stressed about the ramifications of harming an Elite Pack wolf. “Please, you must stay one more night; the mountain air will do you, well, a mountain of good, and you can fly back tomorrow.”
Right now all I really want is to sit down and have some hot chocolate and maybe do a drawing, so it doesn’t matter to me when we leave. I glance at Jasper, who nods.
“We’d love to stay one more night,” I say, suddenly speaking for the entire Elite envoy.
“Fantastic!” Morven claps his hands together enthusiastically. “And tonight we dine in your honor, Max!”
“Okay.”
I rub the back of my neck and blush.
Up in my room, the press of the voices is almost gone, just a tickle at the back of my skull. And Jasper leaves me so I can nap and rest for a while. But I lie in bed with light streaming through the curtains and can’t seem to sleep. So I text Katie.
“Wait, let me just make sure I’ve 100 percent understood,” Katie says, reclining on her side and nibbling a piece of gingerbread. “You and Jasper spent a night in a tent together and nothing happened?!”
I shove her shoulder gently.
“No, nothing happened.” Why is it suddenly so hot in here?
“But like…did you want it to?”
Grabbing a pillow, I roll onto my back and proceed to smother myself.
“Nuhah! You can’t hide from me!” She whips the pillow away, leaving me exposed and blushing.
“It…wasn’t like that, it was more intimate.”
“What’s more intimate than sexy time with the alpha’s son?”
I shoot her an eye-rolling glare. “It was more like we just, I dunno, finally understood each other—something just clicked. It was nice.”
Katie pouts and grins like I’ve just said the most adorable thing. But I can’t take it so I laugh and flop about.
“Staaaahhhp!”
“No, it’s sweet.” She swats to get me to stop rolling. “I’m really happy for you.”
“I mean”—I lift a brow—“it doesn’t mean I never want more to happen, of course.”
We both giggle, and I realize this is just the distraction I needed, a little bit of normalcy.
“You also haven’t asked me anything about how I’m like, spiritually connected to all of wolfkind,” I say.
“Okay,” she says, taking another cookie from the plate sitting on the mattress between us. “What’s that like?”
“It sort of keeps changing. Agatha said it was hurting because my body was overstimulated, but now that I’m all numbed up, it’s more like when you’re in bed on a Saturday and your mom keeps yelling at you to get up, so you throw the covers over your head and then you can only sort of hear her. You know she’s still calling but it doesn’t feel as urgent.”
“And do you, like, know what I’m thinking?” She looks hesitant, like she isn’t sure she wants the answer, like suddenly she’s tempering her thoughts.
“No,” I say. “I don’t think it’s quite like that. I’m not Professor X all of a sudden. It’s more like voices. Like if you were saying something loudly I could maybe overhear it, or if you were trying to tell me something I could probably hear that, but it’s almost more like a sensory thing—like there’s a presence and I can tell what emotion it’s feeling. At least, that’s sort of what it felt like with everyone downstairs, and with the people in the cabin. I even had a vision.”
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t know if Jasper was thinking it, but I saw…” I stop myself, unsure if this is my story to tell.
“What?”
“I saw something personal.”
She sits back, scrunching her mouth up like she’s a little disappointed.
“But it made me realize something about Jasper I’d never known before.”
She sits forward again. “Almost like your power or gift or whatever was letting you in on something that would help you.”
“I dunno, maybe. I don’t know if it’s as intentional as that but…sure.”
“Wow.” She polishes off her second gingerbread wolf. “So my best friend is like a superhero.”
“Ha! Not even.” I grab a pillow and whack her with it softly.
“I’m just happy you can still be around me.”
For a moment I sit and watch my friend as she fiddles with a folded-over triangle of quilt. She looks older, more mature than the Katie I used to lie with on her pink fluffy rug and listen to music. She seems calmer, more content.
“You’re really glad Todd and Simon sorted that shit out, aren’t you?” I ask, catching Katie off guard.
For a moment she lowers her eyes and studies me as if I’ve just read her mind. Then she relaxes and rolls onto her back.
“You were more worried about it than you let on,” I continue.
“I just knew I wasn’t going to be able to make a choice,” she says. “Like I would have been denying myself if I had. But that things could only end one way—with a fight or like this. And I’m so lucky that my mates cared enough to want to figure things out.”
“I’m glad you’re happy.”
Katie doesn’t look at me when she says, “Thanks.” She just stares at the ceiling, and I worry I overstepped. “Don’t get too perceptive on me now, okay?” she says.
“I don’t think you have to worry too much,” I say. “I’m just as oblivious as always.”
She does this little half-laugh exhale through her nose and keeps staring upward. I wait for her to say something but she doesn’t, so I lie down next to her and stare at the same ceiling. Because what I said wasn’t exactly true. I have changed, so has she, and I think we both know it.
Before heading down in the evening I gulp a cup of cold tea and ready myself to block out the noise.
At dinner I head to my usual seat but find it occupied by a Rocky Pack teenager I haven’t met. I glance at Katie, flanked by her mates, and she shrugs.
“Over here!” Mia calls, and I notice Mia and Jasper have swapped sides and there’s a spare seat between them, one seat away from Alpha Morven’s place setting. She waves me over enthusiastically.
I half grin at Katie, then make my way to the head of the table.
Jasper stands when I arrive, which is, like, wildly gallant for him, and I take my spot between him and Mia.
“Hey,” I say, leaning forward and spotting Olivia to Mia’s left. She nods in return.
“Daddy wanted you to have a prime spot for your celebration dinner,” Mia says, wrapping her arm around mine. Then leaning a little closer, she whispers in my ear: “And I thought everyone might enjoy a new seating plan.”
I lean back and catch her grinning. She mouths the word thanks, then turns to Olivia and continues whatever conversation they were having before I arrived.
Jasper clears his throat awkwardly. “Hi,” he mumbles.
“Hey.”
It’s almost adorable how bad he is at this, as if he’s spent so much time pretending not to be interested he’s forgotten how to act like a normal wolf. I used to think he was always so suave, always knew how to act, but clearly I’m seeing a new side to my mate.
“How are you feeling?” he asks.
“Fine,” I say, fiddling with the pendant beneath my shirt. “I had more tea before I came down. Hey, when we get back do you think—”
“Morven is here,” he says, breaking me off midsentence.
As always a horn sounds announcing Morven and Astrid’s entrance. When they arrive at their seats, Astrid sits and Morven holds the attention of the pack.
“This last week,” he says, “we welcomed members of the Elite Pack into our home, our land, and we shared with them a sacred bonding moment.” His blue eyes beam out at his people. “Of course, as things in the Rocky Pack often go, not everything has been smooth sailing.” He glances in my direction, giving me a subtle nod. “But I have faith that this week has brought our two packs closer together than ever before. And I foresee a glorious future where our packs continue to work together and grow.”
Staring out from the head of the table at the faces of the Rocky Pack, they dart their eyes from Morven to Mia to Jasper, as if there’s some secret they all know that I don’t. Pressure builds at the front of my mind, the overwhelming sense that the wolves before me are thinking the same thing. Their collective consciousness prods at my brain, and I do my best to resist it, pressing my lips together and clutching at my thighs beneath the table. But it’s no use. The group energy is too much, and an image penetrates through my defenses. The image flashes in my mind, painful and unbearable. I wince as I work to shut it out. Jasper looks over, concerned, and I stare at him questioningly.
“Now,” Morven continues, “let’s eat!”
After dinner the kids gather one more time in the den. There’s dancing and music and even spiked hot chocolate. But through it all I can’t concentrate. Even Mason twerking and jumping about like he’s performing at the VMAs can’t pull me from the funk dinner left me in. So I excuse myself and head to my room.
When I get there there’s a folded-up note on the floor. Someone must’ve slipped it under the door. I lift my nose and catch a hint of cherry blossom in the air. Jasper was here.
Carefully, I unfold the note:
Sit with me on the plane tomorrow.
Sleep well, Bonehead.
X
Maybe I’m stressing myself out, and there’s nothing to worry about. After all, the image I saw during dinner didn’t come from Jasper. It was just a stupid idea cooked up by a misinformed alpha and fed to his pack. I shouldn’t worry.
I hug Mason one more time and tell him as firmly as I can, “Text me the second I get in the car.”
“I’m already drafting the perfect goodbye message.”
“It’s not goodbye, remember, you’re going to be so sick of me you’ll beg me to stop calling.”
He hugs me back, then kicks at the snowy gravel.
“I’m really glad you came,” he says.
“Me too.”
It’s early in the morning and only a handful of people have come to see us off. The storm has passed, but it’s still cold and misty out front of the chalet. To my right, Mia is hugging Olivia and whispering in her ear; Mia’s eyes look red and I don’t think it’s because we all got up stupid early. I feel like I have something of an idea of what they’re going through. The uncertainty, the pain of not knowing when you’ll see this person you feel so connected to again even though you’ve just met.
I shake Morven’s and Astrid’s hands, and when Olivia, steely eyed behind a pair of blackout sunglasses, ducks into our car, I head over to Mia and say one last goodbye.
“You’re a star,” she says. “I’m rooting for you.”
I laugh and grin. “And me for you.”
Katie, Todd, and Simon are already in their car waiting to leave, and Jasper is saying one last goodbye to Morven, doing his diplomatic best, so I wave to Mason and Mia and hop in my car.
Somehow we’ve ended up in the same formation we did on the way out here. Only this time Jasper will be riding alone. Or maybe not…
Just as we’re about to leave, the front door of the car opens and Jasper hops inside.
“Let’s go,” he says, half to the driver and half to no one in particular.
