What Does it Mean?

ALLIE

The next day I find out just how lucky I am that the alpha is letting me stay.

Danielle has discovered that the other five new students have all been told they’re not welcome in Linton and need to leave immediately.

I feel so sorry for them. This is the best opportunity a lone wolf could get. I don’t know what I would have done if the alpha had thrown me out as well.

I’m surprised he let me stay. It was unlikely that any of the others were as rude to him as I was.

I’m completely out of danger, though—he’s going to keep an eye on me. If he sees something he doesn’t like, I’m sure he won’t hesitate to throw me out as well.

It did make me wonder about Callum. Had the alpha spoken to him and thrown him out too?

I hadn’t seen him since I approached him in the bar, and when I mentioned him to Danielle, she didn’t know who he was. He seemed to be a total mystery.

Over breakfast, I tell Danielle and Adam what happened.

“Wow, he must really like you,” Danielle says.

“~Like~ me? If that’s how he behaves when he likes someone, I wouldn’t want to see what he does to people he hates.”

“You don’t,” Adam says somberly. “He’s ruthless. When the Savage Wolves attacked his pack and killed his father, the former alpha, he spent a year hunting down each of the wolves involved.

“He was relentless. When he found them, he killed them, slowly, and he made sure everyone knew what he had done. It was his way of warning his enemies what happened to anyone who attacked his pack.

“The only wolf he hasn’t managed to hunt down and kill is Ryan himself, but I don’t think he’s stopped trying.”

I shudder. The new alpha is ferocious, and for all the defiance I had shown toward him during our meeting, I’m a little scared of him.

A part of me also feels sympathy for this cold alpha. His father had died in the worst way possible.

The role of alpha had been thrust upon him without warning and he’d had to take over the running of his pack when all he must have wanted to do was grieve for the parent he had lost.

“Who knows why he agreed to let you stay. I would stop thinking about it if I were you, and just enjoy being here,” Adam suggests.

“Good advice,” Danielle agrees.

They’re right. I’m going to forget about the alpha.

Besides, I have other, nicer things to concentrate on. Tonight will be my first night working at Raffles.

***

I’ve been working at Raffles for over an hour, and it’s been going great. There’s been a steady stream of customers and I’m busy, but not rushed off my feet.

There’s plenty of time to chat with and get to know the regulars who are made up of a mixture of humans and loners. In fact, I recognize several of them from the party we had a few nights ago.

Danielle, Toby, and Adam are sitting at the bar to support me on my first night. I can tell they’re regulars here from the number of customers who stop to say hi.

“This place is popular with loners,” Adam tells me. “It’s off the beaten track, and there’s next to no chance that any pack wolves would come here, which makes it perfect for us.”

“Also, the humans don’t ask any questions,” Toby adds. “They know there’s something different about us, but they don’t care.”

Danielle laughs. “Archie is the only one who knows our secret, and as long as we buy drinks, he’ll take our money and not care about who or what we are.”

“And I’m happy to do so,” Archie says as he moves to stand beside me. “Not to mention the free security you provide for the bar.”

“If there’s any trouble while we’re here, we step in and help sort it out,” Adam explains. “Word got around, and troublemakers give the bar a wide berth now.”

There’s a bang as the entrance door is thrown open and a group of drunk students walk in.

“What are they doing here?” Toby asks quietly.

“I don’t know but it can’t be for anything good,” Adam mutters.

“Who are they?” I ask.

“The one in the green T-shirt is David, the brother of the Silver Fang Pack’s alpha,” Danielle tells me. “The other guys are his goons. He’s trouble. He hates loners just as much as his brother.”

I look over, wondering if there is a resemblance between the two brothers. They’re both tall, dark, and muscular, but there is something more boyish and gentle about the younger brother.

He doesn’t scare me or excite me the way his brother, the alpha, does.

“Do you think they came here for a fight?” Toby asks.

“We’ll soon find out,” Adam says glumly.

The group of pack wolves stand in the center of the bar and look around, taking in the mix of wolves and humans.

David scans the room for something. He’s wearing an arrogant, condescending look.

I revise my opinion of him. He might not be as scary as his brother, but he still looks like trouble. He stops when he sees us, and a smile slowly spreads across his face.

He begins to walk toward us, his companions forgotten.

As he moves closer, I can see his eyes are firmly fixed on Danielle. He stops in front of her, but she resolutely avoids meeting his gaze, determined to look at anyone but him.

“Hi Danielle,” he says. “I haven’t seen much of you this semester.”

“Why would you? We aren’t friends.” She stands and walks away, leaving him staring after her.

“Would you like a drink?” I ask him, in an attempt to stop him from fixating on my friend.

He orders a beer, and after I serve it to him he gives one final glance to Danielle and returns to his friends.

They’ve pushed two tables together and have stolen chairs from the surrounding tables. They talk loudly to each other, shouting and laughing, ruining the quiet ambiance of the room.

I watch as the werewolves in the bar quietly get up to leave. Even the humans are affected by their dominant display.

“I hope this isn’t going to be a regular thing, pack wolves hanging out here. If it is, I’ll regretfully have to find somewhere else to drink,” Toby says.

“Nah, it won’t be,” Adam assures him. “They’re just slumming it for the night. We won’t see them here again.”

“We aren’t good enough for them,” Danielle says bitterly as she returns to stand next to Toby. “They’ll soon get bored and head back to their own kind.”

JAMES

I can’t stop thinking about the rogue she-wolf, Allie. The one who has pierced my defenses and somehow made me change my mind about banishing all the rogues in Linton, just so I can let her stay.

I had wanted to send a clear message to all the rogues that their time here would soon be over. Instead, I’d muddied the waters by making an exception for her.

~And I don’t know why I did it.~

Inside my head, my wolf snarls at the thought of her leaving here. He wants her. He wants me to go to her and make her ours.

I’ve never known him react to a she-wolf like this before. I find it unsettling. We are normally in complete agreement, but not now, not when it comes to her.

I call for my beta, Chris. I’ve kept him busy implementing the takeover of the Red Moon Pack, but I’m going to need his help with this.

He knocks on the door before entering my office.

In the Silver Fang Pack, our relationship is informal. He’s my right hand. I depend on his judgment, I can rely on his loyalty, and he knows that he can speak his mind and I’ll listen.

Taking over this new pack has meant we’ve needed to be more formal, though.

It’s imperative that the Red Moon Pack wolves understand and respect the new pack hierarchy, and in order for us to enforce that discipline we need to be seen following it as well.

“How is the warrior training going?” I ask Chris.

“Good, Lucy is knocking them into shape. They’re finally behaving like warriors.”

“Will they be ready in time?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve been hearing reports of increased rogue sightings on our borders.”

“Do you think they’re really rogues? Or are they the Savage Wolves Pack?”

“Is there a difference between the two?”

“No, not much,” I admit. “But the Savage Wolves are more organized and better trained.”

I’m not too worried. We were expecting this, even if it is happening sooner than we had anticipated, and we’ll be ready for them.

“Increase the patrols,” I tell Chris. “If you think it’s necessary, contact Eric and ask him to send more warriors here to strengthen our ranks.”

“Will do. Do you need anything else?”

“Yes. I want you to find out all you can about that rogue she-wolf, Allie, the student that came here yesterday.”

“The one you allowed to stay here even though you hate all rogues?” He smirks, which annoys me.

“Yes, that one.”

“What do you want to know? Who her friends are? If she has a boyfriend?”

I ignore his last taunt.

“Yes. I want to know who her friends are. Also, do a background check. Find out how long she has been a rogue, and why she became one. What reason did her old pack have for banishing her.”

“Will do.” Chris gets up to leave and then pauses. I can see he wants to say something else.

“Spit it out,” I snap. “I can tell you’re dying to say something to me, so just say it.”

“It’s just that I’ve never seen you take an interest in a female like this before. Obviously there have been women, but you’ve never really wanted to get to know them.”

“Who says I want to get to know this one? All I want is for you to do a background check on her. She’s a rogue. I need to know if she is a threat.”

“Well, that’s just it. You hate rogues. You take every opportunity to destroy them. You were intent on getting rid of every rogue here, but you’ve made an exception for this one. Why is she so special?”

The honest answer to his question is that I don’t know why. She just is. But I don’t want to think too closely about why she’s gotten under my skin, never mind discussing it with anyone else.

“She isn’t special. I’m just not ready to act against the rogues yet. This pack won’t accept me throwing them all out right away, and we need to make this transition as smooth as possible.”

He nods, but I can tell he doesn’t believe me. He’s too good a beta to challenge me on it though.

I’m going to have to get control of this situation before anyone else suspects there is more to my feelings for Allie than I’m admitting.

When he leaves, I feel restless. I thought sending him off to investigate Allie would settle me, and I would be able to get back to work without thinking about her.

It hasn’t.

I give up on trying to work, and head to David’s house. I want to talk to him about the rogues.

One rogue in particular.

When I get there, I’m relieved to find the house is quiet. David is usually throwing a wild party. But when I knock on the door, I realize no one is home.

I turn back toward my car and notice David making his way down the street. He’s alone, for once, and sober.

“Hey. I was just coming to see you. I figured you must be out partying.”

“The other guys are. I just didn’t feel like it tonight, so I decided to come home early,” he says somberly.

“Everything okay?” I press.

“Yes. It’s fine, for the best.”

I move closer to him. Something has upset him, and I want to help.

It’s then that I smell it, that scent, ~her~. Rage sparks inside me, and I struggle to control it.

My voice deepens. My wolf is struggling to take over and forces me to ask, “Where have you been? Who have you been with?”

“What? No one, nowhere.” He looks guilty.

I grab his shirt and pull him closer to me. “You’re lying,” I shout.

What is happening to me?

“I just went to a bar with the guys,” David insists.

“What bar?” I demand.

“Raffles, the loner bar.”

“And she was there. I can smell her on you. What did you do? Why were you with her?”

“With ~who~?” A look of bewilderment crosses his face. “I haven’t been with a she-wolf. You think I’ve been spending time with a rogue?”

His obvious shock brings me to my senses. I’m being unreasonable. What must I sound like to David? I push my wolf back, forcing him to allow me to take back control.

“It doesn’t matter. I can just smell she-wolves on you. Rogues.”

“That’s because I went to their bar, ordered a drink from one, spoke to another. It’s no big deal. I’m not socializing with them. They aren’t my friends! We just wanted to try somewhere different.”

“Of course.” I change the subject. “I wanted to speak to you about my plans for the pack.”

“Okay, come in,” he says, relieved that I’ve calmed down and moved on.

I know I’m being irrational. Her scent only clings to him faintly. They have not been together.

And even if they had, why should it bother me?