I flinched back and looked at them with wide eyes. I saw the Alpha’s eyes glaze over and I knew he was mind-linking someone. Neither of them spoke and about five minutes later I was getting ready to say something when we heard a knock at the door.
“Get your ass in here” Alpha growled.
“Oh, good heavens! Chill out, this is a good thing!” Luna Autumn said, smacking him on the chest. I heard the Alpha mumble something like ‘always the last to know these things.’ Brooke, the girl from last night walked in freshly showered with a simple blue cotton dress on with black flip flops and Zach came in behind her in his same clothes from last night but a lot wrinklier than before. Well, isn’t this a bad walk of shame.
“Want to explain?” Alpha Paul said
“Yes, well daddy, this is my mate, Zach! We met last night at Club 77.” Brooke said proudly,
Alpha gave her a quizzing look before relaxing and smiled at Brooke. “That’s wonderful! We needed a good warrior!” Looking at Zach, he stood up and got an inch from his face. To Zach’s credit, he didn’t flinch or move. “Will you protect my daughter from harm at all times? She is not a fighter and needs a solid man to protect her? If you do not, you will have me to answer to. Understand?”
Zach held his ground, “Yes sir, she is safe with me and I will lay down my life before anything happens to her.”
Alpha Paul relaxed and nodded his head. “We will need to discuss becoming a member and taking over the rolls of a warrior, assuming you are not going back to your pack?”
Very smooth alpha, I thought. Not only did he ask if Zach would be taking away his daughter but if he would accept a position of power. Zach, however, answered in a way that made me sure he had been rehearsing that sentence for a while now. “Sir, with your permission, Brooke and I would like a little time to decide what the best future will be for us.”
“Hump well, don’t take too long.” Alpha Paul said unimpressed.
“Yes, dears. Take all the time you need. We both love you, Brooke, and I know you will make the right decision,” Luna Autumn said. The way she said it made it sound like she already knew what the answer would be, or expected Brooke to choose.
“May I ask why Nina is here though?” Brooke said, looking nervous at Zach and returned her look as he looked over to me.
“It’s not a big deal. I ran into some rogues last night on my way home and their border patrol, Liam, helped me out to kill them. He invited me to meet with him to discuss what happened.”
“WHAT? You were attacked and didn’t think you needed to call me? What the fuck, Nina? I told you I would….” Zach stopped yelling before he said something he knew he shouldn’t. I gave him my best death glare and he seemed to get the message. Looking over at the Alpha and Luna and even Brooke, none of them were impressed with what was said.
“Please excuse Zach, we have been friends since we were in diapers and he tagged along in my travels to help “protect” (I used my fingers to make quotes) me. He swore to his parents.”
“Why do you say protect like that?” Luna Autumn asked.
“Zach has yet to beat me in a match” I said, smirking “Being the beta’s daughter, I got private lessons from my dad and he has thought me moves since I was five. I grew up learning different techniques that traditional warriors don’t know. I am one of the best in our pack”. I looked over at Zach, who just rolled his eyes at me. He hated he could not best me.
“We will have to see that one day. My son is turning 18 this Friday and we are having a party for him. Will you please stay here till then and hopefully we will have an answer from Zach and Brooke by then as well?” Luna Autumn offered. I didn’t feel like it was one I was going to be able to refuse.
“Thank you, Luna, that would be wonderful,” I said sweetly. As we all started to pile out, I was the last one to leave and I heard the Alpha whisper, low enough for me to hear and me only, “we are not done talking about the bandits”. I paused with my hand on the door and my back to him, without turning around, I just kept on walking after he stopped talking. We both knew I heard him and both of us knew I was hiding something. He wanted to keep me close to see what I was all about. And that scared me.
As soon as I was out of the room, a hand grabbed mine and pulled me along the hallway. Brooke was leading me up the stairs. She was running and I was all I could do to keep up with her with this awkward hold she had on my arm. Zach was trailing behind with a sour look on his face. I didn’t even get to pay attention to where we were headed. Opening a door and pulling us in, Brooke slammed the door and sighed as she slid down to the floor.
“What the fuck Nina!?” Zach started. I quickly stopped him.
“What do you want me to do, Zach? I knew you were with your mate. They hit me from the side of my car. I didn’t even see them coming till I was upside down! I didn’t know Liam was there till he saved me from my leg being ripped off.” I said, fighting back.
Pulling me into a hug, “If anything happened….”
A growl was heard from across the room and Zach immediately let go of me. Brooke had her hand clamped over her mouth and was horrified that she had just done that. Zach, however, was amused.
“Ah, honey. Don’t get jealous. Nina has been like a sister to me. We grew up together, we never kissed or held hands or anything.” Zach said as he sank in front of her, grabbing her hands and pulling her into a hug.
“Oh my god! I am so sorry Nina! I didn’t mean to do that. I don’t know what has come over me!” Brooke started to tear up and Zach quickly kissed away.
“It is normal! Most wolves get quite possessive, I hear.” I said, laughing. It was funny to think I would actually look at Zach that way. My mate had better put up a better fight than he does. I can’t take it if I am a better fighter. I might be the best, but I still want to have a strong man beside me.
“But really Nina, are you okay?” Zach asked as he tucked Brooke in his arm and gave me a worried looked.
“Yeah, I told Alpha about my parents and Damian, so I guess we will see what this week has to bring” I said, giving Zach a look. He nodding understand what I meant and what I left out. I needed to figure out what was happening on my own.
“I will call a car company and get your car fixed”, Brooke said.
“Thank you! That is my baby. It was my parent’s car.” I said quietly, Brooke nodded and got on her phone. As she did that, I mind-linked Zach. ‘He asked me about the ‘Three Bandits’’
“Fuck, do you think he knows?”
“I don’t know, I couldn’t tell if it was good or bad. Either way, I have to stay here for the week, so I guess we will see. Maybe I will be able to get more information from someone here.”
“Okay! I got it all set up for you!” Brooke said, breaking our link. She didn’t even notice, since my back was turned away from her and Zach was standing at her side.
“Thank you so much!” I said.
“You are very welcome. I guess, after all, you are my adopted sister-in-law?”
“I guess so!” I said, smiling. It would be nice if I could have a family again. I didn’t know if it was in the cards for me though.