BETA: Her Alpha(13)

I walk to my desk and pull out a schedule for each employee. “So I’ve gone over your schedules that Letty has been so kind to do for you. Are there any issues with it?”

I got a bunch of shaking heads, so we move along. By the time the meeting is over, I’ve got a good feeling about the staff—something I never had before working with Ryan.

Hunter and I go back to his office to have a word. We’re both stressed out, but we to discuss Ryan.

“What are you going to do about Ryan?” Hunter asks. He may be the Alpha, but Ryan’s my responsibility.

“I want to fire him, but if he’s the one who shot me, then I’m going to tear him to shreds,” I snarl. If he’s the bastard who tried to end me and Chloe, I’ll make him pay big time.

“So what do you think of the female officer?” So he felt my anxiety at her question.

“She’s young and green as can be. She may have a problem if she gets too nosy, but she’s got a strong head on her.” The rookies always try the hardest.

“We’ll take it one step at a time.” He pats my shoulder, and I give him a nod.

“Good, so if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to Chloe.” Since I was shot, I need to be around her, trying to keep her safe.

“They’re in her office.” He’s been silently communicating with Cat in his head again. I watch as the tension is growing in him.

“Let’s get our women and go home.”





“Kane is supposed to be meeting us.” I huff in annoyance. Any time away from Chloe is considered wasteful to me. Especially when I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing yet, which is looking for Lauren and anyone helping her. Kane’s an hour behind schedule. I growl with impatience. I could still be balls deep in Chloe if Hunter didn’t call me to meet with him this morning. It’s been two weeks since Chloe and I had our movie night, and I still can’t get my fill of her. We’ve had a lot of sex to make up. I’ve chased her around so much, she’s locking the door on me. It only lasts a moment before she comes out begging for me again. Our mating period must still be in full swing, or maybe I just can’t resist her.

Hunter breaks into my thoughts about his sister by revealing what’s wrong with Kane. His voice is pained when he explains, “He’s stressing still. He dreams of his mate like I did with Cat. But there’s one big exception…she doesn’t like him in his dreams. Which is a big step in getting together.”

“Damn does that suck,” I sympathize mildly. I’ve been through worse than these two fuckers. I loved a woman who I thought was unattainable. They know their mate; they just need to find her.

We scope out the area before Kane gets there, and we know where she’s hiding. Kane pulls up and meets us at the prearranged location.

“About fucking time. I’ve got important shit I could be doing.”

“Shit? It’s more like you’ve got a mate to do. Don’t try to bullshit me either. I want to go home to Cat too.”

A pack to the north learned of our search for her, so when two of their members saw her in the woods, they contacted us. She scurried off and hid, but since she didn’t seem like a danger to them, they just let her be.

She’s been living out in a small abandoned shack. All three of us surround the shack, when I call out, “Lauren, it’s Sheriff Smith. We have the place surrounded. Come out, and things won’t get ugly.”

“The Alpha’s out there, too. I know it’s going to get ugly. I swear I only made the call.”

“Mr. Grey isn’t going to do anything to you, and neither is Kane Holt. Just come out so we can talk to you,” I bargain with her.

“Please don’t hurt me.” Everything we went over proved that she and Rocky didn’t really have a friendship, so we don’t understand why she would help him or if she knows anything about my shooting. She comes out slowly, and she looks pitiful. Shit, I don’t know who looks worse—Lauren or Kane. They both look haggard and miserable. Suddenly, Hunter’s anger subsides. He sees her looking thinner and weak like a helpless, starving animal.

“Tell me why you tried to help him destroy my family,” Hunter demands.

“He didn’t ask me to help destroy your family. He told me that he had a birthday surprise for his cousin. I didn’t want to ruin it, so I did what he asked. He gave me the phone and told me that it would link to the station so he would think it was legitimate. I swear, I didn’t know,” she pleads with a sob.

“Then why did you run?” I question.

“Because I heard what happened. I was scared. An attack on the Alpha’s family is a death sentence, so I ran. I swear I didn’t mean anything by it. If I’d known he was going to do something bad, I wouldn’t have done it. He’s the Beta; I didn’t think anything like that would go on.” She’s only fifteen, and we all know she’s just a gullible kid, so we’re going to take it easy on her, but I need to know if she’s involved with Ryan at all.

“Lauren. We know that you didn’t have any real contact with him, so it’s more likely you were just doing a favor for the Beta, but I have a question for you. Do you know if Ryan had anything to do with it?”

She doesn’t say a word, but there’s something in her eyes that tells me she knows and is scared shitless. Hunter sees it too, and the Alpha in him makes an appearance. Snarling, he demands, “Answer him now. What do you know about Ryan?”

“He said he’d kill me.”

“You need to worry about me. I’m your biggest threat right know. By all rights I can rip you to shreds, so answer the fucking question.”

“Um…he was talking to Rocky that morning. That’s how the number got linked to the station. Ryan’s the one who got me out of town.” Her admission is not as shocking as I expected it to be. Ryan’s had it in for me since jump.

“What else,” I growl at her.

“He threatened to kill me and my family if I ever came back or told anyone,” she says nervously, looking around like Ryan’s nearby. Tears are streaming down her face.

“Is he around here?” Hunter asks, getting the feeling that she’s waiting for him to attack.

“No, I haven’t seen anyone since he left me here. If any of the pack people come near, I run.” She looks like she been living in the wild.

“You need to not trust everything everyone says. Now, we’re going to take you back to your parents’ house because they’re so worried about you.” He’s doing the right thing. Ryan’s going to be nervous about his only witness to his plotting with Rocky against the Alpha. He’s going to come back soon to a world of trouble. He couldn’t take me, and I’m sure he can’t take the Alpha.

“Thank you, so much. Alpha, sir, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for anything bad to happen.”

“Calm down, Lauren. I’ve already looked into the matter. You’re going to be grounded and not allowed to talk to any males for one year. I think that’s more than fair considering.”

“Yes, sir. It’s plenty more than fair.”

We take her back to her parents where she’s welcomed with open arms. I can see Hunter doesn’t harbor any ill will toward the girl. We have a plan, and it starts tonight. Once we get back into Hunter’s SUV, we head over to his place where our women are getting ready to watch a movie. Kane follows behind us in his truck since he needs to do something other than think about his mate.





The men walk into the house, and I can smell Erik’s sweat. I want to climb over the sofa and attack him. I give him a look, and he’s on me in a second. He pulls me from the back of the sofa and into his arms.

“I missed you,” I pant with need. I’m so hungry for him, I don’t think I’ll make it home.

“Let’s go. I need to be in you, Chloe,” he whispers in my ear.

“Damn it, Erik. I can hear you. Did you forget?” Hunter growls with a look of disgust.

“Stop listening to our conversation,” I admonish my brother for eavesdropping.

“Seriously, we all can hear it,” Cat says with a smile. It doesn’t bother her at all that we’re always ready to mate. She's not embarrassed or grossed out because she’s on my brother all day long, but I blush because there’s a disadvantage to being shifters; our hearing is superb.

Shaking off my embarrassment, I reply, “Well, we’ll catch you later. I need to feel my mate in me.”

Cat just laughs while Hunter growls playfully.

“I feel out of place,” Kane says. I feel for him. The poor Alpha is going through what Hunter did, and after what Erik and I had to go through to be together, I really understand.

“You’ll find her soon,” Cat says, patting Kane’s arm.

“I know where you’re coming from,” Hunter reassures him.

“Hell, we all do. I fell in love with Chloe, and I thought we weren’t mates. I felt pain every day.”

“Erik, that’s why you wanted to quit, isn’t it?” Hunter asks.

“Yeah, it was.” Hunter pats Erik’s shoulder as Erik carries me to the door.