ALPHA(24)

“Bro! Sit, we got you a beer already.” Blake passed me the bottle.

“Everything okay?”

“Everything’s great. We haven’t had a good drinking sesh in a while, so thought it would be cool to just hang for a bit.” Blake answered, his eyes checking out the girl in the corner who worked in the local hairdressers.

“You know it’s rude not to look at someone when they’re talking to you.”

“Please, if it’s a choice between looking at your ugly mug and that gorgeous girl? It’s obvious who I’m gonna be focusing on.” The guys all laughed, and after about five minutes of small talk to catch up, the topic swung around to the one person I would really rather not talk about.

“So, how is Laura?” Blake asked with a smile on his face.

Isaac spoke before I was able to answer. “She still planning on sticking around?”

“Yeah, she’s here for good, why? I thought you were cool with her now?” I felt my hackles rising, and was confused by how quickly anger overtook me at the thought of anyone being negative towards Laura.

“Chill, Jackson. I like her. I was just curious about what her plans were now. It’s obvious someone in town doesn’t want her here. It would probably be safer for her if she did leave.” I wish I could deny that; but it’s true.

“You’re pretty quick jumping to her defence,” smirked Blake, and I punched him on the arm probably harder than I would normally, to get him to shut up.

“Are they any developments on that front?” I asked, trying to deflect the conversation away from the feelings I had towards Laura.

“We can’t find any trace of anyone other than wolves from our pack. It’s looking pretty certain it was one of our own guys who set the fire.”

“We need to find out who did it.” Blake said. “They may have been aiming for Laura, but that building had my girls in it, and I’m not gonna let it lie until I kill whoever did it.”

The guys got serious for a moment; thinking about how much worse the situation could have been.

“We’ll find out who did it. My men are working on it day and night, and I’m keeping my head low but one ear to the ground; always. The best thing we can do is go on like normal, but keep an eye on our families. Whoever did this will get a false sense of security, and is bound to try something again. We need to make sure that we’re ready for them, when they do.”

The rest of the evening was spent downing beers, and coming up with various plans of action should anything else happen. There was a sense of unease in the whole town lately, and I didn’t like it one bit.





LAURA



I needed a break. Don’t get me wrong, I’d been having the best time hanging out with Jackson and his family each night, reading bedtime stories to Annabelle, and enjoying friendly banter with Jackson’s men who came in and out of the house like there was a revolving door on the front of it. I felt safe and happy; I really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. But, I couldn’t help but feel like something was missing. I felt like I belonged here at the same time as still feeling somewhat of an outsider, with everyone knowing the secrets of the town apart from me. Although most people in the small town had gotten used to me by now, there were some who avoided me like the plague. There were whispered conversations that I wasn’t allowed to hear, and I still couldn’t understand why Jackson was out at all times of the day doing a million different jobs despite just being one man. Why did he need so many ‘enforcers’ and what did that word even mean? It felt like he was mayor of the town, at the same time as being head of the law enforcement, fire department, security and everything in between. It could just be that he was a good guy, but my gut told me that there was more to it, and I now always listened to my gut. If I’d done so in the first place, maybe I would have seen Craig for the lying git he was behind all the sweet talk. But then I wouldn’t be here right now, and have these amazing friends. I had decided to take a walk through the woods to get some fresh air and stretch my legs, after being cooped up inside and watched like a hawk after the fire. It was sweet how protective everyone was, but sometimes a girl needed time to think on her own without someone asking her every five minutes if she was okay.

I’d been walking for about an hour, when I looked up and realised that I was completely lost. Not in an ‘I know roughly where I am so will be able to figure it out myself’ kind of lost, but an ‘I genuinely don’t know if I’ll get home alive’ kind of lost. Trying not to panic, I looked around to see if there was anything in the vicinity to offer any familiarity. All I could see were trees, and I cursed myself for being adventurous and stepping off the carefully laid path. If I’d stayed on it I would have just been able to follow it back home, or at the very least ended up at someone’s house to be able to ask for directions. As it was, I’d gotten lost in my thoughts and taken a route I couldn’t even remember taking. I turned around, and started walking in the direction I came, hoping that something would stand out or I would come across the path soon.