ALPHA(3)

“Who are you?” The blonde one blurted out suddenly, his stance becoming aggressive as he looked at me. Startled by his rudeness, I snapped out of my daze and looked back at him with an equally angry face.

“Excuse me?” I said, standing up so I didn’t feel quite so vulnerable with them towered over me. Didn’t really help though, they still loomed over me by way over a foot at least.

“I said, who are you?” He took a step towards me, but the dark haired one in front held his arm out as if to stop him.

“Isaac,” He said, and I swear to God I almost passed out at the sexiness of his voice. As cheesy as it sounds, he just had the deepest, most beautiful voice. Could melt butter, I tell you. “Don’t be rude.”

“Jackson, this woman is a stranger. We need to look after our people.”

“Our people?!” Ok, now I was pissed. “Look, my car broke down and I didn’t have anywhere else to go, so until it’s fixed I’m hanging around with ‘your people’, okay? What is your problem?”

The rude man seemed taken aback for a moment, before he scowled and looked to the guy with the gorgeous voice to say something.

When he spoke again, I had to bring myself back in to the room and away from the daydreams about late nights listening to that beautiful voice.

“Is Logan talking to someone about getting your car fixed?”

“Yes, he’s just doing it now. So are you guys like, police officers or something?”

“Or something. My name’s Jackson and this is my brother, Isaac. We’re not used to strangers around here; you’ll have to excuse my brother’s abruptness. Do you have somewhere to stay for the night?”

“No, do you know of any local hotels?”

“Around here, everything is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so it’s a ten minute drive to the nearest hotel. It’s only a small B&B, but like I said we don’t get many visitors. It’s actually run by one of my brothers and his wife; would you like me to take you there?” I noticed while he was talking that he maintained that serious composure, never even smiling once. He had an aura about him, one of power and intimidation. I didn’t want to show I was intimidated though. I didn’t know these people from Adam, but I did know instinctively that I needed to avoid showing any signs of weakness in front of them.

“Yes please. What about my car?”

“I’ll make sure your car gets dropped to you tomorrow, so you can continue with your journey. I know it may seem like people don’t trust you, but we look after everyone here, even strangers. If you need anything, let me or one of my guys know. Each one of us has a paw tattoo on our left hand.” He held out his hand and I spotted a tiny mark in the shape of a paw, barely noticeable unless pointed out.

“Any particular reason?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Hmm, cryptic.” I smiled at him and let the story of the tattoo drop, for now. I was curious, but I was also tired and desperate to get out of my soaking wet jeans, so I was keen to wrap the conversation up as quickly as possible.

Just as I was about to ask politely if we can please go to that hotel now, so I could get some beauty sleep, Logan came back with a smile on his face, that instantly made me feel more comfortable. He definitely seemed to be my only friend in that place right then.

“Right, Miss Laura, your car will be ready and waiting for you tomorrow.”

I smiled broadly at him, tempted to jump over the bar and give him a quick kiss! Wow, it really had been too long since I’d gotten any action.

“Thank you so much! Do you know how much it’s going to cost me?”

He gave me a wink, and leaned forward on the bar in a casual pose which screamed confidence.

“No charge. Take it as a ‘thanks for visiting’ and ‘please come again’.”

“Seriously? I really don’t mind paying. I have my purse on me.”

“Your car will be back in your safe hands tomorrow, and that’s all you need to worry about.”

“Well then, thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“No sweat.” Winking again, he moved along the bar to serve two men who had walked in about five minutes ago. Turning around, I looked back at the two brothers, and saw them waiting impatiently for me to join them at the door. As I went to walk out, Logan called my name and I turned quickly to see him smile at me again. Seriously, if this guy wasn’t twice my age he would be seriously cute!

“Hope to see you again, sometime.”

Hmm, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad here, after all.



****

Honestly, sitting in the back of a car with the two buff brothers, Isaac and Jackson, was probably the most awkward situation I’d ever been in. I could tell they were both annoyed with each other, and they weren’t particularly interested in getting to know me either, so it was silence all round. I tried to watch the scenery as we drove but all I could see were trees, and in the cover of darkness I could barely even see them. I was still getting a weird feeling from the place, but the mystery surrounding it seemed to be calling to me, and a shiver passed through me that I couldn’t explain. We’d been in the car for about five minutes when Isaac cleared his throat, and glanced at me quickly out of the corner of his eye.