“I wasn’t exactly keeping tabs on your every move,” he murmurs, continuing with both veiled teasing and subtle concern, “You sure your pack hasn’t replaced you with someone more… available?”
I scoff at that, but in truth, he has a point, and I won’t deny that the thought has crossed my mind.
Just like everyone else, I should’ve taken leave to check in. But every time I thought about coming back, something in me didn’t want to face it yet. At least, not until I had to.
There was too much left up in the air, and a part of myself I still want to forget. But there’s nothing I can do to avoid it now.
“Varic, the current Alpha, has been holding down the fort. He’s a good man, and he wouldn’t give that title up for anyone else,” I answer, more so to reassure myself. “Besides, my buddyJack wouldn’t let that happen either. They understood what I had to do.”
“I suppose we’ll see if that’s true,” Zane hums, sounding not entirely convinced.
As irritating as it is, he isn’t wrong. It’s been a while, and things can change within four years.
“So then, Alpha-to-be, what’s our first stop?” Dominic asks, leaning forward between the front seats. “Your packhouse? A bar? A brothel? Tell me this godforsaken island has one of those.”
Before I can even roll my eyes, Zane does it first. “One-track mind…”
“We’re checking in with Varic and the others first. After that, do whatever you idiots want.”
He grins. “Brothel—or the closest thing to one—it is.”
“Good luck finding a brothel on a remote island,” Zane utters, unimpressed with the thought.
“When there’s a will, there’s a way, my friend.”
While I continue to drive, those memories roll in unbidden, both good and less so. I spent my youth in these woods, training, learning, and preparing for the day I become Alpha. Ever since Varic saw promise in me, he showed me what was expected of me and how I could best serve the pack.
For the most part, I believe I’ve managed to live up to it, but some of those unsavory memories beg to differ. All the ones I’d rather bury, and all before the military, the discipline, and the purpose that came from it.
I was a different man before. I had been arrogant, reckless, and popular, sure. I was definitely desired, and I tookadvantage of it, sometimes to my detriment, but mostly theirs. I didn’t think twice about the decisions I made, and it still makes me wince inwardly.
Before, I hurt people. I used them and forgot them the moment the sun came up.
I wasn’t exactly Alpha behaviour, and now, I can say that without hesitation.
After a time, Dominic sighs. “What would you do for fun anyway?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Zane murmurs.
“I wasn’t asking you. I imagine you spent all your time brooding, or burning things, or something.”
Before Zane can retort anything more, something moves through the air surrounding us, hitting harder with the top down. It’s light and warm, and it carries something I haven’t smelled in years.
Not pausing to think it over, I hit the brakes and come to an abrupt stop.
I catch in my peripheral as Zane lurches forward, gripping the door hard. Dominic groans. From behind us, Hunter slams on the horn, forced to react with lightning-fast reflexes to keep from rear-ending us.
Still, I don’t keep driving.
The horn sounds again behind us, and Hunter holds up an arm in question. He yells over the short distance, “What the fuck, man?”
But Zane’s eyes burn into me intensely enough to catch my attention first. “What’s going on?”
Blinking, I process that smell. One I know all too well.
“I know that scent.”
Both of them pause, filling the space between us with confusion and near disbelief. Then Dominic asks, “Whose is it?”
