Page 15 of Brutal Alpha Beast (Roseville Alphas #2)

There are some things that a run and a hunt can’t cure. Having the best, most mind-blowing sex in my entire life, and then discovering that said person has been lying to me all along, is one of those things.

I hate feeling confused or like I don’t have a grasp on a situation that is happening directly to me. Even worse than that, I hate being lied to by someone I’ve grown to trust.

I can’t believe I trusted her.

She’s a witch. But I’ve grown to understand that some witches (or so I thought) aren’t as bad as my mom was.

Some witches can be trusted. Clearly, not Danielle.

As I walk through our pack, I try my hardest to puzzle together the missing pieces. To anyone watching, I must look insane, frowning as hard as I can as I try to rack my brain.

So, she’s the woman from my dreams—that's why I was having those strange dreams when I slept beside her in the forest.

But how is she also a childhood friend? That’s the part that doesn't make sense. I’d understand if she was bewitching me somehow, getting into my dreams, and subconsciously leading me toward her.

Even though that doesn’t exactly add up with the way that she’s been acting, it’s a theory I can make sense of.

But how could I have known her in my childhood? How is it that we could have been so close?

I explore the idea in my mind, trying desperately to make sense of it all, to conjure more memories, but all there are are blank spaces.

Nothing.

She’s fucked with me, and I need to know why.

“Ellis!” Aaron calls me over.

I’m snapped out of my daze, and I feel almost dizzy when I look up. The outside world has ceased to exist for a while.

“What’s up?”

“We’ve been waiting for you,” he says. “To start dinner?”

Suddenly, I smell the roasted lamb, the garlic, and the potatoes. I completely forgot we had a communal dinner this evening.

I also forgot that I’m supposed to be making a speech, talking a little about the threats we’re facing, given that rumors spread like wildfire here and everyone’s talking. Everyone’s concerned.

“Sorry,” I say, “I was just doing research, yeah, let’s go.”

We head over to our dining room, and I look back at the library that’s fading out of view. Danielle still hasn’t emerged.

I spent the majority of dinner sitting alone, lost in thought.

Not exactly a beacon of hope for our packmates, whom I was trying to reassure. But I couldn’t help it. As the murmurs and chatter swirled around me, I was fixated on forcing out any memories I could find. Unfortunately, that still proved to be a lost cause.

And why wouldn’t she tell me now? She’d been caught—what else did she have to lose?

Unless the witches are planning something.

But I can’t entertain that thought.

We face a threat that we need to address together. We can’t continue arguing like this; we need to trust each other now more than ever.

Once I return to my cabin, I half-expect Danielle to be there waiting for me. Ready to tell the truth.

I didn’t see her at the communal dinner, and I supposed that she’d been given enough time to sort through her thoughts.

Now I’ve given her space, and we’re no longer wrapped up in the intensity of whatever we experienced in that library—surely, she’s ready to confess?

But I return to a dark, silent cabin.

I head upstairs to my bedroom, and I scent her, but her lights are off and she doesn’t utter a word.

Tomorrow , I tell myself. She won’t let this go on much longer. She knows we have important work to do.

I think back to that initial night, when I told myself she’d come clean the next day, and I laugh a little to myself, before, once again, I feel pissed off.

Danielle has made sure that our schedules don’t align.

When we have wolf and witch meet-ups, she’s never there. She’s not even there when I return home. She must not be getting any sleep, or maybe she’s sleeping somewhere else—I don’t know. I know that she’s here sometimes, because I scent her lingering fragrance, but whenever I’m here, she’s not.

On the third day since that afternoon in the library, whatever patience I once had left has officially worn off.

She owes me an explanation. She can’t fuck with my mind and expect there to be no repercussions.

And the craziest thing is, when I’m not mad, not trying to suss out her schedule, or not busy with pack duties, I think back to our time in the library before I found out that I knew who she was.

I yearn to touch her body like I did, to taste her soft lips and fill her with my come.

It’s ridiculous that even after everything, I can’t help but want her.

That only pisses me off more.

This morning, I have a council meeting, but I also discovered from my guards that during council meetings, she slinks off.

Danielle returns to the cabin for whatever reason, mid-council meeting, and by the time it’s finished and I return home, she’s gone.

I tell Aaron to fill my place, and I wait for her downstairs by the kitchen table, drumming my knuckle impatiently on the wood.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this patient with anyone before.

I’m a fool.

If I’d found out that anyone else had fucked with my mind the way Danielle has, I wouldn’t have let them leave that library until I found out what was going on.

But when it comes to Danielle, whether it’s because she’s put a spell on me, or whether it’s because it’s just her, it’s like I surrender all my usual self-control.

After an hour or so, I hear the door opening. I scent her.

She hums to herself, slowly walks in, and when she sees me, she stops.

I’m angry. Seething. Admittedly, though, it’s good to see her face.

“I need answers,” I demand. “Now.”

She hesitantly looks back at the door.

“Don’t try it,” I say. “I’m not in the mood to run, but I will chase you if I need to. I hope I'm not going to have to do that, though.”

It’s hard to imagine what a chase between me and a witch would look like. Particularly Danielle.

I’m faster, but she has magic. I don’t foresee it ending well for either of us.

She sighs, avoiding my gaze. “I’m not ready yet, Ellis, I need more time.”

“Time for what?”

I’m impatient for more reasons than just one. It sucks being the Alpha of a pack and feeling like I have no idea what’s going on.

Danielle and the coven are messing with me, and we’re still no closer to figuring out the truth of the curse.

I saw another dead bush in our pack just yesterday.

Danielle runs her hand through her curly locks. She looks frustrated, but I know for a fact that she can’t be nearly as frustrated as I am.

I haven’t felt this irritated since I was a kid figuring out how to shift, and at least that frustration was natural.

I wonder, at what point were Danielle and I ‘childhood friends’?

She doesn’t respond to my question.

“ Danielle .”

“Just, I’m not ready!” She snaps. “Have you ever had a situation that you couldn't confront yet, one that you weren’t ready for?”

I stand, coming toward her, but she moves away. It’s crazy to think that just a few days ago, we were fucking in our pack library.

I felt like I knew her, trusted her then.

Now we’re on opposite ends of a battlefield.

“Sure,” I reply coldly. “When I was nominated as Alpha, I didn’t feel ready. But I didn’t have a choice. So I stepped up. That’s what you do when people are counting on you.”

She scoffs. “Oh, come on. You can’t compare this to that.”

“Why not?” I challenge. “I don’t even know what this is.”

She storms into the sitting room. I follow, stepping in front of her before she can retreat upstairs.

“Danielle. We. Need. To. Talk.”

“I told you—I’m not ready.”

“Then you’re being selfish,” I growl. “The valley is dying. Our people—your people—are at risk. And I can’t focus on protecting them when you’re in my head, fucking with my memories and avoiding the truth.”

She glares at me, breathing hard. “Don’t conflate the two. I am protecting the valley. I’m doing everything I can. And I haven’t hurt you. I would never hurt you. You need to know that, even if you don’t understand the rest.”

“You haven’t hurt me?” I echo, my voice low and sharp. “You tore my mind apart. I can’t tell what’s real anymore.”

She looks like I’ve slapped her.

For a second, all her fire drains away. Her shoulders slump. Her mouth opens, but no sound comes out.

Then, her eyes are alight, her eyebrows arched. We’re back on the battlefield, shooting arrows. “You’re being impatient!”

She dodges past me and storms upstairs.

I scoff. Do I follow her? She’s making this difficult, but I have no choice.

I take the stairs two at a time.

She’s already in the guest room, pacing like a caged animal. Her hands rake through her hair, her chest rising and falling with shallow, rapid breaths.

“Danielle, you don’t get to do this,” I say as I step inside. “You don’t get to run away and expect me to just wait. You can’t storm out of every conversation like it’s a spell you can reverse later.”

She spins on me. “I told you, I’m not ready!”

“And I told you, I don’t care.”

“Wow,” she muses. “How compassionate.”

“Me?” I scoff. “I’m not the one who’s entered into a fake alliance just to spy on my ally and mess with their mind! Tell me, did the coven ever think about doing this properly, or was this Penelope’s plan all along?”

“What?”

Her breath catches.

“Oh, come on. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s obvious. I should have never trusted Penelope or any of you witches .”

Danielle opens her mouth in shock. Her eyes are hurt, but she doesn’t show any indication of remorse.

“You can say whatever you want about me, but leave my coven out of this. This has nothing to do with them. This was my choice.”

I pause. She’s thrown me off guard with the way she looks me dead in the eyes, and the stillness in her voice.

It feels like the most truthful thing she’s said yet.

“That still doesn’t make sense,” I mutter, running a hand over my face in frustration.

“Think about it,” she says. “What would we be spying on you for? You don’t think that if we did anything, then that would completely destroy our alliance with Sawyer’s pack? Lacey and Sawyer are married! Besides, we have a common enemy; taking your pack down would serve zero purpose.”

A tense air filters between us.

Admittedly, everything she just said adds up.

When I entertained the theory that she might be a spy, I never imagined exactly what she would be spying for. To plot some general revenge on the shifters? That makes no sense, given the coven’s history with Sawyer.

And she’s right, if anything happens to our pack because of them, Sawyer would have our back first.

“So,” I say, “You, Danielle, have independently decided to implant yourself in my mind, or make me forget about you, or have me bewitched for a reason that was totally yours. This is personal, then, not political, right?”

“Yes,” she whispers.

Danielle is trembling a little now. A glossy layer covers her eyes, and it tugs at my heartstrings. I want to feel nothing for this witch—to have as little compassion as she accuses me of.

But the way she weakens me is undeniable.

I was vulnerable to her in that library in a way that I’ve never been with anyone before. Learning that this whole betrayal is personal hurts.

Technically, it would be worse if it were political, but on an emotional level, this reality cuts deep.

I harden, frowning, before my face turns to stone.

“And there’s nothing else you want to tell me?” I ask her, offering one last chance to come clean. I question her like I’m questioning misbehaving pack mates, cold and detached, filled only with the rationality that comes with leading.

“No,” she whispers, looking away, crossing her arms, and tensing her face as though tears are about to fall. “Not yet.”

I nod, slowly and calmly, although I’m raging wildly on the inside.

It’s like I’ve been slashed across the chest. I’m hurt. But I won’t give her the satisfaction of knowing what she’s done.

I scowl, jaw clenched, every muscle in my body begging to move—to shout, to break something, to shift and run.

“People who lie and abuse the trust of others make me feel sick. I should have known.”

I turn my back and walk away, angry, confused, hurt, and pissed off. My wolf is begging me to shift; I feel him rising to the surface beneath my skin.

I pause.

“You know I’m not gonna play along with your games, Danielle, right? I’ll find out soon enough.”

She doesn’t respond. I don’t need her to; she’s already said enough.

As I walk away, down my cabin stairs, and out the door, my disgust at her actions once again transforms into a dull, throbbing pain that settles deep in my chest.

No matter what it takes, I will figure out what she’s done.