Page 9 of Brutal Alpha Beast (Roseville Alphas #2)

My house is big enough for Danielle and me to move past each other most of the time, and we mainly do, except for when it’s dinner or breakfast.

Given that I’ve been living alone for a while, I’ve grown accustomed to cooking. When my pack mates make meals, they’ll often bring me spare food—but I can cook when they don’t.

Sometimes Danielle cooks—and it’s an unspoken rule that we share what we’ve made with each other.

Tonight, I’ve cooked, and I’m waiting for her to come home.

We don’t usually eat together; the house is big enough not to do that, but given our initial misunderstanding and subsequent progress last night, I want to extend an olive branch.

I don’t know why I felt comfortable opening up to her; it must have been because we were in that spot, but I’ve never shared anything about the girl from my dreams with anyone before.

I’m waiting by the table, the food kept warm on the stove as I watch the clock strike nine-thirty.

A few moments later, she walks through the door.

“Ellis?”

She looks startled, and then uncomfortable.

I clear my throat. While my immediate reaction is distrustful, I suppress whatever negative emotions I may have toward her being a witch and think about Danielle from the night before.

She was understanding, a good listener, and kind. There’s no reason that I should be suspicious of her coming home later than I’d expected—we’re not in a real marriage, and she doesn’t owe me anything at all.

“Hey,” I say, holding her gaze as I try to decipher her reaction. “I cooked some food.”

“Oh,” she responds, looking away. “I ate at the coven tonight. I didn’t think you’d be up.”

“At nine-thirty?”

“Well, I thought you’d be upstairs.”

There’s a strange coldness to her now that wasn’t there before. Did I say something wrong last night?

“Okay,” I say. “We can talk over some strategy stuff for tomorrow, if you want. There are some things I wanted to talk to you about.”

She continues, avoiding my gaze. “I’m actually pretty tired. Some other witches are going to take over tomorrow. You can talk to them.”

Her tone is so icy, I almost ask if something is wrong.

“Okay,” I say. “Sounds good.”

She passes through the room, and I watch as her curls tumble below her neck. She’s dressed in a simple blue dress that hugs the edges of her perfect curves.

I look away, decide to get up, and fill my plate with food.

It’s strange. The kitchen feels quieter and more empty with Danielle in the house and upstairs than it did when I was alone.

***

I tell everyone that I’m taking a more hands-off approach to the running of the pack over the next week in order to ‘observe’ how our new alliance is going.

It’s partly true. While things are going well, I still don’t fully trust the witches, and I know they don’t trust us.

Especially, for some reason, not Danielle.

The truth of why I want to observe is that my intuition is telling me something is wrong with her.

I’m not sure what it is yet, but her coldness has to mean something. I need to watch her more closely.

I’ve been walking around our pack parameters, but I haven’t spotted her yet.

“Ellis,” Aaron, my closest advisor, appears by my side. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” I nod, “walk with me.”

He follows along, and I scan our surroundings around the outskirts of town.

“Not much to report from the meeting aside from the food supply issue we had last week. But that’s been sorted now for the most part, although they were discussing preventive measures to put in place.”

“That’s fine,” I respond. “James can take care of that. So, nothing else?”

He shrugs. “Nothing else.”

“Have you noticed anything with the witches?”

He exhales heavily. “Everyone seems to be getting along.”

I can already see the effect that our alliance with them has had. Usually, just the mention of a witch would have garnered a cagey, angry response.

“Good,” I say, distracted. “Thanks, Aaron, that’s all.”

I notice that something about Danielle has made me grumpier than usual. I’m not feeling like my usually stoic self.

As I continue to walk, to my left, something stops me in my tracks.

It’s a large Rhododendron bush. Usually, it’s blooming with light pink flowers, a colorful green and pink structure brimming with life.

Now, it’s encrusted with black decay.

Most of the flowers are dead or dying, and the leaves are curled and yellowed. A dark feeling twists inside my stomach—it’s not just the trees. I wonder what else is getting destroyed.

Then I spot Danielle. She’s walking into town carrying a large bag. I snap my attention away from the dying bush and toward her. I’m suspicious. What’s in the bag?

Following behind, I watch as she greets our pack mates with a friendly smile.

She heads over to where some kids are playing among a couple of sprinklers, giggling beneath the glittering sun.

I’m confused at first, but I edge closer.

Does she plan on drawing magic from the water source—or however that works?

I tense at first.

Then I relax when I see the kids running up to her. They hug her, and she seems totally unbothered by the fact that they’re wet.

She’s crouching and smiling, and then, from her bag, she takes out little pink packets of candy.

They’re excited as hell as they take the treats from her hand.

I soften, I feel the slightest bit of guilt about being so suspicious, and then I walk toward her.

“Ellis, look at these sweets!” Ben smiles with a toothy grin. He’s four years old, but one of the fastest kids in his grade and the grade above. So I’m told by his proud parents.

“They look good,” I say, gazing over at Danielle.

“Don’t worry, they’re not poison,” she says. “Just candy I told them about that we get at the coven. They last a long time.”

“They can last for hours!” Ben yells before running back into the sprinklers with the others.

I dip my hands into my pockets. “I didn’t think that they’re poison,” I say.

She re-adjusts her satchel over her shoulder, and I notice that a couple of water drops have caught in her eyelashes and hair.

I fight the passing urge to wipe them away.

“I actually wanted to talk to you about a flower bush I saw at the edge of town. It’s dying, like the trees, in a way that doesn’t make sense.”

She nods. “We can develop more solutions for that. Anything else?”

“Are you in a hurry?” I ask her, slightly irritated.

“I suppose I am,” she tells me, before walking away.

I watch her body swaying as she moves, with unbearable frustration. Why is she being so cold?

As the week progresses, my irritation gives way to a strange longing.

She’s still aloof, but she’s communicating with our pack mates more. She’s friendly-ish with everyone but me. What did I do? Why can’t I talk to her for more than a few seconds, even though, in technical terms, she’s supposed to be my wife.

But she sticks to her word. She helped form the solution to protect our plants as well as our trees.

Then, upon closer observation, I notice something strange.

Why does she seem so familiar with the inner workings of our pack?

Danielle takes shortcuts that only those living in the pack a long time would know about. She seems to know when to avoid certain areas, for example, if they’re host to private leadership-only events—and she knows when to join in the case that there are any pack-wide potlucks.

I’d have told her this information myself if I could get a word in for more than a few seconds.

“How’s Danielle getting along?” Aaron asks me as we take a lap. It’s the end of the week, and while I’m still suspicious of Danielle, there’s no concrete evidence that she’s doing anything for me to be suspicious of.

Maybe she’s just adapted quickly. Perhaps someone else shared the information she knows.

“Fine,” I say. “I think. She keeps to herself, so it’s hard to know.”

Aaron nods, “I get it. If I were in the same position, I’d keep to myself, too.”

I chuckle. “Good thing you’re not. Unless you’d like me to send you to the coven?”

He raises an eyebrow. “I’m not that desperate.”

We continue walking, and I purposefully avoid the area where I saw the decaying bush.

It reminds me of something I don’t yet have a solution to.

“But I’m surprised,” he continues. “At first, I thought she might have come here with malicious intent. Think about it, she has access to stuff a witch could never get access to. I thought she might cast a spell or something, but surely, if she wanted to cause harm, she would have done it by now.”

I think again about how she somehow understands the natural flow of life in the pack.

Aaron’s right, if this were a plan for actual sabotage, she would have done something by now. But it’s possible, I think, that Penelope only agreed to this marriage alliance in the first place because she wanted to plant a spy.

That would explain why she was suspiciously snooping around the night she found my secret spot.

“Yeah, I believe the witches want peace,” I say.

While that may be true, I decide to keep a watchful eye on her as I assume my leadership duties as normal.

***

On my way home from Sawyer’s pack, the rain begins to fall. I gaze up at the heavens and realize that it’s going to storm.

Morale has been fairly low recently, given that more and more pack members are noticing the deterioration of our nature. At least the rain will be good for the soil.

I’m about to shift, and then I notice Danielle.

She’s rushing into town, preemptively shielding herself from the rain. Nothing is too out of the ordinary, but then I notice the path she’s taking.

It’s a shortcut behind the trees, a path that only our pack guards know about. It’s a path that they take when we’re under attack.

I pause, rain droplets violently stabbing the back of my neck. There’s just no way she could have found that path by herself. No way at all.

I run, my shoes squelching in the mud as I follow her. Anger rises in my chest.

What I’m sick of is the lies. If they have spies here on our side, then we should have spies on their side, too.

Danielle doesn’t hear me coming. She’s running now to get out of the rain, but I’m faster, and the skies rumble as my feet smash against the muddy floor.

“Danielle!” I yell.

She turns sharply, droplets dripping down the frame of her face.

“We need to go inside!” she calls, “it’s pouring out here.”

She turns, heads in the other direction, but I’m faster. I block her path, and she darts me an incredulous look.

“What are you doing?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

She looks at me as though I’m crazy.

“You’re spying, aren’t you?” I can no longer hold it in. “Penelope agreed to this marriage and sent you to keep an eye on the pack. Is that what's going on?”

She pauses. She looks confused as hell, and if she’s acting, she’s putting on a good show. Then, her face twists with anger.

“Have you been following me?”

I scoff. It’s crazy she thinks she’s the one who should be upset.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I can’t believe you!” She shouts, running a hand through her hair, which is wet with icicle-looking droplets. “It’s so hard for you to trust a witch, isn’t it? Danielle steps forward, her eyes bright. “You just can’t accept—“

A big gust of wind swirls between us, so loud that it drowns out her voice and causes her to stop.

“I’m trying to trust you,” I yell above the wind. “But how do you know about this route? It doesn’t make any sense?”

She’s not listening; instead, her eyes are widening with fear at something behind me. She’s paralyzed.

“Danielle?”

Then she screams. “Ellis, watch out!”

She hurtles herself toward me so quickly I can barely make sense of what’s going on.

From her hand, she zaps a stream of white glow that fires behind me. I turn to follow its journey, and my eyes widen with shock. The zap punctures the side of some deranged, shadowy beast. It’s real but somehow looks as though it is made of white smoke.

The zap isn’t enough, though, and it growls wildly as it comes chasing toward us.

“Stay back,” I order, stepping in front of Danielle, with an outstretched protective arm. She may be a witch, but this creature is a beast, and I know how to fight those.

I howl deeply, the sound rattling my throat, before I roll my shoulders back and shift. With my jaws spread wide, I meet the beast mid-air, hooking my teeth into its neck.

It’s hard to grasp, but I manage to do some damage—the creature wails loudly and tumbles to the ground.

My heart thuds as I land with a heavy thump.

The creature is up, racing toward me, growling. I crouch on my hind legs, ready to spring into motion, and suddenly I notice another zap.

A stream of glowing magic flows through the air, this time for longer, and I can tell, with more force. The creature is suspended in the air, writhing and whimpering as the glow eventually causes its body to disintegrate into a cloud of smoke.

My heart is still pounding. I take a breath and shift back. I turn to Danielle, thankful, but still confused. “What the fuck was that thing?”

She’s trembling, that same look spreads across her face, the one of horror she had before. Once again, she’s looking behind me.

“Whatever it was,” she stammers, “there’s a whole lot more.”