Page 4 of Cruel Alpha Beast (Roseville Alphas #1)

As soon as he turns to look at me, my brother’s sorrowful face brightens up.

He leaps from the chair, pushing past a stunned Sawyer.

I quickly let go of Shea’s hand and rushed to meet him in the middle of the floor, running into his arms. Greg pulls me in closely, his body shaking as he holds me for the first time in I don’t even know how long.

“I was so worried about you, Lace,” he murmurs in my ear.

“ I was worried about you ,” I tell him. “You haven’t picked up your phone in days! I thought you were…”

I can’t even say it. If anything terrible happened to Greg, it would wreck me, real or imagined.

Several pairs of eyes stick to me like glue.

I can feel the derision permeating off of Ellis and Jasper, just like how they used to stare at me when I was a proper member of this pack—if you can even say I ever was.

And then there’s Sawyer. His hazel eyes are going to dry out if he keeps staring at me like he’s seen a damn ghost.

My heart is swirling with warring emotions as I think about the man. I mostly came back to the valley to make sure that my brother was okay, but a small part of me came to check on Sawyer.

I was honest when I spoke to Danielle last night about him. No matter how horribly he’s treated me in the past, Shea would not be here without him, and that’s a cold, hard fact. So, I will always owe him for that.

After pining over her father for so long, I thought I knew what love was. But now that I have my sweet little daughter, I truly know.

“Why didn’t you call me back?” I beg my brother to answer. “Just a simple text would have made me feel so much better about all of this. I wouldn’t have trudged all the way through the forest for you.”

“I’m sorry,” Greg tells me, and I can see how sorry he really is. “I’ve been so freaked out about everything going on, I haven't even thought about my phone in days. It’s probably dead in my house somewhere.”

I let go of Greg and wiped away the tears welling in my eyes before they had the chance to fall. I need to tell him about my visions, but I don’t know if this is the right time or place. There’s a very dour mood in the air, especially over the spot where my brother stands.

“I saw the flowers on my way into town.” Swallowing hard, I glance around from alpha to alpha, until I reluctantly land upon Sawyer. “They’re all dying.”

“It’s been happening for some time now,” Ellis pipes up, sitting straighter than he had before. He still eyes me cautiously, but hopefully, the years have provided a new level of maturity since the last time I laid eyes on him. “We’ve been trying to figure this out.”

This could be the moment to tell them what I’ve been seeing, but I fear that they'll still treat me like a pariah no matter how much the alphas have grown.

I look at Greg, the only person alive outside of the witches in the coven who knows of my visions, the only person for half a mile who will treat my “weirdness” with any respect, and reach for his arm.

“Greg, I need to talk to you in private,” I finally say. “It’s about you-know-what.”

My brother’s dark eyebrows lift on his forehead as he realizes what I’m referring to, but before we can pull into one of the empty rooms in the hallway, Sawyer steps between us. The stunned look on his face has finally shifted into irritation and annoyance.

“If you have anything to say, you can say it in front of me,” he bites. “You haven’t lived here in years, but I’m still your alpha, Lacey. You report to me , not your brother.”

No matter how full my figure is, with Sawyer towering over me, I feel so small. I gulp, only taking my eyes off of him to peer over at Shea, who still watches from the doorway. She stares up at Sawyer curiously, her lips in a perfect circle.

Taking a deep breath, I finally answer in a way that hopefully won’t turn me into more of a “freakshow” than I already was, and likely still am in his eyes.

“I’ve been having, uh, some worrying feelings about the valley,” I tell Sawyer. “I’ve been… feeling like something bad is happening to the pack, and that it’s only going to get worse.”

Jasper rises from his chair, standing with his fingertips pressed firmly into the tabletop. “You think we can’t handle this?”

“No.” Taken aback, my lips part and close several times. “No, I’m not saying that—”

“Sawyer is a powerful alpha,” Jasper continues. “Under his leadership, and with our counsel, I have no doubts that he’ll be able to face whatever problems arise. If anyone can make this all better, it’s him.”

The alpha in question’s jaw clenches, something I think only I have really noticed. He looks uncomfortable, like he knows Jasper is inflating his sense of self, and he doesn’t completely agree with it.

“She has a point, guys,” Greg defends me. Standing up taller, he puts a hand on my shoulder blade to brace me. “It’s been a year, and things are only getting worse. You can’t deny that.”

Jasper looks down at the table, contemplating Greg’s words.

“I have as much faith in Sawyer as the rest of you,” he continues. “But I also have faith in my sister.”

“Please,” Ellis adds. “What can she do to help us at all?”

I exchange glances with Greg. I can see in his eyes that he agrees with me—maybe this isn’t the right time to explain my powers of clairvoyance. They’re not ready to hear about it. Not prepared to see that I might have value.

Still, Greg’s fingers claw into my back. “Maybe if someone would give Lacey a damn chance, they would see in her what I do.”

Sawyer bites his bottom lip, refusing to look into his closest friend’s eye. But Greg doesn’t push his fierce message. He merely looks at me, then at Shea in the doorway. The niece he’s never met in person before. His eyes grow watery when he finds mine again.

“Please, Lacey, why don’t you and Shea stay with me?” Greg asks. “The house isn’t too big, but there’s plenty of room for all three of us.”

I can feel the icy vibe in the room finally start to thaw, but I still feel uncomfortable in the alphas’ presence. I smile at Greg. “I was planning on it.”

“Good,” he replies.

I lean down, putting my hands on my knees so I can be eye-to-eye with my daughter. “What do you think, sweetheart?” I ask her. “Do you want to stay with Uncle Greg for a little bit?”

Shea nods her head, as if just realizing that the shaggy-haired man at my side is the uncle she’s video-chatted with many times over the past few years. She nods vigorously, then bursts into my brother’s arms.

“Let’s stay with Uncle Greg!” she says in excitement. It helps to cut the tension, but only a little bit.

Sawyer watches Greg hold her in his arms. I wonder if he’s smart enough to know that this little girl is his. I mean, she has his hair, his eyes… Not to mention, the timeline of her age and our tryst.

That, and he’s the only man I’ve ever mated with. But he wouldn’t know that, would he?

“Let’s go, then,” Greg says. “I’ve had a room made up for years, just in case you two ever decided to visit me.”

“I’m sorry it’s been so long,” I mutter as he leads us to the doorway. But before Greg can accept my apology, Sawyer calls out to him.

“Greg,” he says. “Don’t forget about the potluck dinner tonight.”

I chew on the inside of my cheek. They’re still doing potlucks, huh?

“You promised a veggie platter,” Sawyer continues.

“Yeah, yeah, I remember,” Greg tells him.

Greg turns before I do, still holding onto Shea tightly. He reaches down and grabs the suitcases we brought with us, leaning against the wall outside the meeting room.

I catch Sawyer’s steely eyes watching me—that same lingering, longing look he always used to give me. The one he claimed meant nothing. The one he said was because I was such a freak show.

The one I always hoped meant he felt something for me deep down inside.

I’m much smarter now, though. My heart doesn’t skip a beat as the alpha’s eyes trace my body this time. Instead, my blood runs cold. I turn over my shoulder and follow Greg.

But not before I catch Sawyer nodding his head toward me.