The Alpha's Warrior Princess

Ch. 11: A Room Full of Strangers

(April’s POV)

Well, yesterday was a major bust. I'd gone to the public library and tried to look up some more old newspaper articles on the kidnapping but couldn’t find a single d*amn thing.

I couldn’t even find the originals of the ones my Dad had clipped and he only kept the article itself, without the headings. Which meant I didn’t know which paper, or papers, published the stories. So I had no point of reference to be able to go to the offices of the paper itself and look in their archives.

I even tried to look online using their computers but there was absolutely nothing there. I mean, I have the date of the incident but that's about it. I didn't know what to do next and that had me flustered. But I wasn’t giving up.

After that, I went to the gym for a good workout before heading back home to get a shower and finish unpacking my things. When I was through, I looked at the time on my phone and it was only 11:30am, so I went down to the kitchen. Cooking always relaxed me, especially baking. Mom knows it too, so when they were looking for houses out this way, she made sure to get one with a double oven set-up that was in the wall next to the free-range electric stove, giving me three whole ovens to bake with. Talk about baker's heaven!

So I figured I’d make something to take over to Uncle Wyatt’s for dinner tomorrow night. No one was home with me right now, so I pushed up my sleeves, clicked on my iTunes, turned on my psycho-speed (Yes, that's what I call it. Perks of being hormonally unbalanced, I suppose.), and went to work.

The next day…

"I still can't believe you made all that." Mom was saying yet again, making me roll my eyes for the umpteenth time in the last fifteen minutes. That’s how long it took to get here. Here being my Uncle's Freakin Mansion, apparently!

I was gobsmacked! My Dad had just pulled up in front of this huge a** building that looked like a five-star hotel from the outside. It was six stories tall and stretched out on both sides so wide, there easily had to be about a hundred and fifty rooms on each side of each floor. “Dad? Are you sure this is Uncle Wyatt’s HOUSE?” I asked as I pressed my cheek to the window and looked up at the structure.

Dad just chuckled and answered “Yup. I’m pretty d*mn sure. But let's knock and find out, shall we?” Which was another thing that had me a bit gobsmacked. Ever since we got to this town, Dad has been being way more sociable with me. I didn’t really know what to make of it, so for now I was just kind of going with the flow.

We had just started to get out of the car when Alex came out talking with his brother, Ken, and some of the guys. He took one look at Dad, who was already out and rounding the car to get Mom, and grinned. “Hey Uncle Ty. Did April come with you?” “Nope. She stayed home today. Said she was tired of you drooling all over her new clothes and just wanted some time by herself for one night.”

Wait. Was that MY DAD? Joking like that? He even popped that P in 'nope' and drew out the N a little like a d*mn pro!

I just stared at him, totally shocked, until I heard Mom laugh softly and say “April, dear. Close your mouth before you start catching flies.” I did. But, of course, my smartass just couldn’t be outdone, so I joked “Okay. Who is that man? And what has he done with the real Tyler Thunder Storm?!” Odd name, I know. But hey, I didn’t give it to him. Nor do I have room to talk, seeing as my name is April Raine Storm.

I was so busy being gobsmacked by my Dad and his newly found ability to make Dad jokes that I nearly missed the disappointed look on Alex’s face. That look cleared right up when I opened the car door and stepped into view, making Alex chuckle at Dad and say “Very funny, Uncle Ty”. Dad just chuckled as he came around to open Mom’s door while Ken came over to me sniffing like a dog that'd caught scent of his next meal.

He stopped dead right in front of me, his eyes on the foil-covered platter in my hand, and asked “What’s that?” The guys were right behind him and I could swear they were all drooling as they waited for an answer. No “hello”, “kiss my a**”, “go the h*ll away”, nothing. Just “what’s that?”.

“It’s cake” I responded simply, handing the plate to Ken. He was just going to pull the foil wrapping off when I said “and it’s for dessert. So no touching!” I got a whole chorus of dejected “AWWWW"'s from the guys, making Dad chuckle again and shake his head.

Alex chuckled too as he tried in vain to take the platter from his brother, who seemed intent on guarding that cake with his life until it was time to cut and eat it. It was Brent who finally realized what all his other “bro’s” seemed to be missing and said “Hey! Does that mean we..” He motioned to the guys and himself “..don’t get any cake?”

“Sure does! Now.. Back you foul beasts! This baby is MINE!” Ken said and I swear I thought a fight was gonna break out. I couldn’t help but start laughing, but after a few minutes, and in fear of the cake being dropped, I finally took some pity on them as I said “But the cookies in the backseat are for you guys!”

Ken nearly dropped the cake!

With my heart pounding wildly in my chest, I watched as Ken shoved the cake at Alex and dove into the back seat of Dad’s car. At the same time that he dove for the tray of cookies, Conner did too and they wound up struggling in the doorway. While they were fighting, Austin calmly walked around the other side of the car, opened the door, reached in and grabbed the tray, then shut the door, and walked away calling out “Come on Brent. Let’s you, me, and Justin go play some COD.”

We all laughed so hard we had tears in our eyes. Conner and Ken finally dislodged themselves and shouted after Austin and Brent for them to wait up, but the boys just kept walking away.

After they were gone, Dad tossed me the keys with a chuckle and said “Why don’t you and Alex grab the other trays?” “Kayyy” I responded as I wiped away my tears and went to the trunk to grab the rest of the cookies. “Wow. Who made all these cookies?” Asked Alex as he tugged the foil trays from the trunk, then added “Oh my goddess they smell good!”

Yeah, I made extra for you guys. For over the weekend. I figured you’d all need some snacks while you’re hiding from your Dad’s guests. I can just imagine how boring this is gonna be for you guys.” I said as we started inside. “Wow! You made all these?” He asked and I just nodded. “They’re labeled. I made chocolate chips, chocolate-chocolate chips, oatmeal raisins, peanut butter kisses, sugar, snicker-doodles, and s'mores cookies”.

S'mores cookies?” He asked and I grinned as I said “Yeah. They’re my own recipe. It’s a graham flavored cookie with chocolate chips and little marshmallows. I like to cook and bake. I find it relaxing.” I tell him honestly as he sits the trays on the kitchen table and starts opening each type, taking a cookie from each tray.

Each one he bit into he moaned in delight and I couldn’t help but feel turned on. He had just gotten to the s’mores cookie when his Father came in and said “Did I hear something about there being cookies?”. “Oh my goddess, Dad! You’ve got to taste these!” Alex said and I just laughed.

Uncle Wyatt took a sampling of cookies as well, though he sat down at the table and one of the kitchen staff brought him a cold glass of milk before he took his first bite. He bit into the cookies, one by one, and quietly pondered the taste. I must say, he took his taste testing quite seriously, apparently, because no one in the room spoke as he bit each one, then washed it down with milk before moving on to the next.

I thought it was quite comical and kept giggling the entire time. Alex watched his father too but he was also quietly finishing the cookies he had taken. I hadn’t realized it, but my Dad had come in and was standing behind me watching it all with a proud smirk on his face while his arms were folded over his chest.

When Uncle Wyatt was done, he looked at me thoughtfully and said “My dear Goddaughter. I do believe those are quite possibly the best cookies I've ever eaten. And I'm quite the cookie connoisseur.” I laughed at his jokes as I hugged him and said “Thanks, Uncle Teddy”.

As I pulled back from Uncle Wyatt, I glanced around the room and noticed everyone had pleasant smiles on their features. “You’re all welcome to have some too. There’s plenty.” I told them and Uncle Wyatt added, “Absolutely, you ladies are quite welcome to try these delicious cookies so long as you save me the lion’s share!” He joked with them and they all giggled.

After that, Dad gave Mom and me a tour of the downstairs.

There was a recreation room, or rec-room, that had a dart board and a regulation-sized pool table, along with a regulation-sized shuffleboard table and a foosball table. That room was right next to the media room where you could watch TV or play video games, which was apparently different from the movie theater which even had a concession stand in it!

In the media room, they had a Playstation, an xbox, a switch, a wii, and three huge flatscreen TVs to hook the consoles up to. There was an indoor pool, reg-sized, which had several jacuzzi’s all around it. The cool thing was the pool had one of those wave machines, so the guys actually knew how to surf! At least that’s what Alex said. He had come with us on the tour but he was mostly quiet the entire time.

There was also a huge library (which I was dying to explore), a bowling alley, an actual arcade near the rec-room with several actual arcade cabinets along with four or five pinball machines, a sauna near the pool room, and an indoor laser tag arena! I felt like I was in my dream home! All it needed was its own candy shop/ice cream parlor and I’d be in heaven! I seriously could see myself getting lost in this place and spending the rest of my life here. That's not even counting the amazing gym (which I'm sure Dad had a role in stocking).

It was awesome!

(Alex’s POV)

Earlier, when I was eating those delicious cookies of hers and I kept moaning? Yeah, then. I could scent April’s body responding to my moans. It was driving me wild and only made me moan all the more with desire for her, which I hid by keeping my attention firmly on those cookies. They were delicious, I'll give her that!

I was actually glad Dad came in when he did, because another minute or so more I would've had her over my shoulder and been heading for my room. I've never wanted a girl so badly in my entire life. It was both exhilarating and maddening.

Now, as we were giving April and her Mom a tour of the first and lower floors of the packhouse, I had some time to think. Dad was upstairs in his office using his Alpha command over pack link to be sure no one messed up and said or did anything that would give away the fact that we were werewolves.

I hate this. I wanted to tell her so badly, but I understood why Uncle Ty wanted to keep her away from our world. It was much more dangerous than the human world. And with all these rogue incursions going on, now wasn’t the time to be bringing humans into the pack. So they had made the decision to wait on that after all.

Uncle Ty actually was set to tell them today. That’s originally why we were hosting this dinner tonight and when the plan changed I was afraid the entire thing would be canceled. I was elated when I found out they were still coming. Though as I watched April’s open enthusiasm for exploring our home, my heart felt like someone had put a vice around it and was slowly tightening it.

I didn’t want her to leave. Ever. And that thought scared me.

I'm gonna be eighteen in just two weeks' time, so if I started up a relationship with April that was anything but friendly, and she wasn’t my mate, I was going to be devastated. And right now, seeing that look in her eyes, like she never wanted to leave, I was pretty d*mned sure I was already too late to prevent that devastation.

I realized at that moment that I wanted her to be my mate. I wanted it bad! But I’m an Alpha and Alpha’s aren’t normally given to humans as fated mates. It was because we were so virile and powerful.

Normal werewolf pregnancies only go about five months, but with a human mate that could vary. Their normal pregnancies went almost ten months, so their bodies were often not able to handle a were-pregnancy. Sometimes that leads to the death of the mother, the child, or both. But that was only in extreme cases. Normally, the pregnancy would fall somewhere in between. And the worst part of that was that the doctors couldn’t tell when the mother was due with any real accuracy. They had to guess.

That's why those extreme cases occurred. The higher ranked and more powerful the wolf, the more likely an extreme case would occur. I don't know if her father being a werewolf would change that any. Which just made April an even greater gift, if you ask me. But it was all moot if April wasn’t my mate, though, and I just couldn’t hurt her by starting something I probably wouldn’t be able to finish.

So I guess for now I’ll just enjoy having her around and do my best to clamp down on those other emotions. She's my friend. I want to make sure that doesn’t change after September 8th.

Suddenly….

I was dreading my birthday.

(April’s POV)

When Dad finished the tour, we headed over to the other side of the house. Apparently, when we had toured the first floor before, we only went through the east wing because the west wing was where Uncle Wyatt had his offices and conference rooms. We were now heading to his office and I was noticing Dad was getting more and more anxious as we went.

“Dad? Everything okay?” I asked with a concerned expression. He smiled at me and responded with a soft “Everything's fine, sweetheart.” I didn't believe him but we'd arrived, so Dad reached up and knocked gently a few times on the door, which was slightly ajar.

“Come in!” I heard Uncle Wyatt call out and Dad pushed the door open the rest of the way. I let Mom and Dad go in first, then I went in, and Alex followed behind me, closing the door behind him. There were four other people there. Three of them I didn’t recognize, though one I did.

“Come in, come in. Have a seat… Can I get anyone a drink?” Uncle Wyatt asked. He was nervous too.

I was growing more and more suspicious. “What the h*ll is goin on here?” I thought as I looked from one person to the next. They all seemed to be waiting for something, though I couldn't fathom what. Nor could I figure out what they had to do with us, or vice versa.

The others seemed to be a family of four. Mother, father, son, and daughter. The daughter I recognized as the girl Alex had made cry at the mart that day. The rest I didn’t know. Though the father looked a bit like Dad. Only, he had medium-to-dark brown hair and light brown eyes, whereas Dad’s hair was so chocolate it was nearly black and he had dark brown eyes. Mom always told Dad that his eyes were so brown because he was so full of sh*t. I was starting to have suspicions about who these people were, but I had to be crazy. Right?

No one took Uncle Wyatt up on his offer and the room fell eerily quiet for a moment. Uncle Wyatt cleared his voice and gave my Dad a pointed look and my Dad visibly took a deep breath to steady his nerves a bit, then said “Crystal? April? I've wanted you to meet someone very close to me for a very long time. Unfortunately, due to my own bullheaded arrogance, that wasn’t possible. But it is now. So I'd like to introduce you both to my brother, Jonathan. And this is his wife, Annabel, his son, Jacob, and his daughter, Allison.”

I just sat there, stunned. All I did was blink as my eyes kept darting from one face to another.

When I finally did move, it was to turn my head and look over at Mom to find that she had the same incredulous look on her face I believe I did. My Dad was standing by her side with his hand resting on her shoulder supportively. Somewhere in the haze of my shock I felt a big, strong, hand come to rest gently on my shoulder too, and as it did, a soft, masculine, voice spoke next to my ear. “April? You alright? Talk to me, please.” I don’t know why, but between his touch, the sparks that came along with it, the sound of his voice, and his scent, I found myself calming down.

Turning my head toward the sound of his voice, I gave a soft nod, then suddenly stood up and announced to the room, “I need some air” and walked out of that room full of strangers.