Defying The Alpha, Falling For His Stepfather

Chapter Six: No Respect At All

Aiden

When I finally managed to pick myself up, dirty and blood-stained, from the soil, and make my way out of the garden, I still couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that had struck me. I was certain someone had been watching me from the house, but of course, I couldn't see anything through those damn mirrored windows. It was probably Ellis wondering why I was still alive.

I wondered too.

The restless energy of my wolf was the only thing keeping my body animated. That unrelenting, instinctual compulsion to keep going, keep moving, despite how weak I had become. I barely had the strength to hobble around the house, and even this trip out to Mary’s rose garden left me weak and winded, more so after falling, so that I had to lower myself down on the edge of a brick retaining wall to catch my breath and to try and stop my head from spinning.

As I sat there, I mused over the fact that Ellis’s intended had arrived earlier. I had felt a ripple of energy run through the house as the whole atmosphere seemed to have reacted to the entry of a new luna. Even though I was dying, one of the curses and blessings of being an alpha was to still be sensitive to the way the pack responded. Everyone must have experienced what I did because the staff seemed edgy and even beta Samson had a rather grim expression when I met him in the hall. Was she that terrible? I had some vague memories of the girl from pack events, but no real knowledge of her personality. Knowing that she came from that crusty old Three Pillars pack, she was probably docile and submissive, truly a perfect match for Ellis.

I fled the house as soon as she arrived. Who am I kidding, crawled out was more like it. My curiosity had lost out to the cringing thought of another woman taking over Mary’s house. I lifted my bowed head and looked up at the building that my grandfather had designed and built back in the 70s. The harsh lines seemed a strange contrast to the softly rolling Catskill mountains that surrounded us, but there was also something solid and trustworthy in the blocky brick structure. The sun was starting to set, bathing the whole place in a soft golden light, and the forest beyond the house was full of bird songs and chirping insects saying goodbye to the day. I found myself pondering over whether they were also singing their goodbyes to me.

With a groan, I hauled myself back to my feet and headed back to the closest entrance, a side door that opened between the kitchen and the laundry. The scent of food permeated the air, heavy with garlic and tomato, and toasted cheese. But even the promise of soft, fresh sourdough bread could not tempt me to eat. My stomach had shriveled up like a dry walnut in my gut, and the very idea of food was repulsive.

There was a low murmur of voices from the dining room, so I dragged myself in that general direction, stopping at the wide doorway to lean against the frame.

Unlike the day of Ellis’s ordination as Alpha, there were only a few families in the dining room, belonging to the staff members that lived and worked on-site. They had taken a table as far from Ellis as the room allowed. When I was alpha, my pack members had practically wrestled with each other to be the one to sit closest to me. Sometimes, to honor an individual for some notable achievement, I would invite them to come to dine with me at the head table. But those poor folks looked like they could hardly stand to be in the same room with Ellis. I’m surprised Ellis hadn’t just banished them from the dining room altogether and ordered them to eat in the kitchen like servants.

My eyes roamed to the head table where Ellis sat in my former chair with Samson and a handful of other people of importance. An elder, some high-ranking officers, and finally, a woman who could only be Cecelia Forge.

Cecelia had been barely more than an adolescent the last time I saw her. I had a vague recollection of a tall thin young woman, with nothing particularly remarkable in her appearance to distract me from whatever had been occupying my attention at the time. But now I found myself trying to study the person seated to Ellis’s left hand as best I could from my vantage point. She sat very straight and tall in her chair, clearly ill at ease. Her fork twirled in the pasta dish, but I noticed she never lifted it to her lips. She stared ahead out the windows as though she were lost in her own thoughts, leaving me to observe her profile. She had a straight nose, a regal forehead, and full lips that were pulled into a tight-lipped frown. Her hair was somehow piled up behind her head, leaving an unruly mop of dark curls to tumble down between her stiff shoulders.

For some reason, I could not tear my eyes away. I also couldn’t help but think what a strange couple they were going to make. Dark and light, tall and short. If they ever had a portrait taken, they would have to have Cecelia sit down in a chair and Ellis stand beside her, otherwise, they would look absolutely silly with the woman towering over him like a giraffe.

At that moment she seemed to sense that I was staring at her, and she turned her head, looking at me directly. The impact of those big brown eyes made me half-stumble backward, but even though I had lost my balance I still could not drop my gaze. Suddenly, though, I felt a bit dizzy and confused. Reaching out for the door to keep from falling, one hand went to my heart as the air rushed out of my lungs, as though I had taken a blow to the chest. I closed my eyes involuntarily. When I’d managed to steady myself somewhat, I opened my eyes to see that a little crease had appeared in between her brows; she was probably wondering what my issue was. Her hand, with long, capable fingers, stopped twirling the fork, and her lips parted ever so slightly. For a moment time seemed to stop as I drank in her elegant beauty. How had I ever thought her unremarkable?

Ellis slammed his glass down with unnecessary force, the resulting bang breaking the spell as his own gaze turned to me. Cecelia jumped in her chair, and dropped her fork, causing it to clatter against the porcelain plate. She looked away from me, turning her attention back to young Ellis, and I felt my lungs reinflate. I backed further from the doorway, into the hallway, until I could no longer see the woman around the door jamb.

Dazed, I wandered to the stairs and used the railing to pull myself upwards on shaking legs. I put my hand out to the wall to balance as I continued toward my room, almost falling on my face as I hastily pushed the door open. Dust motes danced in the dim light that spilled in from the hallway. I halted abruptly and sniffed the dusty air, my instincts honing in on something that did not fit. There was the faintest whiff of a sweet scent, light and floral, like pink peonies in the spring. It was unfamiliar and yet it stirred something in my memory, the sense of deja vu was overwhelming. My wolf stirred too, shifting restlessly in my mind.

I moved to the door that connected my room to the luna suite. Having his and hers bedrooms was an old-fashioned idea from my grandfather’s era. As fated mates, Mary and I couldn’t stand to be apart, and naturally, we shared my bed and my living space. Mary had hardly used her separate room for anything except as a repository for her extra clothes and some clutter. Suspiciously, my hand went to the handle and twisted, but the knob refused to yield. The door was firmly locked from the other side. But when I leaned close to the crack between the door and the frame, I smelled that floral fragrance again. I swore loudly and slapped the door with my open palm. Pain jolted through my bones on impact.

Damn Ellis to hell, why had he put that woman in Mary’s bedroom? It could be nothing apart from an insult to me and an affront to the memory of his mother! Did he have no respect at all?