Becoming Alpha

Chapter 12

Kelly could have sworn she heard Callum growl over the phone before he asked again. “Kelly, what handsome young man?” He sounded very pissed, that shocked her and made her a little worried.

Her mouth opened and closed without a word making it past her suddenly frozen lips. In front of her stood her father, Stefanie and Tristan - the handsome young man in question. They were waiting for a response from her.

On the line was Callum demanding answers in a very angry tone. She had no idea why he was suddenly so pissed. She would have loved to ask but that was not the time.

“I will see you tomorrow at school. Thank you for helping me with the homework… Good night.” She quickly ended the call after her last words and removed the headset from her ear.

“Oh, we didn’t realize you were on a call,” her father commented with a frown. “Someone from school?”

The question was pointless since he had obviously heard her tell the caller she would see them at school but she answered anyway. “Yes, my classmate Suzy. We were discussing our homework. You know, two heads better than one concept,” she finished with a smile and mentally patted herself on the back for the quick answer.

She then turned her attention to Tristan. “Pleased to meet you.”

Stefanie smiled like she was on top of the world. Kelly assumed she was, especially seeing how everything was working out for the woman of late.

Tristan smiled and winked at her before adding his voice to the pleasantries. “The pleasure is all mine, I’m sure.”

She wasn’t sure what to make of that. She however thought it wise to just bite her tongue and not respond. Next to her the phone vibrated indicating a call. A quick glance down confirmed it was Callum calling.

Kelly said a silent prayer no one else in the room would notice the phone call she could not pick. Especially not Stefanie, the last thing Kelly needed was to give the woman more reasons to make her life a living nightmare.

Stefanie thankfully was too distracted to notice. She went on to talk enthusiastically about the above average intelligence of her son and his future ambitions. Kelly heard none of it, her focus was on the phone that insistently vibrated against her thigh.

After the fifth ring she had no choice but to discretely switch off the phone. She had a feeling that was making things worse but she had no other choice. She could not answer a call from Callum while her room was invaded by her parents and new step brother.

She thought she had been discreet enough but when she looked at Tristan, she found his eyes trained on her too intently to be comfortable. He raised a brow and then gave her another wink. Kelly’s stomach churned; she suddenly had a feeling her new step brother was going to be as much trouble as his mother had been.

“We have left Jordan alone too long. I fear he may finish all the food if we stay longer,” Tristan said with a smile suddenly, effectively interrupting his mother’s speech about his various achievements.

Daniel Blackdeer blinked as though he had completely forgotten. “You are right. This was only supposed to be an introduction. Let us head back to the dining room and have our meal.”

Kelly was not shocked they had abandoned their meal to come and introduce Stefanie’s son. What shocked her was what happened next. Stefanie suddenly walked to the bed and grabbed Kelly’s hand.

“You need to join us. This is a family meal, you need to be there, Kelly.”

Kelly stared at her step mother in shock. Though she tried very hard to not allow the shock to show on her face. Anyone looking would think Stefanie was always that attentive to Kelly. While the truth was completely different. Kelly was sure this was probably the first time Stefanie touched her hand since marrying her father.

She swallowed as she quickly thought of an appropriate excuse to escape the meal invitation. Unfortunately for her, her father also spoke up. Reluctant to drag the matter further, Kelly stood up and followed them down to the dining room.

Her only hope was to eat as fast as possible then excuse herself back to her room and maybe give Callum a call.

The plan did not go as planned. Stefanie had outdone herself. The meal was fit for royalty to Kelly’s shock and frustration. It meant spending more than an hour seated at the table listening to Stefanie talk insistently like a parrot on drugs.

Jordan, Tristan’s friend turned out to be very similar to his friend. He was tall and lean just like Tristan. He was also good looking with blue eyes and blond hair. He also had his friend’s habit to wink and smile mischievously. It was the true definition of birds of the same feather flocking together.

Kelly followed the conversations as much as she could and participated as little as possible. The two boys made her very uncomfortable and she couldn’t wait to be very far away from them.

It was a very long hour and when the meal finally ended, Kelly couldn’t have left fast enough. She mumbled an excuse and returned to her room.

It was already very late. She contemplated switching her phone back on and calling Callum but thought better of it. She was sure he was asleep and anything that needed to be said could wait till tomorrow.

***

Kelly thanked her good sense for grabbing the bus that morning and not waiting for anyone to drop her off at school. She was almost an hour early for school but she found Callum standing front and center in the school parking lot waiting for her.

She noticed his face was hard from the little she could see. She could feel the tension in his body even before she reached him. He hadn’t yet looked at her but she knew that he somehow already knew she was there.

A moment of uncertainty and just plain confusion hit her. She did not know why he should be so upset and why it bothered her that he was. She had a bone deep desire to calm him and make him smile. It was all so confusing.

She reached him and stood in front of him. She silently waited for him to look at her and speak.

When she finally saw his eyes, she was shocked at how shuttered he looked. His eyes even had dark bags under them like he had not slept a wink all night.

“Are you ok?” she asked quietly as she reached out a hand and placed it on his arm. It was a gesture she didn’t even realize she was doing. It came from the need to calm him.

Callum shook his head and sighed heavily. He looked away from her and stared at the sky a moment before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

He looked deeply troubled. His muscles trembled beneath her hand where she touched him.

Kelly was suddenly very concerned. She did not want to believe all this was because she had not picked his call last night. That would be just outrageous.