The Alpha's Fight

Chapter 6 - I Think A Beard Would Suit You

When I got home, I didn't want anything to appear out of the ordinary with me. So I went upstairs to my room as I normally would, gave it a few minutes and emerged out as if to be on the search for some quick snack. The pack dining hall wasn't particularly bustling, the odd warrior or tracker coming off of a shift and the odd school student looking for some after-school grazing, which was what I hoped I looked like too.

I grabbed one of the freshly baked berry muffins and some fresh bottled smoothie and headed back out and down the hall to the room from this morning, nothing out of the ordinary to what I would do on any other given day. The room was locked and, as I found upon entry, empty too.

Would the two girls even appear?

I picked at the muffin, because I wasn't about to waste good food, and waited…and waited. I had sat and paced for the last two hours, with no-one knocking or entering. The evening was nearing and if I continued to hole myself up in this room I might start to draw attention. So I gave up and was about to leave when the door quietly unlocked and slowly opened to reveal the two nervous-looking she-wolves from this morning; one appeared to have been crying with a slight red tint to her eyes.

I had never been in this position before and I had no clue how to start or what to say that would make them believe they had nothing to fear from me. The three of us stood in a painfully awkward silence for a few seconds, before I sucked in a breath about to speak, but Imogen, with the black hair, blue eyes and who had been crying, spoke first.

"Alpha…please don't report Sloane…I'll do anything you want," she hiccuped as fresh tears spilt over her lashes. "Please don't hurt her."

The young brunette woman I now had a name for, Sloane, with dark brown eyes by Imogen's side, looked to want to comfort her, but her eyes kept flicking to me, terrified.

"I'm not telling anyone. That's why I wanted to talk to you."

Their eyes widened, Imogen's with shock, Sloane with instant distrust. I didn't blame the latter's reaction, I was a homophobic tyrant's son. Why should they have any cause to think I had no ulterior motive or that I could be trusted?

I exhaled a little louder than I meant to, "I'm nothing like Nicholas." I was used to being compared to him, I was almost a mirror image. It didn't mean it hurt any less for it to be assumed I shared his views.

"So you're telling me, you're just going to keep this to yourself and you don't want anything in return?" Sloane nudged herself forward, standing just in front of Imogen, protectively.

Since my run-in with Bernice, earlier, on my way home and the topic from last night of another one of my short-lived relationships, I knew I needed a better plan to stave off any suspicions I feared my father had of me. Could these two she-wolves help me? Or better yet, would they help?

"I knew it," Sloane snarled, lowly when I didn't answer straight away. "You are going to blackmail us! I'm not prostituting myself to you and I'd rather die than see Imogen be degraded like that."

"What?! N-no!" I spluttered. "I don't want that!"

I had already seen more than enough of the pair of them to confirm I found nothing remotely sexually attractive about she-wolves.

"...But there is still something you want?" Imogen quietly poked her head over her partner's shoulder.

I felt a slight heat in my neck, "there is, but it's not like a 'quid pro quo' thing. I'll still keep your secret no matter what."

"Let's hear it," the taller young woman was still filled with scepticism.

"I…" I hesitated, knowing I would have to tell two complete strangers my biggest secret and hope that I could trust them with it. "I need someone, a she-wolf, to walk around with me…and pretend…to be…together."

Goddess, this was way more embarrassing saying it aloud than it was in my head.

'No, it was definitely cringy in here too. You fumbling all over the place was the awkward cherry on top,' Hawk gruffled, adding to my red-faced state as per usual.

The two she-wolves were completely stunned at what I had requested.

"You want a pretend girlfriend?" Sloane repeated, her tone lost all its once hardened edge. "Why? You're a good-looking guy, you can have any girl you wanted that actually likes you."

"That's exactly why I don't want a girl to like me in that way…" my mouth suddenly felt incredibly dry with the two girls in front of me gaping, the reality dawning on them as to why I was so understanding of their predicament.

"...You're…?" Imogen left her question open, but I knew what she meant.

"Yeah," I answered, suddenly feeling incredibly vulnerable, like I was naked in a room full of people.

"So....you're after a beard?" Sloane raised her brow at me.

"A beard?" I rubbed my jaw. How the hell would facial hair help me?

They both giggled a little at my confusion. "Not a beard you grow on your face. It's a woman that covers for a gay guy in the closet," Sloane said once she had finished laughing.

"Oh," I felt my face heating at how stupid I must have sounded. "I suppose?"

"So you really don't want anything physical. One of us would just hang on your arm or something like that?" Imogen inclined her head. The fear plastered on her face from before had virtually melted.

I shook my head, feeling like I was now the one under some weird interrogation.

"Have you actually ever done anything?" Sloane smirked at me, obviously taking some delight in how I was almost squirming uncomfortably.

"Uh…" heat flared through my body in embarrassment. I had zero experience with anything remotely intimate.

'Except for slapping the ol' salami around,' my wolf howled in laughter.

'Oh goddess, would you stop!'

"You're so innocent it's almost cute," Sloane continued to poke at my flustered state. "You're not like I thought you'd be."

I got that a lot. Many made judgements of me before they even knew me. But it wasn't as though I led anyone to believe anything different. I was always moody and sullen-looking. Others interpreted it as a cold and hostile demeanour, but in reality, it was because I was living a lie, hating myself and hating being different, hating that I was pining after someone that would probably never want me back, hating my own father and being terrified of him ever finding out the truth about me. I started fights that others saw as unprovoked attacks, a simple display of me being a violent asshole, when in reality my opponents had made lewd or disgusting remarks about she-wolves, my friends, Taylor…I would never have attacked someone innocent.

…No one ever wanted to believe there could be more to me, all because of who my father was.

“How long have you known?” Imogen pulled out a chair at the table to sit as she spoke. “That you were…gay?”

I rubbed the back of my neck, sitting also. “I don’t know, I just…I guess it was middle school? I knew I was different because other boys were talking about ‘hot girls’ and I didn’t get the appeal.”

“A sentiment I can honestly say we don’t share,” Sloane grinned, glancing at Imogen in the most heated and raw way possible…exactly how I looked at my sweet blond boy.

“What about you two? How long has this,” I indicated between them both, “been going on for? How did you keep it hidden?”

“Clearly we didn’t do the best job of hiding it,” Imogen muttered sheepishly. “Sloane is a year older than me, she graduated last year and became a tracker. We always kinda saw each other in the hallway,” and she looked at Sloane so softly, like she was the only one who existed in the world.

“We tried to fight it, but when I shifted not long after high school, it just grew and I couldn’t keep away from her,” Sloane interjected. “It might be a while before Imogen shifts, but I know if or when she does…she’ll be my mate. She’s all my wolf and I can think about. Do you have anyone like that?”

It was as though all the oxygen not only left my lungs, but my body also.

Without a doubt, yes.

Everything about Taylor mesmerised me and it was growing with each year. And ever since I shifted, my longing was becoming painful. It was a thought I always shut down before it expanded in my mind. It went beyond want or lust. I felt it the very second our eyes had finally met for the first time…my wolf felt it.

I wanted every part of him.

I wanted to wake up seeing his golden curls and golden-green eyes each morning, for the rest of my life.

I wanted him to be my mate.

I was irrevocably in love with Taylor Forrester…I loved everything about him and that terrified me more than anything.

“That is the biggest yes anyone has never spoken,” Sloane grinned at me wildly, making my face heat up again.

“Is it one of the guys you hang around with?” Imogen practically jumped up and down in her seat in excitement.

“Scott and Jayden?” I said with a grimace, because they were like my siblings. “Absolutely not. Scott is very much straight and Jayden…well that’s for them to say, not me.”

“So it’s like some super secret love?” She continued to enthuse. “That’s so sweet. Does he even know?”

“Imogen! Jeez,” Sloane interrupted her. “He’s literally just outed himself to us. He’s not gonna tell us everything,” she turned to me. “She’s a total hopeless romantic, can you tell?”

“I’ll help you. We gays have to stick together in this place,” Sloane gave me a conspiratorial wink.

“Me too…but is your dad going to be ok with a probable Omega hanging around you?” Imogen asked, suddenly looking a little nervous.

‘We’re not pups any more and you heard what that disgusting pig said last night. He’ll just think she’s practice,’ Hawk grumbled, shuddering in revulsion. I could already feel him growing pissed off again after last night’s dinner.

‘We still can’t let Nicholas think we’re getting too close. He has that girl, April, lined up as our chosen mate. If he thinks or even suspects that someone could take her place as a future Luna, he’ll kill them,’ I reminded my wolf.

“As long as we make it look as though whatever we have going on is super casual, he won’t care…as gross as it sounds, he’ll probably encourage it.”

Between the three of us, we came up with a plan. We couldn’t just start being ‘all over each other’. I needed it to look natural and, for that, Imogen would be the best bet. We were at school together and shared the odd class here and there; I had just never paid attention that she even existed in the room. And after, when I finished school, I would be training full-time, so it would be natural that I would ‘meet’ Sloane.

“As much as it would be great to have you help me out with a cover. Long-term, what if I could help get you two out of the pack, so you could be free and be yourselves. If you stay here, you’ll always be in danger,” I offered them an out. Their help, presently, was a huge risk as it was. But beyond that, the relationship the two had could have them brutally killed.

They gazed at each other, a determined and resolute expression glazed their features.

“No, we’re staying,” Sloane’s voice was filled with confidence, leaving no room to argue. “We’re staying because it’s worth the risk and you need support. We can listen out for anyone else who can join us. You can't do this alone…and you're not alone.”

“Thanks guys…really, I mean it,” that heavy weight on my shoulders suddenly didn’t feel so unbearable. "Oh and uh, sorry about the breakfast this morning. I didn't mean to just run off and leave a mess behind for someone to clear up."

Sloane burst out laughing, "yeah, it's totally fine. Considering we probably scarred your poor little homo-heart for life, we'll call it even."

We got up to leave. I didn't want to be around here if my father demanded I show up for another private dinner again. He would have questions as to why I was down here already when I would normally be in my room.

“You should actually grow a beard, when you’re older, that is,” Sloane commented as she and Imogen were about to leave. “I think it'd suit you.”