1.5
1774 Words
BECCA SLAMS THE door of Leo's Hummer and he almost has an aneurysm gripping the steering wheel.
"I'm gonna kill her." As soon as the words leave his lips, he hops out of the car and get's into her face right there in front of the Alpha's Keep. "Slam my door again, you f*****g evil b***h from hell—"
"Or what?" Becca c***s her head to the side. The challenge almost twinkling off the blacks of her eyes. "What are you gonna do?"
I could see the muscles in his jaw working overtime as his body tensed. No one has ever tested his patience the way Becca has managed to. Those two were like fire and gasoline. Toxic as hell together. They're always trying to see who could get under the other's skin the fastest and Becca almost always wins, being that she just didn't know when to stop.
She's always been like this though. Pushing the limits even when it pushes her back. It is one of the things I admire most about her, and one of the things I deplore.
Nevertheless, they've been arguing since we got into the car.
What are they arguing about this time though? I have no idea. I zoned out through half of it, knowing they'll probably be at it for the rest of the way here and I was right.
Ah yes.
The location of the welcome-home party for Nero.
Leo wants to throw the party near the Forage, that large plot of desolate land between the five packs. It's a stupid idea, one that could end up getting us all killed considering the laws of the packs don't extend there; and bringing that large of a group to such a place... we'd all be better off wearing billboard signs for all the rapists and thieves out there going, 'Kill me, kill me. I'm stupid!"
Leo and Becca were nose-to-nose, my ears picking up their pounding hearts and the way Leo was slowly letting the air out of his flared nostrils. He was trying to calm himself. He had a quick temper and it only seemed to heighten when Becca was in the vicinity.
Slowly, he took a step away as he got his anger back on the reins.
Becca smirked, her arms folding over her chest as she watched him.
She'd won this round, and they both knew it.
"Massie," Leo murmured. "Where do you think we should hold the party?"
They both turned to me expectantly.
I agree with Becca one-thousand-percent, but I know better than to get involved in one of their arguments.
"I don't even think we should have a party at all."
Leo clicked his teeth and Becca rolled her eyes. "All in favour of ignoring Maisie, say, 'Aye!'"
"Aye!" Leo agreed and I glared at them both.
That's another thing. As much as I hate it when they argue, I hate it when they gang up on me even more.
We throw our bags haphazardly on the couch as we enter and Becca and Leo head for the kitchen still arguing. By the sounds of it, Becca was winning... again. She often did.
I sigh, looks like we're having a party here tonight.
Before I headed upstairs, I called over to Becca, "Hey! Where did you say my textbook was?"
"On top of my dresser!" She yells back.
I started up the stairs. Her room is in Alpha's wing, the second door after Alpha Gabriel's office, so it isn't hard to find.
Just as she said. My chemistry textbook is sitting right there with a small layer of dust on the cover. I almost laugh. I'd lent it to her last semester to study for her finals. I haven't gotten it back since and now I know why she failed that class.
With the book clutched under my arm, I leave her room, closing the door behind me. I'm halfway to the stairs when I hear movement in Alpha Gabriel's office. I don't remember seeing Alpha's car outside... is he home?
I ease back behind the door, careful of being seen, and peek inside. It's the Alpha, alright. He's pacing the length of his desk with a phone to his ear, his demeanor indicating he wasn't happy at all with whomever he was speaking to.
I've never seen the Alpha this unnerved before.
He always appeared to be cold and controlled, but right here and right now, he seemed anything but.
What could be making the Alpha this angry?
"Who is this?" He whispered so low I almost didn't catch it. If it wasn't for the wind drifting through the high windows of his office and carrying his voice towards the door, I would've been non-the-wiser.
"Listen, whoever the hell you are, you have no idea who the f**k you're dealing with." That was a threat if I didn't hear one.
There's a beep. He pulls away to glance at the screen, and by the distinct pop in his jaw, whatever message he got, it wasn't good.
A minute... two minutes pass by and before I know what is going on Alpha Gabriel launches his phone at the wall beside the door. The crack startles me so much I head-butt the door on accident.
"Ah, Fudge Biscuits!" I curse.
"Maisie?" Our eyes meet through the opening of the door and like anyone caught eavesdropping... I run.
____________________________________
I find Becca alone in the Kitchen. Leo long moved to the living room to watch the highlights of some sports game.
I scramble into a seat, my fingers tapping against the hardcover of the book as my leg bounce on the footrest of the stool. Becca looks up from her sandwich and regards me with her brows drawn. "What's wrong with you?" She bit into the sandwich.
I shook my head. "Nothing's wrong with me. It's fine! I mean, I'm fine!"
"You don't look fine," she retorted. "Maisie," she urged. "Why are you biting your nails then? You always bite your nails when you're nervous about something."
I looked down, and just as she'd said, I had been chewing on my almost-nonexistent nails unconsciously. I pull them away from my mouth and sat on my hand in an effort to break the habit.
"I'm hungry."
"You could've just said that, weirdo. You didn't have to just sit there." She went to work grabbing ingredients from the cupboards all while my thoughts swam aimlessly in my head.
Who was the Alpha talking to?
What could make him so angry?
Shit, is he going to banish me for eavesdropping?
While I have a stellar relationship with his daughter and sometimes his son, the same thing can not be said for the man himself. Alpha Gabriel is widely known for his stoicism, and when I say stoicism I mean a rock shows more emotions than that man. Despite what I saw moments ago, that was the only time I've seen him move those facial muscles to form anything that wasn't a thin-lipped blank stare. What I saw up in that office was basically a natural phenomenon.
You could only imagine what his private relationship is like with his kids and his wife. The correct answer is non-existent. Now do you get why Becca and Nero were at my house so often?
All of a sudden, I feel a looming presence at my back and my body tenses.
Shit.
Becca senses him a second after I do and I watch as her brows shoot up in surprise. "Alpha," she greets him with a smidgen of uncertainty in her tone.
I couldn't see him with my back to him but I can guess what he was doing. Staring down at us with his scary man eyes. "Rebecca," he grunts. "Maisie."
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
"Aren't you two supposed to be in school?"
"School ended thirty minutes ago," Masie answers in that way she always gets whenever they have one of their few conversations. Like she's apprehensive... as if she doesn't know how to talk to him, her own father.
He nods again. The silence that took over again had my fingers nails in my mouth and my leg bouncing like crazy. Until Becca opened her mouth again. "Did you want something, Alpha?"
"No," he said quickly, his baritone rumbling through the room. "I just wanted to check in on you. To see how you were doing."
Becca's brows bounced for a second time before she cleared her throat to hide her surprise. "I'm fine. We're fine. Are you fine, Maisie?"
"Yes, I'm fine," I squeaked. I coughed and tried again. "I'm fine."
"Well, if there's anything..." he started to turn.
"Wait!" She calls and he turns to regard her. "Tonight we're having Nero coming home party and I wanted to know if you were... um... gonna come?"
He scratched at his beard. "That is tonight?"
I see the hope die in her eyes the moment he said that. "...Yes."
"I'm not sure I can make it, honestly." He said. "I'm heading out of town tonight."
I perk up. Does his leaving have to do with that phone call?
"What about Nero? It's his first night back. Won't you be here?"
"I'll see him when I return."
He started to leave but stopped again and this time I made the mistake of meeting his eyes. "You girls stay out of trouble, alright?"
I gulped.
Then, he was gone.
Fucking hell. What was that?
Was that a warning? A threat?
Did the phone call I heard earlier have to do with him disappearing tonight?
Leo crashes into the room a second later, nearly tripping on a cushion as he barges in. "Was that the Alpha?"
Becca rolls her eyes. "Yeah, so?"
"I need to tell him about my score in Combat Training today. Where did he go?"
"Okay, one, I'm sure he doesn't give a s**t. And two, he went upstairs. But I don't think—" he's halfway up the stairs before she can get her sentence out. "—you should bother him," Becca finishes with a sigh.
She looks at me like it's my fault he's here. "Your boyfriend is a headache."
I scoff. "You're one to talk."
She finishes up my sandwich and pushes it over to me. I bite into it the minute it's in my hands. "You still coming over to my place to get ready?" I ask, mouth full of saucy goodness.
"You bet your ass I am. I'm gonna make you look so good, Leo's gonna drop his balls when he sees you."
- Writer
