“That’s hugely important.” Sofie looks out over the pack assembled in front of her, a collection of 18 men and women, some old, some young. “If they see the wolves as threatening or a potential danger to the town, then that’s a whole other story. It won’t win you any supporters in Beaumont and could potentially make this whole plan backfire.”
The sky is starting to lighten, signaling that morning is just around the corner. Ashton stands, and every eye turns to him. “Anyone not want to be a part of this, now is the time to speak up. We have to be in this together.” His eyes scan the crowd and rest, just for a few moments longer, on Gus. There’s no doubt in Sofie’s mind that what Ashton is saying is for his benefit.
Sofie looks out over the men and women in front of her, watching their reaction to what their pack leader is telling them. There’s an expression of trust and belief in their faces that shows just how much they value Ashton and how much they think of him. There’s something about him that inspires people to put their faith in him, to follow him.
“We’re with you, Ashton. Just like always.” Lindsey speaks up on behalf of the rest of the pack and no one contradicts her. The expression in all of their faces shows that they all feel exactly the same way, at least all of them bar Gus. However, he remains silent, although there’s a dark look on his face that makes Sofie shiver, despite the warm air. She can’t help but think that he’s going to be a problem.
On the drive back to the motel, Sofie broaches her concern with Ashton. “Do you think Gus is going to try something?”
The look on Ashton’s face tells her that she’s just crossed a line that she hadn’t even been aware of. “Gus is pack. He would never do anything to hurt his brothers and sisters. We’re just not made that way.”
Sofie knows in her heart that she should probably back down at this point, but she knows that if she doesn’t say what she’s thinking out loud, then they all might have to suffer the consequences. “He’s not happy about it. You saw his face. He hates the idea of showing yourselves, hates the idea of me having anything to do with all of this.” She looks out of the window, trying not to take his opinion of her personally.
“Is that what this is about? That he doesn’t like you?” Ashton shakes his head in disbelief. “Just because he may not vote for you as homecoming queen doesn’t mean that he would ever betray the pack. It would be like stabbing your own family in the back. Humans do that, wolves don’t.”
“You sound like Gus, like you think you’re better than the rest of us. Is that what you really believe?” Sofie tries not to think about what that means for her, what it means his opinion of her must be. This is about something bigger than just the two of them.
“No, I didn’t say that.” Ashton sounds frustrated, and she hears him take some deep breaths, calming himself. “I just meant that you don’t know Gus like I do. He’s decent and loyal, and he would never let me down. He hasn’t so far, and we’ve been friends for a very long time.”
Sofie takes the not-so-subtle hint that this is a conversation that’s clearly off-limits. They sit in silence for a few moments until she literally can’t contain her curiosity anymore. “Is that how you control it? The breathing?” She looks at Ashton out of the corner of her eye, and she sees the smile creeping across his lips.
“You don’t give up, do you? Does that brain of yours ever get turned off?” He laughs that deep laugh of his that seems like the greatest sound ever.
“Not really. Sort of comes with the territory of being a scientist. I figure we stop thinking when we die so, before that, I’d like to find out as much as I can about everything there is to know.” Sofie waits a beat, letting this sink in before continuing. “So is that a yes?”
Ashton sighs theatrically, raising his eyes to the heavens as he realizes that he’s not getting out of answering her question. “It’s not a yes and it’s not a no. When you get emotional, it’s harder to keep it in check. It’s the way our bodies protect themselves. When we sense danger real or imagined, it’s an automatic response, just like pulling your hand away when you touch something hot. Breathing control is one of the ways we hold back the wolf, but it’s not the only way. It’s a long process; it takes time and practice and patience.” He closes his mouth, signaling that part of the conversation is over.
“Does it ever not work?” Sofie turns in her seat to face Ashton, unable to draw her eyes away from the strength that his body exudes. She can feel the heat coming off of him without even having to touch him. But she figures that’s a question for another day.
“A long time ago.” Ashton’s voice is low, and it seems as if he has to force the words out of his mouth.
“What happened?” The words are out of her mouth before she can tell herself that sometimes she should know when to leave well enough alone.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Ashton closes her down and clams up, gripping the steering wheel tight.
Sofie nods in understanding. Whatever happened when Ashton was overcome by the wolf inside of him, it clearly wasn’t good. I knows that he would never hurt me, but what if there came another time when he couldn’t hold back the wolf? What if that happened around me? They sit in silence for the remainder of the journey until they’re a block away from the motel.
“Pull over here. I don’t want Luke to see me getting out of your car again.” Sofie gathers herself, knowing that today she’s going to have to face her boss, and she doesn’t know how much longer she can hold him at bay.
“Why? You don’t want him to know that you’re with me?” Ashton’s eyes flash and the anger that he always seems to be battling builds up inside of him again.
“No! You know it isn’t like that!” Sofie looks at him with a wariness that she had hoped she would never feel around him. “But he already has enough reasons to make my life difficult, and I don’t want to give him any more.” Sofie reaches out and rubs her hands along the thick stubble across his cheeks.
“If he touches you...” Ashton lets the threat fall between them, and she’s glad that he doesn’t finish the sentence. No matter how much she dislikes Luke and how many reasons she has to hate him, she would never want to be the reason that something permanent happened to him. She doesn’t think that she could live with herself if she let that happen.
“I know, Ash. I know. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” She leans into him and kisses him softly, but Ashton needs more from her than that. He pulls her closer to him, so she’s almost sitting in his lap, and crushes his lips against hers. She knows that he’s staking his claim on her, making it clear that she is his and no one else’s. Her independent streak wants to tell him that she’s her own person, that she doesn’t belong to anyone. But she knows that he needs this, he needs to know that she’s not going anywhere, that Luke can’t take her from him.
“Keep in touch.” Ashton leans his forehead against hers, watching her nod in agreement.
As she jumps out of the truck, she wonders if it’s always going to be this hard to leave him, if she’s always going to feel like she’s left a part of herself behind when she’s not with him.
It’s still early enough for the town to be asleep. She doesn’t see anyone as she makes her way into the motel, trying not to hold her breath and half-expecting to see Luke sitting in the reception waiting for her.
“Umm ma’am! Ms. Braun!” The words make her stop in her tracks. She had thought she was home free and although she doesn’t recognize the voice, she has come to expect that surprises are generally not welcome.
As she turns around slowly, she sees the teenager that mans the reception desk looking at her earnestly. She breathes a sigh of relief and tells herself to get a grip. “Brett, right?”
The smile that spreads across his young face tells her that her razor sharp memory hasn’t failed her. “Yes ma’am.” He looks so pleased that she’s remembered his name that he seems to have forgotten why he called her over.
“Is there something you need to tell me, B
rett?” She tries to avoid tapping her foot as she waits for whatever it is he wants to say. The clock behind his head shows that it’s coming up for 7am, which means that Darwin is going to be up and about, like he always is at this time, just like clockwork.
Brett clicks his fingers together like he’s just recalled why they were having this little chat in the first place. “This came for you.” He holds out an envelope addressed to her by hand. She recognizes the writing straight away and has to persuade herself not to rip it open right then and there. “It looked important. Figured I should get it to you straight away.” He looks at her endearingly, like he’s hoping he did the right thing.
“That’s great, thanks Brett. That was very...professional of you.” Sofie flashes him a smile before turning around to sneak back to her bedroom.
“You’re friend, the one with the Harry Potter glasses, he was looking for you last night.” Brett keeps his voice low like he doesn’t want to be overheard, but his stage whisper is so loud she’s surprised that he doesn’t manage to wake up the entire floor.
“Oh?” Sofie wonders what Finn must be thinking about her little disappearing act. She knows that he wouldn’t mention it to Darwin, but he would no doubt have his suspicions and that meant that she would have to lie to him. She couldn’t tell him anything about what she had seen the night before. The pack’s secret wasn’t hers to spill, and she had no intention of betraying their trust. But it was hard to think that she would have to hold something so big back from Finn. He was her best friend and, up until now, she had shared more with him than anyone else since her parents died.
“Yeah, he said you weren’t feeling too good. He knocked on your door a few times, tried to get me to give him a key to your room when you wouldn’t open up.” Brett speaks slowly, taking longer than she had thought possible to tell what seemed like a relatively simple story.
Sofie avoids the urge that she has to tell him to cut to the chase. “And did you give him a key?”
Brett looks at her with wide eyes. “No ma’am.” He shakes his head seriously. “Motel policy, we can only hand over keys to the resident of the room.” Then, as if he’s put some of the pieces of the puzzle together, Brett leans in speaking so softly she can barely hear him. “I told him that you were sick and didn’t want anyone to disturb you.” He smiles at her and winks to show that he’s keeping her secret.
If he has any idea of the real secret that she is keeping, then he may not be so happy to help her cover her tracks, she thinks. “Thanks, Brett. That was very thoughtful of you.”
“Whatever you need, just ask for Brett.” He smiles, looking so pleased with himself for helping her out that he looks like he might explode.
Sofie throws him a little wave before hurrying back to her room, locking the door behind her. She doesn’t waste any time ripping the letter out of the envelope. It’s not long but she has to read it a few times to take in all the information.
Dear Sofie
I’m sorry that you haven’t heard from me before. I know that I owe you an explanation, but I didn’t want to call or email, not when Shale seem to be monitoring everything that they can.
I don’t know what LC has told you, but I didn’t tell him about the sample you sent me. He knew I had it before I even had time to test it. He asked why it was off the books. He figured we were trying to hide something, and I guess he was right. He gave the sample to one of the new guys and told me to pack my things and leave, that I was no longer working for Shale.
I didn’t need to test what you sent me to see that it was special, different from anything we’ve seen before. I stuck around long enough to overhear the new guy tell LC that the rock suggests huge oil deposits. That was all he wanted to know before he locked it up with the rest of his collection. He’s not interested in science, all he cares about is profit, and I’m done with that.
If you can get your hands on another sample, do it and don’t tell anyone. Run the tests you need outside of the company. What you’ve found is something incredible, don’t let LC destroy it. We’ve done too much of that already.
Be well.
Jennie
After the third reading, Sofie puts the letter down and holds her head in her hands. She had thought that Jennie had sold her out to Luke, but it turns out she couldn’t have been more wrong. She can’t believe that Jennie’s been fired, without any explanation, any real reason. Well, there was a reason, Sofie reminds herself. It was because I had sent Jennie something and asked her to work on it outside of the rules. This is my fault. She feels the full weight of her guilt settle on her chest like a dead weight.
She tries to think clearly, focusing on the advice that Jennie has given her. She knows what her friend was talking about. Ashton himself had admitted that the rock, among other things in the canyon, had special properties. She was itching to find out what that meant. However, Luke wouldn’t care about the scientific importance of what she’d found. All he wants is to get those dollar bills out of the ground, what he destroys in the process isn’t of any interest, she thinks.
She feels another flush of anger come over her as she thinks about her boss and his selfishness. Her train of thought is broken when there’s an insistent knocking on her door. She looks down at herself, realizing that she’s still wearing her clothes from the day before.
“Just a minute,” she calls out as she strips them off as quickly as she can and struggles into her pajamas, managing to fall over in the process.
“You okay in there, Sofe?” Finn’s voice sounds amused on the other side of the door. She throws open the door, remembering to stretch and yawn to complete the look. “Hi.” Finn looks at her dubiously. “How you feeling?”
“Much better.” Sofie nods emphatically. “Think I just needed some rest, feeling good as new this morning.” She reminds herself not to lay it on too thick.
“Great, well, you might want to get ready. Luke will be over here soon with the ecologist.” Finn looks at her like he’s trying to figure out what he’s missing.
“Today? The ecologist is coming today?” Sofie had known that it would be soon but hadn’t quite figured that Luke would be so prompt.
“Apparently. Figured you’d know already, but it’s nice to know I’m not always the last to hear.” Finn smiles at her.
“Alright, well, guess I better hit the shower.” Sofie starts to close the door, but Finn puts his hand out stopping it from closing.
“You okay?” He gives her that searching look that he gets when he’s trying to fit the pieces of a technical puzzle together. “Luke didn’t try anything yesterday, did he?”
At that moment, Sofie would like nothing more than to tell Finn exactly what happened from the moment she got into Luke’s limo to the moment Finn turned up at the door of the motel room she hadn’t slept in. But she can’t. She can’t tell him about Luke because after his threat towards her and her future and the way he’s managed to summarily get rid of Jennie, she’s not willing to put Finn’s head on the chopping block just to make herself feel better.
“No, he was a little creepy—as always—but nothing else.” Sofie tries to maintain eye contact with her friend while she lies to him, but she fails miserably, looking down at the floor. “I should really jump in the shower.” She smiles apologetically at Finn.
“Sure, see you in a little while.” Finn lets her close the door this time, but she doesn’t miss the confused look on his face. He knows that she isn’t telling him the truth, but he can’t understand why.
Sofie starts the shower running and goes to grab her phone, typing in a text to Ashton. But then she remembers Jennie’s warning—about Shale monitoring calls and emails. The phone belonged to Shale, it came with the job. That must have been how Luke had found out about the sample she sent to Jennie. She had sent her a text message before she’d mailed it. Shale must be monitoring their activity. There was nothing to stop them from looking at all her communications. Sofie puts the phone down slowly and starts running the
shower, not wanting to arouse any suspicion by being late to the team briefing.
As she washes her hair, she tries to remember if she has said anything incriminating or potentially suspicious over the phone or on email. She can’t come up with anything, but it only takes a moment for her to realize that if Shale is monitoring her then they’re doing the same to Finn.
“Dammit.” She curses as she hops out of the shower, before being forced to go back inside when she remembers she hasn’t washed the shampoo out of her hair.
She half-dries herself and pulls on her clothes in record time. Throwing open her door, ready to head over to Finn’s room, she stops dead when she finds Luke with his hand raised as if he were about to knock.
She tries not to take a step away from him, remembering the way he had behaved and the look in his eyes the day before. But the presence of another man makes her breathe a little easier.
“Sofie, we were just looking for you.” Luke smiles at her like a Cheshire cat, and Sofie has to restrain herself from slapping the expression off of his face.
Downpour (Alpha Love - A Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 1) Page 19