Alpha Exposed

by Anya Breton

  The wary delivery and sour tone implied Kevin disagreed. But Dion was right. Kari had agreed to give up her power. There would have been no need for an accomplice.

  Sam cast one glance toward her sister’s door and then another at the strangely hopeful weretiger hovering near the table. She feared his departure would send Kari back into the depressed slump she’d been in.

  “If you or Kari need anything…” Kevin sent a look toward Kari’s room, much as Sam had. The intent expression lining his features was that of someone listening carefully. His dark eyes soon swiveled back to her face. “You can call me. I left my number on the table in the guest room.”

  It was sweet of him to offer. Especially since it sounded as if he was going against his boss to do so.

  Sam mustered a smile for him. “Thank you, Kevin. You were a great houseguest.”

  “You were a better host,” he told her on his way out. The weretiger gripped the doorframe as he paused, deep in thought for a pair of seconds. “Tell Kari I said…” Kevin’s throat worked as though he had difficulty swallowing. “Tell her the same thing I told you.” He twisted away the moment the final word left his lips.

  Sam had expected something a little more personal based on the soft quality to his voice when he’d begun the request. Had she missed something? She started after, meaning to see him out, but he’d quickened his pace. Kevin had hopped into the pickup truck parked across the street by the time she reached the front door.

  The truck pulled out of the spot it had held for the past four days. Kevin didn’t spare a glance for the house on the trip down the street. Quietly, Sam closed the door, feeling as if she was closing the cover to a cherished book for the last time.

  It was over. Kari was back safe and sound. The weretigers had gone back to their side of town. And Sam’s obligations were satisfied.

  So why did she feel as if she was missing something important?

  * * * * *

  Sam mistook the quiet sound for something on television at first. She called on the aether, drawing in a thread of magic so she could amplify what she heard.

  Kari was crying.

  The last time Sam tried to comfort her sister, the attempt only drove them apart. Would this time be different? She had to at least try.

  Quietly, she made her way to the corridor. She paused outside Kari’s room to verify what she already knew. Those soft breaths were definitely the kind that accompanied tears.

  Sam knocked on her sister’s door. “Kari? Can I come in?”

  The girl drew in a long sniffle and shifted on the creaking bed. A tissue ruffled out of its box, and then Kari blew her nose.

  “Yeah,” the girl called out.

  Sam twisted the knob rapidly but eased the door open until she was sure her sister was ready for her. Kari’s eyes were puffy and her nose a shade of crimson that brought to mind Santa Claus.

  “Oh honey,” Sam found herself saying before she could stop herself. Half a second later, she dropped onto the bed beside Kari. She drew the younger girl’s shoulders forward in a light hug. “What’s wrong?”

  “Everything,” Kari moaned.

  The answer stung. Sam struggled to keep her lips from turning down. She’d worked hard to make sure Kari had a home, an education and a future. And her sister had repaid her by trying to throw it all away.

  “Kevin left without even talking to me,” the girl went on. “I thought he’d at least say goodbye.”

  “I think he wanted to,” Sam admitted though she didn’t know why. “He looked a little scared to talk to you.”

  Kari lifted her head off Sam’s shoulder. She scrubbed her fingers under her eyelids, brushing away the tears. “Why would he be scared to talk to me?”

  It was a good question, one Sam didn’t have the answer to. “Did something happen between the two of you?”

  Kari’s lower lip jutted out. “No.”

  But she’d wanted something to happen. That much was clear.

  Sam barely resisted the urge to peel the damp dark hair off her sister’s glistening cheek. “I don’t know why he’d be afraid to talk to you. But I do know he said we could call him for anything. He left his number on the table in the guest room.”

  “I don’t want to call him,” Kari immediately snapped.

  Sam didn’t have to be a weretiger to know Kari’s response had been a lie. Kari did want to call him. Desperately. But she wanted Kevin to call her more.

  Sam knew exactly how her sister felt. And so she spoke the words she’d silently chanted for the past hour. “It will happen if it’s meant to be. You can’t force it.”

  Kari burst into true tears rather than the quiet sniffles she’d engaged in prior. Sam gathered her sister in helpless arms. She stroked Kari’s soft hair in what she hoped were soothing motions. The girl didn’t immediately draw away.

  Kari hadn’t let Sam console her in years. Sam tamped down the hope lifting in her chest. Kari might swing back into aloof behavior at any moment.

  “He’s right. I’ve been such a brat,” Kari blubbered against Sam’s shoulder. “You’ve worked so hard for us and all I’ve done is take, take, take and then ask for more.”

  Who in the hell had told Kari she was a brat? Sam couldn’t imagine sweet, docile Kevin speaking such frank words to the girl. But she also hadn’t expected his strange emotional departure.

  “But I…this house, Sam. It makes me so sad because I can’t stand in a single room without remembering her. It hurts so bad.”

  Tears sprung from Sam’s eyes at the reminder of the mother they’d lost. “Oh Kari. I know. I feel it too.”

  “I know you love it here, Sam. But I can’t stay. I need to go.”

  Sam didn’t speak the words she’d said dozens of times. Her sister knew she didn’t want her to go. She was beginning to realize this was Kari’s life. Sam had no right to dictate how she lived it.

  “I thought New York was the answer,” Kari went on at a rambling pace. “But he told me I could start my career here while studying fashion design. I didn’t believe him until the photographer called. The guy’s portfolio is amazing and he lives right here. He’s photographed Lara Stone and Miranda Kerr!”

  Sam recognized the names because her sister had photos of the models pinned to her bulletin board. They were Kari’s inspiration.

  “I thought it was too late to apply to school but it turns out I only missed the early decision deadline.” Kari dashed the tears away and then pulled back again.

  Sam shifted a few inches toward the edge of the bed until she could see her sister’s face. There was a look of determination set on Kari’s pretty features. It was the look she’d seen each time her sister mentioned New York.

  “I’m going to use the money I got to have a real portfolio made. I’m not giving up my dream but I’m going to go to school while I wait on it.”

  Sam was cautiously optimistic about that until her sister continued.

  “But I’m not staying here.”

  She opened her mouth to argue that they’d save money by her staying at home while commuting to the nearby university. Her sister cut her off.

  “I can’t,” Kari insisted. “It just hurts too much. I’m going to get school housing. You don’t have to worry about how we’ll afford it anymore. Not with the money I got.”

  Sam didn’t know what possessed her to ask it but she found herself saying, “What if I sold the house? What if I got a different place? Would you still want to leave?”

  Kari brushed away the damp hair at Sam’s cheeks—the exact move Sam had valiantly avoided. “I love you, sis. But yes. I would. You need me to leave or you’ll forever be taking care of me. I need to learn how to take care of myself.”

  Sam angrily narrowed her eyes. “Did he tell you that too?”

  “He didn’t have to. I already knew it. But Dion’s pep talk was a wake-up call I needed to hear.”

  “Dion?” Sam’s pitch was so shrill her sister winced.

  Her blood began
to boil. What right did Dion have, butting into their personal affairs? She’d asked him to help find Kari. That was all they’d agreed upon.

  Suddenly all the intelligent things Kari had spoken sounded foolish and uninformed.

  “When did you talk to Dion?” Sam’s voice was hollow as she asked it.

  “Sunday.”

  Before or after he’d fucked Sam in his office?

  “He called me,” Kari said as if there’d been any question. “I didn’t know you gave him my number.”

  Sam hadn’t realized it either. It must have been in all the stuff she’d forwarded the weretiger in the beginning.

  Before Sam could apologize for failing to tell her sister a stranger had invaded every bit of her private life for the past week, Kari said, “I’m glad you did. He’s been a big help. He even wrote a letter to the admission board telling them to accept me.”

  Sam choked on her next breath.

  “I think I’ll get in,” Kari continued with stars in her eyes. “Then I’ll be right around the corner until I hit it big.”

  Right around the corner was not right across the hall. But it wasn’t New York. It was a compromise. One Sam would learn to accept.

  Maybe the girl was right. It did hurt to stay here with all the memories. Perhaps it was time for her to move on too. But when Sam thought of moving on, it wasn’t the house that came to mind. It wasn’t the loss of her role as caretaker she lamented.

  It was Dion.

  Aer. When had that happened? When had he become something that hurt to lose? Sam had never had him to begin with. Yet the sting of loss was all too real.

  Did she dare reveal the vulnerable truth to the man she’d wronged months ago?

  Dion wasn’t the odious gangster she’d accused him of being. He’d helped his weepy waitress. Saved Kari. And then fixed almost everything wrong in Sam’s world.

  The guy hadn’t asked for any recognition for any of that. She could even forgive him for demanding sex as payment because he’d been right—she had wanted him. Even the exhibitionism had been almost too sexy to handle.

  Sam owed him a true apology at the very least. He’d get one tomorrow. With a side of cupcakes. Because what tiger could resist a delectable treat?

  “I’ll do whatever I can to help,” Sam conceded at last.

  Kari threw her arms around Sam’s shoulders for a tight hug. And then she suggested they get Chinese. Her treat.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Got a minute, boss?”

  Dion’s head whipped toward the door with a rough motion that sent his Gamma stumbling back a step. It was probably the dark look filling his features. He’d seen it in the mirror during his last visit to the staff restroom.

  Twenty-four hours had passed since he left Samantha Avira at her job. He’d hoped she’d call him to at least shout for what he’d done to her in that corridor. Even an angry Sam was better than no Sam at all.

  Scratch that. An angry Sam was a sexy Sam.

  “What?” he snapped, because the guy’s appearance had brought the Avira sisters back to mind just when he’d been making headway in drowning himself with profit projections for his businesses.

  The Gamma stepped inside, drawing the door shut behind him. Dion leaned into the chair. Kevin knew the other tigers would hear whatever they said, anywhere in the building. His Gamma understood the only true places for a private conversation were the soundproof rooms in Dion’s house—the office and the master suite. So why close the door?

  He worked on softening his tone. Kevin had done nothing wrong. Dion couldn’t repay the man’s recently stellar service with grouchy snapping.

  Or so he thought.

  “I want to make sure you won’t freak if I ask her out.”

  Dion was certain every ounce of blood that had been in his body now pooled in his face. Heat radiated off his skin. The pen he’d been twirling snapped in two. Cold ink dripped on his white knuckles.

  Kevin paled in an instant. The man’s spine flattened against the door as though he’d run if a quick escape were possible. Dion would tear him to pieces if he tried it.

  Dion’s voice was low and strained as he asked, “Ask. Who. Out?”

  “The Air witch—”

  “No,” Dion roared in fury even as he surged out of his seat. “Samantha is mine!”

  “Kari!” Kevin shouted fearfully. His arms shot up, blocking his head as if Dion would maul him. “I meant Kari! The younger sister!”

  Dion halted inches from the man once the words made it through his thick skull.

  Kari. Kevin wanted Kari. Not Sam.

  The quivering eyes peeking through defensively locked arms knocked Dion low. Dear god. What had he almost done? And to his Gamma!

  Dion dragged in a ragged breath and then forced himself back around the desk. There, he braced his palms on the wood until his breath grew regular.

  He had to face the truth.

  His ex had flirted with the entire pack while they’d been together. He’d only been mildly irritated. And when he’d found her fucking one of the newer tigers, he’d done nothing but dump her. Had that been Sam, the tiger would have been lucky to walk again when Dion finished with him.

  Whatever he felt for Samantha Avira wasn’t going to fade away.

  “She’s only eighteen,” Dion made himself say without lifting his head. He couldn’t stand to see the frightened look on the face of someone he’d vowed to protect. “You’re too old for her. But you ask for her sister’s blessing first. If Sam gives it, then you have mine.”

  “Okay. Sorry to bother you.” Kevin’s reply rushed out of him at a rambling pace Dion barely caught. The man then hurried through the hallway faster than he should have with vanilla humans in the place.

  Dion couldn’t bring himself to care. He dropped his ass back onto his chair, staring at the blue ink stain on his hand.

  How did he persuade an independent woman that she needed him—without driving her further away? And how did he do it when he had this virus in him?

  He was still pondering the question two hours later when his phone rang.

  “Hebert,” he greeted without inflection or a glance at the display.

  “I have your witch, Hebert.” A hissing female voice wiggled insidiously through his ear. “Call the Rangers and get Dale exonerated. Then bring the money you took from Dale plus a bonus of, let’s say a hundred thousand dollars, to her house. You have an hour before she’ll find out what it’s like to be a half Air witch with no power.”

  He checked the caller ID as the caller clicked off. It was marked as private.

  Dion battled down fury in an effort to think straight. The caller was clearly the accomplice he’d feared Dale had. But why had she taken so long to abduct Kari? Was it because he’d finally called Kevin away?

  A hundred and thirty thousand dollars would be no sweat to get. Exonerating Dale would be a bit harder. But Sam would want him to try both to get her sister to safety.

  “Dion,” Kevin called from the corridor. His head popped around the corner. “She’s gone. Someone took her.”

  “I know,” was Dion’s grim reply as he gripped the phone, with the Rangers’ office number already input.

  But Kevin continued as though he hadn’t heard. “Kari is frantic. Sam’s car is still there but Kari can’t find her anywhere.”

  Dion dropped the phone.

  Now he understood the call. Someone had his witch. Someone had Samantha.

  Someone was going to die.

  * * * * *

  The first person Sam thought of upon waking to the scent of musk and the pain of a pounding headache was Dion Hebert. But his musk was sexy, not old like this aroma. The space was pitch-black—curious because no room she had access to was ever this dark. Sam shifted her pose. Her wrists strained for half a second before the implication reached her brain. She was bound.

  What had happened?

  The last thing Sam recalled was checking the mailbox for today’s mail. And t
hen…

  Slowly her memory of the afternoon returned. A heavy gust of air had knocked her off her feet. She’d landed headfirst into the mailbox post.

  She must have blacked out. That explained the pounding head. It didn’t explain why she was bound in a place that didn’t smell familiar.

  “Mom, I’m handling it,” a harsh female voice growled, muffled by distance.

  Sam quickly analyzed the sound. This was a closed room at least thirty feet from the speaker, with perhaps a corridor separating them.

  “He’s going to recant,” the woman added. “Just you wait.” There was a beeping noise as though she’d pressed a button, and then she spoke again, softer as if in afterthought. “If I have to kill both half-bloods to force his hand.”

  Sam instantly feared for Kari. Did this stranger have her sister too?

  More beeps followed and then the woman snapped out questions. “Has the Alpha turned up?” Pause. “How can you not know?”

  Oh no. Dion was involved?

  “You’ve been watching the house for the past hour! You have been watching the house, haven’t you?” The woman released an irritated snuffle. “Call me the second Hebert shows up.”

  Sam pushed at the rough ropes coiled around her wrists. Now that she was lucid, she also noted pressure around her ankles. She was bound at both ends. There had to be a way out of here. Kari was in danger and who knew what this woman would do to Dion if he turned up?

  Sam concentrated on the ropes behind her back. Silently she called on the aether to fill the seed of her power, beneath her heart, with cool energy. Then she willed it to flow around her back. Magic lifted from the seed to heed her will.

  A visualization much like a topographical map appeared in her mind’s eye—a trick courtesy of magic working on usually invisible sound waves. Sam could “see” the entire room, with its twin-size bed and narrow chair, in black and white contours. More important was the image of the knot binding her.

  The restraint was a hastily tied length of cheap hemp. Perhaps the woman hadn’t counted on Sam regaining consciousness anytime soon. The pounding in her head and sluggish limbs suggested not only had she hit her skull on the post but she might have also been drugged.