Thunder (Alpha Love - a Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 3)

by Olivia Stephens

  Sofie takes a breath. She knows that she can’t tell him the truth; she can’t tell him the real reasons that she couldn’t say no to Luke. She can’t tell him that Luke has threatened to end her career if she doesn’t do what he says and give him what he wants. She can’t tell him that she won’t quit because she wants to be on the inside of the project. As long as she’s with Shale, she knows what’s going on in the canyon. This job puts her in the best position to help Ashton and the pack. That’s if there is any way left to help them. Besides, she needs the money, for more than just the rent on her apartment. She remains silent, trying to figure out what to say; but, she’s quiet for too long.

  “That’s what I thought—no loyalty. I heard what you did to Jennie, but I didn’t want to believe it. Turns out you’re just like the rest of them. I’m disappointed in you, Dr. Braun.” Darwin shakes his head at her with an expression that looks like he’s swallowing a bitter pill and, without another word, he walks out of the office.

  Sofie stands stock still, getting to grips with what she’s just heard.

  “Why is disappointed so much worse than mad?” Finn exhales like he can’t hold the tension inside his body any longer.

  “Because it’s something your dad would say to you. Because it means you’ve hurt him.” Sofie sits down heavily on the chair that Darwin has vacated and puts her head in her hands, wondering if the ache that seems to have taken up permanent residence in her head is ever going to go away.

  “What he said about Jennie, don’t take it to heart. He doesn’t know what happened; he’s just putting a bunch of rumors together and coming up with a theory.” Finn brushes away Darwin’s hurtful comment like it was nothing, but his words have made her ears prick up.

  “Rumors? What rumors?” She levels a laser-like gaze on Finn, who squirms uncomfortably in his seat like he’s sitting on a pin.

  “Oh, you know, office chit-chat, water-cooler stuff,” he replies evasively.

  “Finn, you’re so bad at lying. Why do you even bother?” Sofie gives him a weary look. “Tell me. What are people saying?”

  Finn takes a look at her and resolves that she’s clearly not going to let up on him until she hears what he has to say. “Nothing. Just that you seem to be climbing the ranks pretty quickly, and that Jennie was working on something for you before she got fired.”

  “So? She was working on stuff for a lot of people, not just me.” Sofie tries not to take it personally, she knows that it’s probably just idle office gossip, but the fact that people would think she’d had something to do with ending the career of a friend still smarts.

  “Exactly. So, it’s just that you’re an easy target. You’re out here in the middle of friggin’ Wyoming, not able to defend yourself. You’ve been promoted faster than anyone else in the company. You know, it makes good scandal. These people don’t have anything better to talk about.” Finn waves his hand dismissively.

  “Yeah, so how do you know about it? You and I don’t exactly have people lining up to sign our year books,” Sofie notes drily, wondering if keeping to herself at Shale had really been the best idea.

  “They figure we’re friends, so I must have the inside scoop. You wouldn’t believe how many of our esteemed co-workers have friend-requested me on Facebook since this all kicked off.” Finn talks excitedly, and then has the good grace to look abashed when Sofie gives him a look that tells him just how unimpressed she is with his jump in social networking stature.

  “You hate those people. You laugh at them and criticize their work and their bad jokes and their hairstyles.” Sofie knows she sounds like a whiny adolescent, but she doesn’t care. She feels like the fat girl that’s just been dumped for the popular kids.

  “I know, but they like me now.” Finn’s reply is so simple, and his voice is so small that it makes Sofie think twice about how hard she’s being on him. She had assumed that he was content being an outsider, that he enjoyed it, that he sought it out; but, perhaps that wasn’t the case after all, perhaps he wanted to be part of the cool gang as much as everyone else, he just hadn’t had a way in before. It looks like his friendship with Sofie is his golden ticket to the chocolate factory.

  “Well, I’m glad to be of service, Finn.” Sofie gets up suddenly too exhausted to continue this conversation.

  “Hey, Braun, are we okay?” Finn looks at her uncertainly, as if his sudden popularity would prejudice their friendship.

  “Yeah, we’re good Finnbarr, just as long as you’re not fueling the fire of that little rumor mill,” Sofie waggles her finger at him like a grandma giving him a telling off.

  “No chance. You know I wouldn’t throw you to that pack of hyenas. They have less sense than you do in your pinky finger. Besides, my silence keeps them interested!” Finn smiles cheekily at her and then goes back to his laptop. “You headed back?”

  Sofie checks her phone for the hundredth time. She finally has a message from Ashton. How about you come over and we do something other than fight? A. She smiles to herself as she reads it. He can’t apologize—that would be an admission of guilt—but she’s learning to read between the lines. He is saying that he hates fighting with her, that he wants to see her, that he missed her.

  She wonders why she has to look for his meaning between the words, like it’s a code to be deciphered. Well, you’re not exactly Sharer of the Year, Sofie points out to herself.

  “Actually I think I’m going to stay at Ashton’s tonight. You alright to lock up?” Sofie grabs her denim jacket and is halfway towards the door before Finn stops her.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He’s staring at his computer screen at an email that’s just popped up.

  “Honestly, Finn, it wasn’t a big fight. It was just one of those things…” Sofie trails off when she realizes that his concern over her choice in bed partner isn’t the reason for his warning. “What?”

  “I’ve just had an alert from Luke’s PA. He’s on his way back from DC.” Finn keeps his eyes on the screen, giving Sofie a few moments to collect herself at the inevitable news.

  “What, is Luke’s secretary one of your new Facebook buddies?” Sofie knows that this isn’t the main point she’s supposed to latch onto, but it’s the first thought that occurs to her.

  “No, Karen doesn’t ‘agree with the internet.’” He uses air quotes to emphasize how ridiculous this is. “Anyway, I hacked her email account so we’d have a heads up when the big boss man was back in town. I know how you hate surprises.”

  “Thanks, Finn.” Sofie leans against the doorframe, as it hits her that the honeymoon is officially over. She can’t go on pretending that she’s not in the middle of a war between Shale and the wolves.

  Finn shrugs, “Just figured that you’d be better heading back to the motel tonight. Luke probably won’t want to hear about how you’re still sleeping with the enemy.” He gives her a look that speaks volumes.

  She knows that he’s right. She can’t afford to do anything to make Luke any more suspicious of her and Ashton than he already is. The connection between them really is unlike anything she’s ever felt before; she feels like a part of her wakes up when she’s around him, like she’s more alive.

  She types a reply to Ashton, trying to set the same tone as he has in his text—not saying anything too deep outright, but making it clear how she feels. She tells him she can’t make it tonight but that she misses him. She re-reads the text about a hundred times before sending it. When are we going to stop playing these games? she thinks. There’s no response to her message, and she can already feel herself starting to angst over it like a love-sick school kid. She shoves the cell back into her pocket, reminding herself that she already has a long list of stuff to worry about. She doesn’t need to go looking for things to add to it.

  The drive back to the motel is filled with Finn’s chatter. He’s talking about some computer program that he’s trying to persuade Shale he needs, but they’ve said it’s too expensive, and now he’s sounding off a
bout it. Finn doesn’t like awkward silences, he prefers to fill them, even with a one-sided conversation. Sofie is grateful for his voice, allowing her to focus on something other than the fact that she would most likely be seeing Luke the next day. The thought of it makes her shiver involuntarily.

  “Oh, the receptionist dude, the one that stares a lot, the bug-eyed one?” Finn makes his eyes wide like he’s pretending to be a goldfish.

  “I think he prefers Brett,” Sofie shakes her head at Finn but can’t help laughing at his impression.

  “Whatever, he said he had a message for you last night. He seemed pretty anxious to deliver it to you. I bet someone’s got a little crush,” Finn says in a sing-song voice.

  “Yeah, well, I’m old enough to be his mother.” Sofie waves Finn’s comment away as they walk towards the motel entrance doors.

  “Cut yourself some slack, Braun! Not his mother, more like his cool aunt!” Finn throws the back-handed compliment over his shoulder as he heads to his room. “I’ll leave you two alone.” He gives the words so much meaning that Sofie feels bad for poor Brett, who is blushing like the teenager that he is.

  Sofie approaches the reception with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about my friend. He doesn’t get out much.”

  Brett’s face is still so red that Sofie’s a little concerned that he may just pass out right in front of her, but he manages to pull himself together. “That’s alright Ms. Brau—, Sofie,” he corrects himself, looking at her like he’s checking if it’s still okay for him to call her by her first name.

  After he just stands there looking at her for a few increasingly uncomfortable moments, she decides to move things on a little, otherwise this could take quite some time. “You have something for me, Brett?” She looks at him hopefully, trying to cover her yawn as the tiredness from the last few days catches up with her.

  “Yeah, right.” He rushes to the side of the desk, rifling through reams of paper. It’s as if the computer revolution hasn’t quite reached Beaumont, and the thought makes Sofie smile. It’s one of the things that she likes about the town. It feels kind of like a place that’s out of time, away from the big, bad real world. It gives her a feeling of peace, of safety, something that she’s never experienced back in DC or, as she’s started to think of it, reality.

  That feeling, that illusion of security comes crashing down on her when Brett hands over the message he scrawled down. “It didn’t make much sense to me. The guy on the phone just told me to take it down, he said you’d know what it meant?” Brett searches Sofie’s face for a sign that she understands what he’s written, but the only confirmation he gets is the color going out of her face.

  She turns white as a sheet as she reads the two words written in capital letters, making it seem like they’re being shouted at her.

  “Are you alright?” Brett looks at her with concern, frowning deeply as he gets flustered, trying to figure out what to do.

  “I’m fine,” she says, managing to force the words out of her throat, which seems to have suddenly gone dry as a bone. She turns on her heel and hurries down the corridor. She needs to get back to her room. She needs four walls around her; she needs to be on her own so she can sit down and try to remember how to breathe.

  Her hands are shaking so much it takes her three attempts to get the key into the lock, and she slams the door shut behind her. She slides down the door until she’s sitting on the worn carpet. It’s like all the wind has been taken out of her sails. The little crumpled ball of paper that she holds tightly in her hand has sapped all the energy out of her.

  She opens her fist slowly and watches as the paper unfurls in her palm, like it’s stretching. The two words are still there; she hasn’t wished them out of being. She reads them again—although she doesn’t need to. She knows what they say. COLLECTION DAY.

  Sofie tries to quiet the insistent beating of her heart. It feels louder than anything she’s ever heard. She looks at the calendar hanging on the opposite wall. Tomorrow is the last day of the month, which means that it’s only one day until she’s supposed to be in DC. One day until she’s supposed to hand over the envelope of cold hard cash that, this time, she doesn’t have. It’s the routine that she’s been following for months, for years.

  But how could they know where I am? How could they have realized I’m not going to be in DC? If Luke had managed to persuade her super to let him into her apartment, there was no telling what information the collectors had managed to get out of the man. They were good at getting people to talk. They were good at getting people to do a lot of things.

  She needs to get in touch with them, to explain why she can’t give them the cash, to ask for more time. But there’s no way for her to contact them, she’s never had to before, and she’d never wanted to. She was happy to keep their relationship to a monthly handover; she didn’t want any more to do with them than that. They’d always got in touch with her, and it seems that this month was no different.

  The message is more than a reminder about payment. It is their way of telling her that they know more about her than she had ever thought. It’s their way of making it clear that she can’t disappear, that they’ll find her. That’s what the message means—that they’re going to come for her here, in Beaumont.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  As soon as Sofie is able to get up off of the floor, she logged onto her bank account to see how much she had—just enough to pay the collector. She breathed a small sigh of relief, but it’s not enough to keep the jitters at bay.

  She feels like she’s one step behind all the time. She needs some help, a heads up, someone who can give her an early warning. She picks up her cell and listens to the ringing tone as she paces up and down her bedroom.

  “My favorite nerd! What’s up? You don’t call! You don’t write!” Lindsey’s voice is playful as always, and Sofie can just imagine her sashaying round the bar as she talks to her.

  “Hi Linds.” She can’t help but smile; there’s something about Lindsey that makes it impossible to be in a bad mood. Perhaps that was another of her many talents that she was always so mysterious about.

  “What’s up, girl? You sound tired. Is Ashton not letting you get any sleep?” Lindsey giggles naughtily.

  “I don’t kiss and tell!” Sofie smiles down the phone.

  “Honey, I wasn’t talking about kissing!” There’s a clatter of glasses as Lindsey clears up the bar.

  She realized that Shots must be about to open, and she hadn’t even realized the time. “Look, I know you’re busy, so I don’t want to keep you. But I was calling for a favor.” She bites her lip. She realizes that it’s always so hard for her to ask for help, even when it’s something as simple as this.

  “Whatever you need, honey-bun. Shoot.” Lindsey’s simple, easy friendship is exactly what Sofie needs, there’s no judgment with her.

  “I was hoping you could let me know if anyone…different stops by the bar.” Sofie holds her breath, waiting for the inevitable questions.

  “Different? As in two heads instead of one?” Lindsey stops doing whatever it is she’s doing and gives Sofie her full attention.

  “No, I’m not expecting an alien landing anytime soon. I just mean, if you see anyone that you don’t recognize or someone who looks like they’re not from around here.” Sofie winces at how vague she knows she’s sounding, but she needs to tread carefully. She has no intention of broadcasting the fact that she’s been followed to Beaumont by the less than legal guys that her deadbeat dad managed to get mixed up with.

  “Alright…But there are a few more of those out-of-towners around than before—with the jobs going at the canyon, I mean.” There’s no bitterness in Lindsey’s voice; it’s just a statement of fact. She doesn’t make Sofie feel like it’s her fault that Shale is poised to destroy the place that she and others like her call home.

  “Sure, right. Forget I said anything,” Sofie says, waving away her idea with her hands, as if Lindsey could actually see her.

&n
bsp; “Are you going to tell me what all this is about, babe?” Sofie can almost see Lindsey standing in the middle of the bar, hand on her hip, tapping her foot impatiently.

  “It’s nothing, nothing important. Just let me know if you see anyone that you get one of your…vibes about, that’s all.” Sofie picks up the crumpled ball of paper and throws it in the trash, where it belongs.

  Lindsey waits for a few seconds, probably trying to figure out if it’s worth her while to pump Sofie for any more information. When she realizes she’s not going to get anywhere with that, she moves on. “Sure thing, sugar. I’ll let you know if my radar starts to freak out. So, now will you dish on what’s going on with you and Ash?” Lindsey asks excitedly.

  “Truthfully? I don’t know.” Sofie flings herself down onto the bed, staring up at the peeling ceiling.

  “You don’t know?” Lindsey says, as if it’s the stupidest thing she’s ever heard.

  “No, it’s not like it is with you and Hector. It’s different. There’s so much we don’t say to each other, so much that I want to know and he can’t or won’t tell me. It doesn’t exactly make for a story that ends in happily ever after.” Sofie swallows the lump in her throat that appears out of nowhere, as she thinks about the end of the two of them and what that would look like.

  “Give it time, Sofe. Ashton’s not the most open of guys, as you’ve probably figured out. Besides, it’s not like you’ve caught him at a time when nothing’s going on, you know?” says Lindsey, hinting at what she means but careful not to say too much on the phone. After Sofie had told the pack about her cell being hacked, everyone was becoming a little more careful.

  “I know, I know, and it seems crazy that I’m sitting here worrying about where our relationship, or whatever this is, is going when things are so serious for you and the others.” She can’t help feeling like she’s being selfish, complaining about Ashton being so closed off when they have bigger problems to deal with, like the fact that the pack are about to lose the homeland that they’ve had for centuries.