In Love with the Alpha (Full Moon Series Book 1)

by Mia Rose

  Gabriel scoffed and added, “And a whole lot of luck!”

  Declan yawned, “Yeah, you got that right.”

  “I like to be lucky.”

  Chapter 22

  Justice

  “This won’t go unpunished.”

  Declan wheeled the car in between the lines of a parking space just outside of Julianne Jack’s Hunting Gear. He cut the engine and lifted his steaming mocha to his lips, his wide eyes were trained on the front doors of the small outlet. His plan was to hang out for a little bit each day this week and see if he could find any recurring shoppers that chose a crossbow as their weapon of choice. Declan knew that simply catching someone leaving the hunting gear store with brand new arrows for their crossbow didn’t mean that he’d found their attacker. But it was a start to potentially eliminating the threat of any hunters.

  Declan licked his lips clean of the blended flavors of mocha and espresso, and set his cup into one of the beat-up cup holders beside him. With Noelle on the lookout for him, he knew that scaring off or getting rid of a small group of hunters would be an easy feat for himself and Gabriel. He looked to the right of him and frowned. The only sound in the car was the soft patter of a few raindrops pelting against the windshield. Normally, Declan would have brought Gabriel along for this excursion, but his beta was already getting a little bit too big for his britches.

  An inkling of irritation was stirred up in Declan’s chest when he remembered the way that Gabriel had questioned him the night before. Of course, Declan was a little angry with himself for letting the information about the arrow slip, but Gabriel knew better than to question the alpha.

  Declan shook his head and tightened his fingers around the steering wheel. He watched an older couple step out of their burgundy SUV and head inside of the store.

  I can deal with Gabriel once this is all over, right now I need to focus on the hunters and press Noelle on how we can help Cassidy.

  His mind teased him with images of Cassidy lying in bed, asking him for ten more minutes in bed before he left this morning. He sighed, and leaned back against the seat while he scanned the parking lot.

  “This could take a lot longer than I thought,” he mumbled, and flicked the dial on the radio.

  There was a flurry of static, before the airwaves cleared and the smooth voice of the DJ oozed through the speakers.

  “Good morning, Cripple Creek! I hope that you guys are enjoying these surprise rain showers during lunch hour. Before we left for the break, I was discussing a few of our strangest events around town with our guest, Sheriff Houghton. Mr. Houghton, what do you make of everything going on? Are the local teens out of control, or is there just something in the water?” He punctuated his question with a hoarse laugh, a sound that could have only been formed from a lifetime of chewing tobacco.

  Declan scowled as the grave voice of the Sheriff rolled into the microphone, “Well, I don’t know what to tell you, we’ve got kids tearing each other to literal pieces in the school yard, and we’ve got kids getting drunk and rummaging around in meat freezers. It’s a crazy string of events that we’ve got going on lately.”

  The DJ replied, “Absolutely, Mr. Houghton. How would you advise the citizens of Cripple Creek on how to stay out of harm's way?”

  “Lock your doors, check up on your children and family members. And when you know that they’re going to be out, then just be careful of your surroundings. We want to prevent any more incidences like this from happening. Please give your Cripple Creek police station a call if you see anything out of the ordinary.”

  Declan’s fingers slipped from around the wheel and formed a fist.

  He slammed his hand onto the dashboard, “Fuck!”

  Every cop in town is going to be looking for ‘strange’ things, I can’t afford even the smallest slip ups or we’re all going to go down.

  “Damn it!”

  Declan’s shot bounced off of the windows of the car, and from the corner of his eye he spotted a middle-aged woman that was doing a terrible job of trying to make it look like she wasn’t looking into the car.

  Declan took in a deep breath, and turned his head toward the window. The woman snapped her head forward and moved inside of Julianne Jack’s. Declan’s eyes traveled behind her, a group of four other women, all of them couldn’t have been a day younger than forty, filed into the store as well.

  He raised his eyebrows as the flow of traffic suddenly picked up, and bodies moved in and out of the hunting goods store at a steady rate.

  I didn’t expect them to have such a strong flow of business.

  Declan opened the driver’s side door and stepped into the muggy air surrounding Julianne Jack’s. Declan’s boots scraped against the damp asphalt, and he pushed open the door to take a step inside of the pine-scented hunting haven.

  Bows, hunting knives, and rifles hung on the walls that surrounded him. There was a gray-haired woman at the front counter, and she handed over a box of bullets and a pack of hunting traps.

  She waved goodbye at the older man in front of her and chirped, “Happy Hunting!”

  Declan shoved his hands inside of his pockets and wandered through the aisles, weaving through every variation of weaponry available to the average citizen. He knew that a lot of people liked to hunt for sport, and some just felt comforted by having weapons like these around. But he couldn’t imagine relying on any other weapon but his teeth and claws. Since his turning, he never thought that he’d worry about him, or someone that he cared for… standing on the other end of a crossbow or a rifle. But that was before the bullets were made of silver that would rot them from the inside out. Now, the crossbows were being wielded by adept hunters.

  Declan’s fingers toyed with a pack of pellets that would fill up a young boy’s bb gun. He could hear the woman that he assumed to be Julianne humming up front. She was wheezing while she lifted a heavy box of weaponry onto the counter. He turned his head just as the door chimed, and the sound echoed under his high frequency hearing. Declan winced and tucked himself behind a wide display of camouflage sweatshirts, as another small group of people filed into the store.

  Why are there so many together? Are they in some sort of hunting club?

  Julianne’s voice could be heard from the counter, “Good morning, Garrett! It’s been a little while, and you’ve brought me some company!”

  The man named Garrett replied, “I’ve been a little busy besides I’ve had Noelle here picking up the slack and hunting dinner on her own. It builds character,” Garrett and Julianne shared a hearty laugh.

  Declan’s fingers curled around the box of pellets that he was holding, the cardboard folded underneath his grip. The pellets inside began to feel the weight of Declan’s rage.

  She pretended not to know anything about that arrow, I stumbled upon her and her family’s weapon of choice and I was stupid enough to

  If he could have done so without drawing attention to himself, Declan would have rammed his head into the display to disrupt the flow of the scene that was on constant replay in his head. The way that he followed her deeper into the nature preserve the night before, and dropped all of the business with the arrow made his blood boil, now.

  You idiot. I should have dropped this when I realized what she was. I shouldn’t have started this to begin with.

  Declan stood on his toes and watched as Noelle and the other people behind her moved down the aisles, pausing to examine the artillery. Declan waited until they were far enough down the aisle, and strode toward the door.

  Julianne called out, “Have a great day, sorry that we didn’t have what you were looking for!”

  Declan pushed the door open and almost missed the small crack in the glass that his palm had created. He ripped open the car door and jammed his key in the ignition. As the engine roared to life, Declan peeled out of the parking space he’d been waiting in earlier, and the momentum tossed his lukewarm coffee to the floor of the car.

  “Fuck!” he screeched, and press
ed his foot on the gas until the odometer read fifteen miles over the speed limit.

  Declan sailed down the street, barely pausing for stop lights. It wasn’t until he was most of the way home that his anger fell to the wayside and the alpha in him took over.

  His phone buzzed at a stoplight, and a quick glance at the screen told him that Noelle had sent him a text. Declan chuckled to himself, moving one hand over the other as he drove toward Clifton Towers.

  It doesn’t matter.

  “This won’t go unpunished.”

  Chapter 23

  Remembering

  “It’ll be just like before.”

  Declan burst through the front doors of the apartment building and hustled up the staircase. On the second level, Cassidy raised her head from a loose doorknob that she was screwing into place.

  “Declan! What’s wrong?”

  Declan paused and turned to Cassidy, “I’ve found the hunters that shot Keith with that arrow, and I might have found the hunter that hurt you that night.”

  He slid his hands along the railing as he hurried toward Cassidy, looking over his shoulder for any human tenants that might have been wandering in the halls.

  Cassidy rose from the floor and wiped her hands free of rust residue.

  Dark orange smears ran down the thigh of her jeans and she said, “Are you sure?”

  She held her arm out to Declan, clutching his arm so tightly that he thought she might snap the bone. Declan nodded, and pulled Cassidy into him. Cassidy gasped, and fell against Declan’s chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist.

  She said, “All of this stress and worry that you’ve put yourself through these last few weeks could finally be over.” Cassidy tilted her head back and her eyes burned into Declan’s, “Everything could return to how it was.”

  Declan smiled and cradled her cheek in one of his hands.

  “We might be able to get you the help that we need.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and allowed his head to fall on top of hers. Cassidy smelled fresh, like she’d just rolled around in a tub filled with rose petals before she started working on the loose doorknob.

  The muscles in Declan’s jaw clenched together, the teeth in the bottom row toward the back of his mouth ground against the teeth on the top.

  “Everything will be how it’s supposed to be,” he whispered. He freed himself from Cassidy and said, “I’m going to go and get Gabriel. I want everyone to gather in the basement tonight, and I want them to be ready for anything.”

  Cassidy narrowed her eyes, “What do you have planned?”

  Declan shook his head and placed a finger over Cassidy’s lips, “Later. I need to find Gabriel.”

  Declan turned on his heel, and headed to the staircase. He stomped up to the height of the fourth floor, with Cassidy’s wary eyes following him as he disappeared.

  Declan clapped his hands together, the sound cut through the low murmur that spread throughout the room. Pack members sat against their folded chairs with defeated expressions, a couple of them were still wearing their uniforms from the burger joint two blocks from the apartment.

  Cassidy and Gabriel stood on either side of them, and Cassidy wore a grave expression. Gabriel made his best attempt to look like he had everything under control.

  The chatter died down and Declan held up his hands, “Good Evening, everyone! Thanks for making the time to attend the pack meeting, I know that a lot of you lead busy lives. I want to get down to business. A few weeks ago, your alpha female was attacked while on a hunt. Cassidy, could you show them, please?”

  Cassidy turned around and peeled the back of her tangerine-colored blouse off of her skin. The bright-red scar elicited a round of gasps and Declan waved his hands through the air.

  “Cassidy was struck with a blade that had been doused in a very particular type of silver, and we’re still working on how we’re going to care for this injury. However, the other night, one of our newer pack mates was impaled by the arrow of a crossbow. These hunters have targeted our pack, and they have put us into a corner.”

  A few of the pack mates shifted in their seats, and at the back of the room, Keith jumped to his feet.

  He cleared his throat and said, “What are we going to do?”

  Gabriel nodded at Keith, “I’m glad to see you’re well enough to make the meeting.”

  Declan looked at the pack, “Yes, we’re happy that Keith is still with us. However, we need to keep in mind that those hunters almost took down two of our pack members. We can’t let this threat persist. So, anyone who is able bodied will attend a hunt with Cassidy, Gabriel, and myself tonight. We’re on the lookout for hunters, do not hesitate to take them down.”

  A heavy silence hung over the group as they slumped in their chairs, and some exchanged nervous glances with one another and Cassidy slapped her hands together. Every wolf in the room jerked their heads toward the front of the room.

  Cassidy grinned before saying, “I know that Declan has a way of making things sound super scary, but we’re going to be fine. A group of humans think they’re a bunch of saviors, and we’re just going to teach them a very deadly lesson.”

  Gabriel chimed in, “We have the utmost faith that all of you can handle a fight like this one. I’ve seen half of you take down grizzlies and salvage most of the meat within an hour.”

  There were a few chuckles from the center of the room before Declan said, “Alright then! So, we’re going to take care of the hunters tonight. I look forward to fighting alongside you.” The sound of the metal folding chairs scraping against the floor commenced, and Declan pulled Cassidy close to him.

  His worried voice flowed into her ear, “Are you sure that you can fight?”

  Cassidy patted him on one of his sinewy arms and said, “I’m sure. Don’t worry about me, worry about these hunters that have been trying to screw up our lives.”

  Declan nodded, “Understood.”

  He pressed his lips onto the skin on Cassidy’s forehead, and pulled away to catch the million-dollar smile on her face. Declan smiled to himself, and moved upstairs along with the rest of the pack.

  Maybe things can return to normal after everything's said and done. After… Noelle is gone. It’ll be just like before.

  Declan walked through the cobweb-covered entrance that led to the main floor of Clifton Towers and walked straight across to his office. He stepped inside and pressed his weight against the door to shut it. He released a heavy, shuddering breath. He sat in his chair, he slid his phone out of his pocket and tapped the contact that read… Noelle Scott. Declan pressed the phone to his ear, his heart pounded in his chest as his eyes stayed glued to the door.

  After the third ring, Noelle answered, sounding breathless, “Hello?”

  Declan forced a smile, “Hey!”

  Noelle chuckled into the speaker and said, “You’re calling me a lot lately. Won’t your mate hear?”

  “She’s fine. Listen, I’ve got some hungry wolves over here… where is your family planning to hunt tonight so that we can steer clear? I don’t want to deal with any crap.”

  “Ah,” Noelle replied, “well, we’re steering clear of areas like the nature preserve tonight. You might want to head there. I’m pretty sure that we’re going to be at your usual hunting grounds.”

  Declan smirked.

  Noelle said, “Declan? Is everything alright?”

  He leaned back in his chair, and there was a dark glint in his eyes, “Everything is just fine.”

  Noelle flexed her hands into claws and scooped any loose, wet strands of hair into a sleek ponytail. The voices of her mother, father, aunts, and cousins carried through the walls of her bathroom. She dropped her robe and stood in front of the mirror, running her eyes over the newest love marks that she’d acquired from her last rendezvous with Declan.

  How long until I can feel his skin again?

  She smiled to herself, thinking of how outraged the people on the other side of the bathroom door woul
d be, to learn that she’d been carrying on a relationship with the alpha of a wolf pack.

  Noelle was confident that their heads would explode, Garrett and Abigail would possibly disown her. She shrugged, maybe it was time to get from under her parent’s thumb anyway.

  Noelle crouched onto the floor and collected her robe. Down the hall, the rest of the family gathered in the kitchen, eating a home-cooked meal courtesy of Abigail. Noelle slipped into her bedroom without being noticed.

  Everyone in that kitchen would need all of the strength that they could muster from that meal, because Noelle was more than confident that she’d dance circles around her distant relatives.

  Aunt Petra could hardly hold her knife correctly the other night, and Mom and Dad are worried about my abilities?

  Noelle shook her head, letting go of all of the thoughts that swirled around in her head from the other night.

  She sat on the edge of her bed and pulled open her dresser drawer, her black leggings and tight-fitting tank top were neatly folded inside. Noelle slipped into her clothes, feeling the same rush of adrenaline that she always felt when she prepared for a hunt. A pair of soft footsteps had just stopped outside of her door.

  Without waiting for her visitor to knock, Noelle called out, “Yes?”

  Garrett pushed the door open and said, “We need to stay alert tonight. Anything could be waiting in those woods for us, you know?”

  Noelle walked over to the door and stuffed her feet inside of her boots.

  “You don’t have to tell me twice, Dad.”

  She tugged at the skinny, black laces on her boots until they left a red, crisscrossed imprint on her foot.

  “No matter what’s in those woods, we’ll be waiting for them.”

  She was content that she told Declan to steer clear.