Avoiding Alpha

The guy was waiting for me in the center of the road. “I’m Daniel,” he said. His face was too empty—a perfect emotionless mask. I’d gotten used to everyone towering over my five feet and change, but Daniel was only a few inches taller than me. Even if he was a bit on the short side, he stood the way someone does when they have a lot of power. Tall, shoulders back, head held high. He looked me in the eye, and I had to fight the urge to enter into a staring contest.



My wolf started to rise. She didn’t want anyone challenging her. The itch to change and lash out at him rose in me. I fought it down, but pain ran through my limbs.



I couldn’t let this happen.



Chris growled as he stepped in front of me, cutting off Daniel’s line of sight.



Daniel grinned as he peered around Chris. His mask slid away, making him seem a little more approachable. “It’s good to finally meet you, although I wish it’d been before…”



Right. Before I’d been bitten.



He held out his hand, and I hesitated. If I was being honest with myself, I wanted to see something from him. Especially after my earlier vision. But it was an invasion of privacy.



My mental debate didn’t last long. Turned out, I wanted information more than I cared about Daniel’s privacy.



I took his hand, letting myself open to my bruja side. It took a fraction of a second for me to relax just a little more, and—



“The wolves have taken her for their own,” said a woman. She was about my mother’s age and wore a skirt that skimmed the floor. Her frizzy brown hair was braided and pinned on top of her head in a halo. “You have to bring her back.”



Great. She was talking about me.



“And how am I supposed to do that, Mom?” Daniel asked. “What’s done is done.”



“No. We can get rid of her wolf.”



Daniel was pissed. And sad. I’d made him sad when I turned. That wasn’t something I ever expected.



“You do that and the wolves will come for us. You’re starting—”



“They started it by taking our next leader. She’s a strong bruja. And now she’s one of them—”



Daniel pulled away, and I was back in the present.



This confirmed what Dastien and my mother said, but I wasn’t sure that I could fix the coven. Or if I even wanted to. It wasn’t like I could be a pack alpha and rule a coven, too. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted either.



I cleared my throat, trying to buy myself time to shake the vision. “Sorry.”



“That’s okay,” Daniel said. “What did you see?”



“Nothing much.” I lied.



“It’s been a while, Chris,” Daniel said, acknowledging Chris for the first time.



“Three years.” Chris had a natural dry rasp in his voice, but his tone of voice was a little rougher than usual. He wouldn’t be able to take those glasses off anytime soon.



Daniel stared him in the eyes. It didn’t matter that there was a pair of sunglasses blocking the gaze from Chris. From the way Chris was standing, completely rigid, every muscle tense, I knew we were seconds away from a code red.



Daniel started to smell like campfire with a hint of sulfur. I’d come to recognize the scent as extreme anger. I took that as my cue to intervene. “My cousin’s house would be?”



“Fourth on the right.” He motioned with a nod.



I started down the road, dragging Chris beside me.



“Teresa,” Daniel said.



I ground my teeth. I loathed it when people called me that. Not even my parents used my full name, except when they were extremely pissed. “Yeah?” I glanced at him.



“It would be good if you came back sometime.”



If I hadn’t seen those visions, I wouldn’t have noticed the plea behind his words. My wolf settled down. He wasn’t a threat. Not right now. But coming back? That wasn’t happening. It was enough of a risk to come when Meredith was so sick. I wasn’t about to pop over for social calls. “Probably not a good idea. I’m not totally under control.”



“We can help with that.”



Chris growled.



Yeah, that had worked out real well for Meredith… The bad thing was that if he’d asked me when I first woke up as a werewolf, I might have taken him up on it. But not anymore. “Not interested. Thanks for the offer, though.”



His shoulders slumped for a fraction of a second before he stood tall again and nodded. “The door is open if you ever change your mind.”



“Sure. Thanks.” But I was never going to take him up on it in this lifetime.