Bronx
I find Jed and Alyssa near the front gate and fill them in. They glance anxiously at Madison, as if she’s going to either bite them or run away, but then they calm. Madison, smartly, says nothing. She stands by my side but doesn’t reach for me or act like she’s going to scurry off. She stands still, and something tells me this isn’t her first time dealing with a situation that could quickly escalate.
“We can’t take her away from the pack,” Jed says, ignoring Madison. He doesn’t use her name. This irritates me more than it should. She’s my mate now. She deserves to be shown respect. I realize this is going to take some time for the pack to accept, but my wolf chose her. She’s mine now.
“Oh?” I raise an eyebrow. “And why is that?”
“If she’s truly your mate,” he eyes Madison’s mating scar. “Then the pack will wonder why we’re leaving so soon after it happened. They’ll want to know why there’s no mating ceremony. Not having one would be breaking tradition, Alpha.”
“Glad to know you haven’t forgotten all of your manners,” I say drily. Jed has the decency to blush slightly. “But I think the pack could do with a few changes. Keeping tradition isn’t really high on my priorities right now.”
Jed and Alyssa, once more, exchange looks. They’re behaving a bit oddly, as if they truly don’t want us to leave right now. And why not? There’s nothing major planned for the week. We won’t be missing anything important, and to be honest, I could use a little bit of time away from the pack.
Things have felt very stressful lately and a break could be nice. Having some time away could be just the break I need to rejuvenate, but I’m not about to leave Alyssa and Jed behind. Not when they’ve been stirring up trouble and I don’t know why. The three of us need to talk and set some ground rules for how the pack is going to operate from here on out.
“We’ll need to fill in the other wolves,” Alyssa points out, finally conceding. “Someone needs to run perimeter checks while we’re gone and you need to choose someone to leave in charge.”
“I’m on it,” Jed says.
Normally, as my beta, Jed is the one I’d leave. This time, though, I want him by my side. I’m still on a high from the realization that I’ve found my mate. I’ve found my Madison. I want to go save her friend for her, and I want my friends by my side.
Alyssa and Jed?
They’re my closest advisors. They’ve been weird and cranky lately, but I still want them with me. Something is up and I’m not sure what it is. Sooner or later, I’ll wrangle it out of them. Until I know what’s going on with them, I’ll keep them close. Despite the fact that they’ve been moody, I want them to be happy for me. I want them to get to know Madison and I want them to accept her as part of the pack.
“Not this time,” I tell him. “You’re coming with me. Both of you.”
They exchange glances.
“Alpha?” Alyssa seems confused. “You need to leave your beta. We’ll be gone for a few days.” She frowns. “The pack needs a leader while you’re gone. You know we’re always happy to accompany you, but do you really think it would be wise to leave the pack alone now? Without a leader? What if there’s a problem?”
“The pack will be fine for a couple of days.”
“With all due respect,” Jed says, walking a bit closer. He seems a bit pushier than usual. Normally, he follows my lead without question. Am I reading into things because I just mated Madison? Am I letting Philip’s observations get to me? “You’re making a mistake.”
A low growl sounds in my throat. “A mistake?”
A beta should not be questioning his Alpha on matters like this.
“Is there something you need to tell me?” I ask. I’ve been spending a lot of my time with Madison. There’s a chance something has happened with the Oasis Pack that I simply don’t know about, but I doubt it. Any major problem or development with the pack should have been brought to my attention. Since nothing was, I’m going to assume that anything that may have happened was simply a minor…hiccup. Maybe they’re just feeling stressed about something unrelated to me bringing Madison into the pack.
“No,” Jed and Alyssa say at the same time.
“Good. Go on then. Find Betty,” I tell Alyssa. Betty is the former Alpha’s widow. She chose to stay with the clan after her husband died and no one knows more about running it than she does. I go to her often for advice and counsel. “Ask her to keep an eye on everything until we get back. She’ll know what to do.”
Alyssa shrugs and takes off down the street. Madison’s eyes never leave Alyssa.
“I need to go take care of a few things before we take off,” Jed mumbles, and he, too, walks away, moving in the opposite direction.
Fucking weird.
“What is it?” I ask Madison. She’s still eyeing Alyssa.
“Something is wrong,” she says. “That woman…”
“Alyssa?” Fuck. I hope Madison isn’t going to be jealous when she finds out Alyssa tried to sink her claws into me. Madison doesn’t strike me as the jealous type, but the mating bond….it complicates things.
“Yeah,” Madison says. “Something isn’t right about her.” She looks at me sharply and adds, “This isn’t jealousy, Bronx. Watch your back. You might think I’m paranoid, but I think we need to be careful around her.”
“She’s a good wolf,” I say, hoping to nip whatever’s happening in the bud. Madison is the Alpha’s mate. This means she’s the top female in the clan. Unfortunately, many of the women here may feel anxious or jealous when they meet Madison. I’m confident that once they get to know her, things will settle down.
Madison doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t have to. I’m not sure why she feels uncomfortable with Alyssa specifically, but right now, we don’t have time for that. Right now, we have to focus on getting to Eva before it’s too late.
A shifter needs to shift.
It’s kind of the entire point of being a shifter.
If what Madison has told me is accurate, then Eva has been sick for a long time. I’m not sure why she’s been afraid or unable to shift. Maybe she stopped shifting as a way to protect her identity when she moved to Storm Dawn. Maybe she became Madison’s guardian and she simply didn’t feel the need to shift. Maybe she was scared. All I know is that once, long ago, Eva stopped shifting, and she never started again.
Well, it’s time.
I might not be the best Alpha in the fucking world, but I’m going to protect Madison. That means helping her friends when they need it. Madison felt Eva was worth risking her life for, and that means she’s worth risking my life, too.
“Come on,” I pull Madison down the road. “If we’re going to be traveling in human forms, we’re going to need supplies. We’re going to go talk to Philip. He’ll help us prepare.”
“You aren’t going to shift?” She asks, surprised.
“You’re human. You’re light enough, love, but not enough for a wolf to carry you on his back. If you’re walking through the forest, we’ll be walking with you. That means we’re going to be bringing food, tents, and enough safety gear to get us back to Storm Dawn.”
“Bronx, I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Madison. You’re my mate.”
The word still feels heavy on my tongue.
“Mate” is such a big thing, and I’m still feeling so many emotions. Madison seems to be struggling and I’m not sure if she’s upset that we’re mated or if she doesn’t believe it’s quite true. My money is on the latter. Apparently, she’s grown up around the wolves and didn’t even know it. She’s going to experience a lot of changes. Hopefully most of them will be good. The Oasis Pack is my family and I want Madison to feel the same way.
“Hey,” she stops and turns me toward her. “Thank you, Bronx.”
“Of course.”
“No,” Madison says, and she presses her lips to mine. “I mean it,” she says. “Thank you. Mate or not, you don’t have to do this. It means a lot to me that you are.”
“I would do anything for you,” I tell her honestly.
“Anything,” she wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.
“Anything,” I agree.
“You’re going to make good on that promise once we save Eva,” she says. The Madison takes off down the road, swaying her hips, and I hurry to catch up.