Chapter Eleven
Griffin’s stomach churned uneasily as he made his way to the cottage early the next day. Beau had moved outside, sitting by the door.
“Morning,” Griffin called.
“Hello,” the alpha said in reply. That was a new development.
Beau sat up straighter, and Griffin paused, waiting for what the other man was going to say.
“I want to speak to your alpha,” Beau said.
Griffin set his bag down on the ground, swallowing a grumble. “Like I already told you, I don’t have an alpha.”
Beau’s eyes narrowed.
“I can smell him on you.”
Making a face, Griffin quickly scented his shirt.
“Oh, you mean Ronan.” He’d met the alpha in the kitchen at breakfast time. “He’s not my alpha.”
“I want to talk to him.”
“Why?”
“I want answers. I want the truth.”
“Ronan won’t tell you anything different to what I’m telling you.”
He was starting to get pissed off at Beau’s refusal to accept that Griffin had any answers. But it wasn’t like he was surprised by that. No one ever expected him to be what he was.
“Get him. Now.”
Griffin sighed and sank to the ground, all but resting his head in his hands. “What do you think he’ll tell you that I haven’t.”
“The truth.”
Beau folded his arms, and Griffin knew they were at a stalemate.
“Okay, fine,” he said, opening his bag, and taking out the food he’d brought. “Wait here. I’ll go get him. Eat your breakfast.”
He stomped off back toward the house, pulling out his phone as soon as he was out of sight. Ronan answered on the second ring.
“Our guest wants to see the alpha of the house.”
He was rewarded with a snicker. “They always do. I’ll be there in five.”
Griffin walked through the trees to find Joey who was on guard duty that morning. They passed a few minutes chatting about Joey’s school plans. He’d been not too dissimilar from Ronan and Beau, sent to a training school to learn to fight. He decided he wanted more to life and ran. Briar House kept an eye out for people like him, helping them out of danger and offering them other options. Joey was one of the few they brought into the pack. He was a thinker, and Griffin liked that about him.
Ronan jogged up a few minutes later. “Sorry, kiddo was giving us a hard time. We think his first change must be due soon.”
The first shift could be likened to really, really bad teething. Sometimes there were weeks before their shifter animal actually broke through.
“Think it’ll be soon?” Joey asked.
“Hard to say,” Ronan replied, looking suspicious. “Maybe a day or two.”
“How big is the pot now?” Griffin asked with a grin. Betting on a first change was an age-old tradition in some packs, and Briar Wood took it on with gusto.
“Big enough,” Joey replied.
“Don’t we have somewhere to be?” Ronan interrupted, looking less than pleased.
Griffin rolled his eyes but said goodbye to Joey and led the way through the trees.
“It’s just because they care,” he said quietly. “You’re part of the family; you and Noah and Kieran.”
“I know,” Ronan grumbled. “But a week of little sleep is starting to grate on me. Noah, too.”
“It’ll pass,” Griffin replied. “As soon as he manages his first shift, this will all become a distant memory.”
Ronan snorted. “Depends very much what he shifts into.”
“You think he’ll be a wolf?”
Children born to shifters inherited the ability to shift but not the animal their shifter form took. Less than a quarter took the form of one of their parents.
“I’d like him to be but we both know the chances. Especially with wolves being so rare.”
They were within sight of the cottage, and Ronan got his first look at Beau since they’d brought in the unconscious alpha.
“He looks calmer,” the alpha murmured.
“I’m not sure he is. I think he’s just hiding it better. His control seems tighter.”
“Making any attempts to escape?”
“Would I be walking you in here if he was?”
They lapsed into silence as they got nearer, knowing Beau would overhear every word.
When they were just outside the reach of Beau’s chain, Griffin came to a stop, Ronan standing by his side.
“Beau, this is Ronan. Ronan, Beau.”
The two alphas sized each other up, neither speaking at first. It was Ronan who broke the stalemate.
“You wanted to talk?”
“You’re in charge?”
Ronan tried to hide a smile. “Every time,” he muttered to Griffin with a shake of his head.
“No,” he said, raising his voice, and pointing to Griffin. “That would be this guy. I’m his second.”
Beau’s eyes strayed to Griffin. “He’s an omega.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“Your omega.” There was a hint of challenge in Beau’s tone.
“Nope. I have an omega mate; his name is Noah. We’ve got a kid, too.”
The alpha’s eyes narrowed again, clearly suspicious.
“Your scent is on him.”
“Sure it is. Finn and I live in the one house and spend a lot of time together. I help him run the pack.”
Griffin watched carefully to see how Beau took that bit of information.
“This is a pack? Which one?”
“You wouldn’t know it,” Griffin said smoothly. “We keep to the sidelines.”
Beau was shaking his head. “No. If there was a pack run by an omega, everyone would know it.”
“Maybe some of us know how to keep a secret,” Ronan said.
Griffin could see he was losing patience with Beau’s skepticism.
“You wanted the truth, right? The facts? You were feral, minutes away from being killed, and Finn intervened, saved you. Risked his life to bring you back from the—”
“Ronan,” Griffin said sharply
The alpha fell silent. Beau caught the exchange, his eyes wide.
“Not mates?” he said.
Griffin sighed and turned, lifting his hair to show Beau the nape of his neck. “No bite, see?”
“And… you’re in charge?”
“He’s in charge,” Ronan said, jerking a thumb toward Griffin. “If that’s all, I have a cranky baby and a stressed out mate to get back to.”
“Thanks, Ronan,” Griffin said. Both he and Beau watched the alpha leave, striding away through the trees.
“Wolf?” Beau asked.
“How could you tell?”
The alpha shrugged. “I’ve fought them before. He a fighter?”
“He was. Trained just like you.”
“What happened? He didn’t make the cut?”
Griffin moved closer and sat down, noting that the food and water hadn’t been touched, not even the oranges.
“You know as well as I do they don’t just let you go when they decide you’re not what they’re looking for. But no. He and his brother ran.”
“They were afraid?”
“Not afraid. They just… wanted more.”
“More?” Beau turned his head to the side, his expression quizzical.
“More than the fight and the kill.”
“What else is there?”
Griffin’s smile was tinged with sadness. “More than you can imagine. I could show you, if you like?”
“What would be the point? I’m not meant for those other things.”
Rocking forward onto his knees, Griffin asked the one question he didn’t want to.
“Do you want to go back? Back to that life?”
He was expecting a certainty in Beau’s response, an automatic yes. What he got was hesitation, Beau’s eyes looking lost. Maybe there was hope for him yet.