The Trouble With Two Alpha's

by Brenda Westfall

  “Then I will make sure no one gets near her.”

  “I wouldn’t say anything to the rest of the pack about my thoughts for her. Not yet. I want to be sure before I make any announcements. Just make sure no one tries to touch her. I would hate to kill one of my own over a human only to find out she wasn’t my mate.”

  With that Alpha Redwood walked away. Irwin was disappointed to think that Gabi Cross might be his Alpha’s mate. He had hoped she would be his.

  Chapter 13

  All the way home Gabi thought of Jack and Elliot and of her little house in the woods. Of how much work she had done to it to make it her own. Only to have to run away from it all.

  The place she had rented wasn’t home. But for now, it was all she had. It was a one-bedroom dump as far as she was concerned.

  She pulled into the drive and parked in front of the house. She stared out the windshield at the house wishing it was her little house in the woods.

  Gabi got out went inside and took a shower before throwing her dead tired body into bed. She had been on her feet nearly fourteen hours straight.

  She had turned her phone on vibrate when she went into work. Now she looked at the screen to see she had missed twenty-two calls from Jack and Elliot. They must be taking turns calling hoping she will pick up.

  She listened to their messages. Most of them begging her to call back. Elliot had even went as far as to tell her that Jack was losing his mind without her. Like he had a right mind to begin with? Werewolf, yeah right.

  It didn’t take long for sleep to take over. Gabi dreamed of her little house in the woods. As she dreamed of how happy she was sitting on her front porch listening to the crickets she started hearing wolves howl.

  Soon she found herself surrounded by big black wolves. Bigger than normal. She got up out of her rocking chair ready to rush inside. As she backed toward the door, she felt a wet nose against her leg. She squealed, then turned to see a bigger black wolf with his tongue out looking at her.

  As she looked into the wolf’s eyes, she could swear it was Jack’s eyes she looked into. But that’s not possible she told herself. It can’t be.

  The wolf nudged her with his big head, trying to push her off the porch as if he was going to force her to go with him somewhere.

  Gabi’s breathing was labored coming in short gasp. She wanted to scream, but something told her not to. That if she screamed, she would excite the pack and they would hunt her to rip her apart.

  The bigger wolf licked her cheek, then pushed her once more toward the steps. She didn’t feel like she had any choice but to do what it wanted her to do.

  Once she was on the ground the big wolf started walking and looked back to make sure she was going to follow. When she hesitated, the other wolves surrounded her and forced her to follow him.

  They walked through the woods for what seemed like hours till they climbed higher into the mountains. Up high on the mountain they came to a cave. He led her into the dark cave and through several tunnels. Once back in the tunnels he shifted and took her hand.

  It was too dark for her to see. When he grabbed her hand, she screamed. He told her to stop screaming. She recognized the voice. “Jack?”

  “Yes love, it is I. Now come we will sleep for a while. Then I shall make you my mate. From this night forward, you and I will be together forever. Once we have mated, I will protect you till the next full moon. Then you will shift and walk on four legs beside me on the hunt.”

  No, no, no she cried out. She was tossing and turning. She couldn’t get away. He wouldn’t let her out of the cave. She tried to run from him, but he was always faster than she was.

  The cave soon opened into a large room lit with candles. On the floor in the middle was a large bed. It was made of bear skins. The heads of which hung on the walls.

  He took her hand and led her to the bear skins, then started undressing her. She tried to fight him, but he just slapped her hands out of his way. When she held her shirt down so he couldn’t get it off, he just ripped it to pieces.

  That is when she noticed he was standing in front of her naked. All his manhood standing tall and proud for her. She screamed again and again. He was going to rap…

  The phone vibrating on the nightstand woke her up. She was soaked with sweat. Her sheets were wrapped around her like someone had tied her up with them. She had to struggle to get loose.

  It took her a few minutes to realize the phone was still ringing. Without looking at it, she answered, thinking it would be someone from work trying to get her to come in early.

  “Yes?”

  “Finally, oh Gabi it is so good to hear your voice. Baby tell me where you are. Please Gabi tell me where you are, and I will come and get you.”

  It took her still tired brain a minute to realize she had answered the phone only to hear Jack’s voice.

  “Jack?”

  “Yes, baby, it’s me. Gabi, please tell me where you are. Please tell me. Are you, all right? Have you been hurt?”

  “Jack, please don’t call me baby. I am not your baby. I am no body’s baby. Don’t call me anymore. I thought my not answering the phone would get through to you.”

  “Don’t you hang up on me. Gabi, I need to see you. I need to see that you’re safe. Where are you?”

  “If I wanted you to know where I was, I would have stayed there. Now don’t call me ever again.”

  She hung up. But It wasn’t before Jack had a chance to trace the call. He had been ready the minute she answered to trace the call and find out where she was.

  “Well, where is she?”

  “Father this shows her being about two hundred miles from here. I can’t make out the exact location, but I have a general idea. If her cell is bouncing from towers, I can get pretty close to where she is by circling the towers in the area.” Elliot was excited to think they might be able to locate Gabbi.

  He thought to himself, finally we can bring her home where she belongs. If he couldn’t be with her at least his father brining her home would give him a chance to see she was alright.

  Chapter 14

  When Gabi got to work that afternoon, she was in a bad mood. Irwin was asked to come downstairs to the first floor. Brett had been told not to touch Gabi but that he was to report to Irwin if there was any kind of trouble.

  When a young man had grabbed Gabi’s hand and pulled her halfway across the table she had hauled off and slapped him across the face. Now he was reporting her to Brett. He wanted something done about the blackjack dealer who had hit him.

  “You needed to see me?”

  “Yes, sir. Irwin, this man says one of our blackjack dealers hit him. I can see the red marks on his face. I thought you would want to take care of this one.”

  “Now, sir, why would one of our dealers hit you?”

  “She just did. I don’t know why. She was so pretty I thought she was nice till she hit me. That bitch just hauled off out of nowhere and hit me in the face. I want her fired immediately. Do you know who I am or how much money I spend in here?”

  “No, sir, I don’t know who you are. Now, why don’t you show me which of our blackjack dealers hit you.”

  Irwin and Brett followed the man to the table knowing long before they got there which table it was, he was leading them to. Normally he would just relieve the dealer from their duties no questions ask. They had to keep the customers happy if they wanted them to keep spending money in their casino. But when he led them to Gabi’s table it was a whole different situation.

  “Gabi, I need to see you a minute.”

  “Sure Irwin. Is something wrong?”

  He nodded for another dealer to take her place and walked off having her follow him. Brett had led the man to a back room so they could have this out in private.

  Miles Redwood had noticed and altercation on the first floor and was on his way down to see what was going on. He had missed the man touching Gabi or Gabi slapping the man.

  Once in the back room, Gabi saw the man
she had slapped. He was standing with Brett. Now she knew she was in trouble. She wasn’t smiling at him that was for sure.

  “Gabi this man says you hit him. Would you care to tell me what happened?”

  “Yeah, I did. The pervert tried to pull me across the table, then he tried to kiss me. I told him to let go of me, but he refused. I defended myself. I hit him as hard as I could.” Trouble always followed me.

  “Did you, sir try to pull her across the table? Before you answer I suggest you be truthful, we have cameras and will be checking the video.”

  Irwin and Brett both saw the man try not to look surprised it could be caught on camera. Then he stood tall and lied through his teeth. He must not have thought they would really check the video.

  “I did no such thing. She is lying. Do you know who I am young lady? Do you have any idea how important I am in this town?”

  “I don’t care who you think you are. No one man handles me. You’re lucky all I did was hit you. I have been known to do much worse when a man tried to touch me without my consent.”

  Miles walked into the room to see what was going on. They had their backs to him. He slipped behind a partition in the room and listened in. He was proud to hear she had hit the man for trying to touch her.

  “Miss Cross while we don’t like our employees hitting the customers in this case it sounds to me like you had good reason for doing so. You may return to your table.” Irwin had to keep the smile off his face. Brett was not in any way going to reprimand her for protecting herself.

  “You’re not going to fire her? I will speak to the big boss. You’re not going to get away with this young lady. You won’t be able to find work in this town when I am done.”

  Gabi gave him a dirty look, then turned to Irwin and nodded before leaving the room. Once she was gone Miles Redwood stepped into the room showing himself to the men.

  “Irwin is there a problem?”

  “No, sir, I think it has been taken care of.”

  “Is there a problem? Is there? Why that woman nearly took my head off. She hit me in the face. I am a paying customer. I demand she be fired.”

  “Mayor Rodgers would you really want this to get out? Wouldn’t your wife be angry to know you were making passes yet again at a young woman, young enough to be your daughter? You know, if we were to fire the young Miss Cross, she would go straight to the local newspaper and it would-be front-page news. Now from what I heard you tried to pull her across the table first. That is why she hit you. Do you deny that?”

  “Miles Redwood are you trying to blackmail me?”

  “No, sir. I am just stating the facts. If I fire her, she will go to the newspaper, I will have one of my men drive her there personally. You may think you own everyone in this town, but you don’t own Miss Cross or anyone who works for me. This is my territory, get used to it. Now I suggest you go back home to your wife. She might be looking for you. If she isn’t with Senator Brown. Isn’t that the young man she was seen with last night?”

  “My wife and the senator? You are just trying to get me out of here without firing that woman who hit me. It won’t work. I want her fired.”

  “Irwin would you drive Miss Cross to the Ledger office? I believe the newspaper goes out at midnight. If we get it reported tonight it will be front page news tomorrow morning.”

  “I would be happy to. I am sure she will have a lot to tell them. Oh, should I get proof off the video cameras to take with her? That way they can print the picture of him touching her. I bet the kiss was caught on camera too. That should make for a good scandal. ‘Mayor attacks young blackjack dealer in casino.’ I bet his wife would love seeing the newspaper with her breakfast.”

  “Yes, I believe she would. Make sure she gets a copy delivered to her personally. I wouldn’t want her to miss it.”

  “All right, you made your point. I won’t press charges this time. But if she ever hits me again, I promise there will be hell to pay. Like it or not I will press charges next time.”

  “Mayor I suggest you see to it that there is no next time. Miss Cross is a special friend of mine. If anything happens to her, I assure you I will make you disappear. That you can count on. I suggest you don’t ever come in here again. This establishment is off limits to you and your kind. Irwin, show the Mayor to the front door. Let everyone know he is no longer welcome in here.”

  Miles turned and walked out of the room smiling from ear to ear. He had wanted to tell the Mayor for a long time not to come in his casino, but never really had a good enough reason. But now that he had attacked Gabi, he would make good on his threat. Should the Mayor ever lay a hand on her again, even outside of the casino he would make him disappear. No one would ever find a piece of his body anywhere.

  Telling the Mayor off made Miles’s day. He went back upstairs to his office and watched Gabi work for an hour. He was so pleased with her. She hadn’t taken crap from the Mayor. She would make a strong mate. She was Alpha material. Yes, she would be an Alpha’s mate.

  Gabi hadn’t calmed down from the call with Jack this morning. Then the man who came to her table and tried to have his way with her had upset her all over again. She was fuming mad.

  Brett watched from a distance as Gabi kept messing up. She flipped to many cards or took up the bets before time. He had to call her away from the table for a while. He called Irwin to make sure what he was to do before he did it. That way, if Alpha Redwood saw him pulling her away from the table, he would have back up.

  “Irwin, I have a problem. Miss Cross has done nothing but screw up since our altercation with the Mayor. I think I need to pull her away from the table. I wanted to make sure it was alright before I did so.”

  “You want me to be the bad guy? I can come get her. I will have her go on an early dinner today. I know she shouldn’t take her dinner for another hour or so, but if she is having a problem, we need to deal with it. I will be done in a minute.”

  “Thank you. I didn’t want Alpha Redwood coming after me. I figured he was watching over her since the incident with the Mayor. I don’t want him to think I have a problem with her.”

  “I understand. I will come down in a minute. Have someone standing by to take over for her.”

  Irwin looked forward to going and getting Gabi away from her table for a while. He would use it as an excuse to have dinner with her. They could sit and talk about what happened and how it is affecting her work.

  Gabi was dealing to four men when she noticed Irwin watching her from the side of the room. That made her nervous and she messed up twice as much.

  Irwin saw her look at him, then seen her fumble the cards. He had to put a stop to it right now. He walked over to her table. Even though the men at the table didn’t seem to mind her making mistakes he knew she couldn’t keep it going.

  “Miss Cross, I think you need a break come with me please. Andrew will take over your table for you.”

  Gabi thought for sure she was about to be fired. She followed Irwin with her head held high. She wouldn’t let him see how much it bothered her.

  Once he led her to the back room, he told her to have a seat, then called for a dinner to be delivered to them. He sat across the table from her. His cell rang and he knew before looking who it would be.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “What are you doing with Miss Cross?”

  He excused himself and walked out into the hall before he spoke. Then he explained what was going on at her table. He told Alpha Miles he just wanted to get her to settle down before she went back to her table. Told him that he was giving her an early dinner.

  “Just remember, keep your hands off. She is mine. I will be watching your every move.”

  “Yes, sir, of course.”

  He knew Miles often watched the monitors for trouble, but he had hoped he wouldn’t be watching when he took Gabi from her table.

  He went back into the room he had sat Gabi in. He took his seat at the table and watched her squirm. She thought he was going to fire he
r he just knew it.

  “Miss Cross, you’re not in any trouble. I noticed you were having a little trouble focusing that’s all. I thought maybe a break would help you get your anger under control. Rest assured that the Mayor has no control over who we hire or fire.”

  “Oh crap, that was the Mayor?”

  “Yes, not to worry. He is married to a very rich, powerful woman. If word got out that he was fondling the casino women, his wife wouldn’t be too happy with him. He might be the Mayor, but her daddy has a lot of pull in this town. Should he want to be reelected for Mayor he will have to keep his nose clean so to speak.”

  “Thank you. I didn’t think, I mean when he wouldn’t let go of me, I automatically defended myself. I am not use to men trying to force me to kiss them.”

  “You shouldn’t have to be. A gentleman doesn’t force a woman to do anything. One as beautiful as you should be ready for such men. I am sure he is not the only one who ever tried to get to you. I am pretty sure he won’t be the last to want to lay his hands on you. You’re quiet, pretty.”

  She was blushing. He was saying all kinds of nice things about her and she could feel the rush of heat to her face.

  The two of them sat and talked over dinner. He learnt about things she liked, and she learned about things he liked. She learned he preferred to live out in the country. She did too.

  She told him all about her little house in the woods. Then he asks why she left, and she couldn’t talk no more. She didn’t mean to let a tear slip down her face, but it had.

  Irwin had no idea what he had said that upset Gabi but when he seen a tear slide down her face, he got up and rushed to her side. He kneeled in front of her. Then he took hold of her hand.