Thunder (Alpha Love - a Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 3)

by Olivia Stephens

  She unlocks the drawer in her desk where she’s been keeping the rock she took from the canyon, the same kind of rock that she had sent to Jennie to analyze before she was fired. Ashton has refused to tell her where this rock comes from, why it’s so unique, and why it seems to throw all of their equipment out of whack. He had said that the rocks had properties, just like everything else in the woods and in the canyon. But what are those properties? What is he trying to hide? she thinks.

  Sofie feels a stab of guilt as she gathers the materials she needs for her test. She knows that she should wait, let Ashton tell her in his own time what it is that she’s found. But her scientific brain won’t let it rest. She has to know the answers. Geology has always been her passion, and this unique rock could be one of the biggest geological finds in history. There is no way she can’t try to find out more about it. It would be like asking a fish not to swim.

  “What have you got there?” Sofie jumps as Darwin comes up behind her, peering over her shoulder.

  She should have heard him; he wasn’t exactly a stealthy guy, but she was lost in her own thoughts. It doesn’t prevent Sofie from realizing that this is the first time Darwin has addressed her directly without being forced into a conversation with her.

  “You’re setting up for an acid test. Need some assistance?” Darwin keeps his eyes on the dark rock in Sofie’s hand, looking intensely interested in what he’s seeing.

  She curses herself for bringing the rock out in front of him. Darwin is one of the leaders in the field. Of course, he would recognize it as something that he’s not familiar with.

  Sofie figures his offer of help is an olive branch, a way to start making their way back to the relationship they had before they arrived in Beaumont and everything had changed. However, there’s no way she can get Darwin involved in this, not after what happened to Jennie. She doesn’t want the end of anyone else’s career on her conscience. She’s angry with herself for being so careless. “Thanks, boss, but I’ve got this one. It isn’t anything important, just a routine check.” Her hands close over the rock, blocking it from Darwin’s view.

  The atmosphere in the office shifts. It gets heavier, the way the air does just before a big storm is coming. It almost seems darker, like the sun has gone in.

  “What’s the matter with you? You think I’m stupid or something?” Sofie stands stock-still, as Darwin screams at her. His face is a mask of fury, like nothing she’s ever seen before. “You think you can just freeze me out?”

  Sofie takes a step back from the man that she barely recognizes, holding up her hands. “Darwin, it’s not like that at all. No one’s trying to freeze you out.” She keeps her voice as calm as possible, but there’s an edge of panic to it.

  “Don’t lie to me! I know the truth! Luke has you working on some secret project; something he doesn’t want me to see.” He points at her accusatorily, his eyes wide, wide and dark, almost as black as the stone in her hand.

  “Darwin, I don’t know what you’re talking about. There are no secret projects. We can do the test together if you want.” Sofie throws out the offer in a rush, wanting to say anything that will calm him down. The redness in his face is only getting worse, and he’s gasping like he can’t breathe properly. “Darwin, if you carry on like this you’re going to have a heart attack.” She was one of the few people that knew about his condition, his weak heart.

  She’d caught him sweating profusely in the lab one evening, looking like he was about to collapse. He’d told her where to find his medication and, once he’d gone back to normal, he’d explained that it was a condition he’s lived with for years. It wasn’t terminal, and he was usually pretty good at managing it—between his medication and his healthy lifestyle. However, today, he wasn’t managing it. Today, it was getting out of control.

  He gives her a look full of anger and takes a step towards her. Instantly, Sofie takes another step back, the back of her thighs bumping into the desk behind her. She reaches out her hand to stabilize herself and drops the rock onto the table at the same time. When she looks back at Darwin the expression on his face has completely changed. He looks confused.

  “Boss, are you alright?” Sofie asks him uncertainly, as the redness leaves his cheeks, and he looks around him like he’s not sure where he is or how he got there. All of a sudden, he shoots a hand out to the wall to support himself as his knees buckle. Sofie rushes over to him, managing to catch him before he hits the ground. She pulls him up, his hand over her shoulder. “Woah there, boss. You’re okay. You’re alright,” she says, repeating the words as much for his benefit as for hers.

  “What the hell?” Finn bursts in the door, taking in the situation. “Did you hit him?” Finn looks between the two of them trying to figure out what’s happened.

  “What’s the matter with you? Of course I didn’t hit him! Are you going to help me or just stand there?” Sofie nods towards Darwin’s other side, and Finn hurriedly helps to hold him up.

  “So what happened? I heard him shouting from outside and then what sounded like a struggle.” Finn looks over at Sofie, as Darwin stands woozily between them.

  “Nothing.” Sofie looks at her boss and realizes that whatever happened, it was definitely not nothing. “I don’t know. It was like, he just lost it. He got angry, really angry, and then I thought he was having an attack.”

  “An attack? What kind of attack?” Finn looks at Darwin fearfully like he may have some kind of deadly contagious virus. “We should call an ambulance.”

  It’s Finn’s last words that seem to jolt Darwin out of whatever stupor he has been in. “No. No ambulance. I’m fine.” He steadies himself on his feet, shrugging off Sofie and Finn’s help.

  “But, boss, you’re not looking so great…” Finn’s voice peters out, as Darwin fixes him with a stare that almost challenges him to keep talking.

  “I don’t need your help. I’m not some feeble old man who needs someone to wipe the dribble from his chin and the crap from his ass. I’m not quite there, yet,” Darwin says in a harsh voice. He keeps his eyes down, not looking at the people who had been his two favorite colleagues just a few weeks ago. An uncomfortable silence settles over the office, no one quite sure what to say.

  As if their unspoken questions are too much for him, Darwin goes to the equipment cupboard and grabs a sample case, sending test tubes crashing at the same time. “I’m going to take another look at the soil variation between the canyon and the woods,” he mumbles like a grumpy teenager reluctantly telling his parents where he’s going for the night.

  “It looks like the weather’s about to change,” Sofie shouts after to him as he walks out of the office. The clouds are starting to move in, and there’s the dense feeling in the air of rain. “Darwin, we’re not supposed to go into the woods alone,” Sofie yells after him, ignoring the questioning glances she’s getting from the diggers milling around outside.

  Darwin doesn’t react; he just keeps marching towards the woods like a man on a mission. Sofie sighs deeply, closing the door on the curious onlookers. “I just wish he’d taken one of the guards. Someone…anyone with him,” she says more for her benefit than for Finn’s. Security had been put in place by Shale for protection from the dangerous wolves that Luke was so keen on banging on about any time he did an interview about the dig. However, she was more concerned about his health than him being eaten by a wolf.

  “You think Darwin might have a heart attack or something?” Finn looks at her quickly.

  “No,” she says uncertainly. “No. It’s just that I would rather he wasn’t out there on his own.” She knows she doesn’t have anything to worry about on the wolf front. The weres have been told not to go anywhere near the site; there’s too much risk of anyone seeing them or them getting hurt.

  “So, what was that all about?” Finn scratches his head and adjusts his glasses, one of his signature moves when he’s not sure what to do.

  “I wish I knew.” Sofie collapses into her chair, feeling l
ike all the energy has been sapped out of her. “He started asking if he could help with some testing. I said it was fine and then he just flipped out. I’ve never seen him like that. He looked a little…”

  “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?” Finn helpfully supplies.

  “I was going to say manic.” Sofie looks at her friend disapprovingly. Her eyes are drawn to the rock still sitting on her desk. She remembers how she had kept hold of it while Darwin got angrier and angrier, and when she let it drop onto the table, he’d seemed to calm down. No. Stop trying to find answers where maybe there are none, Braun, she tells herself.

  “Well, whatever it was, it’s not exactly going to win him any career points with the big chief. Half of the crew heard him going ballistic in here, and these guys like to gossip more than teenage girls.” Finn shakes his head, still trying to get his brain around Darwin’s behavior, especially since it’s so out of character for him.

  “This isn’t him. It was just a funny five minutes, that’s all. If Luke has any sense, he won’t let idle talk change his opinion of Darwin,” Sofie says with more conviction than she feels.

  “I agree; it isn’t him. True, he’s been acting weird for the past few weeks, but I’ve never known Darwin to get mad. Frustrated, irritated—yes, especially with me.” Finn grins impishly at this. “But not angry like you’re describing.”

  “Well, that’s what happened. I don’t know how else to describe it.” Sofie throws her hands up in frustration and thinks, How has today just gone from bad to worse? She rubs her head where a persistent ache is most definitely blooming.

  “Don’t you go all weird on me, too,” Finn says, looking at her apprehensively. “What’s going on?” He peers at her from over his glasses like a psychiatrist.

  “Just a bad morning,” Sofie says and smiles wearily up at him.

  “Anything that a good latte won’t cure?” Finn looks impossibly excited at the prospect of this, and it’s only in part for Sofie’s welfare.

  “Nice try, Finnbarr. I know you hate the coffee here, but we’re not getting a fancy schmancy machine. Luke would never sign off on it. For a billionaire, he can be pretty cheap.” Sofie shakes her head in despair—although she has to admit it’s nice to have this kind of banal argument after the last 24 hours that she’s had.

  “Alright mean boss-lady. Fine! But don’t come crying to me when you need a real caffeine fix!” Finn looks at her expectantly, as if he thinks she might change her mind. When it becomes apparent that she will not be moved, he sighs theatrically. “Well, I guess I’ll get back to doing whatever it is that you want me to be doing today.” He waves vaguely towards the outside of the office, about to head out of the door before he turns around, a comically perplexed expression on his face. “What is it that you want me to do?”

  “Have you finished working on our tech problem?” She looks at him in surprise as he nods his head proudly. Even for Finn, that was quick work. “Okay, well I guess that means you have a little time on your hands?”

  “More than a little. The stuff the engineers have me doing is child’s play. I barely need to be awake to do it. I don’t get why they’re wasting my talents here, in the land of no Starbucks when I could be of much more use back at HQ.” Finn pouts like a small child, but he draws the line at stamping his feet.

  “They’re wasting your talents here because I asked them to. I told Luke that I needed you on the team because you’re the best.” Sofie immediately regrets the words once they’re out of her mouth. “Not that you need to be reminded of that.”

  “Well, it doesn’t hurt.” Finn’s expression tells her that he’s coming round from his sulk.

  “Anyway, if you’re free then there is something…personal I could use you looking into.” Sofie scribbles down some numbers on a scrap of paper.

  “Personal? For you, Braun, anything. It’s not anything to do with your lady bits, is it?” He looks terrified at the thought.

  “No, Finn, not that kind of personal.” He breathes an audible sigh of relief, as Sofie hands him over the paper. “Those are my bank account details. I had a little…problem, getting some cash out this morning. An error message I’ve never seen before, and then it ate my card. It was weird, and we’ve had a lot of weird tech stuff go on recently. I figured you might be able to take a look?” Sofie keeps the information down to the basics, there’s only so much that Finn needs to know.

  “You’re asking me to hack into a bank?” Finn looks at her in shock. This was a big deal, she knew that, and she suddenly realizes that she should never have asked him to do this.

  “You’re right. Forget it. Pretend I didn’t say anything.” Sofie goes to take the scrap out of his fingers, but Finn holds it close to his chest.

  “I didn’t say that I wasn’t going to do it.” Finn pauses for a moment, looking at her like he’s weighing her up. “I’m guessing it’s something to do with the reason you were so jumpy when you got here this morning?”

  Sofie nods once, not trusting herself to speak without letting the whole story come tumbling out.

  “You going to tell me what’s freaked you out?” The way he looks at her tells her that he already has his suspicions. After a few moments of silence, he gives in—hacking a bank is too tempting—even for Finn. “But if I do this, then you owe me.”

  “I owe you about a million anyway, so I guess add it to the list,” Sofie admits truthfully, as Finn sets up his laptop at his desk.

  She goes back to the rock that she had been about to study before Darwin had lost it. The knowledge that Finn was looking into her little technical malfunction was comforting, even though she still didn’t have a plan of what to do with the problem that was probably already on its way to Beaumont.

  She had wanted to use the rock as a distraction, something to stop her from focusing on what was headed towards her. It works better than she could ever have imagined. Work was the one thing that had always taken her out of herself, made her forget everything else around, the good the bad and the ugly. When I’m with Ashton I feels that way, too, she thinks.

  However, she can’t think about him too much now either. There’s too much else filling her brain, and the complications of their relationship or the fact that she misses him more than she thought possible for someone she’d only seen the night before is too much to take right now. So, instead, she focuses on the rock.

  Sofie tries to log the specimen as she would any other sample. She starts to follow the process of naming its constituents, identifying if it’s permeable or not. But questions that it should be easy to answer simply aren’t. The rock is neither one thing nor the other; it defies definition. The only thing she can say for sure is the black color of it, and even that now seems to be changing as she looks at it.

  She carries out the acid test, one of the basic analyses for samples. She watches as she drips acid onto the surface of it carefully, expecting it to fizz or for the acid to merely slide off the rock. What she doesn’t expect is for the rock to move. That would be impossible.

  “What the—?” Sofie breathes the words out as she watches the rock do the impossible. It starts to vibrate, slowly at first and then faster and faster. It’s pulsing so quickly that the edges blur, and the acid starts to sizzle on top of it. Without thinking, Sofie hovers her hand over the stone in the petri dish. She snatches her hand back as she feels the intense heat coming off of the rock. It’s burning up, boiling the acid until it has evaporated and disappears into the air. She blinks to make sure that what she’s seeing is real.

  It’s only when the rock is bone dry again that the vibrations slow and then stop completely. She sits in shock, staring at the rock, trying to fill in the blanks in her mind as to what she had just witnessed. The scientist in her is so excited she can barely contain herself. However, she needs to make sure that she hasn’t just imagined this whole scenario. She turns to call Finn over only to find that his chair is empty, and all the lights are on in the office. Night is falling, she’s been
so engrossed in the sample that she hasn’t even noticed the hours tick by.

  She grabs her cell, pressing the recording button, a habit that she had inherited from Darwin—from a time when he still wanted to teach her things. She starts to document the rock, describing the sample and the test that she’s just performed and then a thought occurs to her. It is as if it is protecting itself from the acid, eliminating a threat.

  Her words give her another idea. She grabs up her miniature chisel and hammer, trying to extract a chip from the rock. But as she hits it with her chisel, she gets an electric shock from the tool, like static but a little stronger, enough for her to release the handle of the blade and send it clattering to the ground. She pushes her chair away from the table, standing up in readiness for whatever is coming next. She knows that she didn’t imagine the shock that she just received. Whatever is going on here, it is real. She isn’t manifesting it. It’s as if the rock is alive, as if it’s made up of a material with consciousness, with feelings and a sense of self-preservation.

  “But that’s impossible.” She breathes the words out in wonder before reminding herself that after seeing men turn into wolves and back again, perhaps she needed to readjust her expectations of what was and wasn’t possible.

  She needs to get to grips with what this means. It’s unprecedented and totally unique. But what significance does it have for the werewolves? she asks herself. Why wouldn’t Ashton trust me with whatever its secret is? She takes a step back towards her desk, wanting to run some more tests, but she’s interrupted by a shout from outside, and she recognizes the voice.

  “Darwin.” Sofie sprints out of the office to see her mentor running from the woods and falling at the feet of a couple of the guards. She rushes over to him, running as fast as her legs will carry her. “Give him some room, give him room. He has a heart condition.” She gestures for the guards to take a few steps back, as she crouches over him. “Get a medic,” she shouts at the men, who are still standing there staring at her.