The Loneliest Alpha (The MacKellen Alphas)

by T. A. Grey

  “Just looking for Marcus. He here or what?” Gavin asked.

  Harry merely stared at Gavin. After a few moments he nodded to Dave. “Go get Marcus. Tell him Gavin MacKellen’s here.”

  Dave darted down into the basement, the door slamming behind him.

  “I’ll ask again,” Harry said. “What’s this about?”

  Gavin leveled him with as steely glare. “Where were you last Saturday night?”

  Harry didn’t flinch. “Here at the house.”

  “What were you doing?”

  “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

  “We got two dead kids. I’d say knowing where everyone was on those nights is my business.”

  “Yeah, well I was here watching TV with Davey.”

  The basement door swung open and Marcus strode through. He wore a fierce expression. Gavin almost smiled. Marcus always had a game to play and when he got caught off guard, he didn’t know what to do. That’s when the real Marcus shone through.

  Marcus stepped into the doorframe, their chests almost brushing. “What do you want, alpha?”

  “Why did you come to my house today?”

  Gavin watched as Marcus transformed. His eyes turned cold, his lips curled into a smirk, and his shoulders relaxed. He had his game back.

  “Just paid a little visit to our possible new queen. Nothing wrong with that.”

  Don’t hit him. Don’t hit him. “What did you say to her?”

  Marcus shrugged. “Just a bit of chit chat. Besides, why don’t you ask her? Or do you even talk to her? Rumor has it that you haven’t even shown her your face.”

  The smirk lifted into a full-blow smile as his cold amber eyes roamed over the scarred terrain of Gavin’s face.

  He tsked. “Pity, really. What if she likes it? Though, I guess a pretty gal like her would want those good-looking model types. Not something that looks like it went through a meat grinder.”

  Gavin didn’t slam his fist into the rotten bastard’s face no matter how badly his hand shook to do it, and he didn’t head-butt the motherfucker who’d destroyed his face because he was the alpha now. He had to be the bigger man.

  But damn, his hands trembled with the effort it took not to move, not to act.

  “I’m only going to say this once.” He leaned into Marcus’ face, watched the amber eyes flicker with rage. “You come to my house again, it’s either to fess up to what you did or to announce you’re leaving the pack for good. You come by for any other reason, if you come by my woman, what you see on my face will be nothing compared to what I do to you.”

  He held Marcus’ gaze in a locked battle of wills. Marcus faltered first and looked away, his jaw twitching. Then, at the snap of fingers, the anger was gone and Marcus had his game face back on.

  Marcus smirked. “Still never found out who managed to do one over on your face, huh? Real shame that, real shame.”

  A part of Gavin wanted to rip off Marcus’ skin by hand. Wanted to watch him bleed and make him bleed. But the other part…the part that helped him to obtain the position he held as alpha, didn’t. That part was smarter, that part was better than Marcus Graham could ever be.

  Gavin knew Marcus was the one who did it. He had no proof other than Marcus’ goading and his gut instinct. But he knew.

  “I know you did it, everyone knows you did it. See, that’s the difference between you and me. Why I’m alpha and you’re not. Because I face things head on. I don’t coward away from challenges or wait until someone’s back is turned to act.”

  The smirk fell from Marcus’ face. “Get off my property.”

  Gavin got in Marcus’ face, so close they could kiss. “Stay away from Alicia and watch your back. If you had anything to do with Emma and Anthony’s death, you’ll roast.”

  Gavin and Jo climbed back into the truck then took off.

  Jo turned to give him a wry smile. “Not a coward, huh?”

  Gavin shot him a glare. “So what?”

  Jo shrugged. “Just wonderin’ how that matches up to what you said earlier. You still haven’t shown Alicia your face. Maybe you need to rethink yourself.”

  Cursing, Gavin stared straight ahead and pretended to ignore his cousin’s truthful words.

  CHAPTER 12

  “I said I’m sorry.”

  Alicia glared at her bedroom door with her arms and ankles crossed. “Well, excuse me, if I don’t think an apology fixes this.”

  Gavin sighed from the other side of the door. “Well I mean it. I messed up.”

  “You kept me locked in here all night! I was starving! I still am!”

  Something thumped against the door like he’d slammed his head into it. Good, it’s the least he deserved after keeping her locked in her bedroom all night long. He came home last night and didn’t come back to her room, just went into his for the night. Uh, hello, she’d wanted to scream—remember that time we were kissing before you just left the house like I didn’t exist?

  But she hadn’t because…she’d been unsure. She hated to admit it but she’d been nervous. Nervous that he hadn’t liked the kiss as much as she did, nervous that she wanted to do it again so soon, like right now, and maybe he didn’t. Because that kiss blew her mind. And she was scared that maybe her breath had been scary and that’s why he didn’t come back that night to finish what they’d started.

  Finish what exactly, or where ‘finishing’ would take them, she wasn’t sure—to bed? Her stomach fluttered at the idea but most of that was nerves. The last man she’d slept with…yeeeeah.

  So she’d just stopped ’doing sex’ after that and had turned to focusing on her work. Work was good, kept her busy mentally and physically. Of course, it didn’t help that every time she left her apartment the pack members looked at her with those judging eyes. Tramp, they called her.

  Aaargh! She hated, hated leaving her own damn house. All because of that damn man and his nasty, lying mouth.

  “I got you something. It’s not much but I thought you might like it. If you don’t, that’s fine. I can have Kaity or Hanna go into town and pick out something else instead. I certainly don’t have much of a sense,” he coughed to clear his throat, “with um, women’s things.”

  Alicia blinked. He bought her something. Women’s things. What was that supposed to be—tampons?

  All she could say was, “What?”

  A long, raspy sigh. “Listen, I’ve gotta get to work but first I need to ask you about something.”

  Her breath caught. The kiss. What did he have to ask her? Whether she liked it—check. Whether she wanted a repeat—double check. Whether she’d like to do it while being able to see his face—triple check.

  “What is it?”

  “A man stopped by yesterday. His name’s Marcus Graham.”

  In a flash her body cooled and she grimaced. “The creep.”

  There was silence for a moment and she peered at the door wondering what he was doing. His voice sounded strained. “Yeah, I need to know what he said to you.”

  She let out a breath. “Not much really. He just said he wanted to meet me and that rumors were spreading about me. He wanted to know what I was to you.”

  “What did you say?”

  “Just a friend.” Why, oh why, did she have to blush like a little virgin schoolgirl when she said that? She was a grown woman for heaven’s sake.

  The door click as it was unlocked. It opened and a flannel covered arm dropped a large white shopping bag inside, the kind with sturdy sides so the walls always stood straight up.

  “What’s this?” She popped up and headed for it. The door shut but she didn’t hear the lock click. She peered inside the bag, an eyebrow raising. “Is this the women’s things?” She laughed.

  Silence greeted her. Turning toward the door, she frowned. She hadn’t heard the lock click, had she? Creeping up to the door quietly, she flung it open expecting to find a strange alpha with a stranger face. Only, she didn’t find that, but she did find an empty hall
way.

  “Gavin?”

  A door closed downstairs; a second later, she heard the loud rumble of his truck start up.

  “That sneaky son of a…” He’d ducked and run, so to speak.

  Biting her lip, she found herself smiling as she went back to the bed and dumped her ‘women’s things’ onto it.

  Her eyes lit up. “Whoa.” Not bad, not bad at all.

  A package of ruby red Egyptian cotton sheets that looked soft as sin and just as comfortable. There was also a fat candle that smelled like apple pie, some sweet smelling body lotion, facial scrub, bubble bath, and…a black velvet jewelry box.

  He didn’t.

  She shook her head.

  No way.

  He couldn’t have bought her jewelry. That was crazy. That’s something that maybe a lover did—at least six months into the relationship. A man didn’t do that for a woman after meeting her for the first time a mere few days ago. Unless he was crazy.

  With wide eyes, she popped the lid up on the box.

  Her eyes caught sight of a plastic card. A gift card to hobby shop that sold everything from textiles to sewing machines. A giddy laugh bubbled out of her.

  She probably really shouldn’t, but she liked this man. She liked this man a lot.

  * * * * *

  Alicia finished tying off her last seam. She held the panties up to the light for inspection and nodded her approval. They were nearly done, just a little more tweaking and they’d be perfect.

  Today she’d worked out the cost of the lingerie set and determined her profit. If she bought the supplies necessary to make the set in bulk then she’d save money on her overall cost. At around nineteen dollars to make one set, she figured she could sell the set for sixty dollars, at least. A profit of forty-one dollars; not bad. Not bad at all.

  Of course, the upfront cost of buying the items in bulk would hurt her financially. She didn’t have much in savings. And, if the lingerie didn’t sell well… Alicia shook her head to get rid of the negative thoughts. She always did this. Always had to look at the negative side.

  She had to stay positive. This was a great design and women will fawn over it. Plus, sixty or so dollars was a bargain when some high-quality lingerie sets cost over a hundred for two pieces. Her two-piece set would be a great bargain.

  Her stomach rumbled in need and she set her work down. She headed upstairs to grab a bite to eat, when it struck her. She was just walking past the laundry room. The mystery box.

  Her heart fluttered and she bit her bottom lip feeling like a naughty child about to snoop through her parent’s things. That didn’t stop her from rushing into the laundry room and flipping on the overhead light.

  Her eyes went straight to the bottom right corner where that worn box was.

  Except…she blinked. It wasn’t there. She checked all around the laundry room wondering if she’d gone mad. Had it been in a different corner or on a shelf? But no…it was like it had never been there.

  Except…Alicia squatted down and saw a thin layer of dust settled around a cleaner square. The box had been there, she hadn’t been imagining it. And someone had moved it. That someone being Gavin MacKellen.

  Nibbling her lip, she turned off the light and headed upstairs to eat. Just what was in this box? What was he trying to hide? He knew she’d made her workstation down here so he must have known she might snoop around a bit.

  What the heck could he be hiding? Old love letters, his porn stash, or maybe it was nothing important.

  Except, if it wasn’t important, then why move it? It had looked as if it’d sat there for a long time before she’d come around. So what did it matter?

  Alicia made herself a sandwich and ate while lost in thought.

  It must be important and he must not want her to see what’s in it.

  Well, she supposed she’d better find it and see what was so important.

  * * * * *

  After washing her dishes, Alicia checked the fridge. It was nearly empty.

  Gavin had eaten her leftovers the other night. The thought made her smile. He’d eaten all of it and that hadn’t been a little amount of food. Something about that made her feel good, feeding a man, knowing he liked her food, made her feel warm. She wanted to do it again but there wasn’t any meat, save for a frozen package of kielbasa. Yuck, definitely not her thing.

  She found a piece of paper and scribbled—we need groceries and meat and fruity yogurts, please—then stuck it on the fridge with a magnet. Not that the fruity yogurts were for him, of course.

  A soft knock came from the front door. Alicia jumped a foot in the air. Pressing a hand over her pounding heart, she gingerly made her way to the door. The last time someone had come over, it hadn’t been a pleasant experience.

  Her mind raced with possibilities of what would greet her on the other side. A whole troop of pack members wanting to question her or maybe that creep Marcus again? She’d take a hundred questions from other pack members over having to deal with Marcus again.

  She peered through the glass at the side of the door then sighed when she saw Hanna’s familiar face.

  Alicia opened the door. “I’m surprised you didn’t just use your own key and come in. This is your brother’s house, after all.” Not mine.

  Hanna didn’t crack a smile. Her eyes looked red like she’d been crying and her lips were pressed flat. Not a happy woman today. Sorrow clung to her in her slumped shoulders and in her deep frown and most of all in her weary eyes.

  From the sedan in the front yard, Kaity popped out of the driver’s seat. “Get dressed, we’re going out and getting drunk.”

  “We?” Alicia asked, surprised.

  “Yeah, you, me, Hanna, and whoever else we pick up on the way. Tonight we’re getting Hanna drunk and celebrating.”

  Hanna’s eyes watered as if she found the idea physically painful. The girl didn’t look like she wanted to celebrate. She looked like she wanted to crawl into a dark hole and live in it for a few months.

  “Celebrating what?” Alicia asked.

  Kaity looked at her sister with a fierce, determined expression. “Celebrating her divorce from her piece of shit mate.”

  Hanna squeezed her eyes shut and looked away, embarrassed.

  Not sure quite how to react, Alicia plastered on a smile. “Give me five to change.”

  She rushed upstairs and put on a skirt, some cute flats, and one of her favorite, more sexy, tops. She hadn’t left the house since she gotten here and she suddenly found that she had to get out of here. She didn’t know these ladies but they seemed like good people. The kind of girls she could befriend, and if Hanna needed to get drunk because of her piece of shit mate, then by all means, Alicia understood and respected that.

  After all, been there, done that.

  “Lookin’ hot,” Kaity said as Alicia rushed out.

  “Thanks, I’ve been living in jeans and yoga pants for a week so this is a nice change.”

  Feeling like a teenager sneaking out of her parents’ basement with her friends, she hopped into the back seat and they took off.

  “So where are we going to?” Alicia asked.

  “Tish Freedman owns the Burly Bear. It’s our local lykaen bar. It’s in our territory but we get humans, other lykaens, and even the occasional vampire in there. Not a bad place to get your buzz on.”

  “I really just wanna go home, Kaity,” Hanna said miserably.

  Alicia bit he lip at the sadness in her voice and glanced out the window seeing the Oregon pack for the first time. Since the first time she’d been blindfolded on arrival.

  Kaity patted her sister’s leg. “I know and that’s why I can’t let you do that. Tom’s a scumbag and now that you’ve fully realized his scumbagness, we’re free to trash talk him, get drunk, and help you to move on to way better men than him.”

  A sniffle from the front seat. “Yeah, I know I need to but…I love him!”

  Ouch. Hanna loved a scumbag piece of shit. Just what qualified him as
a scumbag piece of shit could mean many things. He could be a dawg, a player, a cheating sack of shit. Or maybe he’d hit her, though Alicia didn’t think that was it. Not only because she hadn’t seen any bruising but because the MacKellen men wouldn’t stand for that.

  No, this was something Hanna and Kaity had been keeping under wraps, probably for Hanna’s sake. Which meant it was personal. Alicia was going with cheating on this one. Hanna wouldn’t want her brothers to find out because she knew they’d mete out justice to the man and then she’d lose the love of her life.

  Double ouch.

  Of course, Alicia understood where Hanna was at too.

  “I know, honey. I know,” Kaity said softly.

  They made it the rest of the way to the Burly Bear in silence. The MacKellen pack covered a good portion of land. Even with the bar being inside the pack they drove twenty-five minutes before seeing the worn, sepia sign that said Burly Bear Bar on it.

  Hanna had gotten her tears under control by time they arrived.

  Alicia stared at an oversized bear statue sitting out front of the bar and figured that’s where the bar got its name from. The bear was huge, at about eight feet tall. It sat on its hind legs like when you ordered a dog to sit. It was painted brown but you could tell it was old and the color had begun to fade. Still, it was a cute statue. Where you would even buy something like that, Alicia had no idea.

  “That’s Giacomo.”

  Alicia peered at Kaity questioningly.

  “The bear, his name’s Giacomo.” Kaity grinned up at the bear. “We all call him Giac but there’s confusion in the pack about it. Some think the Giac is short for guacamole. Yeah, silly, I know. But it’s Giacomo. Tish named him and it stuck.”

  Alicia nodded slowly, having no words to say to that.

  Inside the Burly Bear some nice eighties rock blared over some black speakers mounted high up on the walls. The quality was poor, the sound scratchy, but it gave an authenticity to the worn-in state of the bar. The wood floors had seen countless spills, though it looked about as clean as it could get.

  Small round tables were pushed close together to cram in as many people as possible, and the bar had those little black barstools. All of which were filled. Along either side of the walls were a couple of booths. Everything was filled. The place was packed. And it was only a weeknight.