Secret Alpha Wolf (Shifter League Book 2)

by Leela Ash

  Maybe what he needed to do was take a step back and away from the humans. He was spending far too much time worrying about them and forming personal relationships with them and not enough in getting the information he needed to prevent the apocalypse. It was time for him to take a step back and breathe a little bit.

  But that would be a lot easier to do if he could keep Veronica from creeping into his thoughts. She had a way of sticking with him and it was really starting to annoy him. Why had he allowed himself to succumb to his animal instincts? Why had it been so easy for him to break all his own rules and allow the wolf to come out at the worst possible time?

  He had felt her watching him go and couldn’t honestly say that he was sorry to leave like that. The whole thing had weighed immensely on him. He had felt something with her. Something real and powerful. Something he wished like hell to hide from and bury deep, but there it was. Right in front of him. Close enough that maybe she could feel it and see it for herself.

  How the hell was he supposed to get any work done with something like that hanging over his head? He couldn’t. He had to let it go. Let her go.

  As much as it hurt him, he couldn’t allow the distraction any longer. There was just no time. The enemy was already too close. And after the scare he had had with Lester and believing they had figured things out and were putting their plan into action, he was that much more determined not to ever let it happen again.

  If that meant he had to forego his working relationship, and whatever kind of relationship they had been starting to have, then that was what he had to do. He was never going to put the safety of others on the backburner for a woman again. That was just the way it had to be. They would both deal with it. They were adults. And the world needed him now more than ever.

  15.

  Veronica didn’t want to believe what it was she was seeing. She had gone to Lester’s property to retrieve a change of clothes for him. However, she had seen a moving van drive past her and up to Lester’s property before she had managed to make it to the driveway. In it, she recognized the new strangers to town; men with looks that rivalled Achilles’ and serious dispositions that made everyone who met them kind of nervous.

  She hung back, certain that none of them had seen her, and decided to park her car on a sideroad. Achilles hadn’t told her they were going to Lester’s house.

  She had been on the edge of her seat waiting to hear from him, but no notifications had come. She was starting to feel like his absence was intentional. Especially with the way he hadn’t even bothered to say anything to her after the act and had just taken off on his own to go home. He could have at least let her drive him home or gotten in touch with her to see how Lester was doing.

  But it had been days and there had been nothing. No word from him. And now, she was seeing him sneaking to Lester’s property with his friends, with no prior indication to her that he might have motivations to do so.

  No, she wasn’t going to let him lie to her like he was lying to his companions. She was going to go find out for herself exactly what was going on. She grabbed a pair of binoculars from her cruiser and hung them around her neck before getting out of the car. She wasn’t going to let them fool her. Not this time.

  She crept up to the property, careful not to get too close. Her stomach did a flip-flop when she saw Achilles’ form coming out of the van and heading into Lester’s house. What the hell was he doing with them, invading the old man’s privacy that way? Were they really going there to help him fix things up like Achilles had mentioned in the hospital? If that were the case, where were their tools?

  She lifted the binoculars to her eyes and peered through them once they had all disappeared into the house. There was a vantage point in one of the windows where it had the curtain partially opened, and she saw the three men instantly set to work in rummaging through Lester’s things. Veronica’s brow furrowed as she considered whether it was possible that these were the men who were actually responsible for Lester’s attack.

  No, Achilles wouldn’t do that. He had gone out of his way to save Lester’s life!

  Or had he? Maybe he had gone to the hospital to get more information out of the old man before going with Veronica. It would explain why she hadn’t been informed that he had gone to see Lester, to supposedly “save” him. What if the herbs weren’t really a cure at all, but something that might keep him sick? So that they could continue to go through the old man’s home to their heart’s content to find whatever the hell it was that they were looking for?

  Veronica gasped when the men stopped looking around and began to bag up the items in the house. They carried them out to the van, loading up everything that Lester had spent his entire lifetime collecting. They were stealing from him, and right in front of her!

  She wanted to go in and tell them all to stop but a sudden recollection of Achilles’ physical power gave her pause. There were three of them in there, and she was just one woman. There was no way she would be able to take them all on. No, she would have to find another way to handle this. A way that was less risky.

  Her chest burned with fury as the men hung around Lester’s place a little while longer, making faces and obviously making fun of the mess surrounding them. Veronica had seen enough. She put the binoculars down and let out a long, drawn-out sigh. They were stealing from a man who was as good as her uncle. And she couldn’t do a damn thing to stop them.

  Suddenly, it occurred to her that if they drove past, Achilles would definitely be able to tell she was there. She didn’t know what made her think so, but he had stronger senses than she did. He was a wolf shifter. It only made sense.

  She bolted back to her cruiser and sat there, her chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath. Lester was not going to like this. But then again, maybe she didn’t have to tell him about it quite yet. It would completely devastate him, and he still had a long way to go with his healing. She didn’t want to take that away from him. No matter how difficult it might be for her to keep it to herself. At least for the time being.

  Veronica waited until she was sure the van was on its way back toward the bed and breakfast before turning the engine of her cruiser. Who knew whether Achilles might have been able to tell she was nearby based on the sound or smell alone? Even if he did know she was there, he didn’t seem to be all that interested in talking to her.

  She decided to take a drive to cool down, her mind was whirling with all the information she was trying to process. Once again, she had found herself falling for the asshole guy she had sworn to stay away from. She had tried to be so careful. She hadn’t done anything she shouldn’t. Not until the stupid encounter in the park. How had she not been able to restrain herself? It was as if there was another force inside of her that was trying to climb out and connect with him in some powerful way beyond her own understanding.

  How could she have been so stupid? What the hell was wrong with her? Why didn’t she just trust her own intuition and prevent herself from getting into these shitty situations? What part of her wanted to fail so badly that she would do anything to sabotage her own progress?

  And what would her father say if he knew she had let another guy take advantage of her the way she had so long ago? Why hadn’t she managed to learn her lesson? She knew he would be as annoyed with her as she was with herself. It was just making everything worse to think about it.

  So, what had been so convincing about him? How had she let herself be lured into another trap? And why the hell hadn’t he called her yet?

  Veronica sighed and turned the radio on, full blast, and rolled the windows of her cruiser down to let the brisk wind into the car. She should never have trusted him. How could she have been so naïve?

  If there was anything she could have done to stop herself from being such an idiot, she should have done it. Maybe she should march over there right now and give him a piece of her mind. He wouldn’t be able to hide behind his friends forever. She’d face him eventually. And when she did, she wo
uld hold him accountable for his shit.

  She’d had her suspicions before but now, they were in full swing. She found herself driving aimlessly back toward the station. Harley was surprised to see her when she slammed the door of the cruiser and marched back inside. She looked at her desk, messy with neglect from the weeks she had been spending with Achilles, helping him to research the different locations of sacred artifacts that had been taken from the serpent mound.

  What a waste of time that had been.

  A sudden thought chilled her. What if he was the enemy after all? What if he and his friends were there to collect the priceless artifacts in Lester’s collection, mess with the old man’s head and make him feel special for believing in his delusions, and ultimately, robbed him blind? All while convincing him that he was helping them to “save the world”…

  What if the whole thing was an elaborate scheme to get black market items, priceless in nature, and sell them for a ridiculous sum? It was probably all a huge scam. Why else would they market themselves as craftsmen and then steal everything right out from under Lester’s nose like that? She should have known better from the moment she saw him sneaking around the first time. How could she have let this happen to Lester? She had a duty to protect her citizens, and now, one of the most vulnerable, a family friend no less, had been targeted by these horrible people because of her.

  And not only that but she felt like an absolute idiot. She had allowed it to happen and had even gone so far as to get talked into believing that any of what he was saying was possible. Maybe even true! How stupid could she possibly be?

  Maybe he had shapeshifted in front of her and saved her life, but it was still possible that it had all been some kind of a bad trip. And even if the shapeshifters were real, and Achilles was one of them, that didn’t necessarily make him the good guy. He could have been using her for information. Just like she had been afraid of in the very beginning.

  And she had played right into it. She had given him everything he wanted. Including her body and her self-respect.

  Now what? He would hang out at his bed and breakfast on the outskirts of Greenrock, making a killing off of stealing her friend’s things and laughing at her for being so gullible. In fact, she wouldn’t have put it past him to have actually told his friends everything about her, only pretending that their relationship had to stay a secret just because if she met the others and snooped around there too much, then she would have caught on far more easily that they were up to no good. Sure, he was clever, but he was also a jerk. And she was going to bring him down.

  “Ronnie? What’s going on? You’re making a mess.”

  “Huh?” Veronica looked up, startled to find that Harley was standing in front of her as she swept photos off her desk and into the trash. All research she thought might be able to help Achilles. A thief. A heartbreaking, cruel thief.

  “Something’s wrong.”

  Veronica sat heavily at her desk, debating just how much she should let her deputy in on. It was possible he could help her out, maybe give her reinforcements if she needed them to persecute Achilles and his friends at the bed and breakfast.

  However, there was still some part of her that was nagging her to keep all of this to herself. She wasn’t trying to keep secrets, but the truth was, she truly didn’t know what was going on, and until she had the truth for herself, there was no way she could act and drag someone else into it.

  “I’m having a bad morning,” she said, finally, settling on a personal excuse. Ronnie wasn’t the kind of girl to let her personal feelings get in the way of her work, which was probably why Harley was so concerned about it. But he wanted to be her friend and stood by her desk firmly.

  “Is there something I can do to help you feel better?” he asked, eyeing her with a soft expression of caring in his eyes. It wasn’t romantic care, she could tell that much, and was grateful for it, but it was obvious he did want her to feel better and was worried that she wasn’t.

  “I don’t think so,” she said.

  “Do you want to spar?” he grinned. “I’ll let you win.”

  “Pshh.” Veronica smiled in spite of herself. She had a tendency to win whether he wanted to admit it or not, but his offer was funny and sweet, nonetheless. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to work some of this off.”

  “You’re on!”

  They changed into their sweat suits and went outside, ready to spar. As soon as they began, though, Veronica could tell there was something off. It wasn’t that she had lost her strength or didn’t know how to beat Harley. It’s just that she was missing something. Whatever fire she’d had before that spurred her on to try and dominate the men around her with her physical prowess had diminished. She simply didn’t feel as interested in kicking Harley’s ass anymore.

  She’d had a taste of something. Of knowing what it felt like to be feminine. Appreciated for her delicacies over her tough edges. Right now, fighting with Harley felt unnatural. As unnatural as his face had been the first time she had unleashed her power upon him and every single time she overdid it to reassert that power over him. It was something he obviously didn’t appreciate, and it was something she was now beginning to feel ashamed of.

  It wasn’t genuine. She was putting on a show. Wearing a mask. Trying too hard to be someone she thought maybe her father would love. Someone maybe he would forgive for making stupid choices as a delicate, vulnerable woman. Maybe if she wasn’t vulnerable anymore, he would accept her, and she would finally feel like things were okay between them.

  But that wasn’t how things had worked out. In fact, it seemed to have gone the total opposite. After his retirement, he had moved off to Florida and she simply stopped making any efforts to contact him. He blew her off. He had his own priorities now, and she wasn’t really one of them.

  Sure, he seemed proud of her and all for taking over the Sheriff’s station. Proud of her for taking on the job as Marshall and continuing to protect the community. But as for her own personal life and interests, he simply didn’t seem to care, and she was tired of trying to pretend there was anything she could do to make him take her serious.

  She let Harley knock her back and sat down on the ground with a soft thud. She didn’t want to fight. She never really had. That had never been what it was about. She was trying to make up for her own lack of desire to fight by being overly enthusiastic. She was just trying to be something that she wasn’t.

  It was too hard to go back now. Especially after feeling, for the first time, what it meant to be natural with somebody. Even if that person happened to be a lying scumbag that she never wanted to see again, she just couldn’t bring herself to put the mask back on. It didn’t feel natural anymore. It probably never had been.

  “Ronnie, are you okay?” Harley was standing at her side now, frowning and offering her his hand to help her to her feet. She took it and sighed, unable to answer. “Did I hurt you or something? I thought I was going easy!”

  “You didn’t hurt me, Harley, it’s okay. Thanks for your concern though.”

  She sighed and headed back toward the office, wishing she could just get whatever this funk was out of her system. But until she was able to see Achilles and his jerk friends put to justice, that would never really happen. She was just going to have to put her best face on and pretend everything was okay. There was no use in worrying Harley or anyone else because she had made a horrible decision and let another guy take advantage of her.

  One day, she would learn.

  Until then, she would just have to act like she had all along. Veronica had been pretending well enough that she was a tough guy. She could pretend to be okay too. At least until this new heartbreak healed. She didn’t have a choice in the matter. There was work to do.

  16.

  Achilles, Apollo, and Atlas had nearly finished cleaning and restoring the old man’s property, and Achilles figured it was about time to go and admit to him that they had taken all of his belongings and safeguarded them at their base. But
he was terrified that he would run into Veronica again. It was clear, by now, that they were obviously and pointedly avoiding each other. He had tried to say hello to her when they ran into each other the other day in town, but she had purposely scoffed at him and turned the other way.

  It had made him angry – furious, actually – but what could he do about it? He was the one who had initiated the no-contact phase. He had shut her out, and she had every right to be angry.

  But he sensed something in her reaction to him that went beyond the justifiable anger. Something that rubbed him the wrong way immediately. What was her problem?

  He had hated his own natural inclination to try and talk to her. To be close to her. Her scent drove him insane, and the wolf had begged him to prolong the interaction. And to confront her when she blew him off. It wanted her to recognize him, to remember that they had connected and that it had been a powerful, beautiful, raw thing. But she was pissed at him. More than that, he was getting the feeling she simply disliked him.

  But what had he done to deserve a feeling that strong? Was it because of the way he had taken off after they’d gotten intimate? Well, that certainly wasn’t likely to help things.

  Somehow, though, he got the feeling there was more to it than that.

  “Achilles, you seem different lately,” Apollo said, looking up from his task. He was busy mopping the kitchen floor of Lester’s house, and gazed at Achilles with thoughtful eyes. “I noticed it a while ago but didn’t say anything. Now, you have just been completely withdrawn. What’s been going on?”

  Achilles sighed, unsure of how much he might be able to talk about. Still, he had a weight on his chest that hadn’t gone away since he had stopped talking to Veronica. He wanted her to be in his life. He was just afraid of everything that it might mean. Everyone who could be hurt because of him if he fucked up. He knew he would put her as his main priority. He would mess up. He had with Lester. And that had almost cost them the entire mission. He had to stay on his guard. It was for her good as well as everyone else’s. He was sure of it.