Pip walked to work in the heat this morning, even though she was hurt last night. She should have taken her scooter.
Hector paused in the middle of adjusting his coat and glanced at me. “Is something wrong?”
“No.” I responded automatically, then paused. “But…do you know how Pip is doing?”
“You are referring to the scrape she got after the Pack’s antics last night?” Hector asked.
“Yes.”
“Ember checked on her this morning and gave her a fae potion—which Pip informed her was unnecessary,” Hector said. “She seemed in fine health and threw one of her overweight cats at Wyatt when he attempted to hug her for one of the so called ‘Pomeranian Puppy Power-ups’。”
“They went too far last night,” I said. “She’s right, it’s unfair to pit her against enough wolves to make up a small Pack.”
“I agree. However, I don’t believe you ever need to worry about the Pack ambushing her in such a manner again.” Hector stood straight, and his dark eyes seemed to glow for a moment. “I made certain to explain the situation to all Pack members who weren’t present at the incident.”
“Good.” I rubbed the back of my neck as I tried to nail down the unease that rolled in my gut.
It wasn’t that I thought she’d be ambushed again. Because it was Pip, the moment she barked at the Pack the way she had, she’d guaranteed they wouldn’t come after her again like that.
Even if Pip was clueless about her powers, I was more in tune to them—I had to be.
But it wasn’t her powers that made me bolt through the forest last night.
I’d scented her blood, and had been flooded with an urgency that bucked logic and made me tear through the forest like a newly changed wolf.
But she’s bled before. Has something changed?
I didn’t have an answer for that—which was unacceptable.
The toll of being the Alpha of the Northern Lakes Pack was that I needed absolute control. It wasn’t Pip’s fault that she broke that control, but I had to figure out the source of it and fix whatever it was in me that allowed it.
A sharp, piercing ring that seemed to shoot through my skull ripped through the quiet forest.
Without thinking, I slapped my hand against the pocket of my jeans, and heard a crunch as my cellphone ringtone abruptly cut off.
I sighed, and Hector very carefully said nothing as I pulled my newly broken phone from my pocket.
Hector just nodded and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a new phone. “I’ll call Aeric and let him know the spare is your new main.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” I didn’t bother looking at the phone—I knew from experience it had all the numbers and applications I used.
Instead, I looked at the Low Marsh Pack territory. “This is the last strip of border we share with them,” I said. “I don’t think we’ll find anything more. Let’s head back.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
I shook my head as I started to jog through the forest.
I need to get rid of Fletching first. I can figure out what’s wrong with me after that. It’s nothing too dangerous, or I would have reacted before now. Maybe it’s not even me; maybe Pip’s powers are growing.
Though it was an excuse for me, the thought brought a frown to my lips.
I hadn’t been happy about transferring to the Northern Lakes Pack from my home in Colorado, but things had changed. With Pip, especially. I’d never hated her, but strangely, she’d become some kind of friend. It was more than I ever thought I’d feel for her, because she was the reason why I’d been forced to become Alpha of the Northern Lakes Pack.
Chapter 17
Pip
I locked the welcome center’s double doors and pulled on them, testing to make sure they wouldn’t open. They rattled, but stayed shut.
“Excellent! Time to head home for a late dinner.” I put the keys away in my backpack, slung the backpack over my shoulder, and waltzed out onto the sidewalk.
It was late. The streetlights were already on though the sun hadn’t set quite yet, and everything was that beautiful dusty blue shade of twilight when the sounds of the day start to settle and seem muffled.
I’d stayed after usual work hours to modify one of the center’s displays—the signs had gotten so faded you could barely read the print, so I’d printed off new copies and then struggled for an hour with figuring out how to laminate them, then had to clean up the mess I’d made, and time had gotten away from me.