Alpha Female - Book 1 -Under Major Editing-

Chapter 18

   A few weeks had passed since Lance had last made a discovery. Aldrich had returned to his pack, much to his disliking, without Nicole. It had taken a lot of yelling, coercing, and a couple other things for the shewolf to finally convince him that it was for the best. He had a pack to run, as did she, and they had the rest of their lives for affection and sex.

   Things so far were running smoothly in both packs. Nicole had fallen back into her normal no nonsense self, and with the help of the Nightshade warriors, had practically fortified her lands. Everyone in the pack that didn't hold status had seemed to have forgotten almost completely about the attacks that had happened weeks prior. They all seemed happy, until they weren't.

     Nicole was sitting in her office, looking through some documents that had been sent to her from Aldrich about the warriors who had found mates in her lands. She was busy looking through their files, editing who they were mated too and where they would be staying once everything was over. Her head picked up as Lance's worried voice filled her head.

"Alpha, you need to get to your fathers room."

Her eyebrows furrowed as she hurriedly stood up, and and began making her way to the door. "What's wrong, Lance?"

"It's urgent. Nicole... he isn't doing well."

At Lance's words, she finished making her way the door, nearly pulling it off the hinges as she ran out into the hallway. She sprinted down the stairs to the room of the pack house her father was on, and stopped in her tracks at the sight at the door. Her grandparents were sitting outside the door, her grandmother in tears as her grandfather held her and consoled her. Nicole's breath faltered as she slowly made her way towards them.
"Grandma, what's happening?"

Her grandmother continued to cry, too upset to answer. Nicole turned to her grandpa. He looked up to her with sad eyes, his face red and puffy from crying. "You need to go in there, Hun. It's not good."

Nicole's heart jolted. "Is...is he..."

"He's alive. But it won't be long now."
All she had the sense to do was nod. Her grandpa gave her a sad smile and nodded his head towards the door. Nicole turned, waking slowly to the door of her dads room, and opened it. It had been a few days since she had last visited, what with all the work she had been catching up on, and Andrew's own insistence that she not come everyday and get further behind. He had seemed somewhat okay the last time she visited, but now, he was a completely different person.
Nicole's eyes pricked with tears as she walked in the room and saw her dad. He weighed probably no more than 120 pounds, at the most. His once strong, muscled arms had lost all muscle and were skin and bones; his cheeks and face were sunken in. The man laying in the bed wasn't anything like the man Nicole knew growing up. She felt one tear after another begin to fall down her face as she made her way to his bedside.

He noticed her when she walked in, and mustering up what little strength he could, he gave her a small smile. "Hey hun." he mumbled.

Nicole gave him a small, sad smile back. "Hey Dad."

His smile fell after a moment, as if it had taken too much out of him to keep it on his face. "Did you get caught up on any work, Dear?"

"Yes, Dad, I did."

"Good, good. I'm glad, Hun."

Nicole pulled up a chair beside his bed, taking his hand in hers. "How do you feel?" she asked, looking down at his frail hand in hers.

"I'm okay, Hun. Doc is taking good care of me."

Nicole smiled, looking up to meet his eyes. "I know he is, Dad."