The Alpha's Rebel

Chapter 29

With another arrow added to my collection and no new information, Maddox and I head back to the house only a few minutes after arriving at the border. What happened was simple: they caught someone sneaking around the border, tried to track them, but the scent was gone the moment they crossed the border to track it. All that was left is the arrow.

I follow Maddox through the front door, walking right through the tension he leaves in his path. I know exactly whats about to happen.

I watch him storm into the kitchen, open the fridge, and pull out a beer. He doesn't look at me until he's taken the cap off and braced himself back against the counter. I stand on the other side of the massive island, arms already crossed and eyebrow raised.

"What happened this morning?" he asked. His voice is stern, his dark eyes boring into mine. He's not demanding anything of me, earning himself a few bonus points for treating me as an equal. The hurt in his eyes is still breaking my heart, but the anger I see has my own anger spiking.

"When I woke up, I went out to the balcony. I was coming back in when I saw the arrow sticking out of the side of the house. I tracked the scent to the edge of the pack lands where it went cold." I pause as he takes a sip of his beer. "I spent all day researching to figure out who it could have come from. It's a hunter." My voice is steady, but there's no denying the edge it carries.

Maddox raises his voice slightly as he asks, "Why the hell didn't you tell me this morning?" The little ups and downs in his tone let me in on the fact that he's a lot angrier than he's letting on.

"Because I didn't want to worry you. I wanted to handle it quietly on my own." I raise my voice as well to match the level of his, but the steadiness remains. I don't want to fight with him, but I'm not going to let him raise his voice at me without raising my own back.

"Harper, we're supposed to be a team!"  he says, pushing himself away from the counter and setting his beer down on the island in front of him. The island is the only thing standing between us. "We're supposed to work together to protect our pack!"

"What if I was trying to protect you? I didn't want to worry you!"

Both of our voices are raised another notch. It hurts to be fighting with him, a feeling I never thought I would experience in this kind of situation. I've been in plenty of fights with others before, both verbal and physical, but this is different. We haven't even started yelling at each other and I'm already feeling nauseous.

"You worried me more by not mentioning anything. How am I supposed to protect you if I don't even know when you're in danger? Not only do I feel that need to protect you as your mate, I feel it a hundred times stronger because I'm an alpha! What if something had happened to you?"

I feel for him. I really do. The urge to protect the people I love has been my number one priority since the day I was born. I get it. I'm okay with it. I'm not okay with him questioning my ability to protect myself, though.

"I am perfectly capable of protecting myself," I growl, my voice cold and low as I uncross my arms and clench my fists at my sides. Questioning my strength is something I've never responded well to.

Maddox runs a hand through his hair and says, "I know that. You're the most badass person I've met in my entire life. I don't want you to be dealing with threats on your own, though. That's not the way to successfully run a pack." Points for the badass compliment, but it hardly makes this better.

"When someone I love is in danger, I do anything in my power to protect them. If the situation continued to get worse, I would have told you about it. I was trying to gather all the information I could to see if I could handle quietly by myself before worrying you about something." I keep my voice low, and that's how I know that I'm becoming more frustrated.

"Harper, that's not how we should be running our pack!" he yells.

"Why, Maddox?" I yell back. "Because we're a team? I fucking know we're a team!"

"Then start acting like it!"

"I was trying to protect you!"

"I don't need protection. I'm the god damn alpha of this pack. It's my job to be protecting you and everyone else under my care!"

"Our care." He was doing so well.

"You clearly need someone taking care of you if you thought it was smart to handle this situation on your own. You can't do these things on your own anymore, Harper. You're the luna of this pack. You have a thousand people under your care. Working along is not an option anymore!"

I feel like he just threw a knife in my chest, the blade hitting me directly in the heart. The tone of the fight has shifted from us arguing about me not telling Maddox to him scolding me for acting like a child, essentially. I can deal with arguing, but scolding me is not okay.

"Is that really how you feel?" I ask quietly, my mind racing with the possibilities of what my next move could be.

"As of now, yes." He's stern, but he's not yelling.

"Okay." I say, my tone daring him to say anything more. I stare at him with my arms once again crossed and my eyebrow raised higher than ever. He stares back, but he doesn't challenge. I remain for a few more seconds before turning on my heel and heading upstairs. I go into the master bedroom and start pacing the floor.

I'm still fuming from our fight, and all I want to do is talk to my friends about it. I miss them so much it hurts, and it's hardly been twenty four hours. I want to tell them about what's happening and then get drunk, eat ice cream, and watch a comedy with them.

With my advanced hearing, I hear the front door open and slam shut, the familiar sound of bones rearranging as someone shifts, and paws hitting the ground as they sprint farther away. With the blinds of the balcony pushed to the side, I'm able to see the black wolf run into the forest.

It hurts even more to know that Maddox left. I get it, and I'm not mad. Going on a run to calm down is something I would do and have done. It still hurts, though.

I want to be with Kaitlyn and Molly and Vinnie and Thay.

And I realize there's nothing stopping me. I stop pacing and head to the closet, grabbing a duffle  bag and throwing a random assortment of clothes into it. I don't pay too much attention to the outfits in my hurry to get out.

In the bathroom, I grab toiletries and stuff them in, and then I'm ready to go.

The keys to Maddox's jeep are on the key hook, and the black car is sitting in the garage like it's been waiting for me. I throw the duffle bag into the back seat and hop into the driver's seat, adjusting it so I can reach the brake and accelerator. I don't bother plugging my phone in for music, knowing that silence is what I want to be surrounded by right now.

I pull out of the garage and fly down the driveway, stopping to put directions on so I don't get lost. The anger fuels the excitement I feel about seeing my friends again, and once I'm off, seeing them is all I can think about.