The Alpha's Rebel

Chapter 32

Maddox was right: today was not the best day for me to go to work with him. When he wakes up around ten and gently shakes me shoulder, I shove him away and burrow my head under a pillow. His chuckle is low, but he gets the point. He moves quietly around the room to get ready before leaving, and I fall back asleep.

I wake up who knows how many hours later when my phone rings. Without lifting my head, I grope around my nightstand until my hand lands on it. I press the green answer circle and bring the phone to my ear. "Hello?" my voice is groggy and gives away my long night.

"Did you just wake up?" Kaitlyn asks.

"Yeah," I mumble, closing my eyes since there's no need to have them open.

"Harp, we're leaving now," Vinnie says, his voice sounding more distant than Kaitlyn's, like he's farther from the phone than she is.

"We'll be there around four," Molly adds.

Thay snorts, "Yeah, if Vinnie doesn't have to stop to go to the bathroom every twenty minutes."

"Hey! It's not my fault my bladder needs to go when it needs to go!"

"Babe, it kind of is your fault for chugging a Gatorade twenty minutes ago."

"Not you too!"

I start dozing off again as the bickering continues, the sound of my friend's voices coming through the phone the only lullaby I need. Bickering or not, it calms me to hear them all.

"Harp?" someone says into the phone, and I hum in response. "Harp!" they say again with a sharper tone.

"Yeah?" I mumble, slightly more awake but my eyes remaining closed.

"Are you falling asleep on us?" Kaitlyn asks.

"Me? Falling asleep? Never?" I mumble, groping around for the sheets around my waist and pulling them up to my chin.

"She's definitely falling asleep," Thay tells everyone else.

"She probably had a long night, if you know what I mean," Vinnie says, and I imagine him wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, looking in the rearview mirror to meet Kaitlyn and Thay's eyes before looking at Molly in the passenger seat. I don't have to be in the car to know this is exactly what is happening in the quick moment of silence.

"She did indeed have a very long night," I hum into the phone. "So she is going to fall back asleep before she has to deal with you all for the next few days."

"Ouch, Harp. If you didn't want us to come, all you had to do was tell us," Kaitlyn chuckles.

"Fuck off," I reply, my words slurred from nearly falling asleep again. "Call me when you get here." I open my eyes to end the call as a chorus of "bye Harper"s come through the phone, and I'm asleep before the next minute rolls around.

~~~~

The next time I'm woken up, it's not from another phone call from my friends. Maddox is back from work, and he's crawled back into bed and is pulling me close. I hum as his scent surrounds me and fills my nostrils, burrowing my face into his bare chest.

"Hello to you too," he chuckles, the noise vibrating his chest against my forehead and cheek.

"How was work?" I ask softly, pressing my lips against his chest. A shiver runs through his body under my touch, and I smile.

"Busy. Damien and I started researching for anything we can find out about hunters." I open my eyes at the mention of hunters and prop myself up on my elbow.

"Did you find anything?" I ask, now wide awake.

Maddox shakes his head, propping himself up on his elbow as well. "No. They've managed to stay so well hidden throughout the entirety of time that we've only known they exist for a few decades. Even then, we hardly know anything about them."

I groan and fall back onto the bed. "There's gotta be a way we can figure out more." An idea comes to mind and I sit up, using Maddox's chest to push up with my hand and emitting a small "oof" from him. He brings a hand to my thigh and starts rubbing his hand up and down. I love the simpleness of his touch, it being merely a way to be in contact. "What if we sent some trackers out to follow the hunter if we could pick up a scent?"

An uneasy expression settles over Maddox's features.His eyebrows crease together as he says, "Harp, I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"Maddox, I'm serious," I push, my voice showing the excitement building in me. "We can send some trackers after the hunter and try to capture them! We can get answers from them and figure out why they're targeting us!"

"Harp, we can't do that," Maddox replies.

"Why not?" I challenge.

"Because this hunter is unpredictable. Being able to hide their scent could lead our trackers right into a death trap, and I'm not going to send anyone from our pack out when we don't have a firm plan in place. Hoping they can find the hunter and capture them isn't enough."

I don't say anything, because he's right. I didn't think about any of that, and it clearly shows that he's been doing this pack leader thing for a while. My mind jumped at the first chance to figure out how to protect the people I love, and the excitement blinded me from all of the intricate details that would set us up for failure.

"Then we figure out a plan to ensure that we won't lose anyone," I say quietly. "We hold a meeting with all of the head leaders about this, and we figure out our next step."

Sharing the role of protecting our pack with the other leaders in our pack is going to be weird. I'm not used to sharing that role with anyone asides from my friends, but I know as the luna of this pack that I need to grow out of that. As much as I wish that I could, I can't protect this pack all on my own. To think that would be childish. To do that would be suicide.

"Okay," Maddox nods, a smile growing on his lips. It's enticing, and I lean forward to press my lips to his. My hair falls on either side of my face, blocking out the light as I bring my hands to his his face. His smile turns to a smirk, and I know exactly what he wants. I move one of my legs to the other side of his body so I'm straddling him, deepening the kiss now that I have a firmer base above him.

My phone goes off, and I pause mid kiss, my lips lingering on his. I groan and topple onto the bed beside him, reaching for my phone on the nightstand. "Hello?" I grumble.

"Oopsies. I interrupted something, didn't I?" Kaitlyn teases.

"Perhaps."

She laughs, "I definitely did, but I don't even feel bad because we're here!"

I sit up straight, leaping out of bed and scrambling out of the room. I leave a frustrated Maddox behind with my forgotten phone.

I take the steps two at a time, slide across the wood floors in my socks, and yank open the front door. My best friends are crawling out of the car, stretching their legs and gathering their things. I run and launch myself at Molly, tackling her in a hug.

"Harper!" she shrieks, hugging me back just as tight.

"I'm so happy you guys are here!" I say, pulling away from Molly and pulling Vinnie in for a hug. I hug each of them, and it feels like home. The stress the hunter is causing me simmers on the surface, but nothing more.

Now that my friends are here, we can fix everything. We always have, and we always will.