Taking Down the Alpha

28 Hanging in There

The next morning, Alard dropped me off at my hotel. I wouldn't see him until his fight the next day. Our separation was an attempt to pacify Munroe. My wolf wasn't happy about the break, but I did want him to be prepared for the final fight so I didn't complain.

That left me with a couple of days without a lot to do. I figured I'd start by checking my work email, and then once I'd put out all the fires my idiot alpha started back home, I could figure out what we could do with the time we had left to wait after Al's fights were finished but before we could go home without breaking our mate search cover. If Liana wanted to, we could continue the search for her mate until time was up, and if not, perhaps I could find a way not to lose my mind in idleness while the others enjoyed the rest of their vacation.

But as for today, once I was done with my email, perhaps Liana would want to go for another run and let out her wolf again. I enjoyed her enthusiasm, she had almost seemed like a pup the first time I had run with her.  My wolf had loved running with her wolf as well, like she was celebrating a new pack member.

I unlocked and pushed open the door to my room. It was just as I left it, and Liana's on the other side of the adjoining door was quiet. I cracked open the door quietly in case she was still sleeping.

Instead of snores, I walked in to the sound of muffled sound of sobs. "Liana?"

She was lying on her bed, her face buried in her pillow, and she pushed herself up to look towards me with wide tear filled eyes. "Jessica? Oh, you're back?"

"Of course. What's wrong?" Reasons why she might be upset ran through my mind. Had our idiot alpha done something again? Had something gone wrong with her shifting? Had she found her mate only to be rejected? I'd wring his neck if a wolf did that to her. She deserved to be happy, not sobbing into her pillow.

She sniffled. "My dad... He got hurt."

"Oh, no! What happened?"

She wiped her eyes, only to have new tears replace them. I awkwardly sat beside her. "It was by rogues on the border, early this morning. They were using wolfsbane."

"Oh, Liana, I'm so sorry." It was probably in some way related to Alpha Hudson's incompetency, but she didn't need to hear me ranting about him now. If only I'd recognized that he needed to be taken down sooner, her father might have been alright. But I couldn't change the past, only focus on what needed to be done now. "Do you need to go home?"

"Mom says that he's getting good care and hanging in there, so I can stay." Another tear slipped down her cheek.

"Liana, you don't have to stay if it would be better for you to go back. We can work something out."

"But...you need my car..."

I patted her shoulder. "I can figure out something as simple as transportation. It's more important for you to be where you need to be. Where do you think you need to be?"

She sniffled again. "With my family."

"We've already accomplished our primary objective, but even if we hadn't, we wouldn't blame you for going back. Hang on, we should get Denise on board. Does she know yet?"

"No."

I pulled out my phone and texted Denise to come to Liana's room. While I waited for a response, I organized her room a bit to ready it for packing.

Denise didn't bother texting me back, instead just announcing her arrival with a knock. I opened the door, and Denise strolled in. She looked almost as good as usual even without her makeup, but her general demeanor was lighter than before she had met her mate. He really did seem good for her. I wondered if meeting Alard had already changed me, too.