Taking Down the Alpha

34 In the Dust

I barely saw the alpha in the time between when I issued the challenge and the day of the vote, but when I did, his anger was palatable. We won by a hefty margin, and that did nothing to lessen his ire. But I didn't care. It was his corruption and mismanagement that had made the situation necessary. As the one challenged, Alpha Hudson decided that they would fight in their wolf forms, which only increased my worry, because Alard had done the majority of his training as a human. He told me not to worry, as if it were as easy as that.

To make the excruciating wait worse, through the grapevine I heard that Alpha Hudson was training with a dedication he had never exhibited before. That news made me more worried than ever, but Alard seemed unconcerned. The only thing that comforted me was that my mate was also taking it seriously. Monroe and a few of the fighters from Apex Training Centre came to Huntstone to help him prepare for the fight, and never before had I been more relieved to see the disapproving trainer. He still disapproved of me dragging Alard into my pack's drama, but I couldn't even blame him because it was unfortunately true. Regardless of his attitude towards me, I was just thankful that he was supporting my mate.

While Alard trained every day, I had nothing to do. I wasn't welcome back at my job in the pack office since I was directly in conflict with the alpha. Munroe didn't want me near my mate while they were working together because I was still a distraction, and I couldn't argue with that. That left me either cooped up in my apartment going stark raving mad or hanging around with Denise until Andrew couldn't stand me anymore. Sometimes his disorder just got to me, and he was not at all receptive to my assistance.

I would almost have welcomed a crisis or catastrophe as the days dragged into weeks. Anything would be better than the torture of idle waiting.

It was the day before the fight. After driving Andrew mental at Denise's place, I decided to visit my parents. My mother welcomed me with open arms, but herded me back into the living room every time I tried to help with whatever she was working on. Finally she kicked my brothers off their game system, to make them spend time with me, much to their vocal displeasure. After listening to them whine for a while, we started a friendly board game on the coffee table that quickly lost any pretense of friendliness.

"Damn it!" Kevin practically howled as he landed on my square. "This is bullshit!"

"Kevin!" our mother yelled from the other room. "Watch your language or I'll get your father!"

"Yeah, watch your bullshit language, Kevin!" Jake agreed, not even trying to keep our mother from overhearing him.

"Kevin!"

"Hey! That wasn't me!"

"He just heard you say it. Stop being a bad influence on your little brother."

Kevin's mouth hung open in outrage. Jake smirked. Cute, but evil in his own way.

"You little—"

I shoved the side of Kevin's head to stop him. "You're just going to get yourself into trouble again," I pointed out with raised eyebrows.

That turned his attention to me and he scowled accusingly. "Are you really going to let this injustice stand?"

I shrugged. "Seems like a you problem."

Kevin shook his head disapprovingly. "Is this the sort of luna you're going to be?"

I waved off his fake concern. "I'll have bigger things to do than break up your petty squabbles if—when I'm luna." Sitting on the floor next to the coffee table in my parent's house, it sure didn't feel like I was going to be luna. Reaching over, I pinched Jake's cheek. "And you, stop causing trouble. It'll backfire on you one day."