Why Me, Alpha?

Chapter 15

Laughter, chatter and general signs of enjoyment filled the field and Lia smiled as she got another piece of barbecue from the grill, manned by Clyde and Owen, who smiled warmly at her.

The field was nicely lit by the moon, with no clouds to possibly cover its light.

She looked around for Marcus, and, upon not seeing a sign of him in the field, she headed for Nolan, who was talking to Krysten.

“…enough training, your sabre teeth are going to be amazing,” Nolan said, as he sat on the ground, his body angled towards Krysten, who was still wearing the loose white dress.

She was still eating, and the women constantly brought her food to eat, and she never ran out. There were several paper plates about her already, stacked on each other.

Upon seeing her approach them, they both bowed. Krysten smiled demurely at her, and Lia had a feeling that Krysten would be a generally quiet girl.

“Have you two seen Marcus?” Lia asked as she looked around, trying to spot Marcus once again, to no avail.

While Krysten had looked at her and shook her head, continuing to eat, Nolan looked at her, and she could see hesitation in his eyes. But it was gone after a moment. He ran his hand through his light brown hair and looked to the pack house.

“Where is he?” Lia said, her tone a bit more serious.

Honestly, she wasn’t all that thrilled about looking for him, but he’d promised to tell her about tomorrow, and she still hadn’t packed her stuff.

“He’s in his office, but I’m not sure if I should be sending you to him.” Nolan said, his face serious, quite different from what I’d gotten used to, but similar to what he had been before, when we had first met.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” she replied absentmindedly as she headed out in the direction of the Pack house, nibbling on her barbecue as she did so, throwing it in one of the trash bins she passed by.

Some women and men were coming in and out of the house, getting food to set on the table, or what not, so the lights were on, and it was mostly quiet, not as noisy as she knew it usually was. The ones she passed by smiled at her and bowed their head, letting her pass through the door first.

“Thank you,” Lia smiled as she entered, quickly heading up the stairs, towards Marcus’ office.

Upon turning into the corridor which she knew his office was in, she heard a loud crash that startled her, coming from it. She hesitated for a moment, fearful. She shook her head, taking a deep breath. Marcus would never purposefully hurt her. Lia quickly made her way to the door. Before she was even able to knock, the door was opened, revealing an angry looking Marcus, but there was something else in his expression that she easily recognized—grief.

Muscular arms engulfed her, pulling her onto her toes and into his bare chest as he buried his face in her hair. Lia had no idea what had happened, but she quickly hugged him back, knowing that he needed the comfort that only she could provide, which had been an odd realization for her. He was slouching down as he hugged her, and she couldn’t see his face at all. He made no sound, just breathing in her scent.

They didn’t speak for a while, and Lia chose to stay silent as he hugged her to him. His muscles were hard and tense beneath her fingers, she heard his fast heartbeat and felt his fast paced breathing near her ear, making her worried, but she decided against asking him what was wrong until he calmed down.

When his muscles became less tense, she decided to speak up. “What happened?”

It took him a moment to reply, but she could tell his voice was strained. “Not now, Lia.”