Alpha - Forever #1 (Complete)

Chapter 17 - Part 1

Scarlett

A couple of hours later, I went with Cade to check on Blake.

He looked much better, sitting on one of the beds in the medical room. He had sweats on but no shirt and a large bandage covering his stomach. The pale and pained face was gone and he looked a healthy color again. He smiled when he saw us approach.

"How are you feeling?" Cade asked him as he stopped beside the bed.

"Much better," he answered. "Another day and I'll be as good as new."

It was hard to believe he had healed so dramatically in just a few hours.

"Next time you want your ass kicked, I'll do it," I offered in a teasing tone as I rocked on the balls of my feet with my hands shoved into the front pockets of my jeans.

He chuckled. Easygoing Blake was so different from Cade. It was sometimes hard to see him as an alpha of his own pack.

"As if," he scoffed as he gave me a playful look.

The reality was he'd probably kick my butt. I needed to start training with Hank. The sooner I started, the sooner I'd be able to protect myself. I wasn't going to be seen as a weak girl who couldn't protect herself.

I wanted to be Cade's equal. I wondered what type of training they did and how hectic it was; it was probably a lot more intense than anything I'd covered with Gary.

A sound behind me made me turn to see a young woman in a nurse's outfit. The outfit looked a little tight, I observed, and I couldn't help but wonder if she was dressed like that to help with the scenery in the sterile environment.

"Probably," Cade confirmed with a grin when I pulled my gaze back to Blake.

Ah, crap!

I was still getting the hang of keeping my thoughts to myself. There were times when I wasn't concentrating and some of my thoughts would be open for others to hear.

I playfully glared at Cade like it was his fault for invading my thoughts.

"Hey, it's not my fault you can't keep your thoughts to yourself," he defended as he raised his hands to ward off my glare.

"Still endless entertainment," commented Blake as he watched the two of us at it. I turned my glare to him as I put my hand on my hip.

He looked from me to Cade before he shook his head and grinned. Half an hour later, we left Blake so he could rest.

Cade and I were both unusually quiet as we walked back to the main house hand-in-hand. I think we were both too busy, still processing the events from the day to try and make small-talk.

By the time we made it back to the house, dinner was ready. When we entered the dining room, Gary, Jake, Hank and a few others were already seated at the table.

As soon as the food was on our plates and we were seated, I watched as Cade began to discuss the events of the day with our pack members. Gary listened intently as I did.

"It just doesn't make any sense," Jake muttered as he shook his head.

We were discussing the attack and trying to figure out how the rogues had worked together to attack us, since according to Cade this wasn't normal behavior for rogues.

He'd said that rogues were normally loners, although they did sometimes meet up with other rogues. The most rogues he'd ever seen together had been a handful and nothing like the twenty-strong rogues that had attacked them earlier.

"Only twenty attacked us today, but what if there are more?" asked Hank with a grim look.

"We have no way of knowing if they have more than that," said Cade as he put his knife and fork down and pushed his food away.

I tried to eat but the nervous knot in my stomach was making it difficult, so I did the same with my plate.

"We need to face the possibility that there might be more," stated Jake as he ran a hand through his hair. He voiced what everyone was thinking but didn't want to say out loud.

"What happens if there are more of them?" I asked Cade. I'd seen their training setup and I was impressed, but then again, I didn't know a lot about werewolf fighting.

"We normally only get attacked by a couple of rogues at a time. Everyone is trained so they are able to defend themselves, but we have dedicated fighters who are trained to fight rogues. Rogues don't normally work together because they don't like authority. What we experienced today is worrying because we have no idea how someone was able to group together and organize the rogues that attacked us today."

"Do we have any idea who it could be?" I asked. It was still puzzling why all of these rogues were hell-bent on trying to attack me. I couldn't think of a single reason why anyone would want to hurt me.

"No," Cade said as he reached for my hand. This new piece of information about the attack had made him nervous and he seemed to relax as his fingers covered mine. It was a comforting peacefulness that came over us when our skin connected.

The rest of dinner was spent trying to strategize a defense to a hypothetical attack by rogues with larger numbers.

"What about letting the girls fight?" I suggested. Conversation stopped mid-sentence and all eyes swung to me. All but Cade looked at me like I was talking a different language. Cade shook his head at me.

"No way," he stated vehemently. His eyes warned me off the subject.

"You can't expect us to just sit here and do nothing while you guys go to fight a battle you might lose because you're outnumbered."

I was arguing on behalf of all the girls in the pack, whether they wanted me to or not. Exasperation and anger entered my voice as I argued with them.

"There are other options," was Cade's stern reply.

"And what is that?" I asked as I glared at him. Trust him to come up with an alternative to letting girls from the pack fight.

"We could join packs with Blake," he suggested as he scanned our pack members for their reaction.

Jake seemed to mull the idea over for a moment before he announced, "That could work."

I was so angry that I'd just been dismissed so easily, I wanted to scream, but instead I said, "Are you guys for real?"

Silence descended as the pack members looked to Cade.

"Like I've told you before, it will never happen," he stated. His eyes darkened with anger as he tightened his hold on my hand.

Trying to discuss it with Cade and our pack members was a waste of time and effort. I'd have to come up with another way to get them to consider it. There had to be a way.

"And like I told you before, I can't let you go out to fight without me," I reminded him as I held his angry gaze.

He was the first to pull his gaze away from me and then he began to discuss the effects of joining a pack. It was like he ignored everything I'd just said and carried on with their conversation.

Angry and annoyed, I pulled my hand from his and pushed my chair back. Cade's eyes swung to mine. I gave him the angriest look I could muster before I turned and stalked out of the dining room before I did something I regretted, like slapping someone and the closest person to me had been Cade.

I'd slapped him once already that week.

On my way upstairs, I hesitated for a moment. I knew Cade would probably want me in his room tonight, but I was so angry I couldn't be in the same room with him until I calmed down. Instead, I headed to the guest bedroom I'd previously used.

Once I entered the room, I slammed the door closed. There was a key in the door and I locked it. It would give Cade the clear message that he wasn't welcome in my room.

With that thought, I leaned against the door and let out a frustrated sigh.