The Alpha's Daughter (Un-Edited Version)

The Alpha's Daughter - Chapter 22

Annie:

Cal growled under his breath as Zane came towards me. I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue in my cheek, cocking my head at him.

"Really?" I said. "It's just Zane." Cal sucked in his cheeks and looked back to Radleigh, who was speaking to Jase. Full moon fell on a Wednesday this month, meaning that it was unlikely that any of the boys would be at school for the rest of the week, which suited me fine because, for the last two weeks, Cal had done nothing but snap at everyone who came near me, including one or two of my teachers.

"I'll choose not to take that as an insult," Zane muttered wryly, sitting down next to me. I gave him a small smile.

"We're going to have to stay together tonight," Jase said to the kitchen in general. "It'll be easier for Dante's pack to pick us off if we go off on our own." Radleigh groaned and sat back in his seat, pushing his plate away from him.

What's your problem? I asked, raising an eyebrow.

You try spending the night with these miserable gits, he muttered, see how you're feeling at the end of it.

I smiled at my brother, shaking my head. Then I took a bite of the stew that Sierra had made and I gagged. Yeah, okay, this was pretty high on my list of reasons of becoming a vegetarian. Georgie had hardly been seen at meal times since her fight with Macca. I couldn't exactly blame her; he had been a king-sized prick, and now it was him sleeping on the sofa instead of Cal, who was now back in with me. But I was worried about her. Every time I saw her in the corridor, she looked thinner and paler, as if the strain of their dispute was taking its toll on her. Macca was just swanning about, acting the hard man. If it wasn't for the fact that he was Cal's brother, I think I might have already retaliated for the lovely crack he gave me on my head.

"So you're not going to bring back any spies this time, are you?" I asked brightly, looking at everyone expectantly.

"That's not funny, Annie," Jase snarled. I arched my eyebrow.

"I think it is," I trilled. Radleigh snorted into his plate and then tried to cover it up by feigning a coughing fit. Funnily enough, I think Jase realised that we were both well and truly taking the piss. Just as he was about to reply to our taunts, dad entered, sifting through a pile of letters that I had stepped over that very morning. Expecting to be ranted at for not picking them up, I looked up at him, waiting for the argument. Except, it never came. Instead, he looked up briefly from sorting the envelopes and...smiled? I did a sort of double-take. My. Dad. Just. Smiled. At. Me. Phone the newspapers and alert the Prime Minister; some much nicer alien had taken over Gordon Knight's body! I bit my lip. I would have put it down to a glitch; a scratch on his hard drive. A mistake on his part. Only, the truth was, he had been doing that a lot more; smiling, calling me sweetheart. Actually, in the past two weeks, he had been a lot nicer to me. Which made me very, very suspicious. I had spent enough time with Dante to know that niceness came with a price, whether it be at my expense or another's. No-one was properly nice without an ulterior motive. It was the law of the wolf. Well, unless you had a mate, then they really were just being nice because they gave a shit.

"Have you briefed them, Jase?" dad asked, reading one of the letters. "Briefed them". He made it sound like a military operation instead of just walkies for the big bad wolves. I mentally laughed at my own joke and then realised, too late, that Radleigh, Zane and Cal had all been listening to my thoughts. I blushed and then gave Cal the biggest smile I could muster. He rolled his eyes and jabbed his fork into the gloopy mess of food.

I think it's still breathing, he whispered. I watched as he examined the piece of pink meat that he had skewered.

I think you might be right, I agreed, my lip curling in disgust. I wanted to laugh at Jase; so intent on pleasing Sierra that he was prepared to eat this muck. I could see from his face that he was enjoying it just about as much as were. Sierra was sitting on the sofa, her pale skin glistening under the above lighting, her hands rapped firmly over her stomach. The baby was overdue apparently, which was why Jase was so concerned with going out on the Full Moon. But what else could he do? Stay here while his Wolf-mones (Yeah, see what I did there; I invented a new word. If they got to rip the piss out of my hormones, then I could see nothing wrong in throwing it right back in their faces) ran riot? Knowing how aggressive my brother could get when he hadn't straightened out his emotions, he'd most likely trash up the house, which was the last thing Sierra needed to deal with. So, yours truly was on...Mate-Sitting duty. Yeah, it wasn't as impressive as it sounded. Georgie was in no fit state to do it due to the zombie-like state she seemed to be residing in, which meant the muggings here was the next best thing.