Healed by the Alpha (Hunted Book Two)

Chapter Three

Dominick

I could see my breath clouding in front of my eyes as I ran in the early morning frost. The snow had disappeared last week, but the ice still remained. In and out, in and out. The trees now arched closer to the ground from the lack of sunlight, their solemn figures seemed to match my mood. I was always anxious when Whitt went back to the Midnight Moon pack, knowing alpha Logan was her mate didn't calm me enough to stop my worrying. People were still after her, for goddess knows what reason and I couldn't fight off an invisible force. Ever since the attempted assassination on alpha Logan, there had been complete silence.

Logan's mother was still missing, the previous Luna's trail had gone cold near the cave that Emily's parents were found in and no one had a clue where to start looking again. Every lead dried up, every shred of evidence was useless. My feet worked harder, pushing me further along the path, the leaves were curled inward and the sky grew lighter. Spring wasn't far away, and soon all of the animals that were forgotten by the wasteland of cold would come out from hiding again, we were hoping the same would be said for whoever was behind this.

Then there was Emily, my little varg. She had been working so incredibly hard to get her strength up, I couldn't believe that Logan hadn't had her training from the start, she was a natural at hand to hand combat. She was quick, she was agile, she was phenomenal. She'd been keeping mostly to her room lately, other than coming out for food or training, we hardly saw much of her. At night I would walk past her room on the way to my office and every single time I could hear her sobs. Heartbreak wasn't easy, losing your best friend to that same heartbreak couldn't make it any easier.

Whitt was doing well, though I didn't know much about what went on in the cave at the back of the pack, I did know that she seemed happier. The shadows still haunted her eyes and her smile was still plastered on like the world's biggest lie... but I couldn't help her there either. Both of them had lost the only friend I think they ever truly had sometimes. None of this was easy. I swerved to the left, shooting from the frozen ground and knocking down a tree in my path, I knew that this wasn't Logan's fault directly, but I still blamed him. I couldn't protect my sister from this and I couldn't stop the hurt that Emily felt either, but blame had to be laid somewhere and it just so happened that he was at the centre of all of this.

I was panting, my fist was still stuck in the bark of my victim that was now leaning against a group of trees huddled together. "What in the goddess did that tree ever do to you?" Came the sarcastic cheery voice of my beta. I tried to even out my breath before replying, I couldn't let it show just how much all of this got to me. I glared at the ground for a minute before answering, "It was in the way, they are always in the way."

I saw his shadow leaning over me in the early morning light, he was waiting, he was worried. "I'm fine." I told him sharply. "I wasn't saying anything, but if I was you've definitely put your fit in it now. Sup alpha?" I sighed, brushing the chips of wood from my knuckles before facing him, "honestly, I've just got more energy than I know what to do with right now." He eyed me suspiciously. The problem with Malik was that whether I liked it or not, he could read me like a book. "That tree probably thinks so too considering you've just given us wood for the rest of the winter..."

I brushed past him, starting up my usually jogging rhythm again, I should've known better than to expect he'd leave me alone after that. "So, how's Whitt getting on in the Midnight Moron pack?" If there was anything I didn't want to talk to him about, it was that. "The Midnight Moon pack has welcomed her with open arms as far as I'm aware, they don't keep much correspondence when she's there so I wouldn't know." My fists balled with anger again, "She doesn't speak about it much." Malik seemed to notice me tense up and changed the subject, "Emily seems to be settling in well?" Straight to another topic I didn't feel like talking about right now.

"You don't have to make small talk Malik, my head is just a little everywhere at the minute and I kind of just want to be alone." He caught the lie as soon as it left my lips and he smirked "You know that's exactly when I'm meant to be around annoying your ass right?" I looked to my left and he was jogging backwards, inching further in front of me. "Besides, it's probably because you haven't gotten laid in a while. Mean you need some, you know..." he gestured to his crotch and started to make trusting motions. Idiot. I rolled my eyes but threw him a grateful smirk all the same, "I highly doubt it's anything to do with my sex life."

The closer we were to the pack house, the more I could smell her. From the back of the house I could make out the soft glow of the lights in the kitchen, she was up already. She usually got up around the same time as me these days, but I would always make sure that she had a hot chocolate waiting for her. I would make it as soon as I got in from my run and she would come down not long after to join me. Something was different today. Malik saw my eyes lingering on the lights, "You never know...you underestimate her sometimes."

I shot him a glare, "I know better than to do that and you know it." My heart beat faster the closer we got to the back doors... I knew with every inch of my being that wasn't because of the run. As soon as I saw her glowing face and the small smile she had to go with it, the room seemed brighter and the air seemed lighter. My wolf rumbled from deep inside, we were home. This was home. She handed me the mug of coffee and her hand lingered a second longer than it usually did, maybe I was reading too much into it... "You are definitely reading too much into it" my wolf replied in my mind.

I couldn't help it, being around her was intoxicating and today she seemed different somehow. I smiled at her, "to what do I owe the pleasure of this?" She bent down to take some muffins out of the oven and I got the best view of her perky ass in those little booty shorts... maybe Malik was right, maybe I did need something, but it was only something I could find in Emily. Then she stopped me cold with her next words. "I hope you don't mind, I invited Logan over." Malik's eyes shot right from his head, "you did what?"

"It's been a month, we need to work together as packs and I've seriously thought about what you-" she motioned a hand towards me "-told me about building bridges." Why in the hell had I told her to build bridges? Bridges were the last thing I needed to be building right now. I looked her up and down, focusing on the crop top that wouldn't stop inching higher, she'd been scheming... and here I was horny and almost proud of the deceit. What the hell was wrong with me?