Healed by the Alpha (Hunted Book Two)

Chapter Six

Logan

Receiving a letter from Emily felt confusing. I was happy, I was excited, I wanted nothing more than to talk to her. But the way she wrote felt conflicting. On one hand she seemed happier, she wasn't angry and she hadn't tried to snap at me through her writing. On the other, I knew that she was hiding her feelings and that seemed worse somehow. My confrontation with Whitt earlier that morning was still ringing in my ears which made this all the more confusing.

I loved Emily, I did. I think part of me always would, but there was a force pushing all of my feelings to Whitt now and that was playing with my mind hugely. I looked towards my draw, towards the letter that was waiting to be given to its recipient. Did I dare? I knew that Whitt didn't want to live with this, with being mates, but neither of us would reject the bond either.

My eyes snapped up to my office door. She was out there right now with that new man. The man I'd never met before, the man I didn't know. My wolf growled low and deep. The way he'd stood in front of her,  like I would ever hurt her... it made my blood boil. I got up from my desk and went to find her again, why couldn't I stop acting out? I gripped the handle of my office door and pulled it open, almost bumping into Whitt on my way out. My heart thundered at the sight of her. The way it always did nowadays.

She looked up at me under her lashes, "I'm sorry for snapping at you." She said so quietly I almost didn't hear it. I looked around and noticed that her new friend wasn't here. "He's gone to decide on a room, he'll be staying with me but only for my protection." I nodded, trying to hold in my barrage of questions. "I..." she paused thinking of what to say, "I'm not interested in him. He's been placed here to help me." I felt some tense part of me ease at her words, I didn't even realise I was tense.

"I'm sorry too," I admitted. "I shouldn't have spoken to you like that, I had no right." She went to look away but I gently brushed up her jaw with my fingers to look back at me, "we're both going through stuff right now and the least I can do is be there for you." She blushed under my touch, "I'd like that." I was suddenly nervous to tell her about my trip to the Rising Dawn pack. "I have something to tell you," I got out quickly before I could stop myself. "I'm heading to the Rising Dawn pack soon, I was invited over." She looked at me with wide eyes, "Dom asked you to go over to the pack?"

I let my hand drop away from her face, "not exactly... Emily sent me a letter asking me to come and build bridges." Three looks crossed over her face in a matter of seconds, the first was hurt, the second jealousy and the third she'd plastered a smile back in place. I went to touch her arm but she flinched away from me, "go, enjoy yourself. I'm glad she wants to build bridges with you." I sighed, "Whitt I don't have to go... if you're willing to talk I'd love to say here with you-" she cut up my explanation, "go. I don't need you here. I'm fine."

I wasn't the most perceptive of men, but I did know that when a woman said she was 'fine', nine times out of ten, she wasn't. This wasn't a fight I wanted to pick right now, our emotions were running high and this was the first time she'd come to me about anything since being mated. I wasn't about to rock the boat and I didn't know enough about what we were going though to navigate it. "I'll see you soon, I'm not staying." I told her, hoping that If she cared enough about it, it would ease her mind.

I walked away, not expecting a reply from her, but just as I got to the door to leave I heard, "see you around Alpha." I hid the small smile playing at the corners of my mouth. She called me Alpha. It wasn't the biggest thing in the world, but it meant everything to me in that moment. In a weird way, it started to give me hope in a place where there previously was none.

Once I was in my car, I was off. The car swerved around the corners of the streets smoothly as I made my way out of my pack and over to Alpha Dominick's. I was drumming my fingers on the steering wheel, anxious to get back and speak to Whitt. The further I drove into the woods, the more I started thinking about Emily and how she would react to seeing me. Would she greet me or would it be awkward? Would she want a hug or did we keep our distance? Everything seemed so forced all of a sudden. I just needed to calm down and focus on the reason I was going and of course Alpha Dominick would be there too.

I gripped the steering wheel harder and I started to think about them both, how their relationship had probably blossomed while she'd been away and how he probably invited her to his bed every night. Would she even still be a virgin? Would I be able to tell the difference? Of course I would. The scary part was not knowing how I was going to react or if I would react at all. I'd been driving for a while now and I could see the huge stone wall up ahead, all I wanted to do was turn around, I didn't think I could face them... face her.

Instead I bit my pride and rolled up to the gate. I waited, it didn't take them long, this pack ran like clockwork. Everything worked like a well oiled machine, no wonder Whitt liked coming back here so often. Again, I clenched the steering wheel. As soon as the gates were fully open I sped inside, watching in my mirror as they slammed shut behind me. Why did I suddenly feel like a lamb being led to slaughter? Maybe I should've brought Misty.

I pulled up in front of the pack house, I just wanted to get this over with, every minute I was here I was no one. The people here didn't give a shit about me or who I was. Why was I so nervous? I looked towards the door to the pack house, it was open. Almost as if they were expecting me right then, why wouldn't they? I'd just driven through their pack grounds in a cherry red convertible. Calm down Logan, you're freaking out, I told myself.

My nerves only got worse as I saw her. She was walking at quite a speed from the house, across the front lawn. My heart leapt out of my chest at the sight of her. It seemed that the more I was away from her, the more beautiful she'd become, if that was even possible. She looked angry, great, maybe she hadn't sent that letter at all and she was just pissed off to see me. Then I noticed the woman walking fast behind her. My instincts kicked in as I jumped from my car, running full pelt for the woman about to get to Emily.

I smashed into the side of her and we both fell to the grass, I felt a bone crack underneath me and the woman cried out in pain. "Who the fuck are you? What do you think you are doing!" She screamed in my face. Emily stopped and gasped as she studied the scene in front of her. She let out a breath, "Logan?" And hearing my name on her lips melted me completely. "Yeah?" I asked her, then I realised she was actually looking at me in horror and running to help the woman squashed underneath my body. "Get up! Get up!" She was shouting.

I pushed off of the ground and the woman underneath me groaned. "You can't just go and attack people Logan! This isn't your pack." She scolded me, "I thought she was trying to hurt you," I tried to explain, but it didn't seem to be going well for me. My first impression here wasn't a good one, this was my mate's original pack and I was already fucking eveything up. My mate. My head instantly snapped back to thoughts of Whitt and my head started to ache. I groaned, maybe this was a mistake after all.

To finish it all off, who should show up at the last minute? Alpha Dominick. He came rushing over, straight towards Emily. Part of me wanted to stop him but I caught my hand midair, she wasn't mine. I had a mate. Assessing the commotion he checked her over, "how are you? Did you get hurt?" She shook her head and pointed to the woman on the floor, "I think he broke Francesca's leg though." I looked at the woman rolling in agony, even better, now I knew that Alpha Dominick knew her personally I felt even worse.

I paused, Francesca.

Why did that name sound so familiar?