Rebecca Royce - Alpha Wolf

She stared at Michael’s wolf. He was big, black, except for the few white patches on his face. Even having grown up around wolves, Scarlett had never seen one quite so big or fearsome looking. Cole was always impressive; a red wolf with brown spots, he dominated everyone except Zack. But, this time, Scarlett suspected Cole wouldn’t be dominating Michael.

Just that fast, the two wolves were on each other. Todd whirled around to her, a grin plastered on his face. “Wait until you see Michael.”

She couldn’t help but see him. His teeth bared, he growled at Cole as he tore at the smaller wolf. Every time Cole got up, Michael knocked him down. If Cole moved left, Michael moved left. If Cole moved right, so did her mate. There was nowhere for Cole to go. Michael wasn’t just beating Cole, he was humiliating him by showing the wolves in the room how completely unmatched they were. If it was apparent to Scarlett how ill-prepared Cole had been for Michael and she didn’t fight, then those who could had to be able to see it too.

Her heart beat fast and she shifted her weight to the balls of her feet. Gods, she was filled with so much nervous energy she was almost giddy from it. Looking left and right, she tried to assess the crowd’s reaction to the fight. Usually, she was good at it, staying to the sides, watching from afar but not today. She felt like howling in her very human voice how great Michael was doing.

What little she could fathom through her adrenaline rush, it seemed that all the wolves were equally as stunned as she was. Everyone’s eyes had become wolf. Their gaze locked on the battle, their jaws open. All of the men were enthralled.

Finally, Cole lunged forward leaping at Michael’s side. At the last second, Michael moved left, snarling as Cole crashed into the wall before hitting the ground face first. The would-be Alpha stood up and limped toward Michael. The red wolf stretched out flat on the ground, his ears back and whimpered his defeat.

All noise in the room ceased. Scarlett couldn’t hear anything but her own breath and the sound of her heart beating. Cole changed back into his human form, shifting out of his wolf body. Michael did the same, giving her a view of his backside. She wanted to rush forward and grab him, wrap her arms around him and stop the shaking of her limbs that seemed to be moving of their own accord, but Todd still hadn’t moved.

Cole looked up at Michael from the ground. “By the heavens above, I relent to you.”

Michael shook his head. “I don’t want you to relent. I want you to tell me where my sister is, apologize to my mate for your role in the brutality she’s endured and then leave town. You can come back when I’m gone. I don’t want to see you ever again. The only reason I’m not killing you is because you did offer Scarlett protection from Zack.”

On the floor, Cole nodded. “I’ll get my things.”

“No.” Michael stepped forward. “You’ll tell me where Angel is, apologize to Scarlett and then run for your life before I change my mind.”

Scarlett doubted very much that Michael ever changed his mind. He was like a river, his flow seemed to be always going forward in one direction, unrelenting and sure of itself. But Cole didn’t need to know that.

Cole stood up, his limbs almost giving out. No one moved to help him and Michael grabbed his arm to steady him and keep the other man from falling over. “Angel ran off when the fighting started. She said she wanted no part of it. She’s always been hard, your sister, difficult. She never knew how to tow the line.”

Michael grinned, his eyes still in their wolf form. “I like her already.”

Cole’s voice shook. “I sent two of my enforcers after her to bring her home. Both of them claim to be her mate.”

“The mating rituals of this pack are so screwed up, I don’t even know where to start with that statement.”

Michael paused. He still hadn’t looked at her and she was dying for some eye contact. She wanted to see into the depths of his soul again, to the soft place she sometimes thought she saw there. Of course, being her, she’d probably stare for two seconds and then have to glance at her feet. At least she’d have those two wonderful seconds.

He hauled Cole over to the chair that now resided in the corner giving Scarlett a view of her mate’s back muscles in action. If she needed any reminder of just how powerful Michael could be in his human form, she got it. So far he’d only been gentle with her.

What would he do if she ever stepped out of line? Send her away or something worse?

That thought in mind, she looked back down to the floor.

Michael continued speaking. “In other words, you don’t know what happened to my sister.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Do you suppose Zack knows?”

Cole laughed, a wheezing sound. “Angel hated Zack even more than she hates me.”

“Okay,” her mate sighed. “Next up, you have an apology to make.”

Scarlett heard some strange scraping sounds as Michael dragged the chair with Cole in it over to her.

“Scarlett,” Cole spoke her name. “You may make eye contact with me.”

With a thud, Michael knocked Cole’s chair over onto the floor. He oomphed as his body collided with the ground.

Her mate snarled. “Your damn right she can look at you. If she feels like staring at you on the ground, that’s where she’ll do it.” Michael put his foot on the side of Cole’s body. “Go on.”

“Scarlett, I’m sorry if any of my actions ever led to you suffering more abuse or if I ever did anything to not treat you correctly.”

She nodded as she stared at Cole. He was just one of the many men who had run her life since she was a small child. He lay flat on the floor, in a position of subjugation, just as she suffered all her life from him, Zack and Nero She could remember him laughing as he’d dropped a piece of food or a cigarette butt on her head.

The revenge that she expected to feel never came. A gasp sounded from across the room as Scarlett knelt down to be closer to the floor where Cole was strewn.

Tears filling her eyes, she swore she wouldn’t let them fall. “Thank you for your attempts to protect me from Zack, even if it was never enough. I’m not dead today because you took me in a few weeks ago and you didn’t rape me or let anyone else here take me against my will.”

She realized what she said were things she’d not said to Michael yet. He was bound to have questions … lots of them … and maybe she should have just stayed quiet. Still, her mouth kept moving, almost of its own volition.

“You’re mean and you’re a bully, but I owe you a debt of gratitude and if there’s anything you ever need that I can provide, I will be glad to.”

Above her Michael growled. “You can ask me and I’ll decide if she helps you.”

The edges of her mouth quivered. She was torn between wanting to sob and wanting to smile. She stood up instead and found Michael’s gaze waiting for hers. Exhaling, she gazed in his brown depths, now human and not wolf. There in the center of his eyes, as he reached out to take her hand into his, was the softness she’d needed to see.

Even now after he conducted this fight with Cole, he didn’t look at her with hostility.

Maybe, just maybe, Michael was a man who could control his aggression. If such a thing was possible.

He regarded Cole. “I think I told you to run.”

Cole grunted as he got off the floor and ran out the front door, slamming it behind him. The room was still so quiet she could have heard a pin drop.

Michael let go of her hand as he looked around. His voice was low when he spoke to her. She knew everyone in the room could hear him anyway thanks to their wolf senses, but she appreciated the effort nonetheless. “Any of these shifters here ever rape you, Scarlett?”