The Alpha's Runaway

Chapter Sixteen

-Grant-

Determination shone in Addie’s gray eyes as the words left her lips.

“We can protect Quinn. We have to. After everything he’s done for us… We’ll go to Hidden Grove and force my dad to step down as Alpha. Quinn can banish him from the pack.”

“Laura-- I mean- Addie, you can’t just march into your old pack and attack their Alpha. You don’t know what your father told them after you left. They probably see you as traitors. Rogues.”

“Maybe not! We’ve somehow retained our old pack’s scent. Maybe they don’t know the circumstances surrounding our disappearance. So, we don’t just rush in and fight him. We expose everything he’s done to us and our mother. I know them. No one would follow him. Everyone will turn to Quinn.”

“There is still no guarantee you’ll be able to get close to him.”

“Even if they think we’re traitors, they’ll have to take us to him. Grant, I have the power to stop my father’s abuse. Don’t you understand that?” She pleaded.

“I’m not telling you not to go. I’m just saying you should wait. The full moon will be here in less than a week. Wait until you join our pack. That way, they’ll know you’re under someone’s protection. You’ll be safer and have more credibility with the members of your old pack, especially when they find out that you’re the Luna. Take the time to train and make a plan. When you’re ready, Lance and I will go with you.”

She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly, “You are absolutely amazing.”

“I’m going to go tell the others.” She said, pulling away.

I grabbed her hand, “Nope. You’re going to sit and eat. It’s been a hard day on all of us. Let everyone rest. A few hours isn’t going to hurt anyone. We can tell them together tomorrow morning.”

“Fine.” She huffed. All traces of exhaustion were gone. She kept shifting in her seat and fiddling with her sleeve.

As soon as we finished eating, I grabbed the dishes, “Pick a movie. I’ll be right back.”

I ran into Henry on the stairs.

“Hey. Is Addie alright? We missed you guys at dinner.”

“Yeah, she’s fine. She was just physically and emotionally exhausted. She’s caught her second wind though.”

“Good.” He nodded, “Hey, I just wanted to say thank you.”

“What for?”

“Everything. You took us in and gave us our lives back. I haven’t seen my sisters this happy in a long time, especially Addie.”

I smiled, “It’s strange. We only met a few weeks ago, but she’s already such a huge part of my life.”

“I’m glad she has you. We haven’t exactly had the best example when it comes to relationships.”

I nodded, “I should get back to her.”

He nodded, “Have a good night.”

By the time I got back to our room, Addie had put in the DVD and the title scene was playing.

“Have you seen this before?” I asked, smiling.

She shook her head, “Movies were never exactly a priority.” She said matter-of-factly, “But I read the summary. It looked good.”

I sat next to her, wrapping my arms around her, “This one is a classic. You’ll love it.”

I pressed my lips to her temple and she hit play before resting her head on my chest. She finally sat still.

When the movie finished, I turned to her, “So? What did you think?”

She smiled, “It was cheesy, but good. I liked it.”

“It’s one of my favorites.”

Addie’s eyes grew wide and she laughed in surprise, “I was not expecting that.”

“Why? It’s a good movie! It has a little of everything.”

“You are kind of adorable, you know that?”

I rolled my eyes playfully, “Okay. Well, what is your favorite movie?”

She shrugged, “It’s honestly been so long since I’ve seen a movie. I don’t remember enough to say which is my favorite. Circumstances being what they were… It’s defined who I am for my entire life.”

“What’s your favorite color?” I asked.

“What?” She gave me a confused look.

“I’m trying to prove a point. What’s your favorite color?”

“Red.”

“Favorite animal?”

“Hawks.”

“Favorite place you’ve lived?”

“Besides here? Dallas.”

“After we help Quinton, what do you want most from life?”

“To go to college.”

“All these things, whether trivial or important, help define you. You are not your trauma, Addie. If anything, you are who you are in spite of it. You are intelligent, and beautiful, and when you let your guard down, you are funny, open, and you light up the room.”

She seemed to melt a little at my words, “You are such a softie.” She said before kissing me gently.

“Only with you.” I said, kissing her back, “It’s been a long day. You should get some sleep.”

Addie nodded tiredly before heading to her room. After getting ready for bed, I promptly collapsed onto the mattress. After an hour of staying in a half-asleep state, someone knocked on my door. Dragging myself out of bed, I opened the door and found Addie.

“I can’t sleep.” She muttered tiredly.

I let her in and we settled back on the bed. She curled up close to me, and soon, her breathing slowed and she fell asleep. The next morning, we moved her things from her room to mine before meeting with the others.

-Addie-

“You want to go back home?” Jess asked apprehensively when I shared my idea.

“I want to force Dad to step down and banish him from the pack.”

“Isn’t your brother already twenty-two? He should have taken over as Alpha a year ago.” Charlie said.

“You don’t know our father.” Henry shook his head, “Even if Quinn took over the pack in name, Dad would never stop pulling the strings.”

“So how do you plan on forcing him to step down?” Gwen glanced back and forth between me and Henry.

“Dad might be a monster, but the rest of the pack isn’t. We need to expose everything he’s done to us and our mother. After that, there is no way they’ll allow him to remain in the pack. We don’t know what lie he told them to encourage them to keep searching for us, but using pack resources to serve a personal vendetta…” Henry shook his head.

“If it comes to it, I’ll challenge him.” I said.

“Are you prepared for that?” Lance asked.

“I could take him down easily. You know this.”

“That’s not what I meant. If he doesn’t yield, you’ll have to kill him. I know he was horrible, but he’s still your father. A fight against rogues is one thing. A duel is something entirely different. Maybe you should let me or Grant challenge him.”

“No.” Henry said sternly, “This is our fight. It should be one of us. If we have to, Addie should do it.”

“Dad is not stupid. When he knows he cannot win, he’ll yield. As angry and proud as he is, he values his life.” I added.

“How are we going to expose him?” Jess questioned, “None of us have any visible scarring. It’s our word against his. Mom would never speak against him.”

“We don’t. But Quinn does.” Henry said quietly.

I nodded, “Dad once used silver on him. Mom doesn’t know. His back is covered in scars.”

“We’ll leave the morning after the full moon. Until then, we train and learn as much as we can about the Hidden Grove pack.” Grant said, standing up.

The rest of us nodded, and Grant dismissed us. Gwen spent the next few days in the library, while Henry, Jess, and I alternated between training and telling her everything we remembered about our old pack. Without contacts in the area, we had no way of knowing whether Dad remained the Alpha or passed the title on to Quinn. Grant and Lance spent everyday holed up in the former’s office, working on both pack matters and Grant’s family business. Jess and I only saw our mates at the morning and evening training sessions. They often didn’t return to their rooms until after we fell asleep, and left before we woke. Charlie explained they were getting everything ready for our absence, as we did not know how long we would be gone.

Two days before the full moon, Gwen met me outside my room just before the evening training session.

“No training for you tonight.” She informed me.

“Why?” I asked, confused.

“Because.” She ushered me back into my room and headed straight for my closet. A minute later, she came out with a casual navy blue dress, black flats, and a leather jacket, “Put this on.”

“Gwen, what’s going on?” I asked as she pushed me into the bathroom and closed the door between us.

“You’ll see.”

I quickly changed and opened the bathroom door. Gwen helped me apply light makeup for a natural look, then looked me over with a critical eye. Satisfied, she told me, “Go down to the backyard.”

“Okay…” I walked downstairs, confused. The packhouse felt strangely empty. Walking into the backyard, I found Grant smiling at me, wearing a dark gray collared shirt and jeans. Behind him was a small table set up with a fancy dinner.

“Hi. What’s going on?” I asked, unable to keep myself from smiling.

“I thought we could have dinner together. We haven’t seen each other in a while. I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me gently, “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I mumbled, blushing, “You don’t look too bad yourself.”

He pulled out my chair for me and I sat down, “When did you have the time to do this?”

“Gwen and Jess helped me.”

As we ate, I pestered him with questions about what he and Lance had been working on. The Shadow Peak pack had been attacked and they were sending Charlie to help Alpha Alex track the rogues. He was leaving tonight and would get back the day before the full moon.

“Are you any closer to figuring out why the rogues keep attacking?”

“No. But they’re definitely targeting Harvest Moon. They’ve attacked again in the last week, and now they’re going after Shadow Peak?”

“So it’s only a matter of time before they come after us.”

“Yes. Let them. We’re ready. They’ll never get past our border.”

“What about--”

“Addie.” He said gently.

“What?”

“This is a date. I love how involved you are with the pack, and as soon as you are officially Luna, you will be in that office with us. But for now, I would like a romantic evening with my mate.”

“Sorry.” I smiled sheepishly.

“Don’t be. This has been your mindset for the past few days.”

We talked about fairly trivial things as we finished eating. When we walked back up to our room, I asked.

“Okay. So, a few days ago you asked me about what I wanted from life. What about you? What are your plans beyond the pack, and the family business?”

He regarded me carefully, “Honestly? I want a family. I’m already Alpha and the CEO of a major company. I have success, wealth, and power. I have a mate that I love. When we’re both ready, whether that is soon or not for another few years, I want a family with you.”

My heart skipped a beat. Opening the door to our room, I turned to face him, “I’m sorry, what was that other part?” I asked somewhat breathlessly.

He smiled, shutting the door behind him and pulling me into his arms, “I love you, Addison.”

Just before he crushed his lips to mine, I whispered, “I love you too.”