Pride of an Alpha

4. Let me in

Green River Pack, Oregon 

It had been ten minutes since Cody had fallen asleep, but Lena couldn’t get herself to leave. She stared at her brother, who looked peaceful as he slept. However, Lena knew it was momentary. 

It had happened not long after they had arrived at their new location. The first couple of days had felt like a blur where only fear and sorrow dominated her life, but all in all it seemed as if both her brothers were adapting. One night, when Lena had been lying restless, she’d heard a scream coming from Cody’s room. She quickly ran to check on her youngest brother and found him white as a ghost and covered in sweat. When she asked what had happened, he looked scared and could only utter a simple sentence; “they killed him”. He then collapsed and when he woke again, he’d forgotten the details. The next night the same thing happened. On the third night, however, it changed. Instead of saying “they killed him”, Cody said something much more haunting; he said “they captured his soul in darkness”, and this time he had tears streaming down his face. The sentence in itself might have been less final than the other, but it somehow felt much more dark and ominous. 

After a while it stopped being every night, but it still happened regularly. Though it pained Lena to see her brother tired and drained of energy, the worst part was seeing him slowly lose his happiness. Lena knew that what Cody was experiencing wasn’t normal nightmares and so did he, which she hated. Someone, or something,  was stealing her brother’s gentle and naive spirit. 

Lena gently kissed Cody’s head before she carefully got out of the bed. She lingered at the door for a while and looked at him before she exited and walked towards her own room just beside Cody’s. When she got inside she opened a window and inhaled the scent of the nature surrounding them. With closed eyes she just stood there until a voice broke her trance. 

    “Can I come in?”

Lena turned to see Jake standing by the door. She smiled and nodded. 

    “Off course. This is technically your room as well.”

Jake returned her smile and walked in, closing the door behind him. 

    “Let’s save the technicalities for the public. There’s no need to pretend when we’re alone.”

He soon stood beside her, close but not too close. Lena sighed. 

    “I’m sorry, Jake. I never wanted to implicate you in my messed up world like this.”

Jake gave a crooked smile and reached for her hand. He gave it a squeeze as he answered. 

    “Lena, being fake married to a beautiful, strong woman is not the worst thing ever. Yes, it has sort of cockblocked me since most sane women don’t want to hook up with a married man, but thankfully I’m too occupied by dread and terror to really miss it.”

Jake winked to defuse the seriousness, but Lena wasn’t convinced. 

    “Still, I don’t like being the reason you potentially miss out. What if you actually met someone you really liked?”

Jake watched Lena for a long time with an unreadable expression before he shrugged. 

    “Well, having a family was never really my first priority. I always assumed that I would either find my fated mate or I’d wait until I was around thirty to find someone who’d be a great match as a Beta female. I’m not thirty yet, but I don’t think there’s anyone more suited for the position as the Beta female than you. In fact, I’m trying to save my own position here. I’m pretty sure I’d be jobless otherwise when Luke takes the Alpha position. Also, it was the best way to hide your identity. Even if it did seem a bit far fetched, it worked. And, well…”

Jake turned to look outside the window.

    “What?”

Jake’s eyes found Lena’s once again. 

    “This relationship may not be one of great passion, but it’s still fueled with love. Even if you only see me as a friend, we still love and respect each other. In the end, that’s all that matters.”

Jake looked at Lena as silence fell. Lena swallowed and looked down. 

    “Are you implying that you don’t see me as ‘just a friend’?”

She felt awkward as the words came out of her mouth. However, Jake’s chuckle somewhat made her relax a bit. 

    “I see you as a friend, but, you know… you’re hot and I don’t have a mate bond. If you offered then I, well…” he grinned “I wouldn’t say no, that’s for sure. No need to worry though, you’re way too screwed up for me to chase you, so I’m good with being friends. Unless…?”

Jake gave a big smile and winked. 

Lena lightly pushed Jake as he kept grinning. She smiled herself. 

    “Alright Casanova, rail it in.”

They both laughed for a while, but soon reality kicked in again. Lena let out a great sigh. 

    “I just don’t get it, Jake. I get that we did all this to hide my brothers’ and my own identity, but still… if people really wanted us dead then how come no one has challenged us? It’s been more than a year and not a soul has disputed our past.”

After having arrived at their new location in Oregon, they’d come up with a plan to at least try to hide the fact that they were the Ashwood children. Lena and Lucas were given the backstory of being some of the Bloodwood Pack members that chose to go with Carl. Though it was uncommon, it sometimes happened that ordinary pack members showed Alpha potential. The story was that Alpha Benjamin had gathered all young wolves to test them and had found this potential in Lucas, making him the heir to the Green River Pack. Lena and Jake then pretended to fall in love and they eventually married, if only for show, making her the Beta female. Cody wasn’t even mentioned in the greater scheme of things. They had decided to just downplay his existence as a regular pack member. 

At the time, Lena was sure it was a useless attempt, and they all prepared to be exposed. However, no one ever said anything. The other Alphas in Oregon had just welcomed Ben back to the state without seemingly giving it a second thought, and no outsiders had contacted them. 

Jake looked at Lena with a serious face. 

    “Some people may want you dead, but not all... “

Jake gave her a knowing look. Logan… Of all the people who could expose the truth, Logan was definitely the one with the most knowledge regarding the matter. Lena felt a pang in her heart. 

    “Has he ever tried to contact you?”

Lena shook her head. 

    “And what about you? Have you ever reached out to him during your sessions with Anders?”

Lena shook her head once more. 

    “No, never.”

Jake just looked at her with a serious expression for a while before shifting to a more neutral one. 

    “Well, if you ask me, then I think Logan Black is somehow protecting you. Whether his intentions are pure or selfish is not for me to know, but he definitely has an upper hand in this matter.”

Lena swallowed the lump in her throat. She rarely allowed herself to think about Logan, since the thought in itself felt like a stab to the heart. However, she knew Jake was right. Their incognito mode was depending on Logan not spilling the truth. She had even heard rumours that Logan Black killed the Ashwood children not long after their escape. If she had heard those rumours, then Logan would have heard them too, yet they were never debunked. 

Lena took in a deep breath to calm herself down. She shook it off and smiled at Jake. 

    “Let’s talk about something else. Tell me, Casanova, did anyone ever make you consider the domestic lifestyle?”

Jake furrowed his brows a bit and looked thoughtful. 

    “Well, there was Lisa Collins.”

Lena made her eyebrows dance a bit as she smirked

    “Was she hot?”

    “Mh, gorgeous! Long legs, tight ass, great rack.”

Jake reciprocated the smirk. 

    “What happened then with this Lisa Collins?”

Jake dramatically put his hand on the left side of his chest.

    “She found her mate.”

Lena mimicked Jake’s over the top dramatic gesture.  

    “What a shame. It sounded like true love.”

Jake pretended to brush away a tear as he sniffled.  

    “I was truly heartbroken.”

He then winked and Lena laughed. The comfort of being near Jake often made her less gloomy and he was one of the only people who could make her laugh for real. After having laughed for a while, they both just looked into each other's eyes and Lena felt herself leaning in just a little. Suddenly, a scream was heard through the building and Lena snapped back to reality. 

    “Cody!”

Within moments, she burst inside her brother’s room. Cody was sitting on the bed with wide eyes. She quickly ran to the bed and engulfed him in a hug. 

    “It’s okay, Teddy, I’m right here. You’re okay.”

Lena felt Cody slowly relax in her arms. She looked at Jake, who had been right behind her. When Cody had calmed down a bit, Jake sat down beside him and put a comforting hand on Cody’s shoulder. 

    “What did you see, Cody?”

Jake's voice was gentle and warm. Cody slowly looked up. Lena could feel a slight shiver go through his body. 

    “I saw a clearing with big stones. The stones stood in a circle and the trees around the clearing were white. And…”

Cody stopped as his shivers grew bigger. Lena gave him a squeeze and looked at him with all the love and sense of security she could muster. Cody swallowed before he continued. 

    “... and people. Dead people covered in blood.”

Lena looked at Jake. His expression was somber as he spoke. 

    “I think I know that clearing. It sounds like the Paper Birch Clearing, and it’s not far from where the White Falls Pack is located. I should inform the Alpha.”

White Falls Pack... that was the pack Jake mentioned, the one where everyone had disappeared. Jake turned to leave when Cody spoke again. 

    “That’s not all…”

Jake stopped and looked at Cody, who almost whispered now. 

    “After having found the place, I heard the voice of a man talking to me in my head. It was the coldest most terrifying voice I’ve ever heard.”

Lena felt a cold shiver as she looked at her brother. 

    “What did he say, Teddy?”

Cody looked at his sister with a scared expression. 

    “Let me in.”