Alpha Feud BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance Series - Books 1 to 5

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Hayden stepped from the shadows in the courtyard and glanced up to the room where he’d just seen Eliza. He clenched his keycard for his own room as the lights in her room went out. Eliza may have wanted to be alone and left town so no one would know where she was, but she couldn’t get away from him. He was a wolf and could track a scent for miles.

Theo had told him about their visit and the questions she’d asked. Hayden would be lying if he said that he wasn’t jealous. He wished she would have just called him and asked him these questions.

Ever since Hayden figured out that Eliza had left town, he had been worried. Even though he knew she was just overwhelmed by the scene in the woods, and he understood that she just wanted some time to sort things out, there was still another pack of werewolves somewhere out there. Until he figured out what they were after, he didn’t want to leave Eliza alone.

He turned and exited the courtyard in search of his room. He’d made sure it was far enough away from hers that he wouldn’t run into her in the hallways or the lobby, but he’d also asked for a courtyard view so he could see her room. Now that he knew which window it was, he could keep an eye on her.

He located the elevator and rode it to the tenth floor, several floors above Eliza’s room. Slipping the keycard into the slot, he pushed the door open and stepped into the room, then booted the door closed behind him and locked it. Tossing his bag onto the floor, he walked across the room to the window, keeping the lights off so he wouldn’t be spotted. Pulling the curtain back, he found Eliza’s room. The light was still off, and he couldn’t make out any movement. She must have gone to sleep.

Hayden sat by the window of his room for several hours to see if there was any suspicious activity down below in the courtyard. He only hoped that if there were any other werewolves in the area he would be able to pick up on their scent. But if he couldn’t, then at the very least he would be able to keep an eye on Eliza’s room to make sure that she was safe. Everything seemed fairly quiet so he closed the curtains and retreated back into his room. He left the window open so that he would be able to pick up on any new scents drifting in from the night breeze.

He walked across the room to the bed and flopped down. Pulling his phone from his back pocket, he texted his brother to let him know he had found Eliza and she was currently safe. He also requested that Theo keep an eye out for any werewolves that didn’t belong to the pack. He didn’t tell him where she was. If Theo wanted to know, he could track her down himself. With the text sent, he tossed his phone onto the side table, kicked off his shoes, laid back on the bed and flipped on the TV. He scanned through the channels until he found a show he could watch mindlessly. Before long, he had dozed off with the light from the television flickering throughout the night.

>>

Eliza woke in the morning feeling just as tired as she had when she went to sleep. Her dreams had made her restless, tossing and turning in the bed. She woke up in a cold sweat, with the sheets twisted around her legs. When she went to get out of bed, she nearly took a nose dive. Catching herself before she hit the ground face first, she groaned and dragged herself back into the bed and untangled herself from the sheets. Once freed, she got up and went to the window, opening the curtains. She stretched her arms above her head and let the sunshine warm her face.

After breakfast, she changed into her bathing suit and pulled her dark hair into a tight bun at the top of her head. She grabbed a bathrobe, some flip flops and her keycard and exited her room. At the elevator, the door to the right opened, and she waited to see if anyone exited before she stepped in. With the elevator to herself, she pushed the button to the recreation floor and leaned against the back wall.

The elevator doors opened on the pool level. The floor was humid from the heated pool, sauna and hot tub. She moved to the secured doors, swiped her card and entered the pool area. It seemed that she had the pool area all to herself; there wasn’t another soul was in sight.

She breathed a small sigh of relief and headed for the sauna first. A good sweat was just what she needed while she worked through things. She settled into the warm seat and leaned against the wood wall. Totally alone in the sauna, she began analyzing the information.

She didn’t know much, but she could assume that the media had to be based on some kind of truth, plus she did shuffle through a few websites back at home. Theo had told her they could change whenever they wanted as long as they knew what their triggers were.

The night she discovered this world, Hayden had said something about being powered by rage. Did that mean that rage was a trigger for all werewolves or was it just a side effect? She had no idea, but it seemed important.

She now also knew there was a treaty in place between certain packs and hunters that allowed them to coexist. This would explain the pieces of the puzzle that her father had stumbled across. Even though there was a treaty in place, they each tried to match each other’s numbers so that if anything was to happen and the treaty was broken, neither side would be shorthanded.

She continued to enjoy the sweltering heat and the feel of sweat as it trickled over her body. It cleared her mind and helped her think more clearly.

She knew next to nothing about Andrew and the hunters. Only that the hunters were supposedly there to protect people from the werewolves. She wasn’t sure if it was her developing feelings for Hayden that made her think that with such spite.

Andrew was only doing his job; protecting her father from a werewolf. But at the same time, he didn’t have to shoot and kill it since it seemed as though her father was going to be let go, and everything would have been fine. This made her wonder if maybe Andrew had lost sight of the actual duties of a hunter and became a mindless killer. Maybe all hunters had drifted from the original path.

She opened her eyes and leaned forward. Maybe that could be what helped her decide between Andrew and Hayden? She would talk to each of them and figure out if they were mindless robots, just doing what they had been trained to do, or if they had a shred of humanity left.

She chuckled a little bit at the irony. Right now, she believed the werewolf had more humanity than the hunter.

She considered Hayden’s information as well, about regular ammunition not being able to injure the wolves. Was it true that only silver bullets worked? What kind of bullets did Andrew have in his g*n when he shot at the one werewolf? She would have to find out.

It seemed that Andrew’s family’s life work had come to a head as well, so did that mean a war would be started now? The production of ammunition had been completed, Andrew had killed a werewolf with a shot from his g*n, and the factory was hiring people in droves and propping their numbers up as they increased production.

The next piece of the puzzle was Naomi’s role in the murders of Theo and Hayden’s parents. She suddenly sat up straight. Melissa was dating Theo, and Naomi murdered their parents.

She leapt up, rushed out of the sauna and made a beeline for her room. Fumbling with the keycard, she had to try it several times before the mechanism would unlock. She slammed the door behind her, locked it and dove across the bed for her phone.

The phone seemed to ring forever and she feared Melissa was never going to pick up. “Come on, come on, come on,” she cried as the phone finally clicked over. “Melissa!”

“Eliza?” Melissa answered.

“Oh, thank God, Melissa, are you okay?” Eliza asked in a hurried, breathless manner.

“Yeah, I’m fine, why?” Melissa asked. Eliza could almost see the upraised brow that Melissa was sporting.

“Oh, thank God! No time to explain, just get over here now!” Eliza told her the address and room number. “Don’t tell anyone, just grab your purse and keys and get here as soon as you can!” she yelled into the phone. “And pick up your mom too!” Eliza added as an afterthought. She didn’t know if she could protect them both, but she had to get them away.

“My mom? Why?” Melissa asked.

“Just get her... go!” she said again.

>>

Eliza stayed on the phone for over an hour while Melissa picked up Naomi and drove to the hotel Eliza was staying at. “Park at the restaurant down the block and walk,” Eliza said, trying to be sneaky.

Melisa didn’t question her by this point and just did what Eliza asked. Fifteen minutes later, Eliza was escorting Naomi and Melissa into her room.