The broken Alpha - Healed by innocence

Scares and apologises

*Chase*

It had been a mistake to leave my new Luna alone, but then it seemed to be a day for making mistakes.

After Reverend Tucker left me, I decided to carry her belongings to the house. She had only brought one small trunk, and it didn’t take me long to haul it to the bedroom, but apparently it was long enough to lose her.

Darkness was settling in, and people were beginning to take their leave. Without my Luna by my side, I thanked them for coming and refused to answer the questions I saw reflected in their eyes.

When the last wagon filled with townspeople rolls into the night, the tension within me increases. I'm beginning to think I might know how a length of rope feels when it's being made: stretched taut and wound.

I need to find my Luna, give her the opportunity to say farewell to her brothers, send them on their way, and get to the business of realizing my final dream.

I see Wade leaning against the corral and don't waste any time in crossing the space separating us.

"Have you seen my Luna lately?" I ask.

"Nope." He says.

I sigh. "I took her trunk up to my bedroom, and now I can't find her."

Turning, Wade scans the dwindling crowd that consists of the lingering ranch hands. "She has to be here."

"I have looked everywhere. Even in that gaudy thing she travels in." I mumble.

"I know what you're thinking. Nobody stole her." He says, like I am a kid making up fantasies.

I swallow. "But she might have left."

Wade nods sagely as though he thinks she probably has. "Let's find Blaise."

"Wade!"

Both of us turn at the sound of Briony's frantic voice.

"I can't find Maggie," she says as she skids to a stop and digs her fingers into Wade's arms.

"What do you mean you can't find her?" Wade asks, panic threaded through his voice.

Briony’s voice is filled with worry. "I mean she's lost. The men were supposed to take turns watching her, and they lost track of whose turn it was. I should have kept my eye on her. I shouldn't have started dancing."

Wade leans down and presses his mouth to hers to silence her. "We'll find her."

"But what if…" She starts.

"I know where she is," I say.

Relief washes over Briony's face. "You've seen her?"

"No, but I know where she likes to hide out. If I'm right, she's gonna go home with a big bellyache." I say, giving her a reasurring smile.

I start walking toward the house, Briony's peace of mind taking precedence over my own.

"Have you seen my Luna?" I ask Briony as we near the house.

"Not since you took her walking. Why?" She asks.

I sigh. "I think she's left."

I shove open the front door.

"Surely not," Briony says softly.

"I can't find her, and I don't imagine she's hiding under my desk with Maggie." I mumble.

I walk down the hallway. I quietly open the door to my office and peer inside. I don't want to startle my niece if she has a lemon drop in her mouth.

I hear paper rattle and smile. I so love that little girl.

With Wade and Briony following in my wake, I creep across the room and wait beside my desk until I hear the paper crackle again, a sign that she has finished one lemon drop and is reaching for another. I have taught her not to put more than one in her mouth at a time.

I quickly move behind my desk and drop to my haunches. "Caught you!"

A piercing scream ricochets through the room. I stare at my wife, hunched over beneath my desk. She screams again.

Maggie yells, her tiny hands waving frantically. The kitten hisses and slashes a paw through the air.

I reach for Callista, wanting to tell her everything is okay. Drawing back, screaming again, she kicks me in the shin. I grunt. Maggie starts to cry. The cat makes a puddle on the floor.

Wade shoves me aside, and I land hard on my backside.

"Shh. Shh. It's all right," Wade coos in a voice that I have often heard him use to calm horses. "It's all right. No one is in trouble. No one is going to get hurt. Shh. Shh."

Maggie crawls out from beneath the desk and into Wade's arms. Wade passes her up to Briony.

With tears streaming down her face, Maggie looks at me with accusation in her green eyes. "We had a sad!"

I feel like a monster as I bring myself to my feet. Wade is holding his hand out to Callista. “Come on, sweetheart. It’s all right. Chase doesn’t mind that you ate his lemon drops.”

I watch as my Luna cautiously peeks out from beneath the desk. It doesn’t ease my conscience to see that she’s been crying, too. She allows Wade to help her to her feet.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers as she swipes at the tears glistening on her cheeks.

“It was my fault,” I say. “I shouldn’t have...” I shouldn’t have what? Tried to tease my niece? How in the hell was I to know she would crawl…

Thundering footsteps echo down the hallway and Callista’s three brothers burst into the room, Riley waving a gun through the air. “Get the hell away from her, you bastard!” Riley yells.

“Riley!” Callista begins but I hold up a hand to silence her.

I move around the desk and slowly walk toward her brother, putting myself between those behind the desk and the gun, since neither Rowan nor Ryan seems inclined to try to take the weapon from Riley.

“Give me the gun, Riley,” I say in a low, calm voice.

He shakes his head. “I’m not gonna let you hurt my sister.”

“I’m not going to hurt her.” I say.

“I heard her scream. I know the sound of her scream.” He mumbles, clearly drunk.

He waves the gun to his right, and I step in front of it. “I frightened her,” I say. “It Was an accident, and won’t happen again.”

Riley turns a sickly shade of green and sweat pops out on his brow. I reach for the gun.

“I won’t hurt her,” I repeat.

“Give me your word,” Riley rasps, the shaking of his hand increasing.

“I give you my word,” I say as I snatch the gun from Riley’s grasp.

Riley doubles over and brings up his dinner.

As the others in the room gag and moan, I leap back and grind my teeth together. Wonderful. Now I have vomit and piss to clean up.

Callista rushes past me and presses her fingers to Riley’s brow. “Oh, Riley.”

“I’m all right, Callie,” he says, wiping his sleeve across his mouth and averting his gaze from me.

I glare at Rowan. “Windscar, wish your sister well, gather up your brothers, and get the hell out of my sight.”

Callista eyes me as though I were a snake. “Riley can’t leave. He’s sick.”

“He can throw up outside as easily as he can inside.” I point out. He isn’t sick, just drunk.

“You’re heartless,” she says.

“I’m all right now, Callie,” Riley repeats. He extends his hand toward me. “Can I have my gun back?”

“I’ll bring it to you in a couple of days after tempers have cooled,” I say. “Right now, it would be best if you left.”

Riley nods and looks at his sister. “Night, Callie.” He eases his way past her.

“Do you have to leave?” she asks.

“Your husband’s demanding it,” Rowan says. “Let’s go.”

He spins on his heel and stomps out, with his brothers following like dogs with their tails tucked between their legs.

Not exactly the way I had planned to end the evening.

Maggie pads across the room, places her tiny hands on my thighs, and tilts her head back. “We had a bunch of sads,” she says. “A bunch of sads.”

I lift her into my arms. “Are they all gone now?” I ask her, although I focus my gaze on my mate who watches me as though she thinks I might harm the child.

Maggie nods and lays her head on my shoulder. “Only now my tummy hurts.”

“I’m not surprised.” I look at my brother. “Why don’t you take your daughter, and I will show my wife to her room? Then I’ll deal with this mess.”

I hand my niece over to Wade and hold my arm out to my Luna.

“Luna Moonshadow,” I say, knowing my voice sounds too stern, but unable to stop it. I have lost one wife on my wedding night. I don’t intend to lose another.

She steps toward me hesitantly as though I have just said I was going to take her to the gallows instead of to her room. Her fingers dig into my forearm, and dammit, she is still trembling.

“This way.” I say softly.

*Callista*

I follow him from the room, down the hallway, and up a wide flight of stairs. He walks to the last room on the right… the corner room where the door is closed.

“This is our bedroom. I moved your trunk into it earlier so it’s waiting for you.” He says.

Our bedroom. Not mine, but ours. I know he fully intends to share it with me tonight. “I’m sorry we ate all your lemon drops,” I say inanely, wishing the sun had never set, night had never fallen.

“Did it work?” He asks.

I blink several times. “I beg your pardon?”

“Did it make the sadness go away?” He says.

“Not entirely.” I admit.

He gives me a small smile. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I’m sorry I screamed.” I mumble.

“I knew Maggie was hiding beneath my desk. I wouldn’t have tried to startle her if I had known you were there as well.” He tells me.

I swallow. “I’m sorry I said you were heartless.”

A corner of his mouth tips up. “We could probably stand here all night apologizing for things we said or did throughout the day. Let’s just acknowledge we got off on the wrong foot, and we’ll go from there.”

He puts his hand on the doorknob.

“The first two conditions…” I say quickly.

He removes his hand from the door, straightens, and looks at me. I lick my lips.

“The first two conditions that my father agreed to... what were they?” I ask.

“Didn’t he tell you?” He looks annoyed.

I shake my head. “He said you would share your water with him if I married you. Without the water, he would lose his cattle.”

“That was the first condition. I promised to pull my fence back the morning after we were married.” He says.

“Was that your idea?” I ask.

He nods. “It was my offer.”

“And the second condition?” I ask.

“When you give me a son, I will deed a portion of my land over to your father.” He tells

“Was that your idea as well?” I am not sure if I want the answer.

He hesitates. “No.”

I feel as though someone has just pulled my heart through my chest.

“Isn’t there a name for a she-wolf who trades her favors for gain?” I ask.

“There’s also a name for a she-wolf who takes a mate. You’re my wife, my Luna not my whore.” He says with conviction.

I nod slowly. “In this case, Alpha Moonshadow, it seems to be a fine line. May I have a few moments alone?”

He nods and opens the door to our bedroom. “I will see my brother and his family off, and then I’ll come back.”

I slip inside the room, close the door, and press my back against it.

My father knew the fears I harbor, knew what I had seen as a child. I had been standing in the doorway, terrified, when he had finally rolled off my mother.

He had promised me that no man would ever touch me. He had traded his promise for a strip of land, knowing full well that what Chase Moonshadow expected of his wife was what my father had sworn I would never have to give.