Spread For Dad’s Alpha Best-Friend

IN HER DREAMS

RHETT

“Lala!”

I jerk awake with her name in my mouth. My body drips with sweat, heart thundering against my chest. My breathing is fast, it’s like I’m still running in the woods. Into my pack’s territory.

Her frightened face flickers in my mind. She was in my arms, shaking and screaming while Lawrence got torn apart. It’s the push I need to get off from the bed. I’m only in boxers, so I walk briskly to my closet, taking out a shirt.

YOU’RE NEXT.

The image flashes in my mind next. I drag a hand down my face, breathing in measured pulls. Her screams continue to ring in my head, as if it’s carved itself in my skull.

I check the small clock on my bedside table. 2am.

I walk to the window opposite my best-friend’s house and peer out of it, restless. What the f**k am I going to do at Lawrence’s house at this time? Worse, when his daughter is home alone? Worst of all, the same daughter who came all over my couch two years ago and asked me to f**k her with those pleading, horny eyes?

But I know this dream does not mean nothing.

Lawrence crossed a line with my pack. They don’t care about my relationship status with him, they just want him to pay. According to the elders, I have to prove that my loyalty is with them first.

I failed Lawrence. I let that s**t happen to him, but I can’t let them touch his daughter too. At least, I owe this to him.

The thought hit so hard, I’m walking towards my front door before I fully register the decision.

Everything feels normal outside. But everything is a lie. Beneath these bushes in front of our house hid creatures and a lifestyle that’s far from normal. I’ve been trying to protect Lawrence and his child from us for decades. And now…

My jaw tightens as I cross the short distance from my house to Lawrence’s. I hesitate for a second when I get to the porch, my fist hovering near the door.

I can come when the sun is up. I don’t need to sneak up on her like this. By this time of the night.

And then I hear her. At first, I’m not sure it’s her. But then I hear it again—a muffled sob, followed by hiccups and whispers.

My blood runs cold.

“Lala?” My fists finally connect with the door, hitting harder than intended. The sounds I heard go quiet. I cuss under my breath. I’m sure I’ve gotten her terrified.

“Baby girl… open up, it’s me. Rhett.” I deliberately leave out the ‘uncle’ part because God knows I need her to ditch that word with me already.

It’s still very quiet.

I knock again. Quieter.

“Lala. Please. I just want to speak to you.”

No answer still. I’m about to resign and just find a comfortable spot to sleep on this porch, just to make sure she’s safe until daybreak… when my werewolf senses pick up the ruffling of her bedsheets. I stand straighter.

Her footsteps are soft as they patter over to the door.

“Uncle Rhett?” Her silky, sweet tone waffles through the door. My fists clench. I’m going to have to tell her to drop the title myself.

“Yes? It’s me.” I say.

Five seconds. She takes five extra seconds to acknowledge that and start to pull the door open. I resist pushing it further open and wait for her instead. When Nola finally steps out from behind the door, my first instinct is to grab her and lock her in a comforting hug.

Instead, I strut into the house and watch her close the door. She’s still wearing the little shorts and light tee she wore to the hospital. Nola’s fond of going to bed in what she wore during the day if her day is stressful in the slightest. Lawrence would usually scold her for it, but Lawrence isn’t here now.

Three years, and her curves fill her clothes better already. Nola has always been thick, growing curves faster than most of her mates, but it’s more visible now. Her backside is fuller, and as she turns to face me, I see that her t**s are heavier too. Her n*****s poke through the light shirt, haunting me.

I immediately feel like a f*****g pervert.

“Are you okay?” I ask with a hoarse voice, slipping my hands into the pockets of my boxers to keep from doing anything stupid.

Nola steps into one of the lights in the hallway. She’s still so ever f*****g beautiful, I admit, even with her honey brown, doe eyes shining with moisture. Even with her chestnut, waist-length hair all over the place.

Her plump lips wobble. I don’t expect what happens next. Nola closes the distance between us and throws herself in my arms. Her arms are wrapped around my neck while my hands stay in my pocket. I shut my eyes tight, feeling her pebbled n*****s poke against my shirt.

“I’m sorry, but I’m so scared right now. You have to comfort me. It’s the least you can do since dad isn’t here.”

I almost laugh. The guilt-tripping. Forgot to mention this little girl’s a f*****g diva with it. I don’t hug her back still, her rosy scent’s already messing with my head too much.

“What happened, baby girl? Why’re you crying?” I ask, finally peeling her hands off me. She holds on to my shirt. Peers into my eyes with her red rimmed ones. I can’t resist gently caressing her chin. Nola leans into my touch.

An intoxicating, heady scent starts to waft through my nostrils. f**k. I take a step back, immediately transported to three years back again. Her pink, pretty p***y lips spread for me… evidence of her arousal dripping onto my couch.

I burned the damn couch. Took me a lot of self control, but I did. Because it was bad enough that I let myself slip, and jerked off to her p***y in my bathroom right after she left my house.

When I heard she’d be away for a while, I was grateful. Didn’t stop me from stalking her socials like a teenage crush. I just needed to make sure she was fine.

“Lala…”

“I saw dad. I saw…” She starts to narrate a dream. The more she speaks, the less I hear her. It’s the same dream. We had the exact same dream.

My tone is tight when I cut her off, “Pack some things, Lala. You’ll be staying with me.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Maybe… maybe you could be in danger. We can’t take any dream right now as a joke.” I ramble, and I must be sounding stupid, because she stares at me like a crazy old man.

“I can’t leave this house. Besides, it’s just a dream. I should’ve remembered you’re old. You’re doing what old people do—have superstitious beliefs about everything and anything.”

I take a step closer, pointing a finger at her, “I’m not old. I’m 37.”

She pouts. “Almost 40? Yeah… old.”

She folds her arms around her chest. I let out a sharp breath. I want to spank her for this, watch her ass go red for always being a brat around me.

Again, f*****g pervert.

I decide to lie. “I saw an animal.” I pause, let the words sink in. “It’s why I’m here so early in the morning. I saw a wild animal by your door, from my window. It’s the… should be the same kind that bit Lawrence. I had to come out and my presence scared it off. I came right here and you’re telling me this dream. Something’s not right.”

Her eyes take the shape of mini saucer pans. “But… What…”

“No time for questions, baby girl. I don’t know what relationship that animal had with Lawrence but it’s definitely gotten attached for some reason. You’ll be safer with me. At least, until we figure out what’s going on. Pack.”

Nola looks like she still wants to argue for a moment, but luckily for me, she decides otherwise and stomps towards her room.

I wait in the hallway.

Ten minutes later, I start to walk to her room, calling out her name. Her door is wide open. I stop in my tracks when I see the pictures hung up on her wall. Every picture I took together with Lawrence and Nola stares right back at me.

I fully step into the room. She’s not here.

I look around to see more photos. One which I took with her alone hides in a corner, small. She’s smiling so wide and my face is set in a deep frown. I’m barely holding her hand. This was four years ago. At the beach. She was 17. I was 33. f**k.

Her luggage lies on the floor and she rushes out of the bathroom just as I’m about to call for her.

She now has a wooly, big sweater over her upper body. I’m thankful for it.

Nola gasps on seeing me in her room, then looks around. When she looks back at me, she has a look of disgust on her face. Then she clears her throat and banishes the look. Her fake smile comes on instead.

“Shall we?”

I nod once, then pick her luggage off the ground while she walks behind me.

It seems like a hundred miles to my house. My legs are heavy as I walk, and I mentally ask myself over and over if this is even the right decision.

I unlock my door and let her enter first, walking behind her. I shut the door, lock it, and she turns to face me. Nola faces me while standing in my house again after three years, this time teasing me with her presence alone.

She finally speaks,

“Feels a bit…” She weighs the air with her two hands. “… I dunno, weird to be back here again. But anything to be safe, I guess?”

Grinning lightly, she struts off. A bead of sweat trickles down my forehead.