The Duty of an Alpha (Book 2)

Roman

Chapter 6

Roman POV*

When I hung up with Teo, my mind was going a million miles a second. Teo had finally calmed down enough to tell me what had happened, and by the end of our conversation, he had said I didn’t actually need to go. I was too scared to face Arden, but Jaxon was pacing in the back of my head, urging me to go to Ash River Pack.

We need to get to our mate! Jaxon was desperately begging. We have to be there for her. I have to see that she is safe.

I was trying to push him to the back of my head and keep myself calm, but he was too insistent to push away.

Please. He whined. We need to go. NOW!

Teo said she was fine. I tried to reason with him. We don’t need to go anywhere, we can just text her.

No! That’s not enough!

I shifted and ran back to the packhouse, not letting Jaxon have too much control. I knew if he had the chance, he would take off towards her pack. At full speed, it didn’t take me long to make it back, and I shifted back and got dressed before heading into my office.

I shot off a quick text to Arden, trying to appease my wolf’s need to confirm she was ok.

I tried to distract myself with paperwork until she had time to text back, but it was useless. I kept picking up my phone and checking if she had responded, even though it was the middle of the night, and she was probably sleeping. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t block out Jaxon’s pleas, and his fear of her being hurt fed into my desperation to know she was ok.

I sent a text to Sita, letting her know she was in charge until I came back and got in the car before I could change my mind.

Jaxon finally calmed down with his nagging, but his worry was still being projected. I drove easily 20 mph over the posted speed limit, not worrying about anything but seeing that Arden was safe.

There was little resistance at her border, something that was a concern, even if they knew me as an ally. I didn’t think they even bothered to mind link any of the ranked members to let them know I was coming, and that was a major security problem.

I drove quickly through Ash River, heading straight to the packhouse. I saw a bright burst of Arden’s blue and purple flames just as I reached the driveway in front of the large house, and my car skidded to a stop. I jumped out, not even bothering to shut the car off, and I could hear loud booms coming from inside, but all I cared about was the woman standing in front of me.

It was the first time I had seen Arden in person since we found out we were mates, and I had to force myself not to grab her and drag her back to my pack where I could make sure she was safe.

“What are you doing here?” she asked in a squeaky voice.

“I had to be sure you were safe.” My answer came out in a whisper, having not been fully prepared to deal with the effects of the mate bond. “Teo told me your pack was attacked, and you didn’t text me back to let me know you were ok.”

“I- I didn’t have my phone on me.” Arden said, not breaking eye contact. Her blue eyes were boring into me, making me want to give in. “I was making sure my pack was being taken care of.”

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!” a female screamed from somewhere within the pack house.

Arden ran inside, making me remember the loud noises that had come from there as I pulled up. I followed behind her on high alert.

When we got inside, I could see the splintered pieces of the front door strewn across the entryway.

“Shit.” Arden said under her breath.

“ARDEN!” a woman I recognized as Andrea ran over, “What happened to all the doors? Your office, the hall, and the front door…” she paused as she finally caught sight of me. “Uh Roman? When did you get here?”

I waved at her, but before I could say anything, Arden started talking.

“Uh, the doors are my fault.” She said, looking sheepish. “I was trying to calm Amanda down, and when she lost it, I siphoned energy. I uh, might have taken more than I should have.”

“Might have?” Andrea scoffed. “What does having an energy spike have to do with you destroying everything?”

“Is Amanda taken care of?” Arden answered, ignoring the question. “She needs to be sedated and transferred to the infirmary.”

“Ashton is taking care of it.” Andrea said impatiently. “Now, are you going to tell me what is going on?”

“When we can get to the office, yes.” She answered while looking around the entryway, taking in the mess. She sighed and muttered. “I’ll clean up afterwards.”

I stood behind her awkwardly. The goal of coming to her pack was to make sure she wasn’t hurt. Even seeing that she was unharmed, I couldn’t even consider leaving.

Ashton came out of the office, carrying a passed out red-head. He nodded in our direction and left without saying a word.

I followed the two women down the short hallway to the office, hardly ever taking my eyes off of Arden. Once inside, she turned to close the door, and then started laughing at the hole where the door once was.

Looking around the room, aside from the books that were strewn everywhere, I could see how much it had changed since the last time I was there. At the time, Arden was trying to make it a more suitable office for her, and it was a work in progress.

Underneath the mess, I could see that she had managed to accomplish making it both professional and homey; a place to get work done, yet also be inviting and comfortable for anyone who would be there with her. I sat on the couch, waiting for Arden to explain what was going on when I showed up.

“Ok boss, will you explain now?” Andrea asked yet again, tapping her foot impatiently.

“Yeahhh.” Arden breathed out. She started collecting books from the floor before saying anything else. “So, I came back for the hospital, hoping to talk to Amanda about everything. Which, by the way, you were supposed to be here for.” She stood and glared at her friend before continuing. “I could feel her grief, and I was trying to be supportive, but she started getting angry. Like really angry, and started screaming about how it was all my fault. I think she really thinks that I let Marcus die.”

“That’s absurd!” the dark-skinned Andrea exclaimed, having stopped helping clean up when she heard the words. “You would never let anyone die on purpose!”

“You and I know that, and so does probably the majority of the pack, but Amanda is grieving.” Arden stopped moving, holding onto the books in her hands and looking zoned out. “Her rage… it was so strong. Stronger than even what I felt in Max. When she started throwing stuff and screaming at me, I uh, I siphoned off of her anger, but I had to do it quickly, and I took too much.”

The entire room was still, Andrea and I were trying to let her process what happened so she could put it to words. The mention of Max had made my entire body tense, but worse was that Arden would say that the small red-head had even more anger in her than the crazed wolf. Arden looked at Andrea, probably having forgotten about my presence, or pretending I wasn’t there.

“It was like time stood still.” She whispered, “Like, actually stood still. I restrained Amanda as gently as I could, but after that, nothing happened. I had too much energy, and no way to bleed it out without hurting her or someone else. I tried, but I couldn’t even make time resume.”

Both women stood there in awe over the revelation. Even though Arden had lived it, I could see the surprise on her face as she talked about it. I couldn’t move form my spot on the couch. Her description of what had happened had me waiting desperately for more of an explanation.

“Fae suggested I go outside, so I did. I guess I wasn’t too careful going through the doors though.” She let out a slight chuckle. “I had thought I was, but… oops.”