Alpha Rising

Chapter Sixteen

Alvira's P.O.V.

The easy morning was much appreciated over the rocky series of events unfolding as of late. And as I stood in the kitchen with Sheena, I was fawning over the rapidly disappearing plate of milk buns that she’d placed in front of me. Goddess above, these were delicious. Sweet, warm, with the perfect crunch on the crust. Important details, of course. 

The comfort of the scene was sonly heightened by her gentle words and radiant aura. Sheena leaned carefully against the wall, letting out a heavy sigh as she rubbed her pregnant belly with a slight wince. "Little one has got some strength already," she said.

"Oh?" I asked, looking down at her hand for a moment. It was subtle, but I could see the faintest bulge shift just above where she held. If I hadn't been focused on it, It wouldn't have been enough to notice. The sight made me think of my mother when she was pregnant with Jacob, and I felt my smile grow wider. "Do you know what you're having yet?" I asked once Sheena looked like she was more comfortable.

"We wanted to keep it a surprise," she replied with a hum. "Something about not knowing the result has been making the whole process that much more exciting." Sheena took a few steps towards me and motioned for me to move closer. "The pup is kicking again," she said. "Do you want to feel?"

My eyes lit up with excitement as the she-wolf invited me into her space and brought my hand down over her belly. I was practically holding my breath until I felt the soft little thump of the baby's kick hit my palm. I let out a laugh and looked back up to Sheena, my grin growing wider even as I pulled my hand away. "Remarkable," I said. "Have you thought of any names?"

Sheena nodded and started to go back to busying herself with kitchen work as we talked. "If it's a little boy, we want to name him after Trevor's uncle Roscoe," she said. "But if it's a girl, I was thinking Rose. That way, the inspiration is still there."

"Rose and Roscoe," I repeated. "I think those are great, Sheena." I was so lost in the conversation that I hadn’t noticed another person creeping into the kitchen and standing off to the side near the refrigerator. It wasn’t until I caught the sharp pull of Sheena’s thin-pressed lips that I even noticed the addition to the company.

“Brianna,” Sheena said, almost in a low hiss. “Breakfast isn’t ready yet. You’ll have to wait with everyone else.”

As she spoke, I’d already started turning. And there to the side was a short young woman- the very same one who had been glaring at me the night before. 

She was considerably shorter than I was, barely scratching five feet tall. But her face wasn’t quite as soft as one might have expected. The thick curls of her hair hung over her shoulder and were tied to one side by a simple black band, and her mouth was locked in what looked like a perpetual pout. But whether or not that was her natural mouth shape was unknown to me.

I looked between the small woman and Sheena for a moment and couldn’t help but pick up on the unspoken animosity that was bubbling just below the surface. “Oh,” I said with a soft hum. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get to introduce myself to you yesterday.” I was trying my best to break the tension…trying. “I’m Vira. You’re...Brianna? Is that right?”

But as I turned to extend my hand towards the young woman, she looked down at it like I’d just stuck a mud-covered stick right in her face. Suffice to say, the scrunch of her pout grew even smaller. There was a pause that felt nearly oppressive before I c****d my head to the side and felt my eyebrows knit together in concern. My hand fell to my side, curling defensively at the hem of my top. 

Brianna looked back at me and narrowed her eyes. There was this palpable anger rolling off of her. It seemed only to grow until Nikolai came strolling in through the door with his hair half mussed and his shirt unbuttoned to his mid-chest. The mere sight of him had drawn my attention away from the small angry woman to my right, and there was nothing left to my mood but a sudden rush of desire. 

 At the same point that my eyes met his, he gave me this little half-smirk as though he could tell what I was thinking, forcing a rush of heat to my cheeks. 

This silent exchange seemed to only infuriate Brianna even more, as evident by the very vocal clearing of her throat and the not-so-subtle way she seemed to lean closer to Nikolai. Her sickly sweet voice crooned when she spoke, forcing an air of compassion and care that was near saccharine to the point of nausea. All this woman seemed to focus on was my mate. She outright turned her back to both myself and Sheena and had gone so far as to place herself bodily between Nikolai and me. 

“Alpha Nikolai,” she chirped. “I was wondering if I could steal you for a meeting?” To my side, I could see Sheena shaking her head at the gross display. “One of the sentinel trainees has been giving us hell in the training sessions.”

The sudden rush of possessiveness hit me without warning when I was faced with staring at the back of this woman’s head. And with just as much restraint as I could muster, I did not throw her headlong into the wall. Instead, I closed the gap between us and let my hand fall heavily on her shoulder from behind. The deep growl resounded in my throat as I urged her to move out of my way."Perhaps another time," I said, this overwhelming aura filling my chest and filtering out through my touch all on its own. The push seemed to shock even Sheena and Nikolai, who were left staring at me in wide-eyed wonder. 

The unspoken order was taken in stride, with Nikolai pushing his brow up questioningly as though he was tempting this woman to break the suggestion of her Alpha’s mate. And as much as I might have wished for her to try me, she did not. No, instead, she stepped to the side to continue to stare daggers at me. 

This cleared the way for Nikolai to loosen his stance. He shot her a look once she was out of the way, and she bowed her head in submission. For the moment, it appeared that her social meter was sated. And thankfully, she was called away just a few minutes later. One of the other fighters had come in and called her in for the early morning training session. 

When Brianna left, and it was simply the three of us alone again, it felt like a great weight had been lifted from my chest. I could suddenly breathe again, and the anger dissipated with no issue. “Who,” I started; my voice shook through my chest even though I no longer trembled. “Is that?”

“Brianna,” Nikolai said with an incredibly exhausted sigh. “A thorn in my side if there ever was one.” He ran a hand back through his hair and brushed so near me as he passed that I could smell the still warm scent of what I assumed to be his aftershave. 

Sheena let out a dramatic snort, hiding her mouth with a nearly full glass of orange juice. She shrugged when Nikolai looked at her and carried on with her thoughts. “She’s one of Nikki boy’s groupies.”

“One of?” I asked with a dangerous edge to my voice.

“I told you,” Sheena said as she slid me another milk bun. “Lots of ravenous wolves were hoping to bag that one.” She punctuated her statement with a large bite of bread, and Nikolai was shaking his head. 

“You’re going to make her eviscerate half of my pack,” he teased, casting a wary glance over me. “People have known that they weren’t my mates,” he said to me in an attempt to placate the gross jealousy that I never intended to feel. It didn’t help. 

“But that didn’t stop them from trying.” I let a deep breath hiss out through my teeth and took the offered bread. I didn’t much enjoy being this angry and jealous, but my wolf was growling and snarling at the very thought of that woman coming back in here. “I can’t hold your past dalliances against you,” I said through gritted teeth. “But if anyone so much as looks at you in that way without my permission….”

“So with your permission, they could-” His wry grin had returned to taunt me as he leaned forward to rest on his elbows. Thankfully I didn’t have to react before Sheena was already whacking him upside the head for me. Oh, I liked her, I did. 

“Okay, okay,” he said. “I’ll leave it be... for now.” He let out a laugh and rubbed at the now flour-covered spot on the back of his head. His golden eyes met mine with a devious glint, and I felt my wolf pace rapidly. 

It was like being home again. Sheena reminded me a lot of Nell, and I had a feeling that the two would likely get along famously should they ever meet. And the little bits of Nikolai’s personality that I was finally getting to see were beyond welcome. It was like another little glimpse into his true self, and I was excited to learn more.

The three of us stood together and talked about nothing in particular while a few summoned Omegas prepared the rest of breakfast around us. Eventually, Irena wheeled her way into the kitchen and cleared her throat in the way that only true matriarchs could. 

I’d have liked this scene to stay that simple for so much longer than it did. But alas, the good times had to roll with the bad. The situation firmly fixed Nikolai’s attention on his mother, and mine was fixed on him. His worry was mine as he swallowed a tense lump in his throat.