The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 28: Chapter 28
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“Yo, Noah!” Landon jogged over to me, a somber expression that I'm sure had something to do with my reaction to seeing Trevor had him shaking his head and I met him halfway back to the house.
The rain kept coming down on us, a dark sky settled above us with thunder roaring over the pack. One rumor about werewolves that actually holds true is that we hate getting wet, it’s like the rain penetrates the skin and sets every nerve in our body on edge, a weird tingly sensation that doesn’t stop until we’re dried off.
“What?” I asked when Landon stopped in front of me. His t-shirt was soaked through and he raked a hand through his hair, combing the water through his strands.
“Were you actually mad that we got Trevor to come back?” what tipped him off?
I didn’t even know if I was mad, and if I was I didn’t know the reason.
The days were blurring together in weird events that I couldn’t categorize and that caused a rageful wave of uncertainty in me, something I never tolerated before but this time I didn’t see a way out of it but to just give in.
He tossed his hands in the air and shook his head, water flew from him like a wet dog and his brows furrowed in confusion.
“What happened to the plan? The one we ALL came up with together?” the plan. Right.
“It’s still in motion, nothing has changed,”
“Hasn’t it? Trevor coming back was the next step in the plan, do you have any idea how hard it was, tracking that fucker down?” he stepped closer, closing the distance, and raised a finger to my chest.
“You wanted to play with her, to break her, to make her pay for busting her way into your family. It was you who wanted her and her mother gone,” he reminded, like I could forget. Was that still where I stood? Did I still want them gone, kicked out on their asses, and away from my family?
Clara yes, but Maddie…
“It’s still on.” I couldn’t tell him the truth because I didn’t know what the fuck the truth was right now. I needed a moment to figure that out but even then, if I gave the order for them to drop everything, I saw on Landon’s face that he wouldn’t. He was having fun, he always enjoyed the games my brother put on, never cared about the person or people we fucked over, not that I did either- but this time, I think I might.
He stepped back and his hand fell. Fuck, he was staring at me like a lost puppy. We’d always been a group, since we were kids it was always the four of us, and sometimes --- would join. Even though he wasn’t uttering the words I knew that Landon was starting to feel left out, and in any other circumstance I would try to mend it but this was another story, I didn’t have all the pieces and could barely contain the insanity going on inside of me, let alone give a shit about him. There was something about how badly he wanted to fuck over Maddie that made my skin itch, and I felt my eyes narrowing on him which only made him shrink back even more.
“Go home, Landon. Get your head straight and we’ll continue tomorrow,” he wasn’t moving. My eyes kept flickering up to Maddie’s window and I squeezed my fists to keep myself centered.
“Yeah alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said warily and finally turned around and headed toward the gates. Good.
I barged through the house and up the stairs, ignoring Clara’s squeal when she saw me in the hallway and her voice calling behind me that dinner would be ready soon.
The last thing I heard was her clearing her throat and her heels tapping back into the kitchen.
Never in my life had I regretted being born with ears, not until she entered it.
Standing outside of Maddie’s room, my hand hovered in the air for a second, the link was still weak, and I didn’t sense her like I should if she was in there.
I opened the door and let it slam against the wall. Her bedpost was cracked and I saw the dent where it looked like someone had punched. The green blanket covered the bed with a dip where I’m guessing she sat before she left. On the bed, next to her pillow was a book, the leather coverage was torn with cracks and dried blood, someone had scratched it and the lock was open. Everything else was meticulous; it barely looked like someone lived here, but then I saw the baby blue flowy dress in a bundle on the floor. I picked it up, her scent wafted off the fabric and up my nose- my mind turned in a frenzy and fogged my senses like I was fucking high and I fisted her dress in my hand.
If she wasn’t here, and she had changed her clothes, then where the fuck was she?
Considering how weak the link felt, Maddie was probably not even in the pack, and even if that was the case- it shouldn’t stir this agitation in me. She had free will to go wherever the fuck she wanted. Right?
I fisted my hair and pulled, my chest contracted, and I finally got an answer from myself and not just a shit load of questions: no, she couldn’t go wherever she wanted. Not without telling me first.
“You’re not her guardian, she doesn’t have to tell you anything,” Onyx tried to play it off cool, but I felt the mutt’s restlessness like it was my own because it was.
“You’re hating this too,” I said.
He snarled and scraped his claws into the floor bank of my mind but I tried to refute any illogical reasoning.
If she wasn’t here she was probably with Tilly and I didn’t trust that girl for a second. Not with Maddie. I picked up my phone and dialed Logan’s number while pacing around the room and stopped by the side of the bed, my eyes gracing the torn cover of the book by the pillow. The signals beeped and I waited for my brother to pick up, my curiosity rising rapidly as I stared at the green leather.
I pulled the book closer and flipped the first page: Property of Madeline Torrance. Read it, and I’ll gauge your eyes out
A chuckle rumbled in my chest and my shoulders shook from the warning.
“Cute,” I said and closed it.
The signals in the phone died, my fingers tightened around the back, and I lowered the phone to stare at the screen. He declined my call. Logan never declined my calls. The only reason he would do that was if he was doing something he knew I wouldn’t agree with, something that would piss me off.
I clenched my jaw and looked at the dress. Logan’s not picking up my call, his car is gone and I’m sure that if I looked for him, Nate would be gone too. They were together.
The rain kept coming down on us, a dark sky settled above us with thunder roaring over the pack. One rumor about werewolves that actually holds true is that we hate getting wet, it’s like the rain penetrates the skin and sets every nerve in our body on edge, a weird tingly sensation that doesn’t stop until we’re dried off.
“What?” I asked when Landon stopped in front of me. His t-shirt was soaked through and he raked a hand through his hair, combing the water through his strands.
“Were you actually mad that we got Trevor to come back?” what tipped him off?
I didn’t even know if I was mad, and if I was I didn’t know the reason.
The days were blurring together in weird events that I couldn’t categorize and that caused a rageful wave of uncertainty in me, something I never tolerated before but this time I didn’t see a way out of it but to just give in.
He tossed his hands in the air and shook his head, water flew from him like a wet dog and his brows furrowed in confusion.
“What happened to the plan? The one we ALL came up with together?” the plan. Right.
“It’s still in motion, nothing has changed,”
“Hasn’t it? Trevor coming back was the next step in the plan, do you have any idea how hard it was, tracking that fucker down?” he stepped closer, closing the distance, and raised a finger to my chest.
“You wanted to play with her, to break her, to make her pay for busting her way into your family. It was you who wanted her and her mother gone,” he reminded, like I could forget. Was that still where I stood? Did I still want them gone, kicked out on their asses, and away from my family?
Clara yes, but Maddie…
“It’s still on.” I couldn’t tell him the truth because I didn’t know what the fuck the truth was right now. I needed a moment to figure that out but even then, if I gave the order for them to drop everything, I saw on Landon’s face that he wouldn’t. He was having fun, he always enjoyed the games my brother put on, never cared about the person or people we fucked over, not that I did either- but this time, I think I might.
He stepped back and his hand fell. Fuck, he was staring at me like a lost puppy. We’d always been a group, since we were kids it was always the four of us, and sometimes --- would join. Even though he wasn’t uttering the words I knew that Landon was starting to feel left out, and in any other circumstance I would try to mend it but this was another story, I didn’t have all the pieces and could barely contain the insanity going on inside of me, let alone give a shit about him. There was something about how badly he wanted to fuck over Maddie that made my skin itch, and I felt my eyes narrowing on him which only made him shrink back even more.
“Go home, Landon. Get your head straight and we’ll continue tomorrow,” he wasn’t moving. My eyes kept flickering up to Maddie’s window and I squeezed my fists to keep myself centered.
“Yeah alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said warily and finally turned around and headed toward the gates. Good.
I barged through the house and up the stairs, ignoring Clara’s squeal when she saw me in the hallway and her voice calling behind me that dinner would be ready soon.
The last thing I heard was her clearing her throat and her heels tapping back into the kitchen.
Never in my life had I regretted being born with ears, not until she entered it.
Standing outside of Maddie’s room, my hand hovered in the air for a second, the link was still weak, and I didn’t sense her like I should if she was in there.
I opened the door and let it slam against the wall. Her bedpost was cracked and I saw the dent where it looked like someone had punched. The green blanket covered the bed with a dip where I’m guessing she sat before she left. On the bed, next to her pillow was a book, the leather coverage was torn with cracks and dried blood, someone had scratched it and the lock was open. Everything else was meticulous; it barely looked like someone lived here, but then I saw the baby blue flowy dress in a bundle on the floor. I picked it up, her scent wafted off the fabric and up my nose- my mind turned in a frenzy and fogged my senses like I was fucking high and I fisted her dress in my hand.
If she wasn’t here, and she had changed her clothes, then where the fuck was she?
Considering how weak the link felt, Maddie was probably not even in the pack, and even if that was the case- it shouldn’t stir this agitation in me. She had free will to go wherever the fuck she wanted. Right?
I fisted my hair and pulled, my chest contracted, and I finally got an answer from myself and not just a shit load of questions: no, she couldn’t go wherever she wanted. Not without telling me first.
“You’re not her guardian, she doesn’t have to tell you anything,” Onyx tried to play it off cool, but I felt the mutt’s restlessness like it was my own because it was.
“You’re hating this too,” I said.
He snarled and scraped his claws into the floor bank of my mind but I tried to refute any illogical reasoning.
If she wasn’t here she was probably with Tilly and I didn’t trust that girl for a second. Not with Maddie. I picked up my phone and dialed Logan’s number while pacing around the room and stopped by the side of the bed, my eyes gracing the torn cover of the book by the pillow. The signals beeped and I waited for my brother to pick up, my curiosity rising rapidly as I stared at the green leather.
I pulled the book closer and flipped the first page: Property of Madeline Torrance. Read it, and I’ll gauge your eyes out
A chuckle rumbled in my chest and my shoulders shook from the warning.
“Cute,” I said and closed it.
The signals in the phone died, my fingers tightened around the back, and I lowered the phone to stare at the screen. He declined my call. Logan never declined my calls. The only reason he would do that was if he was doing something he knew I wouldn’t agree with, something that would piss me off.
I clenched my jaw and looked at the dress. Logan’s not picking up my call, his car is gone and I’m sure that if I looked for him, Nate would be gone too. They were together.
End of The Alpha's Gamble Chapter 28. Continue reading Chapter 29 or return to The Alpha's Gamble book page.