The Alpha's Gamble - Chapter 87: Chapter 87
You are reading The Alpha's Gamble, Chapter 87: Chapter 87. Read more chapters of The Alpha's Gamble.
NOAH
There was news, and then there was news. It’s one thing to find out that Maddie’s uncle, whom she didn’t even know existed since she was under the impression that her father had no other family besides her and her mother, was alive. But it’s a whole other thing to learn that he’s the Alpha of the country’s most merciless pack.
Yet here we were. Stunned and confused.
A million questions passed through my head, and they all fell flat on the tip of my tongue. There were too many to keep track of, disappearing before I could ever memorize them. One replaced by the other. Driton was the definition of a tyrant: heartless, violent beyond the understanding of any person, regardless of species. He was everything that a werewolf shouldn’t be. We have too much power to be carelessly violent, but that was what they fed off of, what they strived for, what fueled them. The blood and violence.
Through the decades, my father, his father before him, and his father before him have had to pull the Alphas of the Timber Pack back from the luring temptation that was humans. Had they been unleashed, it wouldn’t take long for cities to collapse, bodies scattered across states, and not many would dare intervene.
“Does he know who I am?”
I was too caught up in my thoughts to notice Maddie speaking again.
“No, he doesn’t know that you exist, and that is how we will keep it.”
“Why?” The agitation in her voice, albeit understandable, sent a dark flash through Trevor’s eyes.
He folded his fingers and pushed his chest out. It was clear that he wanted to say “because I said so and that’s that,” but he knew his daughter. I knew her better, and she’d never accept that answer.
“You’re next in line. The rightful Alpha of the Timber Pack. If he knows you’re alive, you’ll be marked a threat.” I said it when Trevor didn’t.
The images of Maddie’s broken body, unconscious on the dirt path by the border of the pack, flashed in my eyes. It was her pack. The place where she was meant to be born, under the wing of her father, taught that it’d all be hers one day. She was the daughter of a fucking Alpha, and it was clear as day when I looked at her, how I knew her. But Trevor displayed no leadership qualities at all. He could’ve never taught her what she’d need to take that place, though it seemed he didn’t need to. I would put her in charge in a heartbeat, knowing full well she could handle her shit.
“Couldn’t be any worse,” she muttered under her breath and shook her head. The words were probably meant as an end, not a new beginning, but Trevor picked up on the innuendo. His brows pinched together, and the lines at the corners of his eyes deepened like cracked ice.
“Worse than what?”
“Huh?” Maddie looked up, clearly lost in thought as she caught his hard gaze.
“You said it couldn’t be worse. Worse than what?”
I looked between them, wondering if now was a good moment to practice that thing where you butt out of people’s business. Something I’m honestly bad at. But for some reason, when it came to Maddie, I always butted in instead of out.
“Worse than the time your old pack attacked and beat the shit out of her for setting their pack house on fire.”
It wasn’t me who said that, though the words were similar to the ones I was about to lay down. The obnoxious tone and dry lip came from the hallway.
Logan stepped inside, hands tucked in his pants with his signature apathetic smolder, and swaggered over to the island.
“Not to be coy, but they were fucking brutal in how they ripped into her. Not to say it was unprovoked, and since we’re having a truth circle, which I must admit I’m a little hurt not to receive an invitation to,” he said and cocked his head at me. Fucking punk. “Maddie set the place in flames because we told her to. Under false preferences.”
The underlying amusement in his tone shifted in Trevor’s ears and forced his face into a grimace. Logan’s desperate need to stir shit wherever he went was working.
The blood drained from Maddie’s face, and she blended into the white walls around us.
Eyes wide and mouth dropped.
The heat of stillness painted dim spots on the metallic fridge, and Trevor’s eyes blazed like a hundred fires when he slowly turned his head to face his daughter.
That little fucker, smug and proud, watching the walls crumble in the destruction of his making.
“How the hell—”
“Don’t!” Maddie snapped at Trevor. Her finger pointed at his face, and her eyes held double the rage she received from her father.
“Don’t you dare,” she spat and disappeared out of the kitchen in the blink of an eye, leaving no trace or hum except for the half-eaten sandwich falling apart on the plate.
There was news, and then there was news. It’s one thing to find out that Maddie’s uncle, whom she didn’t even know existed since she was under the impression that her father had no other family besides her and her mother, was alive. But it’s a whole other thing to learn that he’s the Alpha of the country’s most merciless pack.
Yet here we were. Stunned and confused.
A million questions passed through my head, and they all fell flat on the tip of my tongue. There were too many to keep track of, disappearing before I could ever memorize them. One replaced by the other. Driton was the definition of a tyrant: heartless, violent beyond the understanding of any person, regardless of species. He was everything that a werewolf shouldn’t be. We have too much power to be carelessly violent, but that was what they fed off of, what they strived for, what fueled them. The blood and violence.
Through the decades, my father, his father before him, and his father before him have had to pull the Alphas of the Timber Pack back from the luring temptation that was humans. Had they been unleashed, it wouldn’t take long for cities to collapse, bodies scattered across states, and not many would dare intervene.
“Does he know who I am?”
I was too caught up in my thoughts to notice Maddie speaking again.
“No, he doesn’t know that you exist, and that is how we will keep it.”
“Why?” The agitation in her voice, albeit understandable, sent a dark flash through Trevor’s eyes.
He folded his fingers and pushed his chest out. It was clear that he wanted to say “because I said so and that’s that,” but he knew his daughter. I knew her better, and she’d never accept that answer.
“You’re next in line. The rightful Alpha of the Timber Pack. If he knows you’re alive, you’ll be marked a threat.” I said it when Trevor didn’t.
The images of Maddie’s broken body, unconscious on the dirt path by the border of the pack, flashed in my eyes. It was her pack. The place where she was meant to be born, under the wing of her father, taught that it’d all be hers one day. She was the daughter of a fucking Alpha, and it was clear as day when I looked at her, how I knew her. But Trevor displayed no leadership qualities at all. He could’ve never taught her what she’d need to take that place, though it seemed he didn’t need to. I would put her in charge in a heartbeat, knowing full well she could handle her shit.
“Couldn’t be any worse,” she muttered under her breath and shook her head. The words were probably meant as an end, not a new beginning, but Trevor picked up on the innuendo. His brows pinched together, and the lines at the corners of his eyes deepened like cracked ice.
“Worse than what?”
“Huh?” Maddie looked up, clearly lost in thought as she caught his hard gaze.
“You said it couldn’t be worse. Worse than what?”
I looked between them, wondering if now was a good moment to practice that thing where you butt out of people’s business. Something I’m honestly bad at. But for some reason, when it came to Maddie, I always butted in instead of out.
“Worse than the time your old pack attacked and beat the shit out of her for setting their pack house on fire.”
It wasn’t me who said that, though the words were similar to the ones I was about to lay down. The obnoxious tone and dry lip came from the hallway.
Logan stepped inside, hands tucked in his pants with his signature apathetic smolder, and swaggered over to the island.
“Not to be coy, but they were fucking brutal in how they ripped into her. Not to say it was unprovoked, and since we’re having a truth circle, which I must admit I’m a little hurt not to receive an invitation to,” he said and cocked his head at me. Fucking punk. “Maddie set the place in flames because we told her to. Under false preferences.”
The underlying amusement in his tone shifted in Trevor’s ears and forced his face into a grimace. Logan’s desperate need to stir shit wherever he went was working.
The blood drained from Maddie’s face, and she blended into the white walls around us.
Eyes wide and mouth dropped.
The heat of stillness painted dim spots on the metallic fridge, and Trevor’s eyes blazed like a hundred fires when he slowly turned his head to face his daughter.
That little fucker, smug and proud, watching the walls crumble in the destruction of his making.
“How the hell—”
“Don’t!” Maddie snapped at Trevor. Her finger pointed at his face, and her eyes held double the rage she received from her father.
“Don’t you dare,” she spat and disappeared out of the kitchen in the blink of an eye, leaving no trace or hum except for the half-eaten sandwich falling apart on the plate.
End of The Alpha's Gamble Chapter 87. Continue reading Chapter 88 or return to The Alpha's Gamble book page.