The Shadow Alpha novel Chapter 20

“What do you plan on doing about Austin?” he asked as if fearing the answer, now it was my turn to sigh and run my hand through my hair in an attempt to relieve some of the frustration that I felt.

“That’s the tricky part. We have to stop him, but how do we do it without damaging Devin beyond repair?” I asked miserably, Hunter looked at me in awe to which I raised a questioning eyebrow.

“What?” he shook his head slowly.

“It- It’s nothing… I just expected you to hate him. I thought you would have done anything to see him hurt.” I chuckled softly at his baffled expression.

“Trust me I would love to see him keeling over in pain after I give him the ass whooping of his life-” I said making him laugh, “but I never want to see him really hurt. I know I might come off as heartless especially towards Devin, but let’s face it, he is still my mate and no matter how much I hate it, I can never hate him and I will never want to see him in pain.” Hunter smiled approvingly at me.

I cleared my throat to get rid of the lump that formed at the thought of him in pain, “Anyway. I have a plan but, I am going to need your help with it. You’re the only person Devin trusts without reserve.” He nodded thoughtfully, but his eyebrows furrowed.

“You said that Austin wanted to use our own plans against us, but how would he do that if he doesn’t even know what we’re planning?” I heaved another sigh.

“That’s another problem. I have certain… Gifts. It won’t make much sense to you now but I’m asking you to trust me. Justin, he is working with them.” he looked even more taken aback now, in fact he suddenly looked defensive.

“Okay Allison, up till now everything has been a lot to take in but I can see how you would suspect Austin of such things, but Justin? No way! Justin is quiet, but he isn’t a traitor. I do trust you, but you’re making it really hard to continue doing so. This is starting to sound like a whole load of bullshit really quickly!” he said, getting angrier by the moment which irritated my wolf because of his disrespect.

Just as he was about to stand up and walk away I caught hold of his wrist and pulled him back down, “Let go!” he said through gritted teeth which seriously rubbed my wolf up the wrong way, I felt a burning sensation behind my eyes and I fought to control my anger from physically showing, it usually wasn’t this hard, but this along with all the pressure of having my past and present collide had my control slipping way easier than I was comfortable with.

“Hunter, sit down.” I said calmly, but the Alpha undertone was clear making it impossible for him to disobey my order. “I have a very good hold on my temper, but I warn you not to anger me right now.” I narrowed my eyes at him and didn’t miss the way he gulped when I spoke.

“Fine, there is no way you’re going to believe me if I don’t tell you.” I sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to ease the burning and began explaining the events that ensued after I left the pack four years ago. How I became the Shadow wolf and went around the world developing packs and assisting them before coming back and taking over as Alpha and building the pack to what it is now.

He listened with a befuddled air surrounding him and by the end of my story his eyes were as wide and saucers and jaw slacked in astonishment. I left him to stare and process everything for a few minutes but he didn’t seem to be coming to anytime soon.

‘Will you stop staring at me like a retarded fish!’ I said in his head which caused him to leap from his seat and let out a girlish scream. I couldn’t hold in my laughter any longer and burst out laughing, I probably looked like a retarded seal, but I didn’t care, it was just too funny.

“Okay, fine it wasn’t thhaat funny.” He pouted and crossed his arms across his chest like a five year old.

Finally I controlled my laugh and sat back on the bench like a normal person, I hadn’t realised how much I missed Hunter till now.

My big brother, my Hunny.

I don’t know when the tears started flowing from my eyes, but somehow all this made me emotional. I was in no way a stranger to tears, but it had been a while since they were not the painful kind, Hunter seemed to notice my mood change and turned to face me only to be met with tears maring my face.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Is it something I said? I’m sorry for shouting at you and not believing you. Shit, I made you cry. I swear Al I didn’t mean to force you to tell me what happened. I was just angry and-” I cut him off by throwing my arms around him, he tensed at first, but relaxed when he realised what I was doing and hugged me back.

Hunter may be an asshole, but he is and always will be my big brother, it’s about time we let go of the past and mended our family.