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Chapter 13

Rowen

The night before....

"Take care, Alpha."

A low growl ripped from my mouth as her words engraved themselves in my brain. My wolf was tormenting me because according to him it was all my fucking fault that she wasn't by our side right now and I clearly wasn't suffering enough with her parting statement repeating relentlessly in my mind while I tried to figure out who she was and how I could gain her trust in me again.

I had no fucking clue what I was doing.

She was different from any other girl I had ever encountered. I understood that the second I sensed her presence. I was trying everything I could to navigate how to care for her because I didn't want to lose her.

Shit, I couldn't lose her.

She was so fucking terrified and no matter how much I tried to convince her I would never hurt her, I could never get even a little close without her disappearing right under my nose. I was trekking unfamiliar territory, trying to be gentle. Patient. Show her that I only wanted her.

I was lucky enough to score a few nightly conversations with her, but now I was right back where I fucking started except now I felt far worse than I had before. Now, I got a taste of what life would be when I finally claimed her as mine and it was stripped away in a heartbeat.

And I still hadn't succeeded in getting her name. She was so reluctant, which made sense considering she was so pressed on finding every opportunity to hide her identity. It would be the easiest way for me to track down her placement in my pack without physically looking at her.

As much as I wanted to know every single wolf on the back of my hand, I had almost ten thousand and a little over a quarter of them were unmated females, half of them just coming of age. It would take too long to search from door to door and once she found out I was looking for her, she'd probably be long gone before I reached her.

I ran my fingers through my hair and let it fall on my desk in a tight fist. The paperwork for some new policies the elders wanted to implement glared back at me. I needed to sort through it before our meeting in a few hours, but the words blurred together making it impossible to focus.

"Keep clenching your jaw like that and it might just fall off."

I rolled my eyes as my favorite person strutted in my office and rounded the corner of my desk, looking through it like she owned it. I didn't hide it on my face how damn annoyed I was, eyeing her as she pulled out my wallet from the top drawer and took out my credit card, putting it in her purse.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I growled, only to be ignored by my beta's chaotic and somewhat sadistic sister, Alana.

"Shopping." She dropped my wallet carelessly on the documents and snickered as she looked me up and down," You look like shit."

"Glad we pass as twins," I scowled, tossing my wallet back where it was. "Why do you always steal mine? What about your brothers or better yet, your own damn money."

"You owe me for all the fuck I do for you. Be grateful I'm not asking for your leg, too."

"Oh yeah. Thanks, Alana, for being a pain in the ass," I muttered, not able to recall the last time her selfish conscience did something for me. If anything, I was the one who had to handle the many complaints I received almost every day due to her blatant disrespect for elders and the older higher ranks.

I watched hesitantly as Alana sauntered to my office door, a pounding question lingering at the tip of my tongue. I knew what she was capable of and as much I hated asking her, I was running out of options.