Page 34 of Fated to the Alpha

“Oh, it was no trouble.” She waved her dainty, manicured hand at her. “I had a last-minute cancellation, so it was … What’s that word? Serendipity! Come on back, I’ve got the chair all ready.”

Kimberly followed her toward the back and pulled out her phone, knowing what would come next. The butterflies barraged her full force the minute she decided that morning what she’d do. It was a gutsy move, a desperate attempt to make herself feel safer. After what happened last night with Shane, she knew she had to start being more proactive toward reviving her wolf.

Meditation, happy thoughts, and leg-buckling kisses from Shane weren’t going to be enough. It was time to stop masking and wishing away all the pain and do something to encourage her wolf that she would never be a victim again. Maybe then, it wouldn’t shiver like a frightened pup at the slightest reminder of the attack. That was what happened with Shane. He had pulled her hair just like Nathan had. Their motives were completely different, but her wolf didn’t register that. It believed they were in danger again and her body reacted the exact same way.

Never again, she decided. Never again would she give someone the opening to make her afraid. She might not have been able to do anything about her dominance, but she could do something about this.

Emily ushered her toward the black leather chair and pulled out a checkered drop cloth apron with silver button snaps. “So, what are we doing today? Just another trim or something special?”

Kimberly opened the Pinterest app on her phone and turned it around to show the stylist the picture she found.

Emily’s smile dropped, gaze darting between the picture and Kimberly’s long, brown hair. “Are you sure?”

“Very.”

“You know, I’ve had some clients come in wanting this and they just burst into tears when I was done. Are you absolutely sure you want this?”

Kimberly slid her phone into her back jeans pocket. “I am very sure, and I promise I won’t cry.”

The stylist bit her lips together and gave in.

Kimberly settled into the seat, sitting straight and chin level. She looked at herself in the mirror, as she did earlier that morning after Shane left the apartment. She wasn’t afraid. It was just hair. It wasn’t anything sacred to her, and she wasn’t committed to it as a symbol of her femininity. She needed this change, and sacrifices had to be made.

It didn’t take too long for Emily to assess the canvas of Kimberly’s hair, tie it into chunks, and get to work on snipping away the inches. She forced herself to watch through the mirror the whole time as strand after strand was cut and styled to make her new look as close to her inspiration picture as possible. With the loss of hair came a lightness to her head. She didn’t think her hair could weigh that much, but she felt it in the release of tension and the ease of her neck muscles as it took less effort to hold up her head. When the back of her neck became exposed and she felt the coolness of the air conditioning across her skin, the reality of what she was doing finally settled. Her hair was really dropping to the floor around the chair, destined for the garbage bin when this was all over.

The butterflies slowly dissipated, and a new excitement tingled in her belly as Emily made the final finishing touches around her ears and at the fringe of bangs across the top of her forehead.

With a few brushes, it was done. Kimberly felt the hated tears burn in her eyes, but they weren’t in regret. She wanted to cry with relief. But she had promised Emily, so she refused to let her tears show.

Emily whisked off the apron so she could see the full effect. Her neck looked longer and her shoulders a little broader, but it was still her. The loss of most of her hair wouldn’t change that.

She brought her hand up to the side of her head and threaded her fingers through the short locks, then tried to grab. She couldn’t. Her hair slipped through easily, refusing to be held or tugged. She tried on the top, where it was a little longer, but still, she couldn’t get a firm, solid hold.

Perfect. No human or shifter could use it against her again.

See, wolf? One less thing to worry about.

Emily looked as if she were holding her breath, and Kimberly passed her a big smile to reassure her. This was exactly what she wanted.

Chapter Eight

Four days. Four days, ten hours, and thirty-five minutes, give or take a minute. That was how long it had been since Shane breathed the same air as Kimberly. They texted on and off through that time, and he proposed three different dates.

Each time, she ghosted for a few hours and then replied with the standard, “I’m busy that day.”

Shane couldn’t help but feel she was giving him the brush-off and Friday night was the best he’d get while he was in Tolstone. It all fizzled out before it could even really catch fire. His focus nearly tanked. Work was a nightmare as he constantly listened out for any phone notification. Twice, he had cut himself on the saw because he wasn’t paying attention. Luckily, his shifter healing abilities allowed him to hide the damage until his skin stitched itself back together.

In the evenings, he managed to occupy himself with finding a new home for his pack. Regardless of what was going on with Kimberly, he was still an alpha and his pack depended on him to find a home and soon. He looked up each of Dominic’s suggestions and compiled statistics. He looked at demographics, school ratings, crime levels, job openings, business accessibility, and most importantly, whether there was a place for his pack to run without risking exposure to the humans. The last thing they needed was a wolf hunt craze to spark up because someone wasn’t careful.

He called a pack meeting to discuss his findings. John and Chelsea were kind enough to host on a school night, and Shane hoped the woman’s jalapeño cornbread could work a miracle on his poor, bruised heart. But there wasn’t enough home cooking in the universe to fill that Kimberly-shaped hole in his soul that he hadn’t realized had festered around the edges for ten years.

The trailer wasn’t quite big enough to hold the whole pack, so John set up a makeshift fire pit in the backyard, and each shifter brought their own chair and beer. For a minute, it felt like the old gatherings back in Kansas. Bonfire, beer, the smiles, all of it made Shane miss Kimberly all the more. He wanted her there, sitting next to him, the night wind playing in her hair and eyes bright with laughter as they shared stories. He checked his phone for the thousandth time that hour as the sun dipped lower below the tree line. No messages.

After Chelsea came back from checking on the kids one last time and everyone had sufficiently stuffed themselves on the potluck dishes, provided primarily by Chelsea, Thea, and Becca, Shane decided to call the meeting to order.

He looked around the wide circle of faces illuminated by the fire. These shifters relied upon his leadership abilities to give them a better, happier future. If leaving Warrington could do anything for them, it would be to get a fresh start somewhere not tainted by memories of Isaac’s dictatorship and Kevin’s betrayal. Shane had to look on the bright side of this whole thing, or he’d crumble inward on himself from the shame of losing the fight against a beta. These wolves, however, didn’t seem to see him as less of an alpha. He couldn’t begin to understand why, but he tried not to question it.

Shane sat up straighter and pulled out his notes from his bag. “Okay, I know we just got here, but I think it’s time to start considering our next home.”