Page 5 of Fated to the Alpha

“My dad is not insane!”

“No, you’re right. He’s just a narcissistic, power-hungry asshole who abused his family, wrecked their lives, and made his daughter feel like she wasn’t as amazing and perfect as she really was … is.”

Shane didn’t know whether to feel proud or ashamed of the curveball he just launched at Kimberly. Her mouth had opened as if she were going to make a comeback, but nothing came out. He could see the war in her as her eyes jumped from him to the ground, to the forest around them, as if searching for a way out of this conversation. Pride must have kept her rooted, but fear and uncertainty made her want to bolt. But unlike in their old lives, Shane wasn’t going to make it easy on her. They were grown now. No more running.

“Say what you’re thinking,” Shane demanded.

Kimberly’s throat worked through the words, then she said softly, “I can’t deal with this right now. This is too much. You, our past, our families, the … I just don’t want to deal with it right now.”

Shane’s eyes narrowed. There was something she wasn’t saying, but he was far from the position to ask her. She owed him nothing. Not after the way he hurt her. Maybe he had been too quick to believe a miracle had walked into his life.

For months, his father’s voice echoed in his mind, reminding him of how he had failed his pack, how not following his tried-and-true method of how to be an alpha had put them all in a mess. They were in Tolstone for a reason, and that reason likely had his father rolling in his grave. So, his father’s ghost came to haunt him, pushing him to make decisions that weren’t his own. Shane might have let his father rule his life while he was living, but not while he was dead. Still, the countless lessons he had to endure in his younger years had lingered in the back of his mind, resurfacing with the shame of his mistakes.

His own willpower and determination to treat his pack with respect and consideration had held off his father’s nagging lectures, but Shane needed something else. Another way. Another voice shouting down his father’s. At first, he believed he could have learned from Dominic Beaumont, the Prime Alpha of Tolstone. Obviously, Dominic was doing something right, or his family line would have lost its position decades ago. But the moment he saw Kimberly, he had another idea.

When they were younger, and then as teenagers, Kimberly ran to Shane’s embrace when her father was too critical and broke her spirit. And Kimberly’s company was what Shane relied on to keep his father’s toxicity from poisoning his own principles on what it meant to be an alpha. He had thought that maybe, just maybe, they could have been that safe haven for one another again.

But it was clear now, in the way Kimberly struggled to keep stable in this moment, that Shane was wrong. She wasn’t ready for him to be back in her life in the way that he was ready for her.

Shane sighed. “Fine. Then I’ll go this way and you go that way, and I’ll make sure not to bother again.”

He turned to leave, but thought he saw her take a step forward, so he paused and waited. Nothing. She didn’t move again, didn’t say a word. Didn’t try to stop him. How ironic. Kimberly didn’t stop him from running off, just as he didn’t go after her ten years ago. Leaving Warrington and his father’s pack had once been their ultimate plan. Run away and start their own pack somewhere their fathers couldn’t track them down.

Looking back now, he knew that was a fantasy. After everything that happened, Shane didn’t have the kind of bravery at eighteen that he needed to take that leap of faith and leave Warrington. Kimberly took that courage with her when she and her family left.

Shane took off into the woods and called upon his wolf for the shift. He still had a park to scout for his pack. Hanging out with Kimberly would have been a pleasant change to his plans, but at the heart of it, Shane had his obligations to wolves who still needed him. And Kimberly didn’t need him. Not anymore.

*

All the way home, Kimberly replayed every second of her encounter with Shane. Everything from his excuse for why he ghosted her, how he talked about her father, and the indirect, golden compliment that made her want to rush him, regardless of the fact that he was naked behind that bush. If emotional whiplash were a thing, she had it bad. One moment, she wanted nothing more than the ability to extend her wolfish claws and slash at his stupid, beautiful face, and the next she wanted to be reminded of just how wonderful his kisses could be.

She hadn’t lied. She did not want to deal with Shane coming back into her life. Her inability to shift, the reminder of how she lost Shane and her childhood home, how absolutely hot he was now, and his obvious willingness to put the past aside to reconnect with her now, all of it made her lose focus. Lose direction. One fucking problem at a time, Universe!

Kimberly couldn’t get distracted by Shane and the presence of his dad’s pack in Tolstone. And she knew for a fact that if Shane was in Tolstone, so was his dad. She couldn’t think about it, or she might never shift into a wolf again. Her nerves were too frazzled, too raw to contemplate what it would be like for her if she and Shane’s father ever met face to face again. After all the bad blood between that alpha and her own father, animosity was a guarantee. Would he attack her? Try to convince Dominic to kick her out of Tolstone? She might have been overthinking it, but with Shane’s father, she couldn’t afford not to overthink it. Like with her own father, she had to be so careful about what she said and what she did around Shane’s house. Even a passive joke could stir his dad up into a paranoid frenzy about some plot or intention to undermine his authority.

If what Shane said was true and his father only got more tyrannical after winning the challenge against her dad, there was no way she could risk running into him at the supermarket or Lunar Lantern, everyone’s favorite restaurant in Tolstone. And if Isaac Synder’s pack was in Tolstone, his ego was likely a little bruised by some incident, making him even more volatile. A perfect storm of alpha arrogance. Not what she needed right now.

And she certainly didn’t need Shane to complicate things. If Isaac still held a grudge against Kimberly and her family, he wouldn’t want his son hanging around her either. They might have been adults now, but Isaac was, undoubtedly, still Isaac. It wouldn’t matter if Shane wanted to spend time with Kimberly; for both of their sakes, it was safer to stay apart. She’d push him away as long as she could, even if it killed her not to be tucked up into his embrace like she used to when she needed it most.

Kimberly pulled up in front of Oak Haven Apartments at almost the exact time one of her neighbors slid out of their car. The woman’s silhouette against the streetlights tipped off Kimberly first. Her little beat-up silver sedan confirmed who it was, and she let out an audible groan of annoyance.

Kaelyn, holding a takeout box, stepped onto the sidewalk and made her way toward the open stairwell that divided the apartment building. Kimberly’s car slowed to a crawl as dread settled in her gut. As her second-floor neighbor neared the well-lit stairwell, she turned just in time to see Kimberly. They locked eyes, and Kaelyn’s face broke out in a big smile.

That smile, months ago, would have been so warm and inviting. Kimberly and Kaelyn had plenty of pleasant, though brief, chats either on their way to work or as they came home. Kaelyn sometimes asked Kimberly for a cup of sugar when she ran out while making cookies for the kids at her daycare. But that was all before the fallout, before Wyatt got it into his head that he could take over Tolstone. Kaelyn had been part of Wyatt’s pack, and she, along with Dr. Nolan Harlow, was the only two Dominic allowed to stay when the rest of the traitor’s pack was kicked out.

If that were her only sin, Kimberly could overlook it, and her return smile would be genuine. If Kaelyn hadn’t just let Nathan barge into her apartment on the night of the attack, maybe Kimberly wouldn’t hate it when Kaelyn stopped in front of the stairwell to wait for her. If Kaelyn had even tried to come to her rescue, then maybe Kimberly wouldn’t feel so disgusted with the way her neighbor acted as if absolutely nothing had happened. If Kaelyn had even apologized for what happened and pleaded her case that she had nothing to do with the attack, then Kimberly wouldn’t feel a tight ball of rage in her stomach.

Kimberly didn’t know why Kaelyn lied to everyone about that night. She and Kimberly were the only two residents at home when Nathan came banging on her door. There was no way Kaelyn could have just not heard Kimberly screaming from across the hall. Their keen, shifter hearing could pick up a faucet drip in another apartment. The only shifter who came to see what was up was the old army veteran who co-owned the local hardware store with his wife. Levi Jewett raced through the dark, jumped the fence that divided the apartment complex property from his backyard, and chased off Nathan. Precious minutes and seconds could have been saved if Kaelyn had rushed over with her dominance to scare away her own packmate.

Instead, Kaelyn claimed she wasn’t home. Kimberly knew better, because she had seen Kaelyn go into her apartment just half an hour before Nathan showed up and didn’t hear her leave. Even in the off chance that Kimberly was wrong and simply missed Kaelyn leaving her apartment, there were subtle clues in the weeks following the attack. She avoided Kimberly. Wouldn’t make eye contact. Didn’t say a word besides the casual greeting when they passed. Shame was written all over her. It wasn’t until recently that Kaelyn seemed to forget the past and decided enough time had gone by. She was more cheerful, more open, but Kimberly couldn’t forget.

Kaelyn and Nolan were only allowed to stay because the former had leaked vital information to Sheriff Cole Spradley about Wyatt’s plans. Dominic granted her leniency, and they merged with Cole’s pack. If Kimberly’s suspicions were right, that Kaelyn knew Nathan would show up that night to attack Kimberly and purposefully stayed out of the way, then she could only guess that the shifter had a change of heart and ratted out Wyatt afterward. That was the only reason Kimberly didn’t do the same and tell Dominic about her lie and how she was an accomplice.

But that didn’t mean Kimberly had to bury the hatchet.

“We missed you tonight!” Kaelyn said once Kimberly joined her at the stairwell.

Feigning politeness, Kimberly shrugged. “I had other plans. Sorry I was missed.”