Alpha Initiation (Alpha Blood #1) (Werewolf Romance) (15 page)

I saw the hint of some sexual romping and rolled my eyes. "Fine, but don't take too long at that meeting."

Chapter 17

Luke took too long, or at least longer than I wanted to wait. Stacy and he dropped me off at our room, and I was left with nothing to do but nap and watch the hands of an elegant grandfather clock tick around its face. I was thinking of breaking the boredom with another nap when I heard a knock on the door.

I crawled off the bed and looked through the peephole of the door. Nobody was there, but I saw a shadow lower down. I knelt in front of the keyhole and peeked through. An eye looked back and me, and I heard a familiar giggle. "Abby?" I guessed.

"Hi, Becky!" came Abby's familiar voice from the other side of the door.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"You promised to play with me, remember?"

I smiled. "I remember you promising to play with me."

"But do you still want to play with me?" she persisted.

I sighed and slid down to the floor. "I don't think I can. Luke's grounded me to my room until he gets back."

"Oh. . ." came the disappointed reply. I could almost see her drooping face. "But aren't you a grownup?" she wondered.

I laughed. "That's what people keep telling me," I replied.

"Then how come you're grounded?" A child's logic is the most sensible and devious characteristic of man, and Abby was no exception.

I furrowed my brow and thought over her statement. "Why am I trapped in here?" I wondered. To keep yourself safe, my inner thoughts scolded. As safe as a bird trapped in a cage, and this birdy was doing a jail-break. I stood and flung open the door, and was met with Abby's smiling face.

"Where do you want to go first?" she asked me.

"Any way you can lead me to the cafeteria? I'm starving," I pleaded.

She giggled and nodded her head. "Of course!" Then she frowned. "But Mama didn't give me any money."

I smiled. "That's okay. Luke told me I could use his account."

Abby beamed. "Then just follow me!" She pulled me along to the cafeteria where we tried our best to drain Luke's account. We wandered out onto the deck with our plates piled high and our stomachs grumbling for satisfaction. Tables were set outside the doors to the dining hall, and we commandeered one for our use. The food was as delicious as it looked, and we were just finishing up when a shadow fell across me.

I glanced up and found myself staring at a man about Luke's age with dark hair and blue eyes. He wore a white shirt with dress pants, and his smile had a smooth, oily look to it that I didn't trust. Even with that strange, uncomfortable smile there was something about him that made my body jump to attention. Maybe it was the way he stood erect and confident, or maybe it was the heated look in his own blue eyes.

"Hello there. I don't believe I've seen such a lovely face as yours at the meeting before," he greeted.

"Probably because you haven't," I quipped.

The stranger smiled and shrugged. "I suppose I deserved that for not introducing myself." He held out his hand for me to shake it. "I'm Lance Connor, Lord Connor and leader of the Connor region. And who do I have the pleasure of meeting?"

My mind was a swirling mass of panic and confusion. Here in the flesh was one of the names I'd been taught to fear, and he was strangely handsome. I supposed he kept his evil skin hidden beneath his clothes like all the werewolves around here, and shook his hand. "The pleasure's all yours, but it's Rebecca." Last names were still never given out until I approved of the guy, and I knew for sure that I didn't approve of this guy.

"A very good, old name. I'm sure you're interested in why I approached you, other than because of your wonderful beauty."

"I'd like to know if I need a restraining order against you," I replied.

He chuckled. "I saw you arrive and noticed you were in the same train car as Lord Laughton. Do you two happen to be intimately acquainted?"

"You could say that-" and a lot of other things related to intimacy. "Why?"

"Any friend of Luke's is a friend of mine," Lance explained to me. He leaned in and sniffed the air around me. His lips curled up into a grin. "And I smell you're a little more than a friend to Luke. May I congratulate you on the betrothal?"

The colored drained from my face. "Betrothal?" Luke hadn't even taken me out on a date.

"That's the usual results when a werewolf changes a human," he replied. His dark blue eyes swept over me, and I shuddered at the strange heat in their depths. "Though there are exceptions to every rule."

I leaned away and nervously chuckled. "Yeah, rules are funny that way. Speaking of rules, isn't there one where you're supposed to be at a meeting right now?"

He shrugged. "While I'm proud to represent my region the mundane aspects of the government are, well, mundane, so I've sent a representative in my place. On that subject, I hope to see you join my little organization," he commented.

I raised an eyebrow. "What organization?"

He chuckled. "Truth be told-" which I suspected didn't happen often with him, "-it's actually one of the minor social parties. I may not have the stomach for boring meetings, but I do like to unite people under a common cause."

"And what's that cause?" I asked him.

"To protect each other through mutual cooperation," he grandly replied. "The human world is growing closer and closer to finding out our existence and we need to be ready when the wolf is out of the bag, so to speak."

"I don't think the human world is that dangerous," I defended my former reality. I looked him up and down. " Sure there's a bunch of jerks in it, but that's not exclusive to the human world," I pointedly added.

Lance took my meaning and smirked. "That may be, but we werewolves still need to watch out for one another before our paltry numbers reach zero," he insisted.

I glanced around at the busy deck and the crowds that wandered in and out of the cafeteria doors. "There doesn't seem to be that few of us," I argued.

He shook his head. "The voting meeting is a little deceptive for evaluating our population. There's always a good showing, for as werewolves see it as our civic duty to attend."

"Even when it started earlier than it should have?" I wondered.

Lance chuckled. "I'm sure the few days change won't effect the outcome of the vote," he assured me. I had every confidence it would ensure the outcome he wanted.

Our wonderfully uncomfortable conversation was thankfully interrupted by a tug on my arm. I glanced over the table and found myself staring into Abby's cutely impatient face. "I'm bored. Let's go for a walk," she pleaded.

I smiled at her. "I think that would be a great idea." I looked back to Lance. "If you'll excuse us, Mr. Connor-"

"Please call me Lance," he insisted. There were other things I wanted to call him, but not within hearing of Abby.

"-but we need to go have some fun." Abby pulled me along the deck toward a flight of stairs that led down to the woods.

"Until later," he called over our shoulders. I'd make sure later was a really long time.

We hurried down the stairs and I managed a look over my shoulder. Lance stood at the top of the stairs with a creepy grin on his face. "That guy sure was creepy," I murmured to myself. I glanced down at my young guide. "What did you think of him?"

Abby wrinkled her nose. "I don't like him, he smells funny."

I raised an eyebrow. "Smells funny how?"

She innocently looked up at me. "Didn't you smell his scent?" I shook my head.

"Nope. He was doing enough creepiness with his mouth. Can you tell me what it smelled like?"

Abby scrunched up her face and pursed her cute lips together. "Well, it kind of smelled like blood, but really old."

I stuck out my tongue. "That's nasty. Doesn't that bother everyone around him?"

"He tries to hide it with other scents, but I can smell it. Papa taught me how to track scents," she beamed.

"I'm very glad you're on my side, Abby," I smiled in returned.

"So am I, but let's go. I want to show you my favorite trail."

"Just as long as it isn't too long," I told her.

It was too long, or at least a few miles farther than I wanted to walk. Abby frolicked the entire way, gathering flowers and smelling the trail like a wild, but adorable, animal. I had to admit the trail was beautiful with its wide, well-cared for dirt path and the views of the valley below us. The path followed the steepest part of the hillside so no trees obscured the lower view, but not so close I was afraid we'd fall off the edge. A few miles from the villa we came to a collection of large boulders several stories tall with small nooks and large cave openings. They were smooth-sided granite monstrosities arranged in a prehistoric rock slide motif thirty yards wide along the path and at least that deep into the mountainside.

"This is my favorite place!" Abby told me. She broke from my hand and hopped into the mess of rocks. The little girl terrified me by climbing all over them while I watched from the ground and winced every time she slipped or disappeared into one of the crevices. Werewolf abilities or no werewolf abilities, if she broke her neck her parents would kill me.

"Abby, get down off there!" I demanded. All I got was an echoing giggle and the girl peeked her head out from the top of the mess of rocks. "You've scared me enough, now get out of there."

"Come and catch me, Becky!" She disappeared into the rocks again, and didn't come back out.

"Abby?" I called out. I stumbled toward where I'd last seen her. The area was eerily quiet, and I whipped my head up when a bunch of pebbles slid over the top of the rocks. My inner voice was telling me it told me it hadn't been a good idea to leave my room, and I told it to shut up. "Abby, come on out. This isn't funny," I called to my little friend.

"Boo!" Abby jumped out at me, and I jumped out of my skin. I shrieked and knocked my back into one of the boulders. Abby giggled until I shot forward and grasp her hand in mine.

"Don't scare me like that!" I scolded her.

She shrank away and her lower lip trembled. "I-I didn't mean to, Becky. I just thought we'd have some fun."

I sighed and glanced around at the rock jungle gym. If by fun she meant breaking my neck there was plenty to be had here. "This isn't exactly my idea of fun," I told her.

"But there's a whole bunch of neat caves in there!" she protested. "They go all the way back forever and ever, and you'll never guess what I found in one of the caves!" She grasped my hand and tugged me toward a wide opening that led into a dark, spooky-looking cavern. "Come on, I'll show you!"

I dug my heels into the ground and stopped her strong pull. She had a long of strength in that little werewolf frame. "Forever and ever is a long time. I don't know about you, but I'd get hungry before I finished exploring all those caves, and wouldn't you miss your mom and dad?" I reminded her.

"But I really did find something neat in there," she persisted.

"And we really should be getting back," I insisted.

Abby's face drooped and she sighed. "I guess, but can we come back here tomorrow and I can show you what I found?" she pleaded with me.

"Sure." If I lived to see tomorrow because if Luke found out I was gone I'd be dead meat.

"Yay!" Abby yipped.

"Come on, let's head back to the trail." I securely took her hand and led her away from the rock fun house and back on the trail. I decided we needed to turn around, especially when I glanced down the trail and couldn't even see the villa. I worried we'd wandered out of the boundaries of the werewolf territory, if there was an end to their territory. "Uh, Abby, I think we need to go back before I get in trouble." Luke's meeting had been going on for nearly four hours.

"It shouldn't take too long to get back if we transform," Abby casually replied.

"Um, transform?" I squeaked.

"Yeah, you know, turn into a wolf."

"Um, there's a bit of a problem with that. I don't know how to transform."

She tilted her head and blinked at me. "You don't? I thought everyone knew how to change."

"I'm kind of new to this whole werewolf thing and haven't really figured that part out. Or any part, really."

"Oh. Then I guess we'd better get back before Mama and Papa worry about me."

I frowned. "Worry? Don't they know you were going to take me for a walk?"

She sheepishly smiled and shook her head. "I kind of snuck out."

I sighed and took her hand to lead her back. "Well, I guess that makes two of us. Come on, before they send out a search party for us."

Chapter 18

We'd gone about a mile when Abby stopped and lifted her nose in the air.

"There's someone coming," she told me. I didn't need a super sniffer to be told that because I heard the pounding of paws on the path ahead of us. A few seconds later I spotted a werewolf racing along the trail straight toward us. I picked Abby up intending to run away, but she only laughed at my fright. "It's Luke!" she told me.