The Alpha's Shatter Zone

“He’s really gone.”

Chesca heard the low murmur from where she sat on the bed. Closing the lid of her laptop, she uncurled her legs and lifted her eyes to Kaiden where he stood shirtless and looking out the window at the warm spring night. Hopping lightly off the bed, she made her way over and wrapped her arms around her mate, resting her cheek against his back, against the scars on his back. Not knowing what to say, she just held him, hearing his heartbeat through the lungs, spinal cord, and thick muscles that separated it from her ear.

He continued in a deflated tone, the words vibrating through his body, “You’re going to say it’s my fault, and I don’t blame you.”

“No…”

“But...Elah did this to himself, as much as I wish I could blame someone else. My father, maybe…”

“Your dad?” she pulled back and peered around his broad shoulder to see his face. It was ashen in the light of the moon, anguished and weary. The muscles that corded his neck and shoulders were tense and strained. Lifting her hands, Chesca glided them over his bare skin, feeling him relax under her touch. In a way, she too was soothed by this contact, and the secure feeling settled somewhere in her heart, filling another of the many cracks.

“He never cared what Elah got up to over the years. But I should’ve seen it coming, and you even warned me.” The darkness in his eyes as he stared down at her wasn’t from lust or desire like she’d seen before, but from a deep sadness. Grief. “I see it all now, though. His recklessness. How arrogant and heartless he was. Dad always encouraged him, by saying how you should go out and take what you wanted from the world, because life wouldn’t just hand it to you.”

Pondering his words, Chesca couldn’t help but wonder if Kaiden carried some of the same family traits. If that was the kind of father who’d raised them, it might not just be Elah who’d been infected with their dad’s cruel and heartless perspective on life. What if the man she was holding was as merciless as Elah, just more clever and deviant about it? The cunning look she’d first seen in his eyes all those weeks ago when they met, was still lurking in the depths of his irises somewhere. Maybe she’d been blinded to it. Maybe the bond they shared had tempered it, but it still remained.

She knew first-hand what tragedy could spark in someone; what revenge and ferocity could push someone to do or become. Especially to a man with such power and strength as Alpha Kaiden. One with such little to lose.

“Most people will tell you that the pain of losing someone gets easier with time. But it never does. We just learn to fill the hole with other things. Other loves,” she cupped his cheek with her hand and tried to soothe the frown lines between his eyes. “I’m here for you, Kaiden.”

“I know,” he nodded and sat on the window seat, pulling her closer. She stepped between his legs without hesitation and wrapped her arms around him. She couldn’t explain the feeling of comfort and desire that burst to flame within her as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. He inhaled deeply, clearly trying to calm himself down. She could feel his muscles relax and melt against her as his chest deflated in a heavy sigh.

Lowering her face to his hair, she breathed in and realised his scent and warm touch were nearly just as overwhelming for her.

Did she trust him? Not really, but it was hard to be wary around a broken soul like his was right now. Did she want to love and comfort him like a mate should? A huge part of her was yearning to, as she rubbed his back tenderly. It was just in her, a part of her nature and genetic make up, to offer comfort and kindness to her mate. The tears fell silently down her own cheeks as she shared in his heartbreak.

But there was, of course, another large part of her that wondered if this was all just part of a sick plan…

Chesca didn’t like hospitals. The small clinic in her territory wasn’t as bad as the big ones in the cities, but it was still giving her the chills. That sterile smell of countless disinfectants, the cream walls with distasteful pictures, the small windows in the doors that allowed you to see patients as they gloomily recovered, the beeps and blinking lights coming from all the machines—it was eerie.

Besides, the Alpha had spent her own fair share of time in this place, so revisiting it wasn’t something she jumped at the chance to do.

But duty demanded it.

“How are you feeling today, Alice?” a smile somehow found its way onto Chesca’s face.

“Oh, hi Alpha,” Alice looked up from her chair by the window, and lifted a pale hand to her hair. Patting it in place, she then went on to rearrange the blanket covering her legs, then wrapped the collar of her shirt tighter around her neck. Her movements were skittish, her eyes wide and wary as Chesca sat on the bed across from her.

“So, how’s your day been? Are you feeling better?” Chesca had made sure that Alice was properly checked after her traumatic ordeal the other night, and given the best care at the medical clinic.

“Better,” Alice replied tentatively, biting her bottom lip. A shadow sat crouched in the girl’s eyes, and when Chesca smiled to brighten the mood, all Alice could respond with was a faint tug of her lips.

“That’s good. Well, soon you’ll be ready to go home, I’m sure,” the Alpha scrambled for something to say.

“I want to go home now, but they’re making me stay on another night,” Alice looked longingly out the window. No wolf liked to be kept indoors for too long. It was just part of their nature to want to be close to the earth.

“They just want to make sure you’ll be okay,” Chesca tried reassuring her with a positive voice.

Alice twisted her hands in her lap and whispered, “I don’t think I’ll ever be okay.”

What now? It seemed Chesca had a terrible bedside manner, upsetting Alice when all she’d wanted to do was cheer her up.

“These hairpins are pretty,” she commented to change the subject, motioning to the gold pins that lay on the cabinet beside the bed. They were painfully familiar, and Chesca hated the conclusions they had her jumping to.

The intention of cheering up Alice with her change of topic turned out to be opposite, as Alice visibly blanched and eyed the pins with distaste. After a moment she murmured, “That’s what he said.”

“Elah?”

Alice nodded, obviously not wanting to say his name. Chesca didn’t blame her and felt bad all over again for having said it. But she needed to know about the pins. They were the same as the broken piece Kaiden had found in the lock on her office door, which led her to wonder...Was Alice responsible for breaking in?

“I was so stupid,” Alice suddenly covered her face with her hands, and rubbed her eyes. Chesca’s heartbeat picked up, wondering if an admission was about to fall from the girl’s lips. “To actually think he liked me? I even ...I even let him take one of those pins, as a keepsake to remember me by. Like, what would a guy do with a pathetic hair pin?”

Break into an Alpha’s office, maybe?

Chesca kept the thought to herself, as Alice flicked them off the bedside table one by one with her fingers. Watching them scatter across the linoleum floor, Chesca felt as if pieces of a puzzle were slowly rearranging into place, but not clearly enough for her liking. Of course Alice wasn’t the one to have done it. She was much too sweet and mild mannered to be a cat-burglar and betray her Alpha like that. It had to have been Elah, that slimy knave.

“How’s my brother?”

Chesca snapped her head up and widened her eyes at the question. “Mace? He’s doing okay.”

“You won’t punish him for what he did, will you?” Alice’s open expression was full of pleading and heartache. After everything she’d been through, she needed her brother now more than ever.

“Of course not. I’m only keeping him held for a short while. He’ll be free to come to you soon,” she patted Alice’s leg and smiled again, but when Alice jumped at the contact, she quickly removed her hand.

Since the night of the rape and murder, Chesca had kept Mace in the dungeon. He had killed someone, even if it was in defence of his sister. But there were other ways he could have restrained Elah. He didn’t have to go ripping his throat out and tearing his body to shreds. Pack law demanded he needed punishment of some sort, even if it was just a few weeks’ incarceration.

“Well, I should probably get going. If there’s anything you need, just ask the staff and I’ll arrange for it… Whatever you need,” Chesca repeated and rose slowly.

“Sure,” Alice replied with a thin voice.

As Chesca hurried out from the clinic, her fists ached to punch something, her stomach churned with fury, and her face paled with a weariness that just never seemed to end. To think, Elah was the one behind the—

“Alpha! I was just coming to find you. Tobias has been hurt.”

The warrior’s words halted her in her tracks, and Chesca looked beyond him to the small group of guards that shuffled from the edge of the forest. They supported one guard between them, his arm slung over his comrades’ shoulders. From this distance across the main road in town, Chesca was alarmed at the sight of so much blood staining his shirt, and the agonised look on his face.

“Alpha Chesca, he was shot with an arrow,” Austin, one of her best guards, informed her as they neared the clinic entrance. Lexi emerged swiftly behind them, a deadly serious expression on her countenance.

“An arrow?” How barbaric. “Tell me you caught who did this!” Chesca demanded, but her Head Guard shook her head.

“They disappeared without a trace. We didn’t even get a glimpse of them. But my bet is, they’re Razestone members,” Lexi recounted with obvious disdain. Then she leaned in close to whisper quietly, “This was wrapped around the arrow.”

Chesca took the discreetly folded piece of paper and tucked it in her jacket pocket.

The Alpha stayed around the clinic for a while to make sure that Tobias was stable. The arrow had pierced his midsection, but had fortunately missed all vital organs. Except for the blood loss, he was going to be fine and would heal fully in a few days, as assured by the pack doctor.

When Chesca was finally in the privacy of her office with her top three command, she slowly pulled the note from her pocket. Her eyes met Charles’ before she unfolded it, and he nodded in a quiet understanding.

Just as she opened it, Kaiden stepped into the room and took up his favourite position of leaning against the back wall. He looked good, there was no denying it. Her heart picked up its pace, his presence instilling in her a multitude of emotions. A part of her relaxed at the feeling of having her strong mate close by, like the danger this note presented would somehow go away now that he was here. He calmed her, even though she knew she was strong enough to handle this on her own. She didn’t need him to be her knight in shining armour.

Tearing her gaze from his, she cleared her throat. Everyone remained silent until she spoke.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you

Now the knife in your own hand

may stab the heart that beats so proudly.”

Five pairs of eyes stared at the piece of paper in Chesca’s hands.

“That’s it?” Roman was the first to speak.

“It’s like a riddle. It doesn’t make any sense,” Lexi furrowed her brows and drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair.

“It’s a deeply veiled threat, intended to frighten us into action. The wrong kind of action,” Charles mused, leaning back in his chair and crossing one ankle over his other knee.

“And what is your opinion, Kaiden?” She may as well hear each of theirs.

He kicked off the wall and slowly rounded the desk, her heart quickening with each decisive step he took. When he came to stand behind her shoulder and read the note for himself, she found herself holding her breath. For some undefinable reason, his close proximity was unnerving.

“Hmm….I think we need to take this very seriously. Who knows where it came from…” he remarked.

“The writing looks familiar,” Chesca tilted her head and looked at it sideways.

“It does?” Lexi snatched it from her hands. “Where have you seen anything like this messy writing before?”

In truth, it was actually a very neat and cursive script, but everyone knew Lexi’s writing was terrible and she would always joke about how bad others’ was to make herself feel better.

“On some other notes—“

“You’ve received other threats?” Charles immediately asked, his startled gaze biting into her.

“Y-yes, they’re nothing really…”

“And you haven’t told us?” Lexi raised her eyebrows with a questioning scowl.

“I am Alpha. I don’t need to tell you everything,” Chesca defended herself hotly.

“And I am your Beta. It is my duty to help you make decisions that protect the pack,” Charles clenched his jaw tightly.

“This didn’t involve the pack.”

“My guard was injured, so yeah, it involved the pack!” Lexi refuted.

“Fine, then you can worry about these stupid threats! I don’t have time for every single little disruption in the border patrol. These things happen all the time.” Her outburst stunned them all into silence. Charles looked at her strangely, surprise and rebuke in his grey eyes. He was the only one she’d take reproach from, seeing as he was like a brother to her, but this time she wouldn’t stand for it.

“One of our best warriors is recovering from an arrow wound in the clinic as we speak. Don’t brush it off and tell me that happens all the time,” Lexi growled and glared at her Alpha, clearly forgetting for a moment who she was speaking to. Charles placed his hand over his mate’s to calm her down before the argument between the women got any more heated, knowing it could not only end with disorder between the ranks, but could hurt their friendship.

All the while, Roman had the good sense to remain quiet. He tented his fingers and watched the verbal tournament with a sullen frown.

Chesca slammed a fist on the desk, and spoke with a low authoritative voice, “I will deal with this like I have everything else. We can search the bordering forests tomorrow for any tracks, but for now I want you to leave.” She didn’t know what was making her react like this. It wasn’t usually like her to get mad and snap at her command. But things had been bothering her lately, and she usually did her best thinking when alone.

And right now, she was meant to be investigating Kaiden, her brooding and complicated mate, not worrying about some stupid Razeswarriors who kept wandering over her borders, putting arrows in her guards. It was alarming, yes, and maybe she should just let Charles and Lexi handle it all. No, she was the Alpha. It was her job. Then why was this becoming so difficult and confusing?

Hesitantly, when silence once more ruled the atmosphere, they rose with solemn expressions and filed out the door, but not without a few choice expletives from Lexi.

“All of you,” Chesca looked up at Kaiden who still stood by her chair.

But he just threw her an annoyed look over his shoulder and paced in front of the window. Then he turned, clasped his hands behind his back, and stared at her with an unusual expression written on his face.