Page 2 of A Kitten for Alpha Kenny

The two cringed, as I knew they would. My wolf was much larger and stronger than theirs, and the alpha must have putthem on this duty thinking it would be easy. Most people would simply turn away from a locked gate.

“You can’t come in,” Barney whined. “Everyone is fine here. You don’t have to worry. Just go back to the city.”

Most people’s fathers were not on the other side of that gate. Most people’s pack had not been imprisoned by an unjust alpha. I didn’t have proof of these things, but my wolf was feeding me thoughts from those animals he had contact with. It wasn’t all, and I’d been told it wasn’t common for animals to share what they learned from one another with their other halves. But mine had shared such things with me since I was very small.

And I trusted him.

Unlike these two who I remembered as so cowardly.

“One last chance.” I breathed hard, holding my wolf back as best I could. I might need to let him free, but for now, I felt it best to keep in two-legged form. For communication purposes.

“But we’ll get in trouble,” Ezra whimpered. “The alpha will kill us.”

Okay…I could go around, get in through one of the many places in the fence nobody had ever maintained, and kill them myself. But I didn’t want to kill anyone if I could avoid it. My wolf was angry, but he didn’t want to do harm either, unless it became necessary.

“Are there cameras here?” I didn’t see any, but maybe the alpha was unusually tech-savvy.

“No.” Barney shook his head.

“Then who’s to know if you unlock the gate, let me in, then lock it again?”

Ezra reached for the padlock, and I knew I had them. If not for my dads, I should have turned around right then and gone back to my happy, serene, successful life. But a few years later, although it had nearly killed me, I was glad I hadn’t. The people of my pack deserved the very best…

“Alpha? You’re needed in the storehouse.” Shaken from my memories, I set out to deal with whatever was going wrong. Maybe something was going right?

Chapter Two

Mulder

“I’ll get you out in just a second, Madeline. I promise. Daddy has to figure out this tire first.” If I didn’t, getting out of the car seat was going to be the least of our problems. Fortunately, she was in the fussing, not crying stage of wanting out. There was still a slight hope she’d fall back asleep, so I could figure this hot mess out.

Last month, I had a nice apartment, a husband who adored us, and the promise of things going up from there. Now? Now, I was pulled over at the side of the road with a flat tire, a fussy baby in the car, suitcases in the trunk—and that was the entirety of my existence.

I will not cry. I will not cry. She deserves better. She deserves everything.I didn’t have Jason as my hype man anymore. It was up to me to keep myself focused and headed in the right direction.

My stupid donut was flat. I didn’t know donuts could get flat, but, apparently, that’s what happened when you spent the last of your money on a crappy car. I-I only needed to get to the next town. I had a hotel prepaid for the night, and thanks to my late husband’s aunt, I also had a job interview in the morning. All I needed to do was to get over this little hump, and everything would fall into place from there.

I was sure of it because it was either being sure or giving into the darkness, sobbing in a ball on the ground.

Even though it was a fool’s errand, I took out my phone again, checking for bars as if they would magically appear this time. They did not. I didn’t even have emergency conductivity here. It was either walk to where there was help or cross my fingers that someone stopped to help us—someone who wasn’ta serial killer because my cat shifter was pretty useless in the defense department.

“All right. I need to regroup. At least it’s cool out now, the desert sun not beating down.” Hold on to the little things.

There was a diner a couple of miles back. If I could get us there, maybe they could help us find somewhere to stay for the night or at least find us a tow truck.

I grabbed my baby wrap and took Madeline out of her car seat, settling her against my chest. She instantly calmed. The baby carrier was her favorite place to be. I buckled her in and grabbed the diaper bag with its stack of random gift cards I’d found in a drawer while packing up Jason’s things after he passed. I didn’t even know why he had them all. I assumed they were gifts from students over the years, but why not use them? I was so grateful he hadn’t because right now, all I had was them and the small bit of cash that I had left after paying for his funeral.

In theory, there was insurance money coming at some point, but because the accident was “under investigation,” I wouldn’t be seeing any of that for some time. The crash wasn’t intentional on Jason’s or anyone else’s part, but the company was looking for any way out of paying.

I believed that an animal walked across the road, and he overcorrected before going over the embankment. It was dusk, raining, and he was tired. Those three never mixed. But in any case, I didn’t have a choice as to when I got the money. I had to wait, be patient, and somehow stay afloat until it did.

The only relative we had on his side of the family was an aunt. Technically, she was a great-aunt and, from the interactions I had with her, she didn’t really remember him at all. Humans didn’t seem to bond about their extended as deeply as shifters. My guess was that the only reason she gave us the hotel room was because she had bonus points or some shit.But I was gonna take it. Anything to keep us going in the right direction.

“Okay, sweet girl, let’s go down to the diner. Maybe we can get a cup of coffee, borrow a phone, and figure things out from there.”

I chatted with her the entire way, and she fell asleep just as the diner came into view. Even though it was late, the diner still had a few customers, a sign that it wasn’t going to be closing too soon.

The place smelled delicious, was welcoming, and had a coziness to it. Instead of being super cautious with my cash and only getting a cup of coffee, I splurged and got the hamburger plate special. Who knew how much I had to walk tonight and if Madeline was going to have a good breakfast in the morning.

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