Page 90 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

As I drove back to the hotel, I pondered what else could be going on with this thing. What could my father have done to Kyle? Could Kyle be working for a rogue alpha? Maybe a splinter pack was trying to force us out of Harbor Mills. Maybe. Hell, had my father gotten his willy wet with someone else? God, I hoped he hadn’t fucked Kyle’s mate or something. That would be a reasonable explanation for why he was being so creepy with Avery.

Avery was still asleep when I returned to the hotel room, so I took a seat by the window and watched her as she breathed slow and deep. Worry nagged at the back of my mind. Not about Kyle—I was worried aboutme. The sale of the two businesses would ding my accounts for months. Having a steady flow of income was always good, and it had kept me pretty stable. Now, that was gone. Trent and I had a few other things going, but it still hurt. Also, my savings would be depleted soon if I continued to cover the pack’s necessities. Once we’d paid Kyle off, we could work on getting the pack’s finances straight, make some investments, and so on. But that would all take years.Ashton was growing like a weed, and he’d eventually need his own car, plus college and other things. Avery didn’t seem too worried about it, but I was.

If I was to be her mate and provide for her and protect her, I needed to be able to do that financially. How was I supposed to be the mate I wanted to be if Avery would end up buying my groceries? Even as I thought it, I realized it was a dumb and chauvinistic thought. Why couldn’t a woman support a man instead of the other way around? Yet, no matter what kind of mental gymnastics I did, the worry still crawled at the back of my mind.

That old feeling kicked in, and the reedy, ancient voice at the back of my head returned. The one that told me to run. To get out now while I could. That the pack would be better off without me. I pushed at it, my wolf snarled at it, but it wouldn’t go away. It was the coward in me. A coward who demanded to be heard. This time, though, it wasn’t telling me to run by myself like it had all those years ago. It was telling me to take Avery and Ashton with me. We could vanish, and Harbor Mills could figure out all its shit on its own. I’d never really wanted to be alpha to begin with.

My phone rang, ripping me out of the dark, bitter thoughts. I hurried out to the hall so I didn’t wake Avery, then answered the call.

“This is Cole.”

“It’s Trent.”

“What’s up?”

He sighed, and from the sound of it, I already knew I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.

“I’ve got a few pack members here.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I hissed. I was not in the mood for this.

“Yeah, I know,” Trent said. “Look, we’ve got some issues with some of the businesses.”

“What now? More overdue bills?” I ran a frustrated hand through my hair, irritation rising.

“A little more involved than that, I’m afraid.”

“Spill it. Might as well get this over with.”

“It seems that the building inspections have, for want of a better word, fallen by the wayside in recent years. I’ve got Leo Bissette here, who owns the hardware store. The roof is leaking. Badly. Samantha Wells has a termite issue in her hair salon, and John Moore’s gas station needs new tanks for his gas pumps. All shit that should have been caught years ago and been taken care of, but now it’s all coming up at once.”

Clenching my eyes shut, I hissed out a breath of anger. No matter how far ahead I got, something Dad did or didn’t do kept kicking me back down the stairs.

“Fuck it,” I said. “Tell them all to get estimates, and we’ll look at costs. When I get back in town, I’ll make the calls to get everything fixed. And find someone to inspect the rest of the pack-owned buildings.”

“I’m on it. Cole, I’m sorry to bother you on your time away. I really am. But they wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“And they shouldn’t have to,” I growled. “It’s not their fault. I’ll see you when I get home tomorrow. Oh, by the way, I got the money. We’ll pay that ugly prick off soon and have one less thing to deal with.”

“Sounds great. See you tomorrow, bro. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Once I was off the phone with Trent, I stood in the hall and tried to stifle my rage, but it kept building. Taking Avery and Ashton and leaving the whole shitshow behind was beginning to sound very appealing. But she and Ashton had only just gotten here. They were settling into their new lives. Ashton was making friends, fitting in for the first time in his life. I couldn’t take thataway simply because I didn’t want to deal with the shit my father had created. I had to suck it up.

Once I thought I had my anger under control, I went back into the room. Avery was sitting up in bed, the TV on a morning news show.

“Oh, hey there,” she said with a smile.

Usually, having that smile shining in my direction would make every problem I had vanish. This time, it did nothing. Even the love of my life couldn’t pull me out of my funk.

“Hey,” I said, the word barely more than a grunt.

Avery’s brow furrowed. “And why are we being a sourpuss this morning? Did you not get enough last night? Did I leave you wanting?” She grinned mischievously.

“No, nothing like that. I’m fine.”

She turned the television off. “What do you want to do today? This evening? I’m excited to have a whole day with you, doing whatever we want.”

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