Page 26 of Alpha's Secret Baby Girl
Joshua and Michael both glanced at him, both of them clearly unimpressed with the order. It was almost as though theyexpected him to chastise her for giving them orders in the first place. But when he nodded, they left the hall without a fuss.
“What’s wrong?” Rafael asked once they were alone.
Gwen’s cheeks colored, and she avoided his gaze. It was almost as though now that she had the chance to talk to him, she no longer wanted to.
“Gwen.” Rafael reached to touch her hand but stopped himself. “Tell me.”
“There was a call after you left. Jenny Carps,” Gwen said. Her shoulders hitched, but she met his gaze once more. “She thinks a demon killed her pet raccoon. When she realized it was me she was talking to, she started screaming that it was my fault and I’m the one who brought the demons here.”
Rafael’s jaw tightened. “So word has spread. That is… unfortunate. I will make sure that the pack knows that I and the Council aren’t blaming you. I will speak with Jenny personally, if you like.”
“You should send someone. It’s possible that a demon really did kill her raccoon,” Gwen said. She swallowed hard and glanced around. “Is there somewhere more private we can speak?”
The hall was empty. Rafael frowned but nodded toward the stairs. Gwen turned on her heel and marched toward the stairs, her shoulders stiff.
“Is there something else?” Rafael asked once they were in his office.
Gwen strode to the window and stared out. Her shoulders hitched upward. Not a good sign. Worse, she held her breath as she watched the people outside. Rafael sat on the edge of hisdesk, waiting. She would speak when she was ready, not before. He hated the intermittent shudders that shook her.
The silence wore on until he couldn’t stand it anymore. “Gwen—”
It was a mistake. She whirled on him. “What were you thinking?”
Rafael tensed at the look on her face. “Sorry?’
“Yesterday. When that demon attacked, you just took off after it. You left me and Lianne, and you went chasing after a demon. You could have gotten killed!”
“I know how to handle myself in a fight,” Rafael told her, forcing himself not to react too harshly.
Gwen clenched her fists and waved them in the air. “Against a demon? You know how to fight one of them, do you?”
Rafael sighed. “I held my own, didn’t I?”
“What if it had circled back? It could have attacked Lianne and me again when you were running off in the forest. It could have led you into a trap. It could have—”
“It didn’t,” Rafael said softly.
Tears glimmered in her eyes as her cheeks flushed darker. “Oh, yes. Because since it didn’t this time means that you can just fuck off and do whatever, is it?”
“No,” he answered.
“You could have been killed.”
“I could have.”
Gwen’s nostrils flared. “What would the pack do then? Michael would be the Alpha, and would he carry on your work?”
“He would, but that is a lot of pressure to put on him,” Rafael said.
His calm agreement with her ire only seemed to agitate her further. Clearly, she had been working herself up toward an argument, and now she wasn’t sure where to put the excess energy. She folded her arms, dropped them, and stomped her feet. She instantly looked ashamed of herself at the childish display and dropped her chin.
“Don’t do that again,” she said, her voice low.
“Okay.”
“I mean it! If there are demons that show up, I want you to turn your tail and run.”
“Okay.”
