Page 40 of Alpha's Secret Baby Girl
He threw on a pair of jeans from his closet and led her back downstairs. His car was waiting for them, and he made a mental note to find out who brought it and thank them. He drove Gwen back to his house and stopped in briefly to check on Lianne. She was pressed into Kira’s side, reading stories, and jumped up with a delighted cry when Gwen greeted her.
Rafael slipped out before Lianne could see him there, too. He didn’t want to cause her distress by leaving right away. Outside, he drove to the edge of town, where he stripped off his jeans, shifted, and howled for the team. Michael answered him, and he followed the sound, running through the forest as he caught up with them.
The team was in full hunting mode, and Rafael fell in step, allowing the special ops leader, Paul, to take point. He quickly caught the scent that they were following, and his heart gave a steady thump. It was close, the demon. They flowed through the trees and brush, and the sounds of the forest deadened around them.
They came to a small clearing, and a flicker of shadow caught Rafael’s eye. Paul let out a short growl, and the special ops team spread around the area, slinking into the brush. Paul hesitated a moment before turning to fix Michael, Joshua, and Rafael with a stare.Stay here, that look said.
Rafael bristled at the order but reminded himself he didn’t have the training that they did. He waited, every muscle tense, as the special ops surged into the clearing. There was a howl which was suddenly cut short. He crept closer to theedge of the clearing to find the four wolves sniffing around, growling… no sign of the demon.
Paul shifted to human form. “It was a false trail,” he announced, sounding frustrated.
A false trail? Rafael’s jaw clenched. He entered the clearing, searching. No sign of the demon. No trail left, either. It wasn’t here. It had led them on a wild goose chase and now…
They all shifted back to human form, but it quickly became apparent that they weren’t going to find the demon today. Rafael fought down the urge to lash out. He wasn’t angry with the special ops team, not really. He wasn’t going to start yelling at them for something that wasn’t their fault… no matter how much he wanted to yell at someone.
“We should keep looking,” he said instead.
The four special ops wolves glanced at each other. Paul grimaced. “Alpha, we understand that you want to be part of this, to protect your pack and mate. However—”
“You don’t want us around,” Joshua broke in. He scowled deeply as he crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s what you’re trying to say?”
“We are trained for this. You’re not,” Paul answered, apparently deciding the blunt approach was best. “When we catch the demon, we need to have full focus on the fight. Not worrying about whether any civilians will get caught in the crossfire.”
Joshua narrowed his eyes but didn’t protest. Rafael reluctantly agreed with Paul. Part of him couldn’t help but wonder if he and the others had slowed down the special ops team and allowed the demon to escape. Exhausted, angry, and at the end of his patience, Rafael turned without a word. He,Michael, and Joshua trotted back to town in their wolf forms, silent.
Back home, Rafael nudged open the back door, still in wolf form, and entered. The house was quiet, and his heart prickled with fear. Quickly, he loped upstairs, following his nose. Gwen and Lianne were curled up together in Gwen’s bed. Their breathing was soft and even, their eyes shut, a book lying half-open over them.
Rafael watched them for a moment, letting his heart rate ease. Then, he went to his room and shifted to human form, dressing before he returned to Gwen’s room. He carefully spread a hand-knit blanket over them to keep them warm. As he gazed at his mate and child, his heart swelled.
He and Gwen still had a lot to talk about. But he wasn’t going to give up.
Chapter 17 - Gwen
After Gwen was attacked, pack security was doubled. Every able-bodied shifter was put into training to learn how to identify and defend against the demon should they face it, though it was highly stressed to leave the engagement with the special ops as much as possible. More of these specialists were brought in, too, and they soon became a common sight in town. Rafael was showing more signs of stress as the Council continued to press him to solve the problem quickly.
Gwen thought that they were being unfair. Everyone looked to him to solve the problem, and he was trying to do it. Their continually telling him to fix the problem wasn’t actually helping to fix the problem. The Council was also continually watching her. She didn’t mention it to Rafael, knowing he had enough problems to deal with, but she found that there were a handful of shifters who had taken to following her around whenever she left the house.
The only break she got was that Rafael had lost his composure with the council and yelled at them that witches were the ones who had protected the town in the first place, so it made no sense why they were keeping the old witch records from the people they knew had some witch blood in them. After that, Thera gave Gwen, Kira, and Chelsey unmitigated access to the grimoires and other records. There was so much to wade through, and Gwen despaired of finding something that would actually help in time.
It seemed that the protections around the town were holding, though, and first one, then two weeks slipped by without any further sightings of the demon.
Gwen was at the park, re-reading the frantic notes she’d taken the previous night from the grimoire she was trying to decipher while Lianne played with Jewel. That had become a fast friendship, which eased some of Gwen’s worries about being on the island.
When one of the other mothers brought her two little ones with her, though, Gwen hurriedly stashed her notes in her purse. She watched carefully, ready to call Lianne home if the other kids started to ignore her. To her surprise, when the siblings went to the playground, they joined Jewel and Lianne without a fuss. The mother glanced at Gwen and headed in her direction.
Gwen tensed. She recognized this woman as Michelle Cavallaro, one of the ‘in crowd in high school who liked to torment her, Kira, and Chelsey. Michelle looked hesitant, her shoulders hunching inward as she stepped up closer.
“Hello,” Michelle said, not looking at her.
“Hello,” Gwen answered.
She braced herself, expecting that Michelle was going to ask her to leave or express some sort of accusation about the demon. Though the more overt jibes had died away, Gwen was under no delusion to think that they accepted her. While she hadn’t had any interactions with Michelle at all since coming back to the island, Michelle had been friends with Jenny Carps, who made her children cross the street if she even saw Gwen in town. Back in High School, Jenny often had Michelle do her dirty work.
Michelle twitched, twisting her hands. “I was glad to hear that you’d recovered from the demon attack.”
“Oh. Thanks,” Gwen said uncertainly. She frowned doubtfully at Michelle. Was she being genuine?
“May I sit?”
