The Silent Alpha (Natalia)

Zane***

Talia orders a pizza and the three of us sit by the fort and watch Shrek in Spanish.I can’t follow most of what is being said but the subtitles help.

Talia seems restless as we watch, glancing at me from the corner of her eye every so often and shifting on her pillow over and over again.

I know there’s something on her mind but I cannot bring myself to invade her privacy, so I timidly place my hand over hers, Talia flinching as the sparks ignite between us.

Ashamed, I pull my hand away but she takes it in hers and interlocks our fingers, muttering an apology under her breath.

“Sorry…it’ll just take a little getting used to,” she blushes, her thumb caressing mine.

“Your hands are…warm…” she smiles nervously.

She says nothing more, turning her attention back to the movie.

I want to ask her what is on her mind but before I can figure out a way to communicate, there’s a knock at the door.

A bit of dread settles in the pit of my stomach when I see Evan standing in the doorway.

He tries to hide his worried face with a smile, but his eyes give him away.

“The Queen wishes to speak to both of you about today’s… incident,” he says, carefully picking his words.

“Zane didn’t do anything wrong,”

Talia huffs, taking a Grayson practically swoons over the gesture and like a love sick puppy, demands to come out and mark her on sight.

Is that all you can think about right now? I snap at him, knowing we are very likely going to get kicked off the territory for his behavior.

No, I’m definitely thinking about her t**s too, Grayson replies nonchalantly.

Just look at how she’s puffing out her chest.

They look great in this top…

I despise you, I sigh, knowing there is no way to trade wolves at this point.

Trust me, I’d trade humans in a heartbeat, he retorts.

“I never said Zane did anything wrong,”

Evan explains calmly, though I can see the fear flicker in his eyes as he backs away from my small Latina mate who glares furiously at him.

“”Trust me, I would have loved to piss on Benoit Perrault years ago.”

“So then why-”

“Things are more complicated than you think and unfortunately, Zane and his wolf only made things worse,”

Evan interrupts.

“Please, just come to the Pack house so Aurora can speak to you both.”

Seeing that we would have to face Aurora sooner or later, we grab Kota and head to the pack house where Evan takes Kota out to play with Rio on the lawn while Talia and I head upstairs to Aurora’s office.I don’t smell the visiting Alphas anywhere, meaning they nervous.

Talia must be nervous too because she holds my hand as I open the door to the office, giving it a tight squeeze as we enter.

The tension in the room is thick, Aurora resting her head in her hands as she focuses on her breathing while her mate, Oliver, gives me a murderous look.

Carter, their Beta, seems to be the only one not upset at the moment, greeting both Talia and I with a smile.

A spine tingling fear washes over me when Oliver opens his mouth to speak.

“Do you have any idea what you two have done?”

Oliver growls, his blue eyes flickering between sapphire and silver.

“Do you have ANY idea how much you f****d up-”

“Oliver, stop it…”

Aurora warns, her face stern as she looks at her husband.

“Let them speak for themselves before you place blame on anyone.”

“You know as well as I do that it does not matter what the reason was.Zane had no right to pee on an Alpha visiting my territory!”

“Our territory,”

Aurora corrects him, Oliver’s mouth closing instantly.

“You forget, Zane and Talia are my guests here and Benoit, as a visitor, should have respected me by respecting my guests.You and I both know he has not!”

“So what do you propose we do?”

his

away with throwing away everything we’ve worked hard on building because he can’t “You’re one

retorts, Carter coughing to hold back

gives him a deadly look, Carter holding up his hands in

think I need

storming

t’aime,” Aurora calls after him, Oliver pausing at the door and taking a

you too,” he sighs, closing the door after

breath of air, pinching the bridge of her

when the suffocating

just-” Aurora holds up her hand, Talia

already know what happened,” She mumbles, finally looking

memories as

fingers through her hair and leans back in her chair with her

make this situation any

is the issue?” Talia asks for both of

is just

“What’s the issue?”

laughs sarcastically,

issue is that Lune De Minuit is River Moon’s the pack company, but they also have a huge influence over our other shareholders.Alpha Jacques’s eldest daughter, Adeline, used to manage these shares before she went rogue 6 months ago.Benoit is the heir apparent to the Alpha title and has been managing the shares

rub her temples in

a finalized plan to end the partnership.They came to an agreement this morning until Grayson so graciously pissed on Benoit Perrault.Now, not only are all the negotiations off the table, but Lune de Minuit has declared River Moon and, by

frustration and for a brief moment, she appears overwhelmed with

less than 3 months and I’m about to enter another war,” she whispers under breath, Carter walking over to her and patting

yourself a little

Luna for like 5 minutes before we went to war with the Witches and you took them down in less than 3 weeks.You can handle a snobby

not smile but his words seem to have given her the

enormous wave of guilt washes over

your fault,” Aurora says

with or

it have

I held back, Grayson snickers.It was either

be thanking me.Would you shut the f**k up? I snap, Aurora

lobo,

before her face once

disagree, Grayson replies before I shove him to

you,” Aurora says, her eyes switching between Talia

out?” Talia asks, her hand

responds with a shrug as she rests her

made you a promise that I would keep you safe and I have failed you now on

like the time of peace in my Kingdom is

her waist and

your reservations about wolves, so

arrangements to place you somewhere else while Gwen completes her

arms around my stomach and burying her nose

it here,” Talia whispers to

how much pups need to be around other wolves.He’ll have questions that I don’t know the answer to…And there are some good wolves here

looks like she has more to say before now,

a yes?” Aurora

Talia murmurs, slowly tilting her head to look up at

“Should we stay?”

blink ather.She’s asking me? No, Zane.She’s asking your shadow, Grayson grumbles, the desire to punch

protect

thick

to say but I only manage to nod my head at her, a small but

replies, turning to

“might like it.”

glad to see River Moon

Talia’s cheeks

young Queen rummages through her drawers and plucks out an

if you would join us in this

you, your Majesty,” Talia replies quietly, taking the envelope from my

free to

just have one more question for

rises to her feet and switches

could do.Would you be at all interested in guard training? Now that we have a new enemy on the horizon, it would be nice to have another silver wolf helping to protect the pack.You don’t have to do it

rolling his eyes at me for my eagerness to be useful.”I mean, yes, your

“Great!”she says aloud.

thing Monday morning, 6 am sharp.Evan can pick

eyes suddenly fog over and she heaves a heavy sigh, Carter laughing

everything, I’m apparently late for a meeting with

collect Kota from the lawn and head back to

***Natalia***

of an impending war

of peace during my reign as Luna and I’d only ever seen one rogue attack.It was small and luckily no one got hurt but it pales in comparison to an

Zane and Grayson with me, however, puts my

would protect Kota