I barely hold back from storming into the building. I’m an Alpha, the leader, the protector. Allowing my mate to go upstairs alone to face an unknown danger goes against all my natural instincts. I last five minutes before I can’t take it any longer.
I reach into my pocket and manage to pull out my phone without crushing it in my hand.
Bel answers fairly quickly. “Theo.”
The relief of hearing her voice causes me to lose my control, leaving my phone a crumbled mess in my hand.
“Dammit!” I yell, throwing the useless pieces of phone across the cab.
I try not to slam the door as I get out. I don’t need a busted truck to go with the busted phone.
Once in the apartment block, I take one look at the elevator and know I won’t be able to handle waiting. I storm straight for the stairs, taking them two at a time.
I hear the security guy calling me.
“Sir, you can’t go up there. You need to be signed in. Sir!” It doesn’t sound like he’s following me up the stairs. His lazy arse probably took one look at the stairs and decided to leave me to it.
I barge into Misty’s apartment, only calming down when I see Bel standing unharmed in front of me.
“Theo? The call’s not going through,” she says waving the phone in her hand about.
“Yeah. Technical glitch with my phone. I thought I better just come up.” I look around the room and find Misty on the sofa.
“Sorry for just barging in Misty. I wanted to make sure you were all safe.” That’s when I notice the visitor next to Misty. His face is battered and bruised and he looks like he’s been crying too. Bel and Misty might be okay but this guy isn’t. The Alpha in me wants to jump in and help.
“Everything is fine, Theo. This is my cousin, Benji.” She gestures towards the black and blue stranger on the sofa. “He’s been in a spot of bother but he’s safe now.”
I watch her saunter towards me. The sexy sway of her hips makes things stir beneath my jeans.
“Thanks for checking on us.” She leans up on her tiptoes and kisses me on the cheek. If that isn’t a dismissal, I don’t know what is.
“Always,” I reply before taking her mouth with mine. I’m not leaving without tasting her. “See you tonight at the hunt?”
“Oh no. I won’t be hunting.”
“Not hunting, why?” It’s unheard of for a wolf not to join in a hunt on the full moon. Even a lone wolf will hunt alone. We feel closer to our wolves on a full moon because she sings to us, begging us to change. Nothing but pregnancy will stop us from changing on a full moon and sometimes even that doesn’t stop us. That’s why miscarriage rates in werewolves are so high. Sometimes the wolf just takes over and the change is too violent for a foetus to survive.
“I’ve never hunted. The pride would never allow me to hunt with them and they made sure to run their hunts in time with the full moon, no doubt out of spite. I’ll just shift here. I’ll be fine.” She reaches around my neck and pulls me down to whisper in my ear. “I don’t feel comfortable leaving Benji in this state. We’ve only just stopped him crying.”
I hold her waist as she drops back down on her feet. “I’m not happy about it. A wolf in my town should be able to hunt. But I understand your reasons. How about I take you on a special hunt on Monday - just the two of us? I’ll pick you up about noon.”
She smiles gratefully and steps out of my arms. “Yes, that would be great. Monday at noon it is.”
I nod and say goodbye to both Benji and Misty as I head for the door. I can feel Bel following behind me, her energy brushing against my skin. I turn to find her standing in the doorway.
As I reach to pull her into my arms again, the lift dings and the doors open behind me. Glancing over my shoulder I see a security guard with a face like thunder barge out.
“Sir, you need to leave. You can’t just storm into the building like that. We have a security system to keep the residents safe.” He dismisses me and turns his attention to Bel. “Ms McGuiness, I’m sorry about this blip in our security. I will escort this man out and personally make sure nothing like this happens again.”
“It’s fine, Bob. He’s a good guy.” Bel starts to back away out of my reach. “Thanks again, Theo. I best get back in and see to Benji.” She reaches for the door and closes it without even a goodbye kiss.
The lift behind me dings meaning the security guard must have already called it back.
“You need to leave now, Sir.”
Holding my growl in, I turn to the security guard. My wolf is unhappy with being ordered about by this man. He’s just a human. He doesn’t realise the dangers of giving me orders. I keep telling myself that I can’t attack a defenceless human as he glares at me.
I place my hand on the doors and wave him in - my wolf can only take so much. He might not consider the guy a threat, but that doesn’t mean he will give him our back.
It doesn’t take the lift long to make it down to the ground floor, making me think he must have stopped to check all the lower floors before getting to Misty and Bel’s floor.
I head straight for the front door, ignoring the guard behind the desk whom had decided to take it on himself to give me a lecture about signing in and calling up to the residents before going up. I close the door behind me while he’s still mid-rant.