Lost Alpha P2 (3 page)

“It’s not quite over yet,” Billy said.

Travis turned to see a black and white police car come roaring into the parking lot, screeching to a halt in front of the injured man.

“Let me handle this,” Billy said, turning to Travis. “You two just stand out of the way.”

Travis nodded in agreement. He didn’t like any other males around his female, but her brother was no threat and might even prove to be an ally.

“I thought you had left,” Paige said after Billy walked away to talk to the deputy. 

“I did,” Travis said. “You asked me to leave.”

“You pissed me off,” Paige said, pulling away and looking at him. “I’m still mad at you for the things you said.”

“I understand,” Travis said. “We can discuss these things later. I will say I have a lot to learn about human society.”

“Yeah you do,” Paige said, rolling her eyes. “Where were you? How did you know I was in trouble?”

“I was in the woods behind your house looking for clues,” he said. “When nothing fruitful came of my search I decided to return and talk to you. You weren’t home so I began to head for the store, then I saw you in trouble.”

“I’m glad you were around,” she said. “What did you do to Randy?”

“Randy? That is your ex-boyfriend?” Travis asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“Then that must be his new mate,” he said, pointing to the unconscious woman on the ground.

“That’s the whore,” she said.

“Why did you attack her?” he asked. 

“The bitch was screaming and yelling and this is all her fault,” Paige said, her face turning red again. “She was egging him on to hurt me. She obviously can’t fight her own battles, so I taught her a thing or two about messing with me.”

“Very good,” Travis said, a smile creeping across his face. “You were fierce. I can’t imagine how you would react if someone came between you and your pups.”

“Babies,” Paige said, looking up at him. “I know Jacob had to have taught you enough about human society to know that we don’t call them pups.”

Travis did know that. He actually knew a lot about human society, he just didn’t know how to interact with humans. He wasn’t aware using some of his wolf terms would upset them.

Before he could say anything else to Paige he felt a sharp tap on his shoulder. He turned to find Billy standing beside him.

“Deputy Owens wants to talk with you both,” Billy said. “I told him you did it in self-defense. He’s an old friend so we should be ok. Don’t say anything dumb Paige.”

“It’s not me you should be worried about,” Paige said, pushing past Travis and walking up to the deputy. He was a man of average height with a muscular build and a strong jaw. Travis could feel the confidence radiating off of this man. If humans had alpha males then this man was most definitely one of them. Normally Travis wouldn’t care, because he was an alpha wolf, much higher than any human, but he had to remember himself when interacting with these humans. He was about to cause a whole lot of trouble in this town when he found the wererats and he didn’t need this man breathing down his neck.

“So your brother tells me this was your ex-boyfriend?” he asked Paige, glancing up at Travis with hard, determined eyes.

“That’s right,” Paige said, her eyes remaining locked with the deputy.

“And you two had some sort of falling out?”

“I caught him cheating on me yesterday. I was angry so I punched him in the face and left.”

“And that was the end of it yesterday?” the deputy asked, scribbling on a notebook he had in his hand.

“Yes, I left and came home,” she said. “My friend Travis came over to console me.”

“And how come I’ve never seen you before, big boy?” Deputy Owens asked, turning to Travis.

“I don’t come around often,” Travis said, trying to sound submissive. He knew he had to be that way with this one to avoid any conflict, but it was hard for an alpha to act like that. He wanted to throw the deputy to the ground and stand over him, proving to him who the strongest here was. Unfortunately, humans didn’t interact with one another that way. Jacob didn’t either, but Travis still had his wolf instinct to show him the way.

“Where are you from?” Deputy Owens asked. “You one of those Lockhart boys I’ve never met?”

“No sir,” Travis said. He knew this was a way humans addressed one another when being respectful: Jacob would demand to be called sir when he was angry with the children.

“Where are you from then?”

“Bowshot,” Travis said.

Deputy Owens’ eyes grew wide before narrowing. “I didn’t know anyone lived out there besides that old man Jacob. Are you related to him?”

“That’s his father,” Paige quickly interjected. “They had a big fight, so Travis is going to be staying with me for a little while.”

“Well let’s not have any more incidents like this one,” Deputy Owens said. “I know they attacked you, but you can kill somebody. You’re a big boy. I’m going to call an ambulance to get these two out of here. If they press charges there’s nothing I can do, but my report will reflect that it was self-defense and that you were attacked first.”

“Thank you, Deputy Owens,” Paige said.

“No problem,” he said. He looked past Paige, a smile forming on his face. “Hey Billy! Save me a burger?”

“You got it!” Billy said, walking back into the store.

“Are you hungry?” Paige asked.

“Always,” Travis said.

“Let’s get some meat in you,” she said, interlocking her arm with Travis’ and leading him back towards the store.

He knew she was still angry with him, but he was happy she was willing to talk it out with him.

Humans are strange,
Travis thought as they walked across the parking lot.
They don’t let the strongest rule and they want to talk about every problem. I will not get used to that.

Chapter 4

Paige felt strangely at ease around Travis now. She now thought their fight may have been a bit silly, he was a werewolf that hasn’t been around humans in sixteen years. Anything he learned about human society came from books or the teachings of an even older werewolf. Of course he wouldn’t know how to act around humans. Of course he wouldn’t know what was improper to say.

He’s like a lump of clay,
she thought.
One I can mold into a decent boyfriend.

She liked that idea; Randy was a ready formed asshole. She only stayed with him because he lived in the city and was all she could find. At one time she thought she might love him, but his general attitude was too much to handle. Yet she remained with him, settling for whatever was in front of her.

Of course if I stay with Travis I’ll be stuck here in Wounded Bow forever,
she thought.
He came to my rescue though, he cares about me.

She pushed those thoughts from her mind; it was way too early to be thinking about the future. Besides Travis was still on his quest for revenge, who knew where that would lead?

Travis was a huge departure from Randy, who instigated fights and never had her back. Maybe his arrogance was worth it for the protection and care he would heap upon her. Still, she couldn’t have him looking down on her or her family because they happened to be born human. They had a lot to talk about, she knew that much.

Travis nearly filled one side of the booth, sitting across from Paige and Lily. Lily’s eyes were wide with fear after what she’d just witnessed in the parking lot.

“Are you ok?” Paige asked her, as they sat down.

Lily looked down, unable to speak.

“It’s okay, baby girl,” Paige said, stroking her niece’s long hair. “Randy isn’t going to bother us anymore.”

“He threw you down and was going to stomp on you,” she said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “Daddy said it’s never ok for a man to hit a woman!”

“It’s not,” Paige said. “Thank God my friend Travis was here.”

Lily looked up, her eyes studying Travis up and down. “I thought he left.”

“He forgot something and came back, just in time,” Paige said.

Travis smiled down at Lily, reaching one big hand across the table. Lily’s hand fit in the palm of his hand like a doll’s hand would. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“You better not,” Lily said, standing up and suddenly looking angry. “Take care of my aunt or I’ll be coming for you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Travis said, winking at Paige.

Lily turned and stomped away, heading for the backdoor.

“That one is related to you?” Travis asked.

“She’s my niece,” Paige said. “Billy’s daughter.”

“She is very pretty,” Travis said. “Just like her aunt.”

Paige felt her face grow hot with embarrassment. When she thought Travis was just a drifter that would be on his way shortly she had no problems around him, she even let him lay his head in her lap. But now that he had declared he was interested in her the way she acted completely changed. She felt like a giggling school girl all of a sudden with the quarterback of the football team interested in her. She had never been the girl the quarterback would want so this was a dream come true, literally since she had dreamed of sleeping with Travis already.

“Duncan!” Paige yelled. “Can we have some more burgers? Better bring three for my friend!”

“Coming right up!” Duncan yelled.

“He doesn’t seem to have minded the violence at all,” Travis said, craning his neck to watch Duncan work behind the counter.

“He’s probably so stoned he can’t be bothered,” Paige said.

“Stoned?” Travis asked.

“Yeah. You know, high on drugs?”

“Like the peyote the Indians smoke? Yes I’m very aware of that. Jacob would come into town every now and then to partake.”

“Something like that,” Paige said. It was obvious the tribe had a pretty strong relationship with Jacob. She wondered if they’d be willing to help Travis out.

“Have you ever thought about seeking out help from any of the Native Americans still in town?” she asked.

“The thought had crossed my mind,” Travis said. “But, the only one that we can really trust was Strong Bull and I believe he passed recently.”

“He did,” Paige said, looking at the table. Strong Bull had been a local legend, one of the oldest living Native Americans. The whole town knew when his time came. “Were you close to him?”

“Jacob was,” Travis said, scarfing down a burger as soon as Duncan set it in front of him. “He’s the reason we even had a pack.”

“How so?” Paige asked.

“I told you about the vampire right?” he asked. Paige nodded in agreement. “After Jacob banished him, Strong Bull was the one who created the staff and put the curse on the land. Without that land Jacob would probably still be a lone wolf, cruising the land on his motorcycle.”

“He was a biker?” she asked.

“Nomadic wolves usually are,” Travis said, still stuffing his face. Paige slid her burger across the table and he greedily gobbled it up. “They either ride alone or they form a nomadic pack.”

“A motorcycle gang?” she asked.

“Pretty much,” he said. “I think my dad was in one of those gangs.”

“Are you going to reform the pack or take Jacob’s motorcycle and move on yourself?” she asked.

“Why would I become nomadic?” he asked, one eyebrow rising. “I have you now.”

She smiled and felt the heat of embarrassment hit her face again. “That’s sweet, but we just met.”

“We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, I’d imagine,” he said, leaning forward over the table. “You’re still coming with me tonight right?”

“Of course,” she said, having almost forgotten about his intention to confront the supposed vampire Dario tonight. “If you want me to.”

“Well I don’t know where I’m going,” he said. “Plus I want to get to know you. Consider this the official beginning of my courtship.”

Paige laughed, no man had ever spoken to her like this. “Human men don’t declare that they are courting a girl. They just see what’s up, let things happen.”

“Oh,” he said, looking down at the table. “Perhaps I should watch more television, which seems to be how humans learn things.”

“Where would you get that idea?” she asked.

“Earlier when I was watching your TV there seemed to be a lot of shows that displayed the lives of others. I thought that was how you learned to act.”

Paige covered her face and tried not to laugh again. “Those are reality shows. They’re just silly shows where we watch the lives of other people.”

“Why would you want to watch someone else’s life when you have your own?” Travis’ face was a mask of confusion.

“Because they have better lives than us. They have money and power.”

“Life is a gift,” Travis said, his face now turning serious. “You should enjoy it rather than wanting for another’s life. You never know when it will be extinguished.”

He would definitely know,
Paige thought.

She smiled at Travis, trying to find a way to change the subject. “So what will your courtship entail?”

Smooth Paige,
she thought.
Real smooth. Now you have him back on this subject.

Travis straightened up, putting one hand under his chin to think seriously. “Well I would get to know you, first of all. Learn about you and your past.”

“Well that sounds pretty normal,” Paige said.

“I would display my strength to you and show off my masculine traits so you know that our children would come from good stock,” he said, puffing out his chest.

“You’ve more than done that already,” she said. If they ever had children they definitely wouldn’t be wimps.

“And I would bring you a fresh kill every night so that you would know I’m a good provider.” His face was dead serious and he was staring at her intently.

Paige felt the color drain from her face. “I don’t need dead animals.”

“It is the wolf way though. Why would you want to mate with me if you did not know I could provide food for you during a harsh winter?”

“Because I can buy my own food,” she said weakly.

“Human food will be a thing of the past! As wolf I hunt and kill my food. You will have to learn the sweet taste of raw animal flesh.”