Lost Alpha (7 page)
“Are the moon rocks inside?” Travis asked.
“Yes,” Dario responded weakly; he was still very hurt from the injuries the vampire had delivered to him. He continually clutched at his ribs as if they were broken.
“Then it’s over,” Travis said. “Nobody needs that kind of power, nobody.”
“What now?” Paige asked Angie, who was staring blankly at the flames.
The redhead pulled out a pair of keys and pointed to one of the beat up Cadillacs in the driveway. “I’m going home, back to Texas.”
“Are you sure?” Paige asked.
“As sure as I have been of anything in my life,” she said. Angie’s stone face began to falter as tears streamed down her face. “I’m so sorry you were involved in this Paige.”
Paige rushed forward to hug the crying woman. Travis watched as she comforted the mother, stroking her hair while whispering softly to her.
Finally Angie pulled away, a smile creeping across her lips. “I’ll never forget you.”
The little girls all cried too as they hugged and said their goodbyes.
Travis sat back against the hood of the car, smiling at Dario.
“What now, alpha?” he asked.
“Nothing,” Travis answered. “You’re a free wolf.”
“I do not understand,” Dario said, his head tilting.
“There is no pack, Dario. It’s over, we lost our land.”
“We can start somewhere else,” Dario protested.
“I don’t think so,” Travis said, putting one hand on the shorter wolf’s shoulder. “I don’t think I’m a pack wolf anymore.”
“You want to be alone?” he asked.
“No it’s not that, buddy,” Travis said, glancing over at Paige. “I’m a family wolf now.”
Dario smiled and reached out a hand to shake with Travis. “You would have made a great alpha.”
“I know,” Travis said smugly. “It’s just not in the cards.”
“Goodbye Travis,” Dario said, pulling the alpha in close for a hug.
“Goodbye Dario,” he responded, patting his friend on the back.
With those words Dario turned and began walking through the woods beside the burning house, returning to his home.
Travis took in a deep breath, knowing he would probably never see the elder wolf again. It was truly goodbye.
“What now?” Paige asked, walking over and putting her arm around him.
“I guess we get these girls back to their father,” he said. “Then I want to go to Bowshot.”
Her face contorted into one of fear and sadness. “You don’t have the staff. Won’t you be killed?”
“I didn’t have the staff the day after either and I was able to stick around,” he said. “I just have to get something.”
“What are we going to tell Billy?” she asked, looking down at the two traumatized girls.
“I guess we tell him the truth,” he said.
“We can’t!” she protested. “He will lose his mind.”
“We won’t tell daddy,” Lyric said, stepping forward.
“Daddy doesn’t need to know,” Lily agreed.
“Girls I can’t,” Paige started to say.
“Please Aunt Paige,” Lily said, holding up a hand. “Daddy has been through enough.”
“You’re very mature little girls,” Travis said. He was shocked at how well they were handling this.
“We’ve been through a lot,” Lily said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “Daddy doesn’t take care of us, we take care of him.”
Forced to grow up too fast,
he thought.
The sad reality of today’s world.
Travis looked up at the moon, realizing he was growing up too fast as well. He wasn’t ready to lose his pack or start a new one; he was still a beta trying to be a wolf when this happened. Now he was an alpha with no pack, ready to raise a family. Life had taken a funny turn, but he didn’t mind at all, that was all part of the adventure.
Chapter 11
Paige grabbed Travis and began to kiss him furiously as he opened the passenger door.
“Please come back to me,” she begged. “Don’t die out there.”
“I’ll be fine,” he promised, returning her warm kisses. She loved the way his lips felt on hers, the warmth, the wetness, the pressure: it was all too perfect. He gave her one last smile before climbing out of the car and disappearing into the woods. There was a gravel path that led into Bowshot, but he had insisted she not drive any further.
She said a small prayer, hoping he would exit the woods again. It had been the hardest night of her life, one that she would never forget, but it was also the night she realized how much she loved her alpha.
“What a night,” she muttered, leaning her head back.
“Are you ok Aunt Paige?” Lyric asked from the backseat.
Billy had asked her to bring the girls back to her house; he still wasn’t home from Lawton. She definitely needed the time to make sure they weren’t going to have nightmares or suffer from any post-traumatic stress.
“I’m just tired baby,” she said, smiling at her nieces.
They both smiled back, a renewed strength appearing on their faces. She realized these little girls were stronger than she gave them credit for. Billy wasn’t a bad man, but he let his past demons get the best of him. Unfortunately her nieces had paid the price having to take care of their dad at night when he got too drunk to function. She’d never realized it was that bad until the girls had told her on the drive over.
“Is Travis a monster?” Lily asked.
“No honey,” she said.
“But he turned into one,” Lyric said.
“He’s a werewolf,” Paige said, turning back to the girls. She knew there was no use telling lies, she had to be honest. “He was born different than us; he can turn into a wolf at will.”
“That wasn’t a wolf,” Lily said.
“The full moon changes them into that for some reason,” Paige said. “It’s not like scientists have studied them or anything. Eating that moon rock changed him into that.”
“They said they burned all the rocks,” Lily said.
“That’s right honey,” she said. “They’re all gone.”
“Will he hurt us?” Lyric asked, her eyes growing wide.
“No honey he love me,” she said, smiling when she said the words. “He’s a good man.”
They sat in silence for nearly an hour. Lyric was the first one to yawn and then slump over, only held up by her seatbelt. Lily tried to fight it, but eventually her head grew heavy and she slumped over on top of her sister-out cold.
Paige began to yawn too. This day and night had been a horrible ordeal, one that she hoped to never repeat. She loved Travis, more than she thought she could when he first opened his mouth. In less than a week their connection had grown stronger than most people’s do in a lifetime.
As her eyes began to droop and sleep began to overtake her exhausted body a figure appeared in the woods. At first he was a blur, walking through the fog, but eventually he came into focus. It was Travis, holding a large duffel bag on one shoulder. He didn’t appear to be any worse for wear as he opened the passenger door and sat down beside her.
“Were you attacked?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “The spirits did not bother me. I think I have to try and do something to the land before they will attack, they are there to defend the land from whoever doesn’t hold the staff.”
“What’s in the bag?” Paige asked.
Travis smiled and unzipped the bag. Paige nearly fainted at the sight before her, there had to be over a hundred thousand dollars in the bag.
“Where did you get that?” she asked, breathless.
“This is Jacob’s private store,” he said. “He’s been stockpiling it for years, it belongs to the pack.”
“How much money is it?” she asked.
“Three hundred and seventy two thousand according to his last log,” he said.
“What are you going to do with it?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s a new start for us, one that we both deserve.”
“I hear that,” she said, smiling. “Maybe we should move away.”
Travis looked a bit concerned, “What about your brother and nieces?”
“With that much money we can take them with us,” she said. “Sell the store, get Billy away from all the pain he’s been living.”
“Where would we go?” Travis asked.
“How about somewhere more accepting of wolves?” she asked. “Somewhere with a large community, not bound by a pack.”
Travis laughed, she knew it hurt him to lose his chance at being alpha of a dominant pack, but now he was forming a new pack with her- a family pack.
“I hear they have a pretty large community for all were-creatures in Florida,” he said, eyeing her out of the corner of his eye.
“Florida?” she said, the thoughts turning over in her head.
“I know you want to leave this place,” he said. “I do too now that I’ve lost my home. Let’s make a new home, a home where you already know someone.”
Paige smiled before diving forward, planting a warm, wet kiss on Travis’ waiting lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said in between frantic smooches. “My alpha mate.”
THE END
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Other Books By Jessica Ryan
Billionaire Ace Series
Lost Alpha Series