TAKEN BY THE ALPHA

CHAPTER 23

Max opened the door and found Hanna on the sofa. The fire in the cabin had burned out, the embers slowly losing their warm glow. He considered not disturbing her, but knowing he made a deal, and leaving her there felt like negating his deal with her, so he slowly gathered her in his arms.

Cradling her to his chest, he noticed her skin felt a lot warmer and had slightly paled than a few hours ago, the pit in his stomach turned, he had ignored it at being hungry, both of them not having eaten for the whole day. After laying her down, he took off his boots, and shirt and made his way back to his 'bed' for the night, tending to the fire again mentally making a note to make Hanna breakfast in the morning.

Sitting back on the sofa he stared into the new dancing flames, his mind a maze of decisions. A prickle at the base of his neck and the stench of another male flooded the air around him. Growling he pulled open the front door and snarled at a grey male wolf standing by the first line of trees. He had forbidden anyone to come up to the Cabin, but he should have known someone was bound to disobey his order. He after all was the Alpha and they were going to test his boundaries. 

Walking towards the young wolf Max growled, "You chose the wrong night to test me. You better have a great explanation for this. I gave an order young one" Max roared to the grey male. "Shift and speak," he commanded. The grey wolf phased. "Andrew, You know the punishment for disobeying my order," Max said to the young man. He knew the young man was from the village not too far from Max's cabin. The Den was where the rest of his pack lived.

"Alpha, I apologize, we found this envelope on the main road, it was addressed to you ... Mary sent me this note" Andrew handed Max a piece of paper attached to an envelope. 

Irritation crawled over his skin at the idea of another male near Hanna, his wolf clawing at him to take action against the grey wolf, to erase the stench of him. Max had to force himself to take a few deep calming breaths as he opened the note first, knowing it wasn't Andrew's fault being up at the cabin.

"Max my dear,

I tried calling your cell but it is disconnected, I opened the envelope, not wanting to disturb you two lovebirds unless necessary, but it is urgent..... Grant is looking for you.

Love,

Aunt Mary

xxx"

Max opened the envelope, pulling out a copy of the deed, bold red lettering stating, James Grants, as owner of the Kalhi Land. Anger grabbed ahold of his heart, fisting and squeezing until he could bearly breathe. Max could read between the lines, he knew this was a warning from Grant. He needed to charge his fucking phone and call the bastard as soon as he could.

He looked up at Andrew, "Thank you, Andrew, now go back to the village. Thank my Aunt for me" He started phasing into his gray wolf, but stopped and asked softly, "Is it true Alpha? Have you found your mate?" Max knew that wasn't just the young man's curiosity, but the entire pack. They all knew about him having a 'guest' over at the cabin for a while and thanks to Mary the gossip was bound to reach every wolf in the district "Tell the pack that I have indeed found our Luna, and that they don't need to worry about a thing, okay, but we desire privacy so only Mary is allowed up to the cabin, is that clear?." Max knew that the pack wouldn't hurt her but they could reject her if they knew the circumstances. And that was one more complication he didn't need right now.

The boy's face lit up with a big wolfish grin, and he phased, running back to the village. Max walked back to the cabin, taking his charger out of the bottom of the kitchen cabinet, he quickly made work of connecting it to a charging battery he had brought with him. He then dropped onto the sofa begging sleep to take him quickly.