The Alpha's Angel

Chapter 18

He had no clue how to handle her. After the brief scare in the woods a couple of days ago, he decided it was best to keep a closer eye on her until things blew over and the surrounding packs had a sit-down. Which they did. And it was a fruitful affair that was handled better than he thought it would.  They agreed that security had to be tightened up and precautions put in place.

It all went well, in fact, it went so well that he was even invited to a wedding. The sister of  Alpha Colten of the Grayback pack, Eileen, found her mate and they are to celebrate their bond with a traditional all American wedding. Sadly enough he doesn't do weddings.  He has been to too many to count but he couldn't be rude and decline so he agreed with the excuse that he would be a tad bit late but will make it in time for the reception. That brought a smile to Eileen's face as she accepted that. 

It was agreed then that all the packs would be attending. It would be the first time in a long time that all the neighboring packs would be together on one ground. So, as news of the festivities made its way around, an excited Nikki had to go shopping and she wanted to take Hannah along. 

"No, absolutely not," he said.  

"Why can I not go?" Hannah looked up to him. The expression on her face held a mixture of hurt and something more ..... A curious, obstinate look.

"It's not safe, Hannah." 

"But, I want to go." she insisted. That small delicate jaw of hers firmed.  His brow lifted with the mulish look that spread across her face—that look alone intrigued him.  

Moving purposefully close, he looked down at her. She didn't move, she kept her eyes glued to his chest until he tipped her chin up and he held her gaze. 

"I said you're not going,"  He'd made his decision. It was final. 

He sucked in a breath with the sudden wave of her emotions as she pulled away sulkily and brushed past him without a word and plopped down on the couch in his office. 

Now, after some time had passed he sat back in his chair and looked up from his computer. His gaze landed on her perched near the armrest with her knees tucked beneath her as she looked out the window.  Her beautiful face suffused with sadness and the soft glow of daylight sent a flicker of something he refused to call regret, through him. Because he could not regret making her upset. Her safety was too important to ignore for the sake of regret, as was the safety of his pack.

But despite all of that, a thread of amusement wound through him as he observed her. He sighed then and looked at the clock on the bottom right-hand corner of his laptop 12:35 p.m. it was lunchtime.  He slowly stood up and walked over towards her. She kept her back to him.

"Hannah, are you hungry?" he asked.

A second had passed with silence before she turned her head to look at him. Impossibly warm brown eyes lifted to meet his. He let his gaze trace slowly over her face to her soft and tempting, pouty pink lips. 

"No," she answered. Her voice, so unassailably polite as always no matter what her gaze told him. Then she turned her head back to the window. His gaze then shifted to the rest of her and took in the softness of her brown skin and the perfection of her posture. Her body language told him she did not want to speak to him. His mouth curved slowly as he bit back a grin and shook his head. She was a complicated little thing that both fascinated him and drove him insane.

Before he could say anything, Nikki mind-linked with him.

"I'm on my way back, I got a dress for Hannah."