fate of the alpha - episode 1 by Tasha Black Page B

in spite of what he had said.
    MacGregor nodded slowly.
    “But I don’t want this getting out,” Eric added.
    MacGregor slid the flashlight display aside and nodded at him with a serious expression.
    “Agreed. If anyone found out, your place in the pack would be in jeopardy.”
    MacGregor looked down again, as though he had said too much.
    It was irritating as fuck not to be able to know how worried he was by his heartbeat.
    The bell at the front of the shop jingled.
    Charley Coslaw ducked in. The real estate broker was tall enough to ring the bell a second time with his head if he wasn’t careful.
    “Hey Mac!” Charley boomed.
    “Charley.”
    “How’s business today?” Coslaw asked, slipping a key out of his pocket and handing it over.
    “A little slow.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    Charley did sound actually sorry. He grabbed two flashlights from the can on the counter and poked around the bin of gardening gloves while MacGregor ground a copy of the key.
    “Everything alright with you?” he asked Erik.
    “Sure,” Erik replied. Charley was a fixture in town, but he was human, not part of the pack. Erik had used him for a few real estate transactions in town.
    Erik thought about asking for Charley’s advice about the EPA hassle on the job site. But his mood was low enough without talking about that right now.
    MacGregor rang Charley up.
    “Thanks much, Mac,” Charley said. “I’m glad you’re sticking it out. Tarker’s Hollow wouldn’t be the same without the hardware store. It’s an institution.”
    With another jingle of the bells he was gone, carrying his purchases in a small paper bag.
    “Is business really so bad?” Erik asked.
    “The Inn construction slowed us down and we were never really ramped up to begin with.”
    Erik glanced through the hardware store’s glass door to see his equipment sitting useless on the empty site across Yale. Traffic had already been sidetracked with an alternate route to the train station when he’d been shut down. God only knew how long this would go on.
    “Charley worries about it almost as much as I do,” MacGregor continued. “He’s a good guy. I swear he comes in here ten times a day to copy a key, and he buys other stuff every time he’s in just to keep me going.” MacGregor lowered himself to lean on the counter again and whispered conspiratorially. “Those were ladies’ gardening gloves!”
    Erik smiled. Everyone knew Charley was a nice guy. He wondered if Ainsley might go to work with him one day if things ever calmed down with the pack.
    Of course, they might not.
    It was best to rip off the band-aid.
    Erik took a deep breath and tackled the elephant in the room.
    “If I can’t get my wolf back, Ainsley will need another mate. For the good of the pack.”
    MacGregor cleared his throat.
    “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “We need to focus on getting through whatever this new threat is. And figuring out who the lone wolf is. And keeping your little problem a secret until we can fix it. Could be worse.”
    “I don’t see how,” Erik said.
    The bell jingled again.
    They looked up to see a woman in an expensive-looking pewter gray business suit with a stern expression on her face striding purposefully through the door. Shining hair the color of black coffee skimmed her shoulders and perfectly matched her narrowed eyes.
    The hardware store was a place of quiet contemplation. Her aggressive energy cut through the ambiance like the machete Erik used to clear the bamboo in his back field.
    Erik didn’t recognize her. But MacGregor clearly did. He straightened, pushing himself off the counter swiftly.
    Erik followed suit.
    “Councilman Winter!” MacGregor said, coming out from behind the counter. “We’re honored to have you, Madam.”
    “You should be.” The woman’s tone was as cold as her gaze. “Where can I find Ainsley Connor?”
    Shit.
    Ophelia Winter.
    She was a member of the Federation’s Executive Council