The Alpha and the Exile
Chapter 11

I sat stiffly in the large chair, looking at the people sitting at the rectangular table. The five elders and my council listened to Koreyon's report on the latest rogue attack, their aged faces contorted into thoughtful expressions. "This attack was fairly mild, and most of them fled quickly," he explained then after a pause of hesitation added. "Apparently the news that Howe's here has spread. The ones we captured begged not to be brought to him."

"What is the deal with Howe?" One of the elders asked. John Rich, at seventy-five the elder had a broad frame, encased with hard fat. "Why is he here? Without guard or limitations?"

I sat up straighter at the hint of reproach in his voice. "Michael Howe is none of your concern. All you need know is that he is my guest," I demanded, doing my best sound authoritative. "Koreyon, let's use their fear of Howe to see if we can't get them to talk. I want to know who's organizing them and I want to know yesterday. Understood."

When my chief of security nodded, Anita Neu leaned forward. "Luna," the Hispanic woman said, looking up from a tablet she held in her hands. "Alpha Paul Siegrist, of the Death Valley pack has called a meeting for next Friday to address the rogue attacks on our borders. He's requesting your attendance and that of the alphas of Los Padres and Lake Mead."

I did my best not to roll my eyes. How that man managed to stay alpha as long as he did was beyond me. Neurotic, nervous, and twitchy, he didn't exactly inspire confidence. No doubt he was worried the attacks would spread off into his territory and was going to demand I do something about it. Like I wasn't doing that already. "Great, I'd love to attend," I forced out, earning a soft chuckle from one of the elders.

"Well if that's all. I call this meeting closed," I said, standing. "Koreyon can you wait for a moment. I'd like to speak to you." When everyone left, and it was only us I said, "I'm glad you're back to active duty. I'm really sorry about what happened." I would've continued, but he held up his hand to stop me.

"It's okay, Alice," he said, smiling down at me. "It had to happen. Mike was right. I watched you grow up, and I wasn't pushing you as hard as I needed to."

"Right or not, he put you in the hospital. He nearly killed you," I said, unable to stop the guilt. It was my fault Michael attacked him since I was the one forcing the exile to stay here.

"But he didn't," he said.

"Only because I told him to stop," I argued.

Koreyon's grin grew. "I know," he replied, and then gave my bicep a light squeeze. "Which says a lot right there. I've got work to do, and I need to replace someone who gets Mike's okay to train you." He gave me one last smile and followed the others out.

I was too surprised that my chief of security was getting Michael's opinion. A small smile spread across my lips. This was a good thing. Michael was becoming accepted into the pack. That was exactly what we needed. My smile grew as I realized as well that the meeting had gone smoothly. No one questioned my authority or argued about my still-single status. "Finally," I muttered, leaving the conference room. I was halfway down the hall when I saw Flinn come out of one of the rooms.

"Alice, wait," he called after me as I started to turn and walk the other way.

"What do you want?" I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest and giving him my best killer glare.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he gives me an apologetic look. I just glare back at him. "So you're still mad at me, huh?"

"What do you think, Flinn," I shot back.

"Look, you're blowing this all out of proportion. I'm sorry if I upset you, but really I was only trying to show you what Mike is."

I scoffed and turned to keep walking.

"Oh come on, Alice. Don't be like this," he said grabbing my arm. "We've known each other our whole lives. We've been together since we were fifteen."

"Yet, you did what you did," I shot back.

"It was because of him, Alice. All this happened because of him," he said, looking almost desperate now. "Mike is an abusive bully! He abuses women! How can you be just okay with it?"

"I'm not okay with it Flinn, and he's getting help. I will not allow him to abuse me or bully anyone in the pack. This didn't happen because of him. This is all on you! You choose to hurt me. Michael didn't make you do that," I told him. My hands were curled into fists at my sides as I tried to control my anger.

"Yeah?" Flinn said as I turned to walk off again. "Tell that to Ronnie! He lost his entire family that bastard's father. You letting him stay here and play alpha is betraying your pack, betraying Ronnie."

I turned around slowly. "Ronnie has issues with Michael, please tell him my door is open, and I will speak with him about it. You and I, Flinn. We're done. You're not my mate. You're not my boyfriend, and you're certainly are not my friend. Don't ever talk to me again unless it's about pack business." With that I turned back around and walked off, heading to the kitchens to get some lunch as I had forgotten to eat anything today as a subtle headache and grumble of my stomach reminded me.

I grabbed an apple off the counter and took a bite out of it when my phone started to ring. "Alice," I barked as a greeting.

"Hello, Alice. This is Doctor Evans. I wanted to talk to you about Mike's treatment."

I sighed and let my head sink to plop on the counter. Of course, because things were going to well. "What's going on? Has he stopped going? Has he hit you or threatened to?" I heard Evans chuckle on the other side so whatever was going on couldn't be that bad.

"He has threatened to beat me bloody a couple of times, but that's the reason for my call," he replied, still laughing. "No, I was hoping you could come, and I could touch base about how Mike is progressing."

I hesitated, lifting my head from the counter. Ever since the death of my parents, he'd been trying to get me to come see him. "Alright, I can meet you in an hour to talk about Michael only." With that, I hung up and ate lunch.

After a shower, I went to Evan's makeshift session's room and sat down in a chair in front of him. I tried not to squirm with my growing unease. "So how is Michael doing?"

"Surprisingly well if I'm honest," Evan said, flipping through a legal pad covered with notes. "While he's made several threats during our sessions he has never fully acted on any of them yet."

Relief filled me, and I relaxed in the chair. "That's great, Doc. Good work."

"But," he said and with that single word all my unease rushed back. "But?"

The shrink sighed and gave me a sympathetic look. "Michael has witnessed a lot of abuse. He's suffered it at the hands of his father and a mother would blind herself to the truth. To undo all that and rebuild his psyche back to health is going to take time Alice. He'll need years if not a lifetime of therapy."

"Okay," I said not understanding why he seemed so grim. "What's the problem with that? I figured that much on my own already."

Evans looked at me dead in the eyes. From any other wolf, I would see that as a challenge, but my instincts told me the shrink was merely doing it to keep my attention. "Alice, you need to know, it's a strong possibility Mike will never be able to take up the alpha position in the pack."

"Why not?"

"Because violence is a big part of an alpha's duty and any exposure to such an environment can undo any and every piece of progress Mike's made and will make," he explained.

I grit my teeth, frustration and helplessness filled me. I needed an alpha by my side. While Mike's presence was easing some of the pressure from the elders already, I knew soon they'd want to see him take the position. I bit my lip as I thought. Maybe I could make this still work. "If you do your job right. He should be fine," I told him.

The shrink pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alice, you need to really look at the situation. I understand that since your family-"

"Don't," I warned him, dead serious. "We only talk about Michael."

He sighed and gave me a sad look. One which I ignored fully. "Alright, Luna. That is your choice," he said then looked down at the legal pad. "He tells me that you two haven't really spoken on a personal level since he arrived two weeks ago." I shrugged. "Yeah, well I don't have a whole lot of time doc," I told him a little sharply.

Doctor Evans held up his hands. "I didn't mean it like that, Alice. I simply was inquiring. I think it would be both of your best interests to spend some time together that has nothing to do with business or his therapy and something more akin to dating."

I don't know why the suggestion surprised me, but it did. I guess I'd been so busy thinking of him being the alpha to think of anything else. I started to laugh to keep the awkwardness of the realization at bay. "Have you actually spoken to Michael about this?"

"I did," he said, not sharing my laugh. "He thinks it's a good idea."

This is the point that if I had drunk something, I would be spitting it out in true comedic fashion. "Really," I said instead, earning a smirk from the shrink. "Well then I, uh, guess I'll see what I can do."

Still grinning, Evans nodded. "You do that. Take care, Alice, and remember my door is always open."

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