Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

W ren didn't even need to use her wolf's ultra-sensitive hearing to listen in on the argument unfolding behind that closed door. They were yelling. Well, Logan was yelling, and it was about her. That stupid, selfish asshole was trying to get her fired!

She had half a mind to go storming into the inner office and strangle him but when the voices went suddenly quiet she forced herself to calm down and really listen.

Stupid men. Didn't they know that whispering was worse than yelling? It basically waved a big ol' red flag telling her they were trying to hide something.

She stifled a growl when she attempted to eavesdrop but could no longer make out their words. She went back to her desk and threw herself into her chair. The fact that they'd lowered their voices to the point that she couldn't hear even with her wolf's senses was all the confirmation she needed.

The two of them had secrets they didn't want her to know.

Wren finished stuffing her bag with her flip flops into the bottom drawer of her desk and slipping her heels on as she turned on her computer. She'd only just come into the office before Logan came storming out. She'd been surprised to see him and not just because his very presence in town was still a shock to her.

It was strange for Alpha Kemp to beat her into the office. Normally she had plenty of time to get set up for the day, make a pot of coffee and answer a few emails before she had to deal with him. Yet he and Logan had been in his office with the door shut when she arrived which made her think even before the topic had turned to her that the two had been discussing something they didn't want anyone to overhear.

Was it Lark? Her sister's senseless murder? Or had Logan been telling his father about the bond that had sparked between them last night?

She thought about the way he'd jumped back from her when his father spoke. He'd looked guilty. He hadn't wanted his father to realize what was happening between them. She dismissed that last thought and went back to the only one that had ever made sense to her.

Alpha Kemp had covered up Lark's murder to protect his son. He'd sent him away after the funeral to keep him safe. Or to keep the pack safe from him? She'd never quite been able to decide what the reasoning behind that move had been. But whatever the reason, Logan was back now for the first time in six years, and they were in there whispering so she wouldn't overhear.

It had to be about Lark, right?

Maybe, whatever the reason behind it, Logan's decision to come back to Shadow Pines would be the catalyst to getting the answers she'd been looking for so long.

The front door to the office slid open, pulling Wren out of her wayward thoughts, and she stared as Dominic McMurtry came striding in. This morning just kept getting weirder and weirder. Not many people randomly stopped in at the Alpha's office these days. He had meetings of course but even those were growing fewer and farther between as pack numbers dwindled. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen any of the McMurtry's darken the door and yet here was the eldest son of the Head Enforcer walking in as if his father hadn't stopped showing up for his weekly check-ins with the Alpha months ago.

He glanced around the lobby and when he spotted her behind the desk, one corner of his mouth tipped up into a smile, "Good morning, Wren."

"Good morning, Dominic." She pasted on a smile of her own despite the flutter of unease she felt as he advanced towards her.

It wasn't that she was scared of him. Not at all. He was a big man, sure, but he had never come across as a brute. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, and she'd always considered him one of the good ones. Not that they'd ever really gotten to know one another.

She'd known of him all her life because that was just how things worked in small packs, but they weren't friends. He was three years older than her, like Logan, and the two of them had been inseparable. When Lark had started dating Logan, Wren had developed a bit of a crush on the reserved and stony-faced enforcer who always seemed to be one step behind his best friend. After Lark's death, she'd had no time for schoolgirl crushes and it felt silly to be thinking of it now, when she hadn't thought of him that way in years. She assumed it had something to do with the bond.

Now that her wolf seemed dead set on mating with Logan, being alone with another handsome, unmated alpha wolf, seemed somehow… wrong. Stupid animal instincts. She would have been so much better off if fate had decided to pair her with someone like Dominic.

From everything she knew about him, he was smart, loyal, and hardworking. He'd stayed when so many others had left which showed he was loyal, perhaps to a fault. He wasn't one of the many, many people who had stopped talking whenever she entered a room after what had happened to Lark, and he had been kind to her whenever they'd crossed paths. And, despite her wolf being a lovesick puppy with eyes only for the one man Wren despised, she wasn't so blind she couldn't admit that Dominic was seriously good looking.

He looked as if he could have been carved from granite with those muscles and sharp, square features.

"Now, now…" He leaned over the desk, hands on the hardwood holding him up as his blue eyes twinkled with amusement, making her wonder if he was reading her mind, "I've told you to call me Dom. Everyone does."

"I'm not everyone." she shot back more sharply than she'd intended because she was annoyed with her own thoughts. She softened her tone, "And I don't think Alpha Kemp would approve of me taking liberties with his guests."

Dominic's smile didn't waver, "Guess it's a good thing I'm not here for him then, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"Logan sent me a text earlier this morning. Told me to meet him here." He raised an eyebrow. "Have you seen him?"

That flutter of unease she'd felt at the sight of him hardened into something heavy in her stomach. He knew Logan was back. He'd spoken to him. And Logan had told Dominic to meet him at the office.

Did that mean he knew about them? About the bond that had sparked? Or was it far worse than that? Had Logan asked Dominic to meet him here so that he could be part of whatever clandestine meeting he and his father were having? All this time, had Dominic known the truth of what happened to her sister? Had he been involved? Had he smiled and told her to call him Dom while he was covering for a murderer?

"Wren?" He tilted his head and she realized that she hadn't answered him.

Since her throat felt tight with too many new questions she simply pointed to the closed door that led to the Alpha's office.

Dominic frowned and his dark eyebrows knit together. He pushed up from where he'd been leaning against her desk and she thought for a second he was simply going to turn around and leave. Instead, he ran a hand over his short, dark curls and then turned his frown back on her, lowering his voice to barely above a whisper.

"Is he in there with…" he trailed off but she knew what he was asking and nodded. "How long have they been in there?"

"They were here when I arrived for work." She tried her best to keep her curiosity about his sudden wariness to herself. "Should I buzz in and let them know you've arrived?"

"No." The word came with a snapping intensity that made her flinch and Dominic immediately winced. "Sorry. That was… Sorry. No. I uh… I'm not here to meet with the Alpha. Just Logan."

"Well…" Wren motioned to the chairs along the wall, "You're welcome to take a seat, though I'll be honest, I don't know how long they're going to be."

Dominic looked between the door that led to the Alpha's office and the outer door and she could practically feel his tension hanging in the air. He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to wait for Logan to come out. He didn't want to see the Alpha or have the Alpha see him. He looked like he'd really like to simply leave, which at least answered the question of whether he'd been summoned for whatever meeting Logan and his father were having.

Eventually he scrubbed a hand over his jaw and sighed, "I'll stand if that's okay with you."

"Suit yourself." She nodded.

Dominic paced around the office as she started a pot of coffee and turned back to her computer. She tried to ignore him as she readied the schedule that she knew the Alpha would want to see before he started his day. Dominic surprised her when he slid onto the edge of her desk and leaned close, forcing her to glance up at him.

"Yes?"

"Do you know what they're talking about in there?"

"No idea." She shook her head. "Do you?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I did." He grinned, leaning back a little but not retreating from her space. "It's weird we can't hear them though right? I mean, wolf hearing? We should be able to hear them if they're talking, shouldn't we?"

Wren sighed, "Not necessarily. The Alpha's office is insulated to be soundproof, that way people can't listen in on his important meetings."

"Soundproof?" Dominic looked surprised. "I didn't know that."

"It's not one hundred percent foolproof. If they were yelling we'd be able to hear. Even if they speak at a normal volume but close to the door, sometimes I can hear inside. But if they're purposely keeping their voices down…"

"You think they're being quiet on purpose?"

She bit the inside of her cheek, not wanting to give away anything more than she already had.

"Wren?" he drew out her name. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Lots of things probably, because it's none of your business." She smiled up at him to soften her words. "Whatever is going on in…"

She was mid-sentence when the door to the inner office came flying open so hard it slammed into the wall behind it with a resounding thud. Logan's face was red and as he looked between her and Dominic it only became more so. Dominic jumped to his feet as Logan's eyes narrowed on his old friend.

"Hey I…" he started but Logan jerked his head.

"Let's go. Now."

Without giving her another glance, he stormed outside. Dominic shot her a worried look before turning and following Logan out of the office. Wren watched through the big windows as Dominic hurried to catch up until both men were out of sight. She frowned, not liking anything that had happened so far this morning.

"My apologies for my son's rude behavior."

Wren sucked in a breath and pushed down every roiling emotion inside of her before she turned back to the Alpha. He must have gotten up to follow Logan when he rushed out, but he hadn't been quick enough to catch him. The elder Kemp stood in the doorway of his office and she noted that his own cheeks looked flushed as well, though if it was from the argument with his son or from the exertion of chasing after him, she didn't know.

Either way, she much preferred the sickly gray pallor on the old man, but as usual, he seemed healthier this morning than he had when he'd left the day before.

She'd been keeping track of him long enough to know that his shifter genes were trying to heal him from whatever was making him ill. Overnight, he always seemed to regain some of his strength. His color returned. He stopped coughing. And he at least appeared to be recovering for a while. But the signs of his illness always came back and she'd noticed recently that his state of recovery seemed to be lasting for a shorter and shorter interval.

He used to be able to make it all day, or very near to it, before the hacking cough returned. Then he started leaving earlier and earlier saying he would work from home to be closer to his sick wife. Yesterday had been the first day he hadn't come back to the office after lunch, only messaging that he had his phone if anyone needed anything.

Everyone in the pack knew his wife was severely ill and bedridden. Nobody had seen her in months. Wren had even started to wonder if she was dead but if that was the case, and if the Alpha was suffering this sickness due to his bond with an ill mate, wouldn't he have gotten better after she passed? That or, if the bond was strong enough, he should have followed her to the other side not long after.

Yet he was still standing, and Wren couldn't be sure of anything when it came to this man.

She forced a pleasant smile back onto her face, "You don't have to apologize to me."

"No. I don't." His lips twisted into a wry smirk. "But it's the polite thing to do."

"Well, thank you."

He tilted his head, hazel eyes watching her intently, "Your presence here seems to have struck a nerve with my son. He was very unhappy to find out that you're my assistant. He was angrier still when I refused to fire you at his behest."

Wren's jaw clenched, "I appreciate that, sir."

"Why do you think he's so worked up about you working here?"

"I have no idea." Wren shook her head.

It was partly the truth. She didn't know for certain why Logan had reacted the way he did to the news that she worked for his father. But she did have a pretty good idea based on what he'd said to her before going back into the Alpha's office. He thought she was up to something, which meant he was smarter than she'd given him credit for if he'd put it together that fast when his father clearly hadn't.

"Hmmm." he hummed now, his gaze looking her over in a way that always sent a shiver of something akin to dread down her spine. "Probably just his history with your family, right? All that awful business with your sister. Maybe he sees you as a reminder of her?"

Wren swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat, "Maybe."

"Well, it's too bad for him that he has to wait until I croak to make the hiring and firing decisions around here." he chuckled, "And good for you, don't you think?"

"Yes, Alpha."

"Smart girl." He dampened his lips with the tip of his tongue, "Email me the schedule for next week and then bring me a cup of coffee and we can go over it."

He turned and retreated back into his office without waiting for a reply and she only let out the breath she'd been holding once he was out of sight. She shivered, trying to shake off the urge to use her claws and rip him apart. She hated when he looked at her like that, like she was some pet that he kept close merely for his enjoyment.

She sent the files to him and then turned to check on the coffee she'd started earlier. It wasn't quite ready yet which would buy her another minute or two to get all her armor in place before dealing with him. He'd mentioned her sister and she hadn't been ready for that since he'd never brought her up before.

But it seemed with Logan back in town, that the past was never far from any of their minds.

A hacking cough echoed out of the office and Wren glanced at the clock on the far wall. That was a new record. This was the earliest yet that his cough had started up again. She assumed it meant he was growing sicker since the bouts of wellness were shorter and shorter.

He'd said Logan would have to wait for him to die to take over the pack. Did that mean he was close to dying? Is that why Logan was finally back in town? He was the heir after all.

Wren froze with the coffee mug in her hand, her other extended to reach for the pot as something she hadn't considered hit her.

Logan would be the next Alpha of the Shadow Pines Pack. As his fated mate, if they sealed the bond, she would become the Queen of the pack, second only to him in authority. It was a coveted position, one that her parents had been desperate for Lark to obtain for the status that went along with it. But Lark had never been destined for that role. Wren had. And if she became Queen of the Shadow Pines pack, it would change everything.

Nobody in the pack would be able to defy her. They'd have to tell her the truth, once and for all. She would finally know what had truly happened to her sister. But did she have it in her to seal the bond with Logan before she knew what role he'd played in Lark's death? She felt sick even considering it.

"Wren? Get a move on. I'm a busy man."

She flinched when the Alpha yelled at her from his office.

"Coming." she called back, for once thankful for the distraction because she needed more time to consider her options and to figure out just how long she'd have to wait for the old bastard to die before it would even matter.