The Possessive Alpha
Chapter 50

DAMON POV

Using the key, I open the door to my hotel room with Andrew following me, both of us eager to get out of the tight shirts and ties. Grabbing some of the clothes from the suitcase lying on the floor, I hurry to get the basketball shorts on, throwing a pair to Andrew, knowing he’d want to do the same.

“When do you think Matt will be back?” Andrew asks as my feet wander back and forth throughout the room. The anxiety of his discovery claws at my stomach. No one knows we are here except for Theo, and for the time being, I would like to keep it that way.

“I-” I try to respond, but the knock at the door stops me in my tracks; rushing to open it, I find Matt standing on the other side with a grim look that doesn’t incite confidence in my anxiety-filled stomach.

As soon as the door closes behind him, Andrew and I start peppering him with questions before he has a chance to get his tie loosened from his neck.

“Woah,” Matt says, his hands raised to slow down the onslaught of questions, “take a breath, and let me get this f*****g tie off first.”

I say nothing, giving him a deadpan glare to hurry his a*s along. As soon as the tie is off, he opens his mouth to speak, “Jonah didn’t leave the lounge near the boxes at all; he just sat in his chair, occasionally talking to the waitress,” Matt sighs, “but something about his energy was off tonight, Zeke could feel how on edge his wolf was. The humans noticed it too and avoided him.”

“So he didn’t meet with anyone from the mystery man’s box, then?” I ask, my mind trying to figure out how the puzzle pieces fit together, but with so many pieces still missing, it’s difficult seeing the larger picture.

“No,” Matt says, “but that doesn’t mean Jonah isn’t involved. Something in my gut says he is tied to this somehow. My only question is, why?”

“I have been wondering the same thing,” Andrew states, “We are missing an important piece of evidence. Diamond Claw has been our ally for decades; what would make their Alpha turn now? What does that old guy have that Jonah wants bad enough to do this to us?”

“I don’t know,” I sigh, the defeat in my words, “I feel like whatever it is, it’s staring me right in the face, and I can’t see what it is.” I can’t help the gnawing in my mind like the answer is so simple, but I am missing it completely.”

“You’re not the only one,” Andrew mutters. “No, man, I feel it too,” Matt includes with a sigh as he places his head in his hands.

“Alright,” I reply, the frustration dripping from my words, “Jonah was a bust tonight. What about the mystery guy?” I ask, hoping Matt got something useful, but I know I will be disappointed by that answer too.

“Unlike the Longue, I couldn’t flirt my way past the attendants,” Matt grumbles, and I know his pride is a little wounded at the knowledge that his charm doesn’t work on everyone. “They were more serious than any Beta I’ve ever met.”

“ha ha ha,” Andrew says, his voice dry laced heavily with sarcasm, and dead eyes, until a small smile graces his face, and I know he is beginning to forgive Matt for his dickhead behavior. Well, he is on the way to forgiveness, which is the best I can hope for now.

“So we have nothing?” I ask, starting to feel the anxiety course throughout my b***d, a war is brewing, and I would like to be prepared when s**t starts hitting the fan. At this rate, we’re f****d. Slade, unsurprisingly, is completely quiet, but he is on high alert.

“Until Theo gets here,” Andrew answers, “pretty much.” Well, that’s just f*****g great. “Is he on his way yet?” Matt asks Andrew, figuring the two have talked recently.

“Why are you asking me?” Andrew snarls, and the progress I thought they made was just another illusion shattered by Matt’s big mouth.

“Look,” Matt defends, “I wasn’t asking because of the dickehead comment I made earlier but because you two are friends, and he barely tolerates Damon or me.”

“Hey,” I protest, “I think Theo and I are on better terms.” I hope my words diffuse the tension, but it still clings to the air around us.

“Whatever,” Andrew mutters, and I can see Matt about to say something when a knock on the door interrupts the party. We all know who it is just from the scent leaking through the door. Since Matt is the closest, he gets off the bed and opens the door to reveal Theo standing on the other side, hands shoved in his pockets.

“Did I walk in on something?” Theo asks, feeling the tension as he looks between the three of us, Matt and Andrew as far apart, refusing to look at each other.

“Naw, man,” I say, directing him to sit anywhere he’d like. No one says a word when Theo picks the chair right next to Andrew, but I can see how his jaw tenses. “What did you find out?”

“Well, be happy you don’t have to tell Elle about her Alpha b***d,” Theo rushes out in one breath, and before my mind can catch up, he is already onto the next thing. “Don’t worry. You still get the privilege of telling her about being a Luna-born yourself.”

“How the hell did she find out?” I ask, “did you tell her?”

“No,” Theo retorts, “it was the Southerland twins and Charity who dropped that little bomb.”

“Well, how the f**k did they know?” I snarl the venom in my words, making the other men flinch involuntarily. “Did you tell them?”

“Alpha,” Matt interjects, and eyes on Theo, “I don’t think he said anything.”

“I didn’t have to,” Theo explains, and I can feel the added anger from Slade slowly dwindle as I waited for him to continue. “Elle is coming into her power because of her birthday; it’ll be harder to hide until she shifts.”

“You’re right,” I sigh, the nerves that slowly disappeared raging once more across my skin. Elle in the city is basically a beacon to any male wolf in the vicinity, and it has me on edge.

“Find anything else out?” I ask Theo, unsure what he could have found out in the middle of a musical but Elle has a way of attracting trouble. “What about the creepy pedophile? Was he after Elle like we expected?”

“He is after Elle like a mouse after cheese,” Theo confirms, which causes Slade to surge forward and end the threat now rather than later.

“So he knows what Elle is?” I ask as Slade paces in my head, itching at the chance to hunt the bastard throughout the city if he has to.

“I’d say yes,” Theo nods, but his grim look is like a punch of realization that he knows more than he is letting on.

“What aren’t you telling us, Theo?” Andrew asks, apparently thinking the same thing I am.

“Well….”Theo starts, stopping to wonder what he should say, “the guy hinted he’d abduct Elle to have her.” The growls from Andrew,

Matt, and I shook the room so hard I am sure the people on the other side could feel the vibration.

Slade is slashing and tearing, trying to break free so he can rip that pedophile to shreds. ‘We should have killed him at the theater and saved us a lot of trouble.’

‘You know we couldn’t have done it in a room full of humans,’ I remind him, even though I would have loved killing him then too.

‘I know,’ Slade grumbles in annoyance, ‘but if we see him again this weekend, I am not wasting the opportunity.’

‘Deal, just make sure we are smart about it,’ I tell him, because we are in Human territory right now, and going too far causes more trouble than it’s worth.

‘Don’t worry about me, human,’ Slade sneers back, the confidence clear in his energy; I don’t notice him return to his space. Instead, I feel him at the forefront of my mind wanting to take charge of the situation.

‘Do you know more than you’re telling me?’ I ask him because that gnawing feeling sits in my chest, but he is never around long enough to get a word out of him.

‘Always,’ He retorts without shame. ‘I’ll tell you when the time is right, but things must progress as they are.’

‘I am trusting you, Slade,’ I warn him, ‘because this whole thing can backfire on us, and we can lose the most important person in our lives.’ I speak my peace, blocking him out, to return to the conversation.

“We need to figure out security for the rest of the weekend with that psychopath running around,” Matt informs the group, suddenly becoming serious, the very essence of his father in his demeanor. Biggest joker until s**t got serious.

“Tell me Elle is smart enough not to put herself at more risk by running all over the city tomorrow?” Andrew asks, the worry clear in his voice, and I understand the dilemma. There is no way we can protect her out in the open.

“She is,” Theo defends her as a loyal Beta would, “the girls are going to have a spa day here at the hotel and then are going to a club later that night.”

“A club?” I demand, the jealousy searing through my chest and consuming me till my fingertips ache.

“I think the Alpha is a little jealous,” Andrew teases, which is the first time I have seen him relax the entire night. “I’d have to agree with, Drew.” Theo laughs, finding amusement in my reaction, and I growl at them both. But I still notice how Andrew stills when Theo calls him by a nickname he’d never let anyone else call him.

Matt tried once, and he nearly beat the s**t out of him for it, Andrew was particular about things like that, and I could tell it bugged Matt a little that he was letting it fly. “Whatever,” I mutter with a roll of my eyes, “let’s get back on track with our plan. We need to use this time while we can. That man will come for Elle until he has her or ends up dead trying. An obsessed person won’t give up until he has what he wants, and that’s Elle.”