Bound

Chapter 8

Nyah heaved herself out of bed and parted the curtains with a yawn. A brilliant blue sky blessed the morning, the perfection broken only by a single fluffy cloud. In the garden below, birds twittered as they darted between the branches of the blooming cherry blossom, their happy spring dance sending a shower of delicate pale petals onto the daisy-sprinkled lawn.

"Screw you," she murmured, wrenching the curtains together again. Not even a perfect spring morning could lift her spirits. Four weeks had passed since Simon Northfell had stolen the alpha position, and although life in Blackwater Ridge had sputtered back into some semblance of normality, it was only a matter of time before his true colours showed. Or so she kept promising herself.

Simon had so far managed to fool the entire pack with his performance of a considerate, sincere leader, and with such nauseating efficiency that Michael now barely spoke to her, sick of her insistence of how Simon only bided his time.

'You're sounding more ludicrous by the day,' he'd snapped at her the previous afternoon, warning that if she didn't drop her notions, he'd tell Simon and let him deal with her himself.

The threat had silenced her pretty fast, but not enough to dampen her determination.

"So, today's the day," Karen enthused when Nyah wandered down to the kitchen. Karen had already been for a run and had stretched out on the couch with her feet up.

Nyah yawned. "Yup."

"Excited?"

"Suppose so," she flopped onto one of the stools at the kitchen counter.

"Wow, rein in the enthusiasm," Karen snorted.

Nyah planted her elbows on the counter and dropped her chin onto her upturned palms. "I am excited. I'm just tired, that's all."

"Well," Karen threw her legs over the side of the couch and hopped up. "You'd better get used to it. Once you graduate you'll be ready to start your own business and then you'll be up at the butt-crack of dawn, moaning about deliveries and staff and whatever else business owners get to moan about."

"If I'm lucky. Blake told me yesterday that Alpha Northfell wasn't too keen on the idea of me opening a bookshop in the town."

"Why?"

Nyah shrugged and stifled another yawn.

"He's the last person who should be holding you back." Karen crossed into the kitchen and flicked on the kettle. "He's always banging on about opportunity. Why would he be against you opening a bookshop?"

"Because he's Simon Northfell, and it probably doesn't fit in with his Master Plan."

Before Karen could reply, a heavy knock landed on the front door. Michael's scowl further darkened her mood when she found him standing on her porch. "Alpha Northfell would like you to meet him in his office in an hour," he announced.

"For what?"

"I don't know, Nyah," impatience quickly soured his reply. "Just be there, okay?"

"Fine."

"Good," he snapped, turned, and stalked off.

***

Nyah checked her phone as she crossed the street towards the pack house. Registration began at one o'clock, but she needed to visit the bank to withdraw payment for the fees on her way. Whatever Simon had to say, she hoped it would be said quickly. If she missed registration, she'd lose her place until the following year.

Blake stood to one side of Simon's office door when she came to the top of the stairs.

"Am I too early?" she wondered, knowing an alpha only posted a watch if someone of importance visited. Or if someone posed a threat, she remembered, searching the air for the scent of a strange wolf.