Page 6 of The Alpha’s Heir

“Maybe, but I still have to try and do something to get you out of this mess.” Trish let me go. “You’d do the same for me.”

“Take care of her,” I told Jaxon.

“Always,” he promised.

Mom was trying real hard not to cry again.

“Alpha.” Trish nodded at Aunt Kera as she stepped out from the woods.

Sighing, I packed up the rest of my fishing gear. So much for trying to clear my head this morning alone.

“I need a minute with her,” Kera said gently.

Mom nodded and kissed me on the cheek before hurrying away. I knelt by the river and grabbed the first fish from the stringer that was still in the cool water, lifting it out to slice the underbelly and clean the guts.

“Is there anything you want to tell me?” Kera stood on the bank.

Don’t do it. She never listens.

But she’s asking…

I cleared out the fish guts and moved to the next, being careful to keep my tone relaxed. “I know Alpha Jareth built you the hydropower station, but I really think we should revisit the merger with Jaxon and Cadejo’s biodiesel. Relying on the river—”

“The river will be fine,” Kera said.

“Will it, though?” I snapped, fed up of her dismissal every time I said something that challenged the way she ran the pack. “Nature is unpredictable.”

“Life is unpredictable.” Kera started to growl.

It took an abnormal amount of willpower to return my attention to the fish. Kera was my Alpha. I’d sworn allegiance to her just like every other wolf in Cerberus Pack. But there was a reason most packs didn’t have many alpha-born wolves within them.

“That’s not what I was asking.” Kera sighed as the fight drained from her. She was better at that than I was. Her age gave her an advantage in controlling her beast.

“What were you asking?” I mumbled, feeling like a petulant pup. It was always like this. The back and forth. The tension.

Why did it have to be so hard?

I loved my aunt. Really, I did.

When she didn’t answer, I glanced up and saw her watching me with a sad expression.

“I want to know if you volunteered,” she said.

Oh, that.

Oops.

“To go with the humans?” I scoffed. “No. I’m not insane. But if it were between me and anyone else, I’d always be the one to go.”

Kera sighed as she squatted down beside me and dug her fingers through the rocky shoreline. If I hadn’t been studying her like I always did, I might’ve missed the slight wince as she leaned forward.

She’s hurt, my wolf growled.

I shook my head. “Assuming you tried to take on the goddess, too.”

“She doesn’t even bleed.” Kera chuckled.

Alpha wolves.