Chapter 14: Returning North
Samara
I sip my coffee as we drive. Like yesterday, I look out the window watching the landscape change from the watmer southern climate to the cooler northern climate. The longer we drive, the fewer leaves are in the trees and in some areas, there are bits. of snow that haven’t melted from the last snowfall.
The sight makes me unbearably sad, and I have to fight against the tears that threaten to fall. Memories come flooding back to me of happier times, of my family, my pack. When a tear escapes, I quickly swipe it away.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Roman asks softly.
“No,” I say. My voice isn’t nearly as strong as I had hoped it would be.
“Alpha, did you want to stop for lunch somewhere?” Eric asks from the front seat.
Roman doesn’t answer and when I turn to look at him, I see him studying me. “You didn’t eat breakfast. Are you hungry?”
“Sure,” I say, turning back to look out the window. I can’t stand the gentleness in his eyes, the concern. If he was so concerned, he shouldn’t have betrayed my family.
Ayla whines in my head, sad at the loss of our family and our mate’s part in that betrayal
“Does any of this look familiar to you?” he asks. I clench my eyes closed. I much preferred it when he was arguing with me or being arrogant. This gentleness has me close to bursting into tears.
“No. It all looks horribly unfamiliar,” I lie
He doesn’t say anything, but I can feel his eyes on me.
“You can stop staring at me. Im not going to fall apart.”
“No, you probably won’t. Not right now, anyway,” he says, but I feel the heat of his gaze leave my back as he shifts in his seat.
I hear him pull out his phone and dial a number.
“Yes, I’d like to make a reservation for lunch. There are twenty–one of us,” he says,
I hear the person on the other end of the phone say they don’t have space for that many people.
“This is Alpha Roman. Make space,” he demands. I turn and narrow my eyes at him. The audacity of the man.
He looks at me as the person on the other end sputters that they will have a place for all twenty one of us when we arrive,
“Make space for nineteen, and a private room for two,” he says, making me growl I don’t have to ask who the private room is
for.
“We’ll be there in about thirty minutes,” he says before hanging up.
He levels his gaze at me. “Problem?”
“How very arrogant of you,” I growl
Is it arrogance if I own the restaurant?”
I suck in air before I can stop myself. I know exactly which restaurant we’re going to His very popular steakhouse that my family used to go to frequently.
family has owned it
for y
years. It’s a
His eyes narrow as he watches my reaction, but I turn my head quickly so he can’t see the pain in my eyes. Flashes of memories of my family laughing around a table, Teddy teasing me while Althea looked at the other Alphas in the room. We
1/3
#25 BONUS
frequently had dinner with Roman’s family and Sawyer’s.
“It’s a steakhouse. Hopefully you’ll like it,” he says.
“How very daring of you,” I say, not looking at him
“Owning a steakhouse?” he asks.
I tum and give him my best feral smile. “Voluntarily giving me a steak knife when it’s just the two of us in a private room
together.”
“Who said I was taking you to
you to that room?” he asks.
Once again, raw, violent jealousy slithers through my veins. Before I can stop her, Ayla growls low and deep in our chest
I watch his lips tip into a smile and my hand clenches into a fist. His eyes flicker to my fist and I see him subtly move to block my punch if I try. Then he leans forward, putting his face an inch from mine. He’s so close, I can feel his breath tickling
my face as he speaks.
“Of course, it’s for you and me. Why would I drag you back to my pack just to flaunt another woman in front of you. As if you need any more reasons to try and kill me.
I didn’t Try to I you,” I growl again. Yet.
“You are my mate. I told you already, I am accepting the gift that the Moon Goddess has given me. That means there will only ever be one woman for me, Samantha One woman in my bed, one woman carrying my pups, one woman at my side as we live our lives together. You may not accept it yet, but that one woman is you,” he says and before I can react, he presses a fast
kiss to my lips and sits back
“Y–You!”
“Yep, that’s right. Me. Your mate. Your future Alpha. Your future lover. The future father of your pups. The man that you, someday, will willingly accept as all those things.”
“When hell freezes over,” I say, turning away from him before I really do punch him. This time when I press my eyes shut, it’s because I can still feel the tingles from where his soft lips touched mine, the warmth of them that sent red hot desire flaring through my traitorous body.
Tbet he tastes good, Ayla says, purring in my head. Now that she knows he has no intention of flaunting another woman in front of us, she’s happy again. Well, as happy as we can be with our first trip back to the north.
When we exit the interstate where the restaurant is, I can see how much has changed in the nine years I’ve been away. While
my life felt like it came to a standstill, the north has continued to prosper.
When we stop at a light, I look around at the growth that has occurred while I’ve been away. This area is surrounded by pack lands. My family’s old pack is only an hour from here. When Eric turns a corner, 1 seg a huge hunting and fishing store named Theo’s. Teddy loved hunting and fishing and the memory of him and Raye taking me out into the forest so he could
hunt for food flows back into my mind.
When we pull into the parking lot of the restaurant, Hartwell’s Steakhouse, named after the family, it’s like another punch to the gut. The exterior hasn’t changed at all. It looks like it’s been refurbished, and wood that gives the exterior a log cabin feel looks freshly polished. The sign looks new, but it’s exactly the same as I remember it all those years ago.
Memories keep flooding into my mind and once again, I’m overwhelmed with sadness. I push that aside as Eric parks.
“Go make sure our tables are ready.”
dy.” Roman says to him.
Eric glances at me, obviously noticing that I’m much quieter today, before exiting the car and heading inside
I glance at Roman who is once again watching me. “I know it must be hard leaving the south behind leaving your pack behind, but I swear it will get better.”
“I doubt it,” I say, my voice a whisper
“I got us a private room because I want to talk. I want you to talk, Samantha. We’ll be at my pack in a couple of hours. If you have questions, concerns.I scoff. Of course I have concerns, not that he cares.
you have worries about what your life will be like with me, I want us to have a chance to talk about that. Privately.”
“And if I don’t want to talk?” I ask
“Then I’ll talk and the only thing you’ll stab with your steak knife is your steak. Deal?” he asks, holding out his hand.
“Do you trust me not to lie?” I ask, staring at his hand.
“My word as an Alpha that I will not force you to speak if you choose not to,” he says, raising his eyebrow at me and keeping
his hand where I can shake it.
He and Teddy used to say this all the time. The two played a lot of pranks on each other, so when they were being serious, or they wanted me to know that I could trust what they were saying, they would say “My word as an Alpha‘. To my knowledge,
neither man ever went against their word when they said it.
“Fine. My word as an Alpha that I will not stab you with a steak knife during lunch today,” I clarify, smiling as if I’ve just won
this round as I shake his hand
“I feel much safer now,” he says as Eric knocks on the window and the others begin piling out of the SUVs.
The moment we walk inside, my stomach rumbles with hunger. The reason this place is so popular is because the food here is excellent. Or it was nine years ago. Based on the number of people now waiting on a table for lunch, I’m guessing it’s still
just as good.
“Fight this way, Alpha,” the hostess says, looking me over quickly before grabbing two menus and leading us to the back of the restaurant. Here, it’s much quieter and there are private rooms lining one side of the wall..
When we get to our room, she opens the door, and I glance at the name plate on the wall. Once again, I feel like I’ve been sucker–punched in my gut, and I struggle to take a breath.
The Brenner room. The room is named after my family.
Cooper
Poor Samara struggling with the ghosts of her past.
