The Alpha and The Fool novel Chapter 6

After the last meet and greet thing or whatever they’re calling it, Father decided Wesley would be my ‘chaperone’ whatever that was to keep the incident with Dean from happening again. It was probably a good idea considering what happened last time. I did not like how close Dean had gotten to me without me realizing it. Worse yet, I think he might have been right. If Brook hadn’t saved me, I wasn’t sure what would’ve happened.

“I don’t see how your plan can work now,” I said as I watched Wesley line up his shot on the pool table.

“Nothing has changed,” Jon said. He was leaning on his cue, his dark eyes twinkling with mischief.

“How hasn’t it? Wesley’s job now is to follow me around to make sure Dean stays away.”

“Now why would he do that? I’m awesome company,” Dean said as he walked in the room. He wasn’t alone, his brother, Brook and a couple others were with him.

“He’s not short of confidence is he?” Sade whispered in my ear.

“You have no idea,” I whispered back. Jon and Dean greeted each other like old friends. “Traitor.”

“Not at all,” Jon replied.

Brook took a seat next to me. “This is Andy and his mate Kara.” Andy, pale and blonde, looked like some Viking out of history. Kara was a good two feet, at least, smaller than him, and blonde too, but her hair was shaved on one side and the tips dyed pink.

“Love the hair,” Kara said to me as she sat next to Brook. She seemed like she meant it.

“Thanks,” I said and looked Wesley. “You are done here?”

“You can’t leave yet, we just got here,” Dean said flashing a smile at me.

My stomach fluttered at the sight and I quickly looked away. “Wes?”

“I can’t leave the game unfinished, Nic. Jon won’t let me hear the end of it since he’s in the lead.”

“Fine,” I said and laughed dryly when not a minute passed they started a new game to include Ryder and Andy with Dean watching. I glanced at the doorway. My stomach churn with nerves. Wesley was like an uncle to me, and Jon was my best friend. If Father found out they were going against his orders, it wouldn’t go well for them at all.

“Why does your dad have such a hard on for Dean?” Kara asked as the boys started to play. “I mean I get he’s a bit of an idiot, but he’s a good guy.”

“Aww, I knew you loved me, Kay-kay,” Dean said then yelped as Andy hit him in the back of the leg with his pool cue.

A surge of anger rushed through me, my muscles tensed, and I had the urge to growl at the blonde Viking. What was wrong with me?

“So you’re one of your dad’s enforcers?” Kara asked, and when I nodded she asked again, “What do you do?”

“Frontline.”

Her eyes widened. “Seriously?”

I couldn’t help but grin. Frontline was the first to deal with any threat, and only the best of the best got to be part of the team. It had taken a lot of work, but I earned it. “Yep. Jon is one too. Wesley used to work for them as well.”

“Sweet, I’m one of this pack’s trackers. Saw quite a bit of action with our fight against Black Mountain,” Kara said.

“Yeah, I remember their alpha spoke with Dad a bit for our support, but it was over before he gave his answer.”

“Really? What would’ve been his answer?” Brook asked

That was a loaded question, considering what Black Mountain did to her. “He didn’t tell me,” I told her. It was the truth, but I knew he was strongly considering sending us to help the previous alpha of Black Mountain.

She gave me a weak smile. “Right.”

I blew out a breath. Awkward. This whole situation was awkward in all honesty. I couldn’t relax here, especially knowing Father would be furious. I waited long enough for everyone to be pulled in the game and I slipped out of the room. As the distance between the others and me grew, my nerves went away. I rubbed the back of my neck to ease some of the remaining tension when someone grabbed my other hand.

“I thought you’d never leave. Come on, let’s go,” Dean said, grinning as always and jogged down the hall, pulling me with him.

“Wait, what?”

He glanced back at me, winked and kept going. To my surprise, he had a firm grip on my hand, and I couldn’t free myself. Dean pulled us into a dark room with a large pool in the center. “No one ever comes in here this late so we should be good.” He sat at the edge, taking off his shoes and rolling up his pants. “Come on, dip your feet in. The water is great. I promise I won’t bite unless you ask.” He waggled his eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes as I sat next to him, but I had no idea why. This was a bad idea. Being alone with him was a very bad idea. “Why are we here?”

“Why not?”

“My father-”

“You worry too much, Beautiful. Look, you’ve been here a few days now, and I’ve hardly got to say three words to you before someone takes you away. It can’t be too much to ask to want to have one uninterrupted conversation.”

“It might.”

Dean reached for my hand, but I moved it to my lap. He frowned and shook his head. “Okay, so what do you like to do?”

I bit my lip, debating on what I should do. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to leave like I should. “I work out, train.”

“And when you’re not doing that?”

I shrugged. “Not much really. Between training and my enforcer duties, I don’t have free time.”

“So no hobbies or anything?”

“Working out is a hobby,” I told him.

“How many hours do you work out?”

“About eight or so. It depends on what I’m doing.”