Free Awakening the Alpha by Harmony Raines Page A

beside her, and she looked at him a little sheepishly.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    “Cole,” Kira said, her breath shaky. “This is Natalie. She is the daughter of the old alpha.”
    “Wait. Riley’s mate is the daughter of the man who exiled us?” he asked, his fists clenching at his sides.
    Kira placed her hand on his arm. “Calm down, honey. It wasn’t Natalie’s fault, just the same as it wasn’t your fault. The past is the past.”
    “But our mom died because of it.”
    Natalie looked horrified. “I never knew. My dad never said. I am sorry.”
    “Kira’s right. It’s not your fault.” Riley stepped forward, placing his hand on Cole’s chest, looking him square in the eye. “It ends here, Cole. The past is the past. We are not responsible; we all have our own opinions on what happened. But we weren’t there.”
    “And we need to work together,” Hugo said coming up behind them with Bliss and Sol, who looked very interested in Natalie.
    “Are you our new friend?” Sol asked.
    “I hope so.” Natalie held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Sol.”
    Sol giggled as he took her hand and shook it. “Cole said you make cakes. Do you have some for me?”
    “Oh. I never thought to bring any. I’ll help you make some, though.” She looked at Riley. “You do have something we can bake with, right?”
    “I’m sure we can find something.” But first he turned to Hugo. “Tell us first what you meant, about needing to work together.”
    Kira spoke, her hand resting on her gun. “It appears the old sheriff isn’t ready to give in without a fight. He’s got some of the old biker gang together; they’ve been raiding farms on the other side of the valley. We have a bit of a storm brewing.”
    “Now would be a good time to tell us you have discovered the power of the alpha.” Cole looked hopefully at Riley.
    Riley shook his head. “I don’t feel any different.”
    “What do you mean?” Natalie asked. “You thought you would be the next alpha? Why? Because you are the mate of the old alpha’s daughter, or because you are the son of the old beta?”
    “Neither. Both. We don’t know,” Riley floundered.
    “It was something Colin said.” Hugo stepped in to save Riley.
    “What did he say?” Natalie asked.
    “That the new alpha would be named soon.” Bliss stepped forward, her baby not yet showing but she glowed with happiness. Riley wanted to protect her, protect them all; he had hoped that the gift of being alpha would have been the key to ending all friction in Wolf Valley.
    “And you thought it was you, Riley?” Natalie asked again.
    “Only because Bliss and Cole have their mates and have nothing in the way of power. Which we guess the alpha would have.”
    “It’s more subtle than that. My dad couldn’t just order people what to do. It was more of a way of asking people in the right way, of allowing them to see their true selves and how they hurt other people with their actions. He made them do the right thing, because they wanted to.”
    “It doesn’t matter now. None of us have it.” Cole said sadly. “Now we need a plan B instead.”
    “First, I’d like to say how sorry I am, Kira, about what happened with the sheriff … Frasier, and your dad.” She went to her old friend and hesitated. “I know it’s all too late, but I am sorry I never came to see you.”
    Kira hugged her. “It’s OK. I think when I lost my dad, I realised how tough it must have been for you. Your dad held everything together, and then my dad tried to do the same thing. When he died, it left me powerless. In a way, I ran too. Only not so far.” She reached for Cole’s hand. “Thank goodness the Merrics showed up.”
    “That’s one thing we can all agree on,” Natalie said, wiping tears from her eyes.
    “Let’s go inside. I need coffee, and I think some homemade cookies would be a good place to start. Nothing like a sugar rush for putting things in perspective,” said Bliss,