Chapter 20

Shirley

Once again, I’ve found myself drinking a cup of coffee as I sit inside another cafe. However, this time it’s not Jean who sits across from me - it’s Keith.

We’ve been eyeing each other for a few minutes, both of us barely moving as we don’t even take a sip of our drinks. Ron is long gone at this point - after he heard me accept Keith’s invitation, the man had quickly said his goodbyes.

So now it was just Keith and me, and I really can’t understand why he was helping me.

“Why are you suddenly so eager to talk to me about Ralph?” I finally ask, getting nowhere with my silent thoughts. “Why now?”

Keith huffs at my questions. “Eager might be an overstatement,” he insists. “But I guess I had a slight change of heart considering I can tell you’re serious about Ralph.”

I blink as I take in his words, waiting for a “but.” However, Keith surprises me as he continues.

“I still have my reservations, seeing as I believe in the sanctity of fated mates, but…”

But.

“I’m also not a squeamish man. If you really are that serious about Ralph, then I’ll do whatever I can to help you get to know him better,” Keith finishes.

I’m stunned, maybe even a little uncomfortable - I’ll admit. I don’t know how to feel about Keith’s sudden “change of heart,” but I can tell that it doesn’t exactly sit right somewhere inside of me. And yet, I need to take this chance he’s giving me.

“So tell me about him,” I prompt Keith. “What should I know about Ralph?”

Keith hesitates for a moment, absentmindedly tapping his fingers against his cup as he stares at me. Somehow, he’s a torn picture of both ease and tension.

“Ralph is a very self-motivated Beta,” he eventually states. “He loves his work and is usually committed to his duties. He wants to become the leader of the Beta in the Lock Heart pack.”

I tilt my head as I’m hit with a new curiosity.

“Why didn’t you make him the leader in the first place?” I ask. “He’s your best friend, after all. And you seem to be singing his praises.”

Honestly, I already assumed that Ralph was the leader of the Beta pack based on seniority or whatever favoritism bullshit most packs pulled. Even if it wasn’t always perfect, it made sense - choosing your closest friend to be your right hand man. So why hasn’t Keith granted him the position?

Keith shrugs. “We may have grown up together and have always been close, but I have a duty as an Alpha to be fair. I can’t just make him the leader because he’s my best friend. I make decisions based on what is right - not based on love.”

I have to admit that his reasoning is admirable. Besides, what if he’d made Ralph the leader years ago and quickly discovered that Ralph wasn’t worthy of the position?

“The leader of the Beta should be elected internally. I can’t just pick him,” Keith continues to explain. “And Ralph hasn’t done enough to put him at a clear advantage over the other Betas for the position.”

I can’t help but notice how Keith’s voice drops as he speaks, pulling him more toward the tense side of his picture as he doesn’t exude the same amount of ease anymore. He’s given me more details to think about, but there seems to be more under the surface.

More specifically, there seems to be more drama between Keith and Ralph than I’d initially realized. Jean had once told me that the two men were bonded due to years of friendship, that Keith would support Ralph’s word unconditionally.

But listening to Keith now…

I’m no longer certain that’s true.

~

Keith

The moment Anya left the cafe, something in Keith became completely unhinged. He couldn’t make sense of his actions, but all he knew was that one moment the table in front of him was standing up straight - perfectly untouched - and then the next it wasn’t. In the blink of an eye, some sort of lingering rage unleashed itself and he threw the table so hard that it slammed with a crack to the ground - unfinished coffee splattering with it.

His chest heaved as he stared at the mess, knowing that moments ago Anya had taken up the space in front of him instead. And the entire time he’d had to spew out detail after detail regarding another man.

A man she wanted.

Keith scowled down at the table as he felt that anger resurfacing in his fingers, surging up his arms as he was tempted to pound his knuckles into the wall. He wanted to punch the exposed brick until his hand was torn and bloody, and then maybe he’d do the same to the other.

And he had no fucking clue why.

It didn’t make sense - this blinding annoyance that he couldn’t shake. What the fuck did it matter if he’d just had to tell Anya about Ralph? That she left in high spirits with all the new information sitting in her back pocket?

It really was annoying how she’d devoured every detail - asked plenty of questions to only draw more out of him. Those big hazel eyes had made word after word fall from his lips without a second thought, and then the sway of her perfect hips moving away had almost made him reach out and snatch her arm as she walked away.

It was as if he’d wanted to take it all back, to tell her to back off. But that time it didn’t feel like he would have been doing it for Ralph’s sake…or even Jean’s.

So who the fuck would he be doing it for?

Keith clenched his teeth tightly as he suppressed another urge to lash out. He just grunted with annoyance as the other customers of the cafe purposely turned their heads away - they knew better than to cross their Alpha in this state. If only Anya knew not to cross him whatsoever.

But that smartmouth, that headstrong attitude…it had been driving him insane since she got into town. Driving him so insane that he’d almost had the nerve to tell her things he didn’t mean.

Or do things he didn’t mean.

Jesus Christ. He needed a distraction from this whole fucking thing, and he needed one now.

Work. He needed work. That’s what he always fell back on in times like these. Besides, he had more important things to worry about other than his best friend’s business with this infuriating woman or his own indifference toward her.

So he retrieved the phone from his pocket and went to his text messages, sending a few queries as he tried to sweep away any thoughts trying to reach the front of his mind. He ignored it all, shoved it down. Which only became easier as his phone began to suddenly ring in his hand, causing a spark of excitement to meet his stomach as he saw who was calling.

“What?” Keith bit out as he answered. “What’s the update on the missing she-wolf?”