Den of Wolves

ANDY'S POV

When Andy opened her eyes she was laying in Alpha's lap. But this was not the dirty dom. She bolted to her feet and looked around in surprise and fear. "I'm sorry! I- we-I um just-" She ended on a small whimper as she shifted her weight from foot to foot.

"Nothing happened." Alpha said as he ran his hand through his dark hair. "You fell asleep at the club and I was not going to leave you there for the next person who came along." He put down the papers in his hand and gave her a warm smile.

"But I- um... My sister..." She trailed off once again.

"What about her? Is she expecting you home?"

"I was.... that is to say we were..... um....."

"You were at the club with your sister. Gods I'm an idiot!" He growled and pulled a phone out of his pocket. "Here you need to call her right away and let her know that you are okay." He handed over the phone and watched her expectantly.

"Am I a.....um....."

"What is it? are you a what?"

"Hostage." Andy turned red as she said the word that held all her fears. He snorted and then saw she was serious. To his credit Alpha tried to keep a straight face as he answered her.

"Oh yes. Definitely. Undoubtedly I am holding you until I get 50 million....."He burst into ruckus laughter when he saw the fear so plainly on her pretty face. "I'm sorry you should see your face!" He managed between gasps off air. "'Am I a hostage?' No. You aren't. I think it is a good idea if you call your sister so she doesn't get the police involved."

"Oh....um.....okay." She turned on the phone and dialed her sisters cell number.

"If this is a telemarketer I'm no-"

"Nat!" Andy cried in relief. "It's me."

"Who is me? I don't know anyone by that name."

"It's me, Andy. Remember I was at the club with you?"

"Oh! yeah yeah. Why did you ditch us?"

"I didn't ditch you!" Andy half shouted at her sister.

"Yeah you did. And Derik said he's not going to drive around all night to look for you." Natalie was being her usual bitchy self. As for Derik, he was being his usual self as well.

"I just called to let you know I'm OK. Fuck!" Alpha glared at her use of the expletive.

"OK well dad says you have thirty minutes then he is going to report you as a run away." Natalie quipped.

"Tell her when she gets home I'm going to beat her ass so fucking bad she won't walk for a month!" Andy heard her dad shout from somewhere in the apartment.

"Go ahead and call the police, bitch! When they get here I'll tell them that I left of my own accord! The only reason I am calling you is my dom told me too! As far as I'm concerned all of you can go fuck yourselves to hell and back!"

"What did that little bitch say!"

"She said she won't be coming home! You know he's gonna kill you, right?"

"That fucking drunkard couldn't walk a straight line to save his fucking life! Let alone see clear enough to throw a punch!" Andy rolled her eyes and stood up to find the bathroom.

"Well when the police bring you back he'll-"

"Natalie why the fuck would they bring me back?"

"They always do you little bitch! It's what they did last time, and the time before that, and the time before that, and the time before that, and the time before that!"

"But unlike those times things have changed, Natalie. I won't be coming back. Not ever!"

"Are you stupid or just suicidal?"

"Have you forgotten Natalie? I'm 18 now. I am a legal adult. Go ahead and call the cops. There is nothing they can do."

"You little cunt! Where the fuck are you? I'm coming to get you myself!"

"All you need to know is that I am safe and I am not coming back. Ever." Andy closed her eyes and took a deep breath as Natalie kept screaming expletives at her. "Good bye, Natalie. For good this time." With that Andy ended the call.

A couple of deep breaths later she was able to turn to Alpha and hand his phone back to him. "Want to talk about it, baby?" He asked as he watched her face.

"No. Not right now. I-I would like to powder my nose if you could point me to a restroom." She sniffed sadly.

"Down the hall first door on your left." He pointed and she followed his directions and found herself in a bathroom done in blue and green. It was almost childish in its whimsy. On one wall a mirral of a pirate ship being tossed on huge waves set the theme for the room. On the wall over the tub made to look like natural stone was a painting of a half naked mermaid that was playing a golden flute. And the curtain that was drawn back held a picture of a pirate holding a fishnet.

Andy noticed that beyond the essential toilet paper and a bar of soap the bathroom was completely bare. No soap in the bathtub or children's toys for that matter. Based on the whimsical pirate theme she would guess that there was at least one child here. She scrubbed the stress and anxiety away with the tears and makeup, then returned to the sitting room.

This room was a far cry from the bathroom. It had a deep over stuffed leather couch set in black and a 75 inch TV mounted on the wall. A large fireplace with an ornate marble hearth took up most of one wall. The carpet was thick and fluffy. It was an off white cream color. But even here safety of a child had clearly gone into every detail. The heavy TV was securely out of reach of small children and the fireplace had a wrought iron fence that stood at 4 feet tall that matched the wrought iron grate in front of the fireplace. It set a five foot parameter around the black marble hearth. The very large coffee table, where Alpha was doing paperwork, was solid oak with rounded edges so as to avoid sharp points and was an oval instead of a rectangle.

On one wall a large bookcase with colorful square fabric covered bins was built into the wall. A heavy iron door stood opposite the hall that Andy had just existed. She decided to explore a little before questioning her new roommate. She walked over to the bins and began to look through the contents. A rather boring endeavor though she had to know the truth of her current situation.

As boring as it was, it was just as uninformative. With the exception of a couple of old wooden toys and a few baby books the bins were completely empty. While the books and toys looked used it seemed they had not been touched in some time. Andy sighed and pushed the blue bin back into its place amongst the remnants of someones childhood.

"Baby?" She flinched at being caught snooping. "Can I help you find something?"

"It must not have ended well." She said sadly as she stared at the floor.

"What didn't end well?" He asked confused by her statement.

"Your marriage."

EIRIK POV

Eirik stared confused by her assumption. He had not been married. Nor were any of his relationships worth mentioning. They had all turned out to be meaningless. Though she was half right. None of them ended well.

"What makes you think I was married?" He asked still confused.

"Because of the bathroom?" She was getting confused now.

"Is that all?" He asked, now amused.

"No. There's toys and baby books in this bin." He chuckled. "Why are you laughing Alpha?"

"Why are you calling me Alpha?" He snickered.

"Because it's your name?" She trailed off as he shook his head slowly. "Well then what is your name?" She was starting to get huffy and he found it adorable as she pouted.

"Eirik. Eirik Night. Alpha is my title. It's an honorific."

"Oh. I'm sorry Eirik." She paused a moment and thought. "So what about the toys?"

"This is my childhood home." He smiled fondly. "The toys are passed from generation to generation. As for the books, my parents added those when my sister and I were young. The bathroom has not been painted or redone since I was 6."

"Oh." Her brow furrowed thoughtfully. "Why would you live with your parents? Are they elderly and infirmed?"

"No. They moved out. Mom and dad retired the year my Sister Clarity graduated high-school. She decided she wanted to backpack around Europe and they went with her." He almost laughed again.

"You kicked your family out?" She was encredulous at the realization.

"No. I didn't kick them out." He sighed and leaned back on the sofa. "They left willingly. In fact my dad's exact words were 'Your circus now sucker' as he literally sprinted across the packhouse lawn." He thought back to that day almost 3 years ago. "I'm pretty sure he was laughing too." He sighed annoyed by the fact that his father had ditched him with the mess. "That son of bitch didn't even have the decency to at least get me up to speed on the company holdings." He growled angrily. His mate snorted and tried to keep from laughing. "Glad that amuses you." He grumbled.

"So than that girl at the club wasn't joking? You really are werewolves?" She asked when the moment passed.

"That is right. And I'm in charge of the largest pack in North America."

"So this is the Alpha's house?"

"Yes..... and no. It's more like the Alpha's living quarters. Afforded to the Alpha and their family. though honestly, it's more of a gilded cage."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"It was originally a cell for the Alpha's breeders. Back when it was more common to take a sex slave than a wife. It has since turned into a tradition to house the Alpha and their family here." He sighed sadly. "If I live here the pack can always find me."

"Oh. I'm sorry." She fiddled with her fingers. "So..... do you have any children?" She asked and he laughed humorlessly.

"No. I don't have children. I won't have any until I settle on a mate." He looked at her meaningfully.

"So why don't you settle on a mate?"

"Guess you could say I have commitment issues."

"So you don't do commitment but you are the alpha of a large pack and CEO of a company..... yeah that makes perfect sense." She rolled her pretty eyes.

"My issue is not commitment. It's committing to the wrong person." Eirik shifted uncomfortably in his spot.

"How many wrong people could there be?"

"15 in the last ten years. I'm kind of older than you."

"How much older?"

"Twelve years." He smiled at her sadly.

"That isn't too bad." She shrugged. "Derik is twenty years older than Natalie. And I'm pretty sure that he raped her on their first date." He stared at her in disbelief.

"I'm sorry he did what?!" His father snapped from the hallway.

"Oh...wow that statement sounds so bad out of context." She grimaced.

"Nope even in context it's pretty bad." Eirik pinched the bridge of his nose and tried not to fly into a rage.

"In fact there is no way to make that statement not sound bad." Clarity said. It looked as if the full reality of the world had just come crashing down her.

"Well.... they are still together so... I guess it worked out." His mate tried and failed to smooth things over.

"Darling, I think you ought to introduce us before it gets any worse." His mother was always good about reminding him of his manners.

"Right. This is my mate. We just met tonight." He started to hope they wouldn't ask for her name because he did not have it.

"Andromeda Hiner. it's nice to meet you." She stood and extended her hand to them. The friendly smile plastered on her face was her way of smoothing over the awkward conversation that they had just barged in on.

"I'm clarity!" His sister took the olive branch and ran with it. His parents, on the other hand, were more suspicious of the situation.