Finding Alison

Emma stepped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom she shared with her husband. She braced herself because she’d heard him come in and wondered what he would find out of place today.

She did her best to keep everything as he liked and that was a full-time job.

“Emma,” he bellowed.

She shuddered but pasted on a smile. “Lucien? Do you have to yell?”

“When my woman doesn’t have dinner on the table right away, then yes I do.”

She entered the kitchen where dinner was ready to serve and looked him up and down. “You don't even have your coat off. Or your shoes.”

“I work hard to keep this roof over our heads. If I want to keep my shoes on I will.”

It had been a discussion for all five years of their marriage. If he took off his shoes, the house would stay cleaner. He’d never listened to Emma and she had to sweep the floor every day. He shrugged off his coat, hanging it on a hook by the door. He flopped into his chair and picked up his silverware, looking pointedly at Emma. “Don’t just stand there.”

She hurried to the stove and put the stew she’d been cooking onto his plate. Lots of meat: just how he liked it. She set the plate in front of him then spooned out her portion. She sat across from him at the scarred wooden table. Putting her fork into the meal, she ate in silence.

Lucien gobbled down the food as if table manners didn’t matter. He was the Alpha of their pack, so who would question him.

His father hadn’t been this way. How had Lucien turned out so gruff? Emma would never know and each day she spent with him, she cursed that she’d let her parents talk her into this arranged marriage.

Lucien hadn’t even bothered to be charming in the beginning. She’d begged her parents to pick someone else, but, according to them, he was much better than the man she’d been dating at the time. They’d insisted that Dex had no prospects.

“How was your day?”

“Crappy as always.”

Lucien often complained about whiny pack members. “Sorry to hear that.”

He paused, his fork midway between his plate and his mouth. “Really? Are you Emma?”

He treated her badly, then questioned her sincerity. What had her parents been thinking? “Lucien.”

“Don’t ‘Lucien’ me. You’re always ready to spend the money I make.”

As if her closet was full of designer clothing. Her car was ten years old. It needed new tires. The kitchen appliances barely worked. From the outside, the house looked like a dream, but inside it was a nightmare. She’d begged him to let her upgrade, but he didn’t care. His pack didn’t come here for meetings so they would never know that their leader lived in squalor.

“Stop, Lucien.”

She didn’t want to fight. Besides, she had a book club meeting tonight and if he was in a bad mood, he wouldn’t let her go.

Lucien went back to inhaling his food. “I have a meeting tonight.”

“So do I.”

He paused. “Oh?”

“Book club.”

He frowned. “I don’t see the point, but I guess if I’m not going to be here then it’s okay.”

Good. At least she could get out of the house for an hour or so.

“Where are they meeting?” he asked.

“At the bookstore downtown.”

He seemed to ponder that. “Okay.”

“I know that house burned down. Does that family need anything? I can collect donations of clothing or something tonight,” she said.

He blinked at me. “Don’t you dare get involved. They are being taken care of.”

Lucien never let her get involved in pack business. She’d heard that many pack members though tof her as lazy or snobby. She was none of those things. Lucien hamstrung her efforts to get to know people. This was her pack, her family. She wanted to know every one of them as the Alpha’s mate and wife. Lucien didn’t see the point.

“Okay.”

She went back to her meal. Lucien finished up quickly, then rose. “The Council of Wolves is bugging me for an heir. We need to get on that.”

They’d been trying for a year to have a child. Part of Emma was glad they hadn’t, unsure of what kind of father Lucien would be. “I’m still not pregnant.”

“Then we need to take care of that.”

“What else can we do, Lucien. You won’t go to the doctor to see if the problem is you.”