curse of the alpha - episode 05 & 06 Read Online Free Page B

hopped out of the driver’s side, Ainsley almost wept with relief. She ran onto the porch to greet her friend.
    Grace’s worried expression told Ainsley all she needed to know about what was happening in town. Ainsley had never seen her friend looking so grim.
    “Grace!”
    “Ainsley, I’m glad you’re okay. I have no idea what’s happening in the wolf community but I assume its bad and it has something to do with you.”
    “Come on, I’ll tell you on the way – let’s walk so no one sees your car outside my house.”
    They kept to the main roads, Grace agreed with Erik on that point. By the time they reached the Connor home, Grace had heard it all. She nodded grimly as Ainsley came to the end of her tale.
    Ainsley was concerned at her friend’s uncharacteristic silence.
    “Do you believe me?” she ventured.
    Grace turned quickly to look at her.
    “Of course I do. I just wonder what this means for my career working for that man. And what it means for the town if he… finds a way to get what he wants.”
    Ainsley had a feeling that there was more Grace wanted to say. But she was pretty sure it had to do with Ainsley choosing an alpha. Since she was darned sure going to try to choose Erik, but had no idea what the result might be, she didn’t feel like sharing her plan. Instead she changed the subject.
    “What did you find out about Brian?”
    They were heading up the steps onto the front porch when they noticed the eggs. It looked like about five dozen of them had been launched at the house. Every surface stunk under a coating of the sticky yellow mess.
    The women nodded grimly at each other. Ainsley set her jaw as she headed for the front door. In all the years her family had lived in Tarker’s Mills they had never locked their doors. She wondered if she was about to regret that.
    There was a notice taped to the door. The top line read Sheriff’s Department – Property Condemnation and Notice of Eviction. Her eyes blurred with angry tears before she could read the rest. Instead she tore it off the door and crammed it in the pocket of Erik’s jeans.
    The living room looked like a crime scene. There were no more eggs, thank god. But someone had spray painted Fuck you, city bitch in red spray paint over and over on the walls. Ainsley felt her breakfast threaten to come back up. She ran up the stairs to her room.
    Please not the pictures of my family. Please not the books and mementos.
    The door swung open and the room was absolutely empty.
    Grace was pounding up the stairs behind her.
    Ainsley forced herself to stay calm. She couldn’t bear to think that she might hurt her friend. But she could feel her skin crawling and her muscles clenching to shift.
    She lowered herself to the floor and took the yoga child’s pose. Breathe in, breathe out she told herself. If she could do this under excruciating pain every month in a NYC apartment, she could do it here too. It wasn’t the full moon yet.
    Somehow the draw to shift was stronger anyway. Pain settled into her bones and she rocked herself forward and back. After a few minutes the compulsion eased. She sat up.
    Grace was staring at her wordlessly.
    “I would never risk shifting near you, Grace, don’t worry.”
    “How did you do that?”
    “It’s what I always do.”
    “I’m not sure the others can control it like that.”
    “I get the same impression. Please tell me about Brian now. I need distraction.”
    Grace sat down next to her.
    “I checked the file at the office. I knew before I opened it that something was fishy.”
    “How?”
    “When a teenager dies in an animal attack in a small sleepy town, you’d expect a massive file, right?”
    Ainsley nodded.
    “The file was only a few pages long. There was no autopsy report. There was nothing in there from Animal Control. There wasn’t even a statement from you. Someone didn’t want a record of what happened.”
    “Maybe that’s because I’m a wolf. What did you say you do when a wolf crime