Goodbye My Alpha (Taya and Griffon)

"Ms. Palmer. I see you're awake."

Jackson quickly walked over to Taya and looked her up and down.

He'd returned to the suite earlier today to check on her, but she was sound asleep and he didn't want to wake her.

Instead, he'd quietly left the room-even though he was pretty sure that a herd of wild horses couldn't wake her. He'd gone into the the Sterling pack's Arcadia offices for a few meetings and then went back to check on her.

To find that she was still sleeping.

Part of him had wanted to wake her the second time to make sure she was okay, but the other part of him was irritated that he even cared, that his wolf was driving at him to keep checking on her.

Now, he'd returned for a third time. Seeing that she had finally woken up, he couldn't help but feel relief. He had never seen someone who could sleep so soundly.

Wolf shifters didn't do that. They were too attuned to their surroundings, their hearing too keen, their sense of self-preservation too deep.

Jackson stood there staring at Taya, his wolf a bit on edge as he examined her for anything amiss. He narrowed his eyes on her.

She looked pale and tired, too thin, but otherwise fine.

Taya swallowed and nodded, and Jackson saw the muscle in her jaw tick. She was annoyed with him, wanted to get away. He could sense that she was antsy. "Thank you for letting me stay here for the night. I'm sorry to have disturbed you."

She started to walk toward the elevator and escape him when Jackson remembered what Eric had done. He reached a hand out to grab her elbow and stopped her.

Taya's eyes widened and she looked down at his hand. He quickly let go of her, not meaning to frighten her.

"Before you rush off, I have something to tell you," he said.

"Yes?" she said tentatively.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you? We can talk while eating. My treat."

Taya's expression hardened, and Jackson couldn't read her eyes. Dammit, he wished she were a wolf.

He'd be able to command her to have dinner with him.

"There's no need, Alpha Sterling. We can talk right here."

Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a low, frustrated growl before he took out his phone. He showed Taya the photo Eric had taken.

"Eric...the doctor who came last night. He took a picture of us and sent it to a few people. Unfortunately, someone in the group took it upon themselves to share it with others, and now it's everywhere on social media."