Chapter 891 Chapter 891
When she stepped into the house, both her aunt and Orson stood there looking at her. “Did both of you know?” She took off her jacket and reached for the hook. It missed and fell to the floor. She stared at it for a second and then left it.
“About our family histories?” Aunt Heidi sat on the little sofa. “Of course we did.” She looked at Orson. “But we never thought it would be relevant.”
Ena went over and sat because she wasn’t sure her legs were going to keep her upright. “How is it I’m related to the original Alpha family but wasn’t to the last alpha?”
Orson snorted. “Idiocy mostly.” He sat in his big chair. “The original family moved most of the clan to a better location. His cousin took over this one.” He looked at his hands. “My family stayed the same as Heidi’s.”
Ena looked from one to the other. “This is a dream, right? I’m not being looked at to lead this clan.” She looked out the window. “Short of chaining them together, there’s nothing that will get them all going in the same direction.”
“You’d be surprised,” Orson said. “Everyone respects you.”
Ena looked at him. “Which has nothing to do with being in charge.” She rubbed her hands over her face and leaned forward. “I don’t know the first thing about being an alpha.”
“No one does until they are.” Her aunt said.
Ena looked a Orson. “You should be alpha.”
He shook his head. “I’m too old. This clan is going to need someone young to breathe some life back into it.”
“Orson would make a good second.” Heidi nodded. “Maybe he can take on some of those new people and set them on the right path.”
He gave her a look and Ena thought he wasn’t on the market to build a family. She looked out the window and saw Foster talking with Jesse and one of the new men. She didn’t even know their names. Shouldn’t someone meant to be alpha know people’s names?” She turned back to them “I want to help the Alliance. Go to places and help free others.” She looked at Orson, he was nodding. “What if some of our clan didn’t leave on their own?” How would they know which may have been taken? “Did they take their stuff or just disappear one day?”
Her aunt looked at Orson, but neither of them spoke.
“If I agree to be Alpha, I’m needed here and can’t go do that with the Alliance.”
“You don’t know what you can and can’t do until you ask,” Orson told her.
She looked at him. His response wasn’t helpful. “Ask the Alliance if I can help or if I can do that if I’m alpha?”
He shrugged.
“We have to have an alpha.” Her aunt said. “I’m not giving back the bakeware.” She sat back and crossed her arms over her chest.
Orson grinned at her, then shook his head. “We have time to sort everything out.”
Her aunt turned to him. “If Ena isn’t willing to lead the clan, who else will?” She scoffed. “Harland can’t ever figure out how to guide one girl. No one will follow him.”
Ena couldn’t argue with that. She thought about Savan but changed her mind before she said his name out loud. “Zach?” Her voice cracked when she said it.
“Zach isn’t the type. He does what he can to help, but he’d never go out of his way to do more.” Orson was giving her a strange look. “Like running toward a man with a gun instead of away from it. That’s alpha material.”
Her aunt raised a brow but did not speak.
Ena sighed. “I didn’t know about the gun. I was just trying to see if you were there.”
He nodded. “I know. I spoke to Foster about it. That took guts.”
“I needed to know.” She shrugged.
“I appreciate that.” He was giving her a look that said he knew the answer and was waiting for her to catch up.
She stood up because she couldn’t sit there with the two of them looking at her. Turning, she looked out the window. Nyssa was standing with two of the new women. She was smiling. That was something she didn’t see often. “What happens to those new people if we don’t have an alpha.” She watched them walk over to the supplies.
“I imagine the Alliance will take them back to where they were before here.” Her aunt said quietly.
Ena continued to watch them for a moment. She had seen the way the two girls had looked when they’d gotten them at Waylon’s. She wondered what horrible things the people here had been through. “There are people who have been taking all shifters clans for longer than any of us have been alive.” She turned back to them. “The Alliance is stopping them, and then they’re going to help those in other countries. I need to help.” She looked at her jacket. “But I need to help our clan too.” She went over and picked it up. “I have to speak with someone.”
Her aunt stood up. “Who? That Jesse fellow knows a lot.”
Ena put her arm in the sleeve. “Yes, he does, but I need to talk to the princess.”
Her aunt’s eyes rounded. “You can do that?”
Ena nodded. “Yes.” She was pretty sure that she could.
Orson smiled briefly and then nodded. “You work out what you have to, my girl. Just know if you become our alpha, I will have your back.” He stood up. “I’ll be your second and I supposed I could train up someone to replace me when I’m gone, but I’ll only do it for you.”
Ena sighed. No pressure with that. “I’ll let you know what I decide.” She turned toward the door.
“Ena.”
Gripping the doorknob, she glanced back at Orson.
“You should go see some of the world and help any you can.”
She turned a bit more and held his look for a moment before going outside. When she closed the door, she stood there. He’d agreed to be her second and then told her she should leave. Which one did he want her to do?