Ch. 351..360
Chapter 0351
I didn’t sleep well in the few hours that I did try. I am restless and if I am being honest with myself, I am eager. We have been at this for months now, almost a year, and we finally have information to move on and take action. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited that we were finally going to move tomorrow. I could feel it in the house last night as the team was making plans and gearing up, many of them have been at this for years, they want to wrap this up, find this rogue king and either kill him or take a step towards killing him. He’s enslaving people, kidnapping women, forcefully taking over packs and all for the small gain of becoming the King of our territory.
There are so many Alpha Kings, because the world is too big to have just one. There are wolves everywhere and by nature need a strong leader and to be part of a pack. We naturally gravitate towards a hierarchy and as long as everyone does their part we live well. But there is always someone who sees being a leader as being in power or having ultimate power. Those are the people that are never chosen to be a leader, because they miss the point completely. Leaders are subject to making hard decisions that benefit the many, not just what they want personally. It’s not about having slaves or people to order around. It’s about keeping everyone safe and happy and healthy, putting the whole pack and our race above your own needs. Not all people who want to be leaders should lead, because they don’t understand this.
If Alpha Reggie is right and this rogue king is a descendant of the royal line who has been taught to be bitter about the birth order and whatever privileges he thinks he’s missing out on he is going to be hard to defeat. His bloodline alone will make it difficult to fight him if we meet up with him, but also a lifetime of hatred and vengeance can make people do crazy things. That’s something that warrior training really focused on. Many of the people we will fight believe with every fiber of their being that they are right and that what they are fighting for is right and the rest of the world at large is out to get them. It’s almost like a disorder and as much as you can’t get sucked into their bullsh*t, you also have to understand where they are coming from to find a crack in their armor that will bring them down.
Mina and I got up slowly. She doesn’t seem to have slept any better than me.
“I still hate your schedule. Do any of your friends enjoy this part?”
“Nope,” I laugh at her, getting ready like I do every morning. She’s just following me around looking like a zombie. I’m tired, but my adrenaline is already going in anticipation. “No one likes it and everyone complains. Sometimes, I think that’s how I know I am doing something right.” She shakes her head and laughs with me.
“I need coffee and carbs, bring me something back from the diner.” She says as I get to the door and open it up. I turn around to give her a hug and then step out onto the porch. “Hi Tyler. You don’t have to hide, you know. We don’t hate you, you know.” She almost shouts into the yard.
“Well, you don’t know me very well then.” He steps out from the same spot he did yesterday.
“That’s too bad. I’m kind of over all the guessing games.” She replies with a good amount of sass.
“Is that why you stopped hanging out with Mike?” He moves closer, hands in his pockets like he’s trying to keep them to himself.
Chapter 0352
“Yes and no, but more no. He just seemed distracted and like something else had his full attention.”
“Someone and something both have his full attention. So you aren’t wrong.” That glimmer of irritation flashes in his eyes again, but he schools it quickly before turning fully to me. “You ready, I had a long night, but I couldn’t sleep. I just need to move.”
“Yeah. I’ll bring you something from the diner Mina. See you in a couple hours.”
“Bye, Thanks.” She heads back inside and latches the door before we even take off.
As we jog I am trying to figure out what to say to Tyler. I mean the more information I can get before tonight, the better, but I also don’t want him to shut down on me or shut me out and he seems to be on the verge of that all the time right now.
“Do you want to talk about why you have been so different around me lately? Don’t act like you haven’t.” I say as his eyebrows shoot up and his mouth opens with, I’m sure, a denial about to fall out of his mouth.
“I told you it’s complicated.”
“What about the Luna thing? No one knows who the next Luna will be, until an Alpha finds his or her mate. But, you seem very sure that I will be one and sooner rather than later. I don’t understand.”
“It’s complicated, but you have to notice that you have gained a lot of attention and not just from me.” I roll my eyes.
“I have not had any more than Mina or any of the other girls that run with us. So if you are going to sidestep that question, how about this one? What do you and your friends get up to in the woods? Are you smuggling drugs or something?”
It’s his turn to roll his eyes. “Or something.” Is all he says. “Let’s just workout so I don’t get in any more trouble over you.”
“What?! You’ve gotten in trouble over me? How? Why? By who?”
“Let’s just say that I’m not the only one who noticed you, I was just the first and you happened to decide to give me a chance. That was not taken well by others and I have been punished accordingly.”
“Tyler! Why didn’t you say something? I could have at least acknowledged whoever has a problem with you and me being friends.”
“You have already done that much and no one believes we’re just friends. Everyone just thinks we’re good at hiding it.” He winks at me. Oh Goddess!
I cringe. “Why does everything have to be about s*x? Seriously? That’s what whoever thinks? That we are just really good at hiding our s*xual encounters?” I rub my hands over my face. This is so stupid, in general jealous people are stupid.
“Yep.” He says as he opens the door to the gym for me to walk through ahead of him.
“Have you ever just invited them along so they can see it’s completely platonic?”
“And have to share your attention, no f*cking way! They will pull the rank card eventually and make it so I can’t talk to you at all, so I was not going to give up any time with you that you would allow.”
“Seriously?!” I feel like a broken record, even in my own head, but that’s the only thing I can think of. Someone thinks they have some kind of claim on me and is just biding time and waiting it out, like they have all the leisure time in the world to mess with me.
“Yeah. So on that note, let’s go for some heavy weights today. I think we both need it.” He chuckles a bit trying to lighten the mood, but the smile he gives is forced and doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
Chapter 0353
We do a full body workout, torturing every single muscle, so I know I am going to be sore later on our run, but I couldn’t help it. I’m back at being controlled, being someone else’s property to do with as they please. My father all but said he only thought of me as a baby machine to produce another strong Beta line and he didn’t care about my mate either. If he thought he could match me with someone better he would sell me like a piece of furniture in a heartbeat.
We made it to the diner and at this point the waitress knows our orders and just comes by with drinks and to tell us our food will be out in a bit. There aren’t as many people here today as usual on a Thursday morning. I made a mental note to tell Osiston and Nickolas about it.
Tyler and I were back to small talk about classes and our summer plans. I honestly didn’t know what I was doing for the summer. I thought about sticking around to take a few classes so I could graduate early and he laughed at me.
“You don’t know how to relax do you?” He is openly and loudly laughing at me now.
“What do you mean? I relax all the time.” I try to sound annoyed at him, but it doesn’t quite hit the way I intended.
“Studying and working out aren’t relaxing.” He’s still laughing.
“Maybe not for you, but it makes me feel good to have something to work towards.” I shrug. “And then once I decide to do something I see no reason to take forever to achieve my goal. Why take four years to accomplish something when I could easily do it in two and a half or three?”
“Because, sometimes not doing anything is just as relaxing as doing everything quickly. Take the time to be with people you care about and just be.”
“I’m here with you aren’t I? With the exception of the month that I was pissed and doing everything to not punch you in the face, we have done this,” I gesture to the diner around us, “almost everyday since we met. This is me relaxing and taking time out to hang out and just be. Our biggest problem is that both of us don’t like talking about personal stuff so we don’t. That limits conversational topics. Don’t push for things unless you are looking at the whole picture. Some of us are worse off sitting still, not better.”
Well that shut him up. He just sat there looking at me like it’s the first time he’s seen me.
“Yep definitely going to be harder than I thought.”
“What does that even mean?” I groan.
“I already told you, I was informed that rank was going to be pulled at some point and that I wouldn’t be allowed to talk to you anymore. The more I get to know you, even the little you allow, the harder I think it is going to be to let you go.”
“Any heads up on when this jackass is going to lay his so-called claim? Because he will figure out the same way you did, that I don’t do well with being told what I am going to do or who I can and cannot talk to.” Now it’s my turn to get all broody and dark. Just because I am a female does not mean I am weak and I will not hesitate to put these guys in their places tonight.
Chapter 0354
We head to class and nothing new really happens. I thought for sure that our teacher was maybe in on the werewolf thing, but maybe not, or maybe he is just better at hiding it. I mean the Dean is a werewolf and many of the professors are or have a basic knowledge of our existence which helps us to integrate into normal life around here. But I thought for sure the way that Professor Chance acts that he would be all in for the werewolf liberation from the Alpha King. He just talks like a tree hugging hippy. Don’t get me wrong. I am all for preserving the lands that we need to run and stay safe from the humans who don’t know of our existence, but I am not about to jump on the bandwagon that all people who live in and love modern society need to be exiled away from us and the more he talks the more he sounds like the werewolf version of Hitler. It leaves me a little concerned.
Tyler walks me home and this time Mike and Robbie join us, which is also odd, out of character and clearly not what Tyler had planned based on his current demeanor. I left them all on the porch, blaming Nickolas for not letting them in. I can still play the innocent nice girl even if no one believes that I really am.
I change into some sturdy pants and layer a tank top with a long sleeved shirt on top. I finish off my outfit with thick socks and my warrior boots that are really broken in. I don’t get cold like most wolves, but I have no idea what is going to happen tonight and I have to assume that I might not get back to the house tonight.
“You look ready for a fight.” Robbie says, smiling.
“Not a fight, but the woods for sure. You guys have been out there. The ground is all muddy and sloppy. I’d rather trash my hiking shoes than my tennis shoes any day.”
“You could always just go naked like the rest of us.” Robbie is being unusually playful with me tonight.
Low growls come from both Mike and Tyler. I wonder what that is all about? THe rest of the girls strip like it’s nothing. Why would me being naked be a problem? I laugh it off like the joke I think it’s supposed to be.
“You know I don’t have to, so why would I be uncomfortable if I don’t have to be?” I shrug it off and push past him as I walk down my porch steps. “We going or not? I’m interested to see what you guys do for set up.” I keep walking even though I have no idea where Mike’s truck is parked.
It doesn’t take them more than a second to follow me and lead me in the right direction. Mike has his truck parked at one of the public lots nearby, like he planned on being here to pick me up. Hmm.
Mike climbs into the driver's seat, Robbie climbs into the center and Tyler follows, just like I smelled their scents the first time we ran with them. I stand and have a sense of deja vu. There is no back seat for me to climb into, no place for me and clearly they didn’t plan on the extra body.
“So am I riding in the back?” I question playfully. It’s the same line Sierra and I used on the guys the first time we rode with them.
“Of course not!” Tyler yelps. “Come here, you can sit on my lap. The drive isn’t that far and you’re pretty tiny.” He winks at me. I roll my eyes and climb up, but Tyler is a little over eager and unlike Dakota, he doesn’t have a good grasp on me so I end up flying across him and I catch myself on Robbie’s lap, one hand on each of his thighs and dangerously close to his junk.
Chapter 0355
Robbie is laughing. “All you had to do was ask Sky, no need to throw yourself at me.” I am laughing too, but another growl sounds out in the cab, stopping all noise. It didn’t come from Tyler though. It came from Mike who looks even more irritated than earlier. What the hell is up with him?
I right myself and end up sitting half on Robbie and half on Tyler. Although neither make any effort to touch or hold me in place. I keep my hands on the dash since Mike seems to be on a mission to make me bounce as hard as possible and bruise my ass on their knees.
We make it to the bonfire sight in no time. My ass is numb and we have only been driving for twenty or so minutes.
“Well, that was eventful. You okay Mike?” I ask sarcastically, but I’m not about to let whatever bad mood he’s in affect me.
“Fine.” It’s clipped, but he doesn’t look at me. “Let’s just get this done so we can get back and start the run. Janice will be pissed if we make her late.”
This is what confuses me most. What does Janice have to do with anything? I never know who is in charge of this group, but clearly all of them have some type of control, they are just good at keeping the actual leader hidden.
We unload all of the coolers from the back of the truck and set up the firewood. Robbie, for whatever reason, has decided that I am okay to talk to all of a sudden, but that also seems to piss off both Tyler and Mike. But if Tyler is right and someone has laid claim to me, maybe that’s why they are mad. But that doesn’t explain Robbie. Maybe he’s the leader that has laid claim, so he’s just gloating. But his actions don’t feel like gloating, just like he’s trying to be friendly. Who knows. This is the part I truly suck at. Emotions are complicated and kind of ridiculous. There is way too much to keep track of.
We finish the set up and move to get into the truck to leave, but Mike has other ideas.
“I’m going to run back, you guys take the truck, I’ll meet you at the rec center at six.” Then he just turns around and takes off, but not in the direction of the campus. In fact he’s running away from it.
“Where’s he going?” I ask, staring at the place where Mike just was.
“He’s irritated, has been for a few days. He’ll get over it soon enough.” Robbie says.
“Easy for you to say. You’re not usually on the receiving end of him being pissed off.” Tyler looks like he might be sick.
“You okay?” I whisper to him.
He leans into my ear. “Yeah, I will be. The last couple of days have been exhausting.” He lowers his voice to barely above a whisper. “She’s been extra busy.” He looks me dead in the eyes and it clicks. He’s in pain from his mate.
My breath catches. “Does she know you’ve been hanging out with me? Is that why?” I whisper back before climbing in the truck.
“Yeah, but I don’t know if it’s her or him that wants to hurt me more.” He looks sad, I wish I could stop it for him. No one deserves that kind of pain. He crawls in the driver’s seat, I slide into the center and Robbie slides in next to me. “Do you really have to provoke him like that?” Tyler doesn’t look at Robbie with the accusation.
“He would do the same if the situation was reversed and you know it. He can suck my d*ck for all I care. Yours too for that matter.”
We drove in silence after that. We have a couple hours to kill before we have to be at the rec center so we go to the coffee shop and grab something small to snack on and an extra large coffee for me
and Tyler. Robbie settles with a normal person sized coffee, you know for people who get regular amounts of sleep, and we all avoid the situation that we left at the bonfire sight.
Chapter 0356
The weather has turned for the better pretty consistently the last couple of days. The rain has been crazy though, so like many students we have taken the opportunity to walk around and enjoy the sun while it is out.
“Are you really going to stick around and take classes over the summer?” Robbie asks out of the blue.
“Not you too. Listen, Tyler already made fun of me for considering it, but what else would I do? I have to work and we don’t have any big travel plans. We might visit some of the cities we hit up on our way here. We made a few friends and Mina wants to check in with them before we continue here or move on to somewhere else. There are no definite plans.”
“Are you guys planning on coming back here though?” Robbie sounds concerned.
“I don’t know. It’s not really up to me. I can realistically go to school anywhere. Mina is on a tour to try and find her mate. That’s why we came here in the first place. So I am at the mercy of what she and Nickolas want to do.” I shrug.
“You two and your mate fixation.” Robbie grumbles. “Why are you so stuck on finding them?”
“Why are you so against the idea?” I turned his question on him. I understand Tyler’s issue. He still deals with it on a daily basis. And apparently I am a reason for his current suffering. Even though there are zero romantic feelings towards him, I kind of wish I knew who she was so I could punch her in the face.
With that thought, Tyler grunts next to me and I turn quickly. He tries to play it off but I heard him and he knows I heard him. “Hey, would it be better if you sat down or to keep moving?” I don’t even try to keep my voice down. I don’t care who can hear me. This b*tch is f*cking this Alpha wannabe to make him hurt on purpose.
“Not much that really helps.” He takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly. I take his hand and we keep walking at a slower pace.
“That is why I am so against it.” Robbie grumbles darkly from beside me after we have been walking a few more minutes. I was so focused on Tyler, I forgot it wasn’t just us.
“You know about this? Why would someone do this?”
“Because they are sick f*cks who don’t actually care about other people. This is the kind of leadership and power that we know. That's all we know. So you and your flowery rainbows and unicorns idea about mates is just that a fantasy. The real world doesn’t give a sh*t about mates or their feelings or it wouldn’t be possible to hurt your fated mate this way.” The old Robbie is back and menacing. I’m actually afraid of him right now.
“You need to accept her rejection. Let her go. She needs to let you go, if she has chosen someone else. This is just cruel.”
“Your sweetheart here won’t do that.” Robbie sneers.
“Why?” I ask still holding onto Tyler, he isn’t even complaining that we are having a conversation about him while he’s standing there.
“Her lovely chosen mate said he would kill her if Tyler accepted. So instead of letting her suffer, he suffers over and over again. More so when one of them is in a rage mood and they need to take it out on someone. Did he tell you they made him watch the first time? So they could see exactly what the pain would look like.”
Chapter 0357
My hands fly to my mouth and my wide eyes look at Tyler in disbelief.
“Stop!” Tyler gets out. He’s breathing heavier now, but he is still walking forward. He clearly does this a lot.
“Why? You haven’t made a move on Sky and you won’t now that you have orders. She should know what we put up with from our leaders if she chooses to stick around.” Robbie looks back to me, “Tyler has never once ‘cheated’ on his mate bond. So she has never suffered. I say it’s bullsh*t and you should make her pay.”
“I said enough! Let it go. I made my choices, so did you. Enough.”
I am at a loss for words. How could someone be that cruel? And he just lets it happen. Is this really what the mate bond is?
Tyler takes another deep breath and stands up a bit straighter. “I think they are done, which means we need to get to the rec center, they will be on their way.”
We head back to the truck and start our drive to the rec center in silence. I wonder if I will be able to tell who his mate and their leader are?
Whatever happens both of these people need to be punished for what they are doing to other people. I don’t know Robbie’s story, but I bet it’s something similar to Tyler's. The way that they talk and act like this is a normal occurrence. It can’t be. Giving up and then torturing your given mate can’t be the norm for them. I hope they both figure out better ways to live and get out of this sh*tty excuse for a pack. If this is how the Rogue King or his minions live and treat their pack members, I can’t let them win. We have to stop them, no matter what. This is awful and I only know two people being harmed by the situation.
We are the first to arrive, which sets Tyler and Robbie at ease a bit. They must get punished if they are late. Within the next twenty minutes the rest of the runners show up. There aren’t as many as normal, which strikes me as weird since this is the only time most of them get the chance to shift.
I don’t fail to notice Janice walking up with a couple other girls and they all look a little irritated, well more than usual anyway. I wonder what’s going on with them?
“Where is everyone?” I ask Tyler in a low whisper, but I know most of them can hear me.
‘It’s a nice day so a bunch of them are already out running and are going to meet us at the shift spot and run from there.”
It sounds like the lame answer it is, but I go with it. I just need to get on this run and get moving. So, I nod my head and follow Tyler and Robbie closer to the group. I do notice that Mike isn’t here yet which is strange. He’s usually one of the first, but the way he was acting before I’m not mad about his absence.
“It’s time.” Janice calls out to the small group. “Let’s run.” She turns and starts to jog off and we all follow. I notice we are moving much faster than our normal ‘jog.’ Maybe Tyler is right and everyone’s wolves just want to get out and run while the weather is nice.
We make it to the shift spot in less than half the usual time. Everyone is breathing heavily, but no one looks too winded. Several people have already changed and shifted. We are in the middle of the pack and Tyler and Robbie both wait an beat before changing and something in their demeanor has shifted.
“What’s wrong?” I ask them both, stepping away to give them space to change.
“Nothing, just…” Tyler starts.
“Don’t tell me ‘nothing.’ I can feel it, something is going on. There are no extra people meeting us here and we got here in half the time. Something is up, every single one of you is on edge. And Mike and some of the rest of the regulars are not here.”
Chapter 0358
“I told you you are too observant for your own good.” He moves in to hug me and then stops suddenly with a grunt, a pained look on his face. I give him a questioning look. He looks over my shoulder then back at me, just shakes his head and steps back. “We should shift and get moving.” He doesn’t even look at me before dropping the rest of his clothes and shifting, knowing I can’t talk to him over the mindlink.
Robbie growls before tearing through his clothes, not even bothering to undress. Something is wrong and no one is going to tell me what it is.
“Heads up guys, something is way off here. We are missing half the running group and everyone here is super agitated. Something is going down, but no one is talking or explaining anything. I’ll keep my link open.”
“I’ve got you, Little One.” Osiston responds
The whole group has shifted except for me and they all start to move quickly. I go to catch up and start with a jog so I can still see the back of the pack when something rams into me from the side. I go flying sideways and don’t even get my bearings when I am hit from the side again. This time the force doesn’t take me by surprise and I am able to look up and see the dull brown wolf that hit me.
It’s Janice. I’d recognize her boring dirt brown color anywhere. Her wolf is smaller than mine, meaning she’s a lower rank than me. Probably an omega, I never really paid attention before because it didn’t matter. Maybe that’s why she’s mad. She can sense my aura and doesn’t like me being around any of the guys. She hasn’t talked to me since the first run, but has never been outwardly mean. Something changed.
I get up to move again. If it’s a fight she wants, it’s a fight she’ll get. This is what I am here for. Before I can even finish the thought though, she starts to shift back.
“You are a gigantic pain in the ass, did you know that?” She comes at me again. Now we’re talking. Fighting an angry person is something I can do without hesitation.
"It's been mentioned a couple of times.” I dodge her clumsy attack. “What did I do to you, just we are both on the same page?”
“You b*tch! You stole him from me and you know it!” She snarls. “Have you been working behind my back the whole time?" She swings at me again. Another miss and I push her shoulder and knock her to the ground.
“What the hell are you talking about? We don't even talk to the same people.” I move towards her, but she rolls away and I let her. I am so confused.
“He f*cked right before we came here today and then told me I was done, I would never live up to you, the standard that you set.” She is full-on sobbing now, but determined to fight me. She comes at me again. Her rage-filled eyes let me know she’s out for blood.
Her hands are half shifted into her claws and she is swiping frantically at my face. I am blocking each arm, but my own are getting destroyed in the process.
“Who are you talking about?" I grunt in between blows.
“The Alpha, you b*tch! I had him all to myself, he was happy with me and then you came along with your abilities and your strength and he decided I wasn’t good enough.”
Then it clicks. She's Tyler's mate. The one he can't reject. She left him for an asshole who would take someone’s mate, knowing who they were and that it was hurting them and on top of that enjoying the pain it caused.
“I still don’t know who you are talking about. I didn’t steal anyone, I don’t talk to anyone but Tyler and you have made it clear you don’t want him. I think you are the b*tch. No one should treat their mate like that.” I huff out trying to pin her down.
Chapter 0359
We are grappling on the ground now. I still have a firm grip on her wrists, but she is flexible and keeps trying to flip me over onto my back. There are chunks of mud and forest floor flying around us. I keep blinking to keep it out of my eyes, but I can taste it on my tongue. He head whipping back and forth and her legs kicking at my back as I sit across her stomach.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. No one denies an Alpha when they choose you. He chose me, wanted me to be his mate.” She spits at me.
“Then why did he never mark you?” I honestly wasn’t trying to be mean, but that makes no sense. No chosen mate would wait to be marked. She’s delusional if she thinks it is going to happen now. “How long was he promising to do it and didn’t. Your Alpha played you, not me.” I huff against her as she pulls her wrists free and pushes me off of her. I hit my side, but scramble up quickly.
“Two years of work. Two years of commitment. I did everything he’s ever asked me to and all you had to do was bat your virgin eyes at him. All these assholes talk and it got back to him exactly how innocent you are. He’s going to take you and break you and then throw you away like the rest.”
She’s still throwing lazy punches. She has no idea what she is doing. She never trained to be a Luna, if this is how she fights.
“So you are telling me.” I finally land a solid punch to her cheek and she falls. “That in two years, he has cheated on you and you stayed committed hoping you would change him, that getting his mark would make you better than everyone. But it never did, did it? No one took you seriously, no one listened to you, everyone saw you for the joke that he made you and your true mate bond. You make me sick, both of you do and I don’t even know who ‘he’ is.”
She's starting to wobble, but her fury is keeping her upright and fighting.
“Of course you know, you've been planning this from the moment you got here. And I am not a JOKE!" She screams as she lunges at me.
I don’t even think, I just react. Her lunge is clumsy but forceful and I reach around her, almost in slow motion, grab the nape of her neck with one hand and use the other to propel her naked ass into the trunk of a massive tree face first with all of my strength. She collides with a sickening crunch and then collapses with no other sounds.
I get two breaths in and then I hear it. The painful wail of a heartbreaking howl. I know it came from Tyler, feeling her die. I can’t breathe... I killed someone... I took a life. She would have killed me, the logical part of my brain which is probably my wolf, tells me. But, I took someone’s life. That isn’t my decision to make. My shallow breathing is making my vision go blurry at the edges. I need to get control, now! I close my eyes and breathe deep into my lungs then let it out slowly.
“Well, that was entertaining. I thought she might challenge you after our little tryst earlier, but I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. You truly are the best choice as my Luna. I'm so glad you fought so hard for me.” A very familiar, silky deep voice sounds behind me. It has never been this confident before though. Usually joking or energetic, but this version is calculating and cruel. Chills run over my whole body.
I turn slowly and so many things click into place and so many questions rush through my brain all at the same time.
Chapter 0360
Mike. Mike is the Alpha of this rogue pack. Does that mean he is this Rogue King that everyone is talking about? The happy go lucky goofball that just follows his friends around, this is their leader? I never saw that coming. There are even a few guys I’m not super familiar with that I would have pegged as the leader over him. He’s not a small guy, but he doesn’t come across as a fighter. Maybe like people do to me I underestimated his abilities.
“I know that you want me. I see the way you look at me, you can’t help it or deny it.” He says in a smooth voice.
“What are you talking about?” I whisper, so confused about who is standing in front of me right now.
“So shy and innocent. I knew there was a fighter in there somewhere, it just needed the right motivation to come out. I’m glad to know I am that reason for you. THat you will defend your connection to me to the last.”
This boy has lost his ever loving mind. Is he really this self absorbed that he can turn Janice’s jealousy into me fighting her for him? No one is that crazy right?
“You were not a reason for anything that I did here. I didn’t even know it was you she was talking about.”
“Don't play coy with me, you already have my attention, you don't need to play hard to get. I know you could sense my power and you were drawn to me.”
“No, I can't honestly say that is true in any way. I'm not drawn to anyone, least of all you.” I should really stop talking, but I can’t seem to help myself. Maybe the shock is getting to me, but he might kill me just for insulting him, based on the look that briefly flashed across his face. Before I can get too far into that thought process though a loud growl and snarl come from my left and a large gray and white patched wolf comes barreling towards us.
I jump out of the way ready to shift, my brain fog gone in a flash, ready to fight my next attacker if needed. But the wolf heads straight for Mike and stops right in front of him.
The loud sounds of popping and snapping draw my attention, but I keep Mike in my line of sight not trusting him in any way, stepping away from both of them slowly.
“WHY?! Why did you do it?" Tyler roared at Mike. “You killed her?!” It was both an accusation and a question. "You chose her, took her from me, why would you kill her? You could have just given her back to me.”
“I didn’t kill her, friend. I never actually would have killed her. She was easy and fun to have around. Always willing to show me how devoted and dedicated she was to me.” Mike closed his eyes and licked his lips. Gross. “Even after I chose my Luna I would have kept her around for variety. And she would have stayed too. She never would have gone back to you, she always had the choice.” His eyes were now challenging and calculating, but I don't know if it was directed at Tyler or me. He's a snake and knows how to use his words, that is how he’s gotten this far. “Your new little toy here was jealous and wanted me all to herself, apparently she doesn't like to share. She’s the one who killed your mate.”
Tyler turned to me menacingly. The man I knew was gone. His wolf is feral with grief and Tyler no longer has control. He starts to stalk towards me slowly, hesitating, like he’s having a fight with himself. Maybe he is. His human side who knows me and knows I wouldn’t just kill his mate for no reason versus the wolf part that can’t live without his mate.