by Belle Kayce
“He thinks he has nothing there. Also, he is a part of Noctis Luna,” Lance answers, “but he knows if he ever wants to roam free or go back, I will back him up. His role in the pack is whatever he wishes. Same with Bo. Even though Bo likes the title of beta, I don’t like giving out ranks to anyone. Everyone in this pack is important.”
My heart hurts for Cole. This guy keeps his emotions so in check, you would think he’s a robot. But maybe he’s feeling too much. Felt too much.
I chew on my lip. “I need to explain my situation to Bo, Cole, and the rest.”
“They’ll understand,” Lance says, looking at me like he figured something out but wasn’t so sure about it. “I always knew you were hiding something. I just never wanted to push you on it. I thought you would tell me on your own time.”
He did give me time. Most alphas force their mates to be marked on the spot. Lance is still giving me space. I’m so glad he is doing it because my reaction to him yelling “Mine” would have been a slap.
I swallow. “Thanks. I was going to tell you, you know.”
Lance looks up at me curiously.
“That day I fainted? I was going to your office to tell you who I was.”
There was a tentative knock on the door.
“Hello, Alpha Lance. Can I speak with . . . Ava?” Bo pokes his head in the room, looking serious, which is a first for him. I know he trusted me, and I only lied to him. I hurt him.
Lance nods, giving me a lingering look before he leaves. He shuts the door, leaving Bo and I alone.
“Bo—” I begin.
“I thought we were friends, ya know?” Bo frowns, crossing his arms.
“We are,” I say. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry isn’t going to cut it.”
“I have two alphas after me. They want to kill me.” I pace around. “Look, Bo, you are probably the one I trust the most. It’s just hard.”
Bo frowns. “Ava, you have to know that Lance is your mate. I know you don’t know him well, but I would bet my entire life that Lance will never let anything happen to you.”
My shoulders sag. I feel another crying episode coming.
“I’m sorry,” I say again. “Really, I am.”
“Yeah, yeah. There’s only one way you’ll earn my forgiveness.”
My eyebrows furrow and my eyes shoot up to meet his. “How?”
Bo gives me a huge grin. “In the next week, convince Lance to get us a pool.”
CHAPTER TEN
Julia
I have been having these dreams. They aren’t anything really. My parents think they mean something, but when I draw them, they just end up looking like some weird pictures that mean nothing to me.
I am heading to Ava’s house, where I find myself more and more since Ava’s disappearance. Ava’s parents always asks me if Ava was acting weirdly before she ran away. Ava is my best friend. What ticks me off the most is she seriously couldn’t have called me while running away. We both could’ve ran away together.
I smirk at the thought, but I know Ava is probably in some serious crap. And what sucks is that I can’t help her at all.
They say she is charged of treason? I almost laughed when Beta Tim announced that. Ava? Treason? Ava’s idea of bad is trespassing on some old abandoned warehouse, which I made her do from time to time.
The only thing that makes me sane in this mess of a pack is going to Ava’s room. It feels better than home. Way better.
Ava’s room is on the ground floor of her house, and she would always leave it unlocked in case I ever came.
I open her window and enter her room, my wolf and I instantly missing our best friend.
Ava’s room is so her. One time, I jokingly bought Ava a poster of a pizza. She has it hanging on her wall now, together with other movie posters she loves. It’s mainly superhero films she obsesses over.
“Hmph.” I smile, looking around her room. I stare at her unmade bed. I want to take a picture of it and send it to Ava, but I think I lost my phone somewhere in the house. I shake my head and freeze when I smell Lisa.
She walks into Ava’s room and stares at me. She closes her sister’s door and sits on the bed.
Lisa’s lips curl at me. “Don’t you wear anything but black?”
I shrug at her. I never liked Miss prim-and-proper all that much. The only reason I tolerate her is because she is Ava’s sister. “I never know when I’d have to go to your funeral.”
Lisa gives me an eye roll then sighed. “Julia, you think Ava’s safe?”
I almost groan. I don’t want this heart to heart with her at all. “If you know anything about Ava, she’s probably laying low. She can be resourceful sometimes.”
I remember we once went camping with our class of twenty wolves and we both got lost, but somehow Ava knew the way around, and she learned some weird stuff on how to get food. She did watch too much TV.
Lisa gives me a look that’s filled with sadness. “I want to find her, you know.”
I do too but that will be the stupidest thing, especially since the entire pack is watching us. It is no secret who Ava is close to. Alpha Trent might look stupid, but his soldiers are watching Ava’s entire family and my family just in case any of us would try to see Ava.
“Who knows, she probably is living the luxury life somewhere in Hawaii and found her mate already,” I joke.
Lisa scoffs. “Who would even be Ava’s mate?”
This is what I never get. Lisa sometimes thinks Ava is beneath her and demeans her in ways. It pisses me off. Lisa is her sister for crying out loud. I don’t know anything about how siblings work, but I always think siblings are supposed to be supportive of each other and not jealous. Ava looks up to Lisa too.
“Probably an alpha,” I answer to piss Lisa off. I used to tell Ava how dumb it is how much Lisa wants to marry some wolf that has a higher ranking. Both Ava and I agreed we’d rather get anyone but an alpha or beta. The chances are really slim, but things like that do happen. Life is crazy and will sometimes get you. Ava should write a book honestly.
“Ava’s mate could never be an alpha,” Lisa says. “She’d be lucky to get an omega.”
I give Lisa a dirty look. “And you would be lucky to get something lower than that,” I snap.
Lisa clenches her jaw.
“Why are you so jealous of your sister?”
“What?” Lisa’s head shoots up.
I narrow my eyes at her. “Don’t play dumb, Lisa. You and I both know there’s a reason why you’ve been acting weird around Ava. Ava may not have noticed but I did.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lisa says stiffly, then gets up.
I guess she wants to end this conversation. I want to ask more, for Ava’s sake, but I let it go. I want to push for more information, but something weird is happening in Ava’s family ever since she ran away.
I don’t like it at all.
After saying good bye to Lisa, and walking out of Ava’s house, a group of wolves comes in front of me. Beta Tim with his ugly mug is the leader of this group of five.
I am so not in the mood for this. I just want to nap and forget all my problems.
“Julia, can we talk to you?” Beta Tim looks me up and down, smirking a little.
I snarl at him, and he is taken aback. This pathetic low life of a wolf thinks he can impress me?
I walk into Alpha Steven’s office, where there is a huge desk at the back of the room. Two chairs are in front of his desk, and my stupid alpha is sitting on his brown leather chair, smiling at me.
Why would he want to talk to me now? It’s been about a month since Ava left. No one talks to us about Ava’s whereabouts. Luckily, we don’t know either. I made sure to text Ava not to say anything about where she is, even to me.
“Please, Miss Julia, sit down.” Alpha Steven gestures to the chair.
I roll my eyes. Like I have a choice in this matter.
My wolf snickers in agreement.
I sigh
and sit down. “What did you want me for?” I ask, cutting to the point. I cross my arms and lean back, looking at my alpha in complete boredom. I can’t let him know that he intimidates me. My father used to tell me never to let anyone intimidate you. For me, that especially meant this sexist pig alpha.
“I want you to call Ava.”
Alpha Trent hands me my phone. So, this pig took my phone.
“I know you can get to call her.”
I want to laugh. Seriously? They want me to talk to Ava so they could kill her?
“Okay,” I agreed, putting out my hand. Alpha Trent looks surprised for a moment, but he hands me my phone.
I unlock it, then I chuck my phone against the wall. Hard. It cracks and I have to bite back a grin.
Alpha Trent growls thunderously. “You dare disobey me!”
“Whoops. I think my hand slipped,” I deadpan.
“That isn’t smart, Julia. You don’t know what he would do. Or if Ava is even alive.”
I growl at my wolf. Ava is alive. I can feel it in my bones. My crazy best friend is alive. She has to be. There is no way she would have died. Obviously, Alpha Trent hasn’t captured her yet.
Suddenly, two wolves grab my arms roughly, literally almost dragging me out of the office.
“You will face the consequences.” Alpha Trent snarls at me, and I don’t know what’s happening. My wolf is getting restless. She wants to be let free, to be free of the male wolves daring to harm me.
We’re outside and I come face to face with a huge pole.
My eyes widen and I look to the wolves next to me. They suddenly let me go. My throat constricts and my wolf wants to be let out now. I push her down.
Someone wearing an astronaut-looking suit is holding something that resembles a whip.
It smells like silver.
I almost puke.
No way. There is no way . . .
“Julia, I don’t think you’ve been here before. Welcome to the whipping post.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Ava
I told Bo how much I want to train. I can’t be defenseless against anyone, especially if this is going to be real. Me being a luna. The more I think about it, the more fidgety I get. At first, Bo laughed at me for getting some help from him, but after I chased him around the house with a butter knife, he relented.
Here we are, during a bright early morning, trying to get my fighting stance right. Bo keeps laughing at me because, apparently, I suck at it. A lot.
“Your legs are all wrong,” Bo comments as I try to position myself in the right fighting stance. He’s fighting back a grin.
I sigh loudly. “It looks like I’m never going to get anywhere.”
“You just gotta try, sugar mama.” Bo smiles then we both freeze.
“Hope,” we both say in unison, rushing to the pack house without a second thought. I’m running in front of Bo in a complete frenzy as I try to get to Hope’s room.
“We would make such horrible parents!” Bo cries.
“Who forgets about their own child!” I exclaim, panting as I go up the stairs.
I bust in the room even though I don’t hear anything, and there stands Raquel, the pack doctor, holding Hope and cooing her.
“She was crying earlier, so I came and fed her. Hope you guys don’t mind,” Raquel tells us, smiling at Hope.
“Aw, nah, you can take care of her as much as you want,” Bo says and I smack him on his arm.
“Thanks so much, Raquel,” I say in relief.
“Not a problem at all. Carter and I have been trying for a baby. We’re both settled and ready,” she gives us both a sad smile, “but I don’t think it’ll happen. We’ve been trying for months. He told me how he found the baby, and he thought maybe it was some sign that it was meant for us. A rogue gave it to him, you know? But until we can figure out who the baby belongs to, we can’t really do anything.”
I shake my head, thinking about how much it would suck if one wanted a child but couldn’t have one.
“We are still trying to catch the rogue,” Bo says.
I look at our cute baby and can only hope for the best.
***
Once Raquel said she doesn’t mind spending the day with Hope, Bo and I head back to the training grounds before Grace has a coronary about missing out the hunt.
It sucks for me because I can’t shift. In my old pack, I would just look at everyone else. Julia tells me it sucks anyway, so she would stay with me.
I’m kind of nervous because everyone is already shifting.
Grace seems to be in front of the line, with Cole and Bo next to her.
“Everyone in the pack has been waiting for this—the great big hunt. We all know the rules. Everyone shifts and whoever catches the biggest prey, wins!”
Everyone shifts and my eyes wander to Lance who hasn’t shifted. He’s walking around in his human form. The wolves are all running together. I know this is a fun event because usually the alpha takes the lead; however, Lance isn’t partaking in it. Instead, Bo and Cole’s wolves are up in front, alongside Meg and Grace.
They all run in one single direction, and I hear yips and growls.
“You can’t shift?” Lance asks curiously as he walks towards me.
I can tell he’s interested in this subject with his tone.
“Nope.” I shrug. For the millionth and one time, how can someone like me, a defect, be with someone like him? The demon alpha? So far, there is nothing demonic about him. I don’t dare ask him why he didn’t shift. It was just common knowledge. Alphas always run with their pack. “I’m some defect.”
“You’re not,” Lance says firmly, and I feel my cheeks heat up. He looks like he’s about to say something but suddenly stops himself. In an instant, he is in front of me. He then maneuvers my body where I am now positioned on his left.
Two wolves with brown coating, looking like the size of bears, appear in front of us. It looks like they came from where the opposite direction of The Hunt.
They are baring their teeth, and I think I’m going to die.
Most of the wolves from the pack are out on The Hunt. The others are probably in theire residences nearby. That still leaves Lance and I wolfless.
Why isn’t Lance shifting?! Now is a perfect time to shift!
“Why have you come here?” Lance asks the rogue wolves in a completely calm manner. How can he be so calm when these wolves look like they’re going to bite off our heads? I’m shaking. There’s no way that Lance will let me just die here, right? Or let himself die here, right?
Why isn’t he shifting?!
A thought occurs to me. Can he even shift? He has to be able to, right? If not, we are defenseless. Oh gosh. Oh no. Oh my freaking—
The rogue wolves growl again, but Lance doesn’t even budge. I hold on to the back of his shirt, clutching it.
Suddenly, a person appears behind a cluster of trees and walks towards us. Even though these two wolves are still looking like they’re about to attack, Lance doesn’t even flinch. I hold his shirt a bit tighter. The man coming towards us looks like he’s somewhere in his early thirties, with dark hair and a smooth stride.
The man raises his hands up as if to say he means no harm. He glares at the two wolves. “Quit that, you two,” the man says, looks at Lance, then bows a little. “I am not so naive as to fight you, Alpha Lance. I know your strength. You could have killed me right when I entered your territory.”
I swallow.
“I’ve come here to warn you,” the man says.
Lance stiffens slightly. “About what?”
“There is a war coming. They’re coming after you. I’ve gathered rogues who have deep respect for you to help in this upcoming war. Know you have our help.”
A war?
“How do you know?” I suddenly find my voice to speak.
The rogue’s black eyes land on me as he looks at me curiously.
“Whispers amongst rogues. We know whose side will win. Your allies are m
any, Alpha. Surely, your allies will include the va—”
“Thank you,” Lance interrupts him. “I will keep it in mind, but I want no causalities if it can be prevented. I’ll try to stop this before it even begins.”
I swallow, not knowing what that means.
“Take care.” The rogue looks at me, then behind Lance. Lance’s posture stiffens even more. “I would hate it if anything happened to your mate.”
Lance gives off the most blood-curdling, animalistic growl I’ve ever heard.
I will die if he ever directed that much fury towards me. I look up at him. His hand is blocking off his eyes, as if he’s rubbing it and controlling something. I gulp and look back at the rogue, whose eyes are wide and full of fear, his confidence from earlier gone.
Even the two wolves from earlier whimpers and back themselves way, way off.
The rogue bows and I can see that he is shaking. “W-we’ll see you again, Alpha.” The rogue shifts and they all run with tails between their legs, causing me to sigh in relief.
This is so bizarre. “Do you know what that was about?” I ask Lance, letting go of his shirt.
Lance turns to me slightly, and he shakes his head. He meets my eyes. “I don’t but I will.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“What will we do?” Cole is pacing around the room, his face full of concern. Lance, Bo, Meg, and I are either sitting on the couch or another chair in the alpha’s office, watching him as he thinks thoughtfully during this bright and early morning. Luckily, I drank my coffee already so I’m kind of awake, plus we don’t have to train today.
“Paxon will not take this lightly. Then you have rogues to worry about.” My heart lurches. There are so many things that are going wrong and guess what? I feel guilty. I brought this upon them.
“The first thing we should do is go to Paxon and talk to him about it,” Lance answers. “Everyone knows he’s still in mourning over his mate.” Lance casts a quick glance in my direction but averts his gaze really quickly.
