by Shen Hart
He took a deep breath and finally began to settle his energies down a little. “He isn’t good for you. The Sisters clearly put this all together as some twisted joke.”
I couldn’t deny that the timing worked out. They had called Lee away the moment we’d had our fun. I refused to believe that it meant nothing to Lee. He may have been under the control of the Sisters, but there was more to it than that. I turned away from Alex with a snarl. The Sisters had interfered with our lives plenty over the years, perhaps he was right that it was the final straw. I kept hearing Lee’s voice in mind and replayed the fight, the look he gave me.
I sighed. “I love him.”
Alex sat down at the breakfast bar “Do you? Or is that just something the Sisters have put together?”
I bared my teeth at him. “I am not some unwitting pawn here, Alex. I know how I feel about Lee. I know the history we shared and the intimacy we experienced.”
He swallowed as his face hardened and his eyes glistened. “Why did you forgive him for leaving?”
“Because he warned me, he told me what was going on. You slipped away into the night. You abandoned me.”
He scrunched his eyes shut and stood up once more. “What you did was wrong. Lee is bad for you and bad for the pack. You disrespected all of us when you did that. It was selfish and foolish. You should have known better, Thalia. I would have expected more from you, but you’re not the woman I loved. You’ve fallen far.”
His words hit me hard. How dare he speak about me in such a fashion? He had the nerve to say that I had fallen far. Had he looked at himself with his pathetic, petty jealousy?
“That takes some nerve, Alexei. Look at yourself. You harmed one of the cubs, for what? Speaking out of turn? Questioning you? When the fuck did that become something that you did? You were known for your calm control of every situation. You were respected because you were always fair and never lost your cool, now look at you. You’re no better than those pathetic, weak alphas who have to rule with violence.”
“We’re done with this. We’re clearly going nowhere. The decision has been made. We will not go ahead with that assignment. The Sisters can go and find some other poor bastard to do their dirty work.”
He looked away from me and took a long deep breath. I snarled and spun on my heel returning to my bed. How dare he treat me in such a manner? He was nothing compared to what he had been when he had been my alpha. He had the audacity to say that I had fallen when he had harmed one of the boys, when he lost all control because I dared sleep with another man. With Lee. The man who had encouraged me to be everything that I was. The man who accepted my dark, predatory nature in all of its beautiful glory. I curled up in my tail as Alex’s words and the expression on his face played over and over in my mind. Had I really fallen so far?
Chapter Twelve
I was woken by shouting once again. I half wondered if Lee had returned once more. I wasn’t sure if he’d survive a second round with Alex so soon. I stretched and debated remaining in my bed until it all blew over. We had successfully gotten ourselves into a real mess. The pack was falling apart at the seams, Alex had crumbled, and yet I was stuck there in the middle of it all. I growled quietly to myself and allowed the wolf forwards as I went downstairs and prepared to put them all down.
“They’re humans!” Nik’s voice carried through the hallway as I came down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Dan snarled back, “Why are humans so different? Would you be desperate to protect elves?”
Nik crossed his arms as Ryan said, “The Sisters have gone too far. We’re expected to slaughter an entire cult of humans? For what?”
“Exactly! What have the humans done exactly? They were manipulated by the angels, they can’t help that,” shouted Nik.
“You never did answer my question about the elves, Nik.”
Dan glared at Nik with his tail twitching behind him. Alex had his head in his hands as he sat at the breakfast bar while the boys were standing around glaring at each other. I decided to put an end to it and try to bring some order to things.
“Enough! The decision has been made, the species of the target is entirely irrelevant, and yes, Dan, we would slaughter them if they were elves, fae, sirens, or anything else. It is about the impact on the balance and nothing more.”
“But—”
“But nothing.”
Alex looked up at me, his jaw tight. “Are you defending the Sisters, Thalia?”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “I already told the boys the decision had been made.”
“Or were you defending your precious little toy?”
I bared my teeth at him. “Lee has nothing to do with this.”
Nik began pacing. “Lee has everything to do with this.”
“Nik, you’re getting one warning. I have had enough of you pushing.”
“I push because you’re weak and have demonstrated you’re not worthy of my respect.”
The room went silent as I looked over the boys and took in what Nik had just said.
I took a deep breath, put my shoulders back and said, “I am your alpha. The fact that you’re too closed-minded to understand my reasoning is entirely irrelevant. The only weakness I showed was accepting you into my pack.”
Nik stopped dead and looked at me his eyes went wide as he searched my face.
He slumped down into his chair before Dan said, “Lee is at the heart of all of this.”
“He’s Wyrd Bound like them, it’s the Sisters who’re pulling the strings.”
I had to give Ryan at least a little credit for attempting to defend Lee, but I was beginning to doubt his motives and freedom as well. Were the Sisters so twisted as to use that timing? Of course they were. I snarled as I felt the choker tighten around my throat again. I clawed at it trying to remove the damn thing from my neck.
Alex looked at me with a smirk. “It seems you were finally right, Thalia, the Sisters really are nothing more than a trio of twisted whores.”
“This seems like nothing more than a sick game to them.”
I didn’t know what had gotten into Nik, he’d been the quiet, respectful one of the bunch, but I was too occupied with trying to remove my collar to put much thought into it. It refused to budge. I knew the Sisters would use intense energy work, but I had to try. I had to try and free myself from everything. I hadn’t been paying any attention to anyone else in the room, and jumped when I felt a pair of slightly roughened hands on my shoulders.
Dan said, “Stay still, and let me try.”
I tensed at his touch, but I had to give it a go. His fingers brushed over the back of my neck as I stared out into the garden, dreaming of finally having freedom. Maybe with Alex also rebelling and the cubs refusing to do anything, they’d give in and set us loose. The choker tightened a little ‘round my throat, and I felt Dan’s fire energies crawling along the slim metal. After a few minutes he stepped back and walked around me trailing his hand across the top of my shoulders.
He shrugged and looked away. “I tried.”
I shrugged and sat down. It seemed that I was stuck with them for at least a little bit.
“Why did you do it?”
Ryan’s voice was softer, imploring me to give him an answer he could deal with. Everyone looked deflated and defeated.
“Why did I sleep with Lee?” I was growing tired of that question.
“Did he manipulate you?”
I looked sharply at Ryan. “No, he did not. It was entirely consensual.”
“Did you not see what he was doing to the pack?”
I raised an eyebrow and looked at him before I glanced at Alex. “You mean, did I not see the chaos that was occurring because of the constant fights between Alex and Lee because Alex refuses to let the past go?”
“He harmed you. He was always a manipulative little asshole who dragged you away from who and what you really are under the guise of what you want most in the world.”
I bared my teeth at Alex. “He was
not manipulative. I’m a grown woman. I’ve been around just as long as you. I can see what’s going on, and I made my own decisions completely aware of the consequences of them.”
“You say that as though it’s a good thing.”
I ground my teeth together. “I did what the Sisters told me to do, I fulfilled their assignments, just as you did.”
“It’s always someone else’s fault, isn’t it, Thalia?”
“That’s rich coming from you.”
He sighed and looked away. Dan stepped a little closer to me again, his deep blue eyes looked into mine. He looked like a lost little puppy.
“Have the Sisters always done this? Destroyed people’s lives?”
I shrugged. “That depends on your perspective, really. We killed people. Alex, Lee, and I are primarily assassins. We kill people. It’s what we do. We rarely ask questions, because we never got answers. Those people were killed for a purpose; they had disrupted the balance for some reason.”
Nik growled, “You killed people without even thinking to ask why?”
I rounded on him. “I am growing very tired of your tone. We did ask why in the beginning, we questioned their motives and we accepted the answers. Over the years, you become jaded and understand that it is going to happen whether you do it or not. We are not the only Wyrd Bound creatures. If we refuse, then they will not only harm us, but they will bring in others to do the job for them.”
Nik lowered his eyes. “So this cult will be killed no matter what we do?”
I shrugged again. “Yes.”
Alex sighed heavily. “It’s no concern of ours. The Sisters will bring in some other poor Bound creature to do their dirty work, and we’ll be given another assignment.”
“Then why don’t you fight? Why don’t you try and free yourselves of their grip?”
I laughed a dark, harsh laugh. “You think so little of us that you think we haven’t tried? Even Alex, the good little soldier, tried to free himself of their grip a couple of times. They literally made us.”
Dan frowned. “So, Lee is part of their game? He’s just as bound as you?”
“He is.”
“Could he not have fought them?”
“What’s to say he didn’t?”
“He didn’t have to come here, into our home, after what he did. He could have shoved the note through the mail or something.”
I smirked at Ryan. “You think that Lee had a choice in his actions?”
“He always had a choice. He brought this on his head, he brought this on our pack,” Alex snarled.
“And now we can make a choice and refuse to kill these humans,” said Nik defiantly.
Dan replied with, “You still haven’t told us why the humans are worthy of saving.”
“Because they’re innocents,” growled Nik.
“Clearly not!” shouted Dan.
Nik snarled, “We should fight back against the Sisters. They’ve demonstrated themselves to be twisted, just look at how they sent Lee and all the shit he brought down on us.”
“Lee always did cause trouble, and look at what he’s done this time, Thalia,” sneered Alex.
I desperately wanted to wring his neck for that comment. “He was sent here by the Sisters and you were the one who fucked this pack up with your insecurity and bullshit.”
“You’re the one who fucked him!” he shouted.
“I’m a free woman. I can fuck who I damn well please. You screwed this up,” I shouted back.
“This is what the Sisters do, we need to put an end to the cycle and keep the humans alive,” added Nik.
Alex and I both snarled at him. I said, “They will just send another Wyrd Bound creature, stop pushing the fucking boundaries.”
“He wouldn’t be pushing the boundaries if you’d have been a decent alpha and kicked Lee out,” shouted Alex.
“I wouldn’t have felt the need to be in Lee’s arms if you hadn’t have been such a pathetic excuse for an alpha!” I screamed back at him.
“You are driving this pack apart, Thalia,” he growled at me.
I growled at Alex, “You brought this on our pack. You didn’t have to keep bitching at him; you didn’t have to continuously whine about his presence. You could have acted like the big male you used to be and dealt with it.”
The room went silent. I’d had enough of the circular bullshit. I went out into the garden and paced around the perimeter while I decided if I wanted to hunt.
“I’m just trying to understand, T.”
I offered Ryan a half smile when he appeared at my side. He meant no harm, unlike Nik and Alex. Dan soon joined him and the decision was made. We needed to vent, to be away from the house and the constant bullshit. We took off into the woods in our wolf forms, and enjoyed the closest thing we had to freedom.
Chapter Thirteen
The stress and worry of the previous days melted away as we ran through the woods. They both stayed closed to me, and we fell into a comfortable pace with ease. We ran and ran, with no direction in mind. The breeze softly whispered and slipped between the boughs of the trees. There was nothing but the cool earth beneath our paws and the winter sky above our heads. We ran for the sake of running, the concerns of the previous days fleeing my mind as we covered more ground. I allowed the wolf more rein than usual, reveling in the freedom of the forest. Scents filled my mind with potential stories and fresh trails. It was a simple pleasure that over-shadowed any negativity that may have consumed my mind previously.
Once our tongues were lolling out of our mouths and our muscles began to ache, we slowed and turned, heading back towards home. I called it home for lack of a better word. I couldn’t help feeling that it wasn’t home at all. The woods were my home, where I was free to run, hunt, and do as I pleased. When the sun began to set, we slowed to a steady walk before we settled down in a large hollow formed where a tree had fallen down in a storm and been uprooted. I thought nothing of curling up pressed tight to them. It was the most natural thing in the world to feel their fur and muscles close to mine. The comfort and security of pack again.
I slept a deep and dreamless sleep to wake up feeling better than I had done in a long time, their warm bodies pressed against me. I didn’t want to remember the last time I’d felt such comfort in pack. It didn’t last. It never does. I nipped Dan’s ear gently as a playful way to wake him in preparation for the day. He opened his eyes, yawned, and stretched before someone cleared their throat. I looked up to see Alex standing there with his arms crossed. Shadows sat under his eyes and along his jaw. He looked exhausted.
“There are other ways to solve a problem than to run away, Thalia.”
Ryan and Dan tensed against me. They moved and gave me room to stand and approach Alex. His tone of voice was calm, but his stance was uptight. Every muscle down his core was tight, his feet were slightly spread; he’d come looking for a fight. I chose to ignore him, to demonstrate that I was the bigger, better person there. I started walking in the direction of home. Dan and Ryan followed close behind me. We remained tightknit and kept Alex out of our little group, an unspoken, yet clear, message.
Alex shifted into his wolf form, which was quite a bit larger than my own. He wasted no time in charging at me. He hit me squarely in the side and bowled me over. I was outraged at his foolishness. It was closer to puppy play than the experienced warrior he was supposed to be. I was almost hurt at his petty insolence and bullshit. He moved to pin me and removed any pity I may have had for him. I shifted my weight and got out from under him before I delivered a sharp bite to his muzzle. My teeth cut through the sensitive skin and easily drew blood. He’d made it quite clear that we weren’t playing. He needed to be put down.
Every muscle in his body tensed, he met my eyes with a cold hard stare, his hackles rose, and he snarled at me. The boys moved closer to me when he pulled his lips back, showing his teeth. I curled my lip at him. He wasn’t worth my time. I’d made my point. He was looking for attention. By depriving him of it, I wo
uld win. I turned my back on him and continued in the direction of home.
Alex slammed back into me and almost knocked me off my feet. He wasn’t attacking me properly, he was simply trying to pin me, to prove some pathetic little point. I’d had enough. All he had demonstrated was that he was weak. I spun and sank my teeth deep into the scruff of his neck while I tried to wrestle him to the ground. He was quite a bit bigger than me and held the advantage as he snapped at my legs and twisted, trying to shake me off. When he twisted away from me I let go and bit his throat just underneath his jaw. He couldn’t reach me there. I drove my body into his and pushed him down to the ground. His warm blood trickled into my mouth, and I pinned him by his throat. He tried to wriggle and free himself, but it was a half-hearted weak attempt. He’d already accepted his position.
I continued to hold him to the ground, my teeth in his throat, before he finally relaxed and gave a soft sigh of resignation. I released him and stepped back. Blood stained his fur, but he remained down. The boys looked between us, they both lowered their heads and waited. I walked around Alex and continued home at a steady trot. He followed us, remaining at the back of the group. Fortunately he had the good sense not to cause any more trouble. I’d never seen him behave so pathetically before. I didn’t know how to deal with it. Logically, I understood his problem, but it was absurd to behave as he was. I couldn’t accept that he’d become so weak and fallen so far from the man I loved. We shifted into our human forms as we approached the kitchen. I sent the boys inside and squared up to Alex once more.
He set his jaw and met my gaze, but there was a dull grey sheen to his eyes. They lacked his usual ice and fire. I was worried about him for a fleeting moment, but it passed. I had to think of my pack and what was best for them, and that wasn’t him.
He took a step closer to me, his muscles relaxing as he spread his hands in a placating gesture. I couldn’t help but stare at the blood running down his neck. It had almost stopped, but it was a clear reminder.
“I have to know why. At least give me that.”
