He gave a snort, holding his hands out “So you thought, I’ll climb a tree and hope they don’t see me” he shouted, his voice carrying through the forest as I flinched from the rage in it.
Why did he care so much? I looked at him confused. “I didn’t have time to do anything else,” I said, the pain in my chest lessening now that the danger had passed “They were too fast to outrun.”
“You could have screamed for help sooner” he yelled, raising his hands up in the air.
That was it. Now I was angry and pissed off. I stepped forward and poked him in the chest. “What good would that have done?” I snarled “To be honest I’m surprised you came to my rescue! But has it escaped your notice that two wolves only came when you needed help, not me? That the Alpha and Luna didn’t come to save me? That pack members didn’t come running after I screamed?” My voice was bitter, my finger shaking, my head lowered, unable to look him in the eye.
He stiffened and glanced around, only now noticing the lack of response from the pack. I gave a laugh devoid of emotion “I’m grateful to you for saving me, but don’t think the actions I took were wrong. They were the only ones available to me” I said choking “Not that you would understand. You’re not despised by the pack. Or are you forgetting what you yourself did to me, only days ago?”
He was silent. I could have sworn something like regret passed against his face.
“I heard the scream and I reacted” he said quietly “it didn’t matter who was in trouble, I was going to help” he added.
“Even if you knew it was me?” I asked disbelieving him.
“Even you” he snapped “you’re still a member of the pack. One day I’m going to be Alpha and I don’t intend to let any members die, not even weak useless wolfless ones like you. It’s a matter of pride for me.”
“So it’s true then. Brynn wants to take you as a chosen mate” I whispered and he looked guilty for a moment.
“We’ve been discussing it, nothing more. Say a word about it and I’ll…”
“I don’t care” I interrupted him, even as tears threatened to fall, “okay, whatever you and Brynn do is your business.”
He gave a grim nod. He motioned to me. “What?” I asked looking at him now with bewilderment.
“I went to all this trouble to keep your damn ass safe, you can start walking in front of me back to the pack house,” he said slowly, as though he was explaining something to a child “I don’t know if there are more rogues around and somebody as weak as you, is likely to attract them. I just said, I wasn’t about to let somebody die under my watch, so let’s go back to the pack house, where it’s safe” he sniped.
Oh. I glared at him but obediently turned my back and began to stomp my way to the pack house. I could sense his eyes boring into the back of me and I clenched my jaw. He was the most infuriating, frustrating, stubborn, jackass I had ever met, I fumed, as he walked silently behind me, and yet I still owed him, for saving my life.
We reached the grounds. Brynn was waiting, looking panicked. As soon as she saw Ashton, she flung herself at him. I noticed Alpha Johnathon and Luna Bianca standing in the background. They said nothing. Ashton clutched Brynn to him, patting her back.
“Thank god you’re okay” Brynn cried and then glared at me “but you shouldn’t have wasted your time trying to save such a loser. What if you’d been hurt?” she said as I strode past them all.
“It was nothing” Ashton murmured.
Luna Bianca walked forward and grasped my arm “you put my daughter in danger” she hissed, bending low to talk in my ear “if that happens again, you won’t step foot out of that dungeon until you leave. Count yourself luck you didn’t die” she added coldly.
I eyed her. “To be honest, dying might have been preferable” I spat in her face, leaving her stunned. Even Ashton looked shocked by my admission, as I stormed my way back into the pack house, which felt more like a prison than the sanctuary that it’s intended to be. I was no member of this pack and part of me felt like maybe Ashton should have left me back in the woods for the rogues.
But another part of me was grateful. Because of him, I got to live another day, giving me another chance to plot a way to escape this life and determine a way to get myself to another pack. There had to be a way, I just had to find it. There had to be a loophole in the words that Alpha Johnathon had used, I thought, trying to remember the exact words he had used, what had he said to me again? “You are not to try and run away until Alpha Daxton gets here?” or something like that? My eyes widened and I began to smile. Suddenly, I saw a way out. If I was brave enough to act on it.
…
King Kace POV
“I can’t believe you treated me like that” she cried, throwing her hands up in the air “all I want is for you to finally make a decision Kace, is that really too much for you to ask?” she said, turning and glaring at me as I tried not to sigh.
“Cordelia” I murmured, placing a hand on her waist as she blinked her eyes up at me, my wolf growling lowly in my head as I kept him back, forcing a block up that would cost me later “it’s not too much to ask, all I want is for you to wait until after this party. That’s all.”
She pouted “what if you find your mate?” she demanded, looking at me and narrowing her eyes “then what am I meant to do?” she asked looking hysterical.
“Cordelia, if that happens, you know that Lucian won’t allow me to refuse the mate bond,” I told her softly, trying hard to be as compassionate as I could “if I find my mate, I will have to accept her, you know that.”
“Why can’t you just keep her on the side” she snapped, folding her arms and looking at me with her eyes flashing as I looked at her taken aback “and I still be your chosen mate? You owe me Kace, I’ve put my life on hold for the last year, waiting for you to make me yours and now you’re telling me that there’s a possibility it’s not going to happen. It’s not good enough” she insisted “and you let Lucian attack me the other day,” she said her voice going high and shrill.
I sighed. Lucian would have attacked her again if I hadn’t put the block up, but I wisely decided to leave that out. It was bad enough I’d had to grovel for her forgiveness and promise it wouldn’t happen again. It was taking all my energy to keep the damn block in place. Her eyes went shiny and I felt guilt overtake me.
“Kace, I love you. Shouldn’t that count for something” she breathed “I’ve been loyal to you, to the pack and its members. You talk as though a mate bond is everything, but what if your mate isn’t worthy?” she asked, raising an eyebrow and leaning against the wall as she coolly observed me.
A mate that wasn’t worthy? That had never happened to an Alpha King before. The only way a mate would be deemed unworthy would be if they were wolfless and in all of it’s history, no Alpha King had received a mate like that ever. I was confident it wouldn’t happen to me. An Alpha King needed a strong, capable mate, who could help the pack and defend it. I had nothing against wolfless shifters but I didn’t want one for myself. Cordelia smirked. “See, you haven’t even thought about that, have you?” she drawled.
“Cordelia, you know it’s never happened,” I said firmly.
“But if it does” she pushed “then what? Are you going to accept a weak, pitiful shifter like that as your Luna?”
Of course, I wasn’t. I had an image and a reputation to uphold. I gave a low growl of frustration as she leaned closer and licked her lips.
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