0181
Mallory
"Something weird is going on?" I frown. I was supposed to be resting, but I was finding it harder and harder to stay still. Like the longer I was still, the more I thought about what I no longer have. I needed to keep busy.
From this window, I could see Dane, Damien and Brax pushing a man and a woman forward.
I recognise the guy, he quite often works on the gates.
But what I didn't understand is why Damien was carrying what looked like a doll. A toy for Dorothy maybe? Neah steps up to the window, though she keeps herself partly hidden behind the curtain. "No one is supposed to see me, remember."
"Please just tell me that I am imagining things. Maybe I have fallen ill again and this is a dream."
She pinches my arm.
"OW."
"Not dreaming." She cautiously peers around the curtain. "Why is Damien carrying a pup?"
"It's not a doll?"
"Doll's don't move like that."
I look again and watch a tiny arm stretch out. But that's all I can make out as they move further and further away.
"Maybe those Wolves had a pup?"
"I think Mako and Kira are due any day now, so it could be." She shrugs her shoulders, "but actually, that's not Kira... that's...one of Raven's nurses from the hospital. I think her name is Sienna."
She turns back, pressing herself against the wall and closes her eyes. "I know what's happening."
"What?"
"They are going to be hunted!"
"Brax is going to kill them?"
"Not Brax, maybe Brax." She sighs, "Some of the pack will shift and hunt them, chase them down like they are prey. Dane has done this before. Before you came here, there was a woman, jealous of Dane and I. She drugged me with Blood of Wolfsbane, almost killing me. Dane took her to the forest and had his Wolves hunt her and then rip her apart while she was still alive."
"Seriously?"
She nods as I watch more of the pack approach.
They are already shifting into Wolves as they move.
The woman, Sienna, clings to the other guy as though he was somehow going to save her.
I could just make out her lips moving, most likely pleading for her life.
I'm guessing they knew what was coming if this was Dane's choice of punishment.
"It's a punishment for those who he feels truly betrayed by." Neah mutters, "If Brax hadn't shot those ones who crashed into us. Dane probably would have done the same to them."
"But he never did that to Jenson?"
She shrugs her shoulders. "Jenson was his brother, even after the stuff with Blair, even when he did what he did to Raven. He couldn't have done it even if he wanted to, but I know he had threatened Jenson with it many times over the years."
I bob my head. I couldn't even say it was cruel. I had seen Rogues do worse things. I had done worse things. A long time ago, I almost bashed Neah to death.
"But the pup, surely Dane won't have that ripped apart?" I mutter, disgusted by the idea. I see Damien turn away from the Wolves, he starts making his way back this way. The tiny thing cradled against his chest and I breathed a sigh of relief. "No, he won't hurt a pup." Neah confirms
I take my eyes off of Damien and watch Mako and Sienna dive towards the forest. Mako pushes her down just before the trees to give himself an advantage and dives into the greenery as she scrambles back to her feet. I watch Dane
keep his hand up in the air. A signal for the Wolves to wait. Even Brax had shifted and was ready to join in.
Dane is giving them a head start, but we all knew they were not getting out alive.
As Dane drops his hand, the Wolves charge off at a speed far greater than I can imagine.
Almost like they are hyped up by the hunt.
Dane shifts too, taking his time to move into the forest, like he was enjoying every second of this.
Those wolves were going to suffer.
I assume they deserved it.
And a tiny part of me wanted to see it happen.
"Mallory?" Damien calls out interrupting my thoughts
"Up here." I call back
He makes his way into the room, still cradling the tiny little pup who is somehow fast asleep.
"Why do you have a Lycan pup?" Neah asks.
"It's a long story." his dark eyes move to me at the window. "I assume you have seen what is happening?"
I nod "And Neah has explained the rest."
"They were planning on leaving to join Cooper." He shakes his head in disbelief
"Why?" Neah asks
"It sounds like he made them an offer and they were too stupid to go along with it."
"And the pup, where does he fit into all of it?"
"Mako tried telling Dane the pup was his and Kira's. It quickly became clear that he wasn't. Turns out Kira has already left with Cooper while still preganant and Mako picked up this guy from the city. Practically threw him out of his arms when he learned the boy is a Lycan." "So they didn't know that Cooper is a Lycan?" I ask
"No."
"And decided to kidnap him?" I ask in disgust pointing to the tightly wrapped pup.
"Mako claimed he found him dumped and abandoned. Whether that's the truth, I don't know."
"What's going to happen to him?" I ask, surely Dane wouldn't just choose to dump him again.
"I was sort of hoping that you would take him until we figured out where he came from and if anyone is looking for him."
I stare at him, lost for words.
"He is maybe a day old, maybe two at most according to Brax. He doesn't even have a name. I thought you might like to name him."
I feel like I'm frozen, still trying to process how and why Damien had asked me.
"I still have loads of the twins' tiny baby stuff." Neah declares. "I will go dig it out."
"You want to give me a pup?" I mutter as Neah disappears with a smile plastered to her face.
"I can't think of anyone better."
"I can't...." He steps towards me and holds the tiny pup out to me. "He's not mine."
"And Dottie isn't mine." He presses the pup against me and I have no choice but to hold him as he pulls his hands away.
"Damien, don't." I don't think I have ever felt panic like this. My heart thuds heavily, I hear my own blood whooshing between my ears as my lungs grow tight. "I'm not ready." But he is already stepping away from me. "Then it's a good job you have a whole pack supporting you."
"And a mate." Eric announces as he enters the bedroom.
"Give him to Neah. She's had practice." I move to Damien who refuses to take him back and folds his arms across his chest.
"Look at him." He mutters instead.
I glance at Eric who is calmly watching me. He was leaving it up to me to decide.
The pup starts to move in my arms and was probably about to start crying at any second. Taking a breath, I shift my gaze to the pup. Deep brown eyes stare back at me and I feel my heart explode in the best way possible.