Chapter 20
TWENTY
MAVE
Iwatched with satisfaction as those stupid cheating bitches scurried off into the woods after a solid dressing-down from the Ice Man.
I'd seen Knox pissed off before since he was pretty much always that way around me, but he'd still always kept that egotistical, almost lackadaisical air about him.
After all, he was a prince who was used to always getting what he wanted, and his life was cake.
I'd never seen him so dead serious as he did when addressing Nikka and her friends, so maybe there was a real grown-up Alpha in him after all.
I turned back to face him. He stared at me, looking angry, pale, and frustrated. His betas flanked him on either side, looking about the same. Thad, of course, only had eyes for Ben, and he looked... upset.
"I guess your daddy never mentioned to you where my family came from, Ice Man," I began.
"You may know that we came from the South Utah Pack, which we left because it was a backwards, sexist, homophobic cult of wolves.
But what you don't know—what the Alpha has decided was important to keep from the rest of the Pack—is that my grandfather is the Alpha of the South Utah Pack, and my family has led that pack for five generations.
My dad was the most powerful Alpha Heir of all of his siblings, but he chose to live a life as separate from the Pack as possible, for us, and he had zero interest in taking over as the Alpha.
Eventually, we realized that the Pack environment was too toxic for our family, so we left.
Dad applied for membership in the NWLA Pack, and we were accepted, under one condition. Can you guess what that was?"
Knox still hadn't quite found his words for me, so it was Mason that responded.
"He gave your family membership as omega wolves. Why, though?"
"First and foremost because we let him," I replied.
"We always meant what we said from the beginning—we are just here to live normal lives, away from the Pack and its politics.
My parents love their jobs with their human company.
Ben and I want to go away to college. We didn't give a fuck about who we were in the Pack hierarchy because it honestly didn't affect our lives in the least, so if omega classification is what made the Alpha content to let us join and leave us be, then that was just fine with us. "
"But still," Mason said. "I get that Alpha Monroe was probably not thrilled to have another very powerful Alpha in the Pack, but if it was made clear that your dad had no designs on Pack leadership whatsoever, why all the secrecy?"
"Because he's a petty asshole," Ben retorted.
"Watch your fucking mouth," Thad snapped at him.
Uh oh. Maybe these two have not kissed and made up after all?
"Our guess, Mason," I went on, "is that the Alpha didn't want anyone to know there was a powerful, viable alternative to his own leadership lurking in the Pack.
He also didn't want to deal with the additional scrutiny that would have come from rejecting our membership application, which would have made him look insecure, and since we were so amenable to his terms, it just happened from there. "
Knox finally found his voice. "But why the fuck wouldn't he tell me? He knew I rejected the fated mating because I thought you were an omega!" he shouted. "Why didn't you tell me, Mave? You could've said something that day!"
"First of all," I snapped at him. "Fuck you. I was in total shock and hadn't even been able to comprehend what had just happened before you were announcing your rejection of me to our entire class."
"But I probably would've reconsidered—"
"Shut the fuck up, Ice Man, I'm not done.
You're right that I have had numerous chances to inform you that I am not, in fact, an omega wolf.
But you showed your true colors to me on that very first day and every day since, so I truly, honestly—and I know you're still not comprehending this, so listen up—had and continue to have no desire to ever be your mate.
I don't want you to choose me, and I definitely don't want you to change your mind about me solely because you've realized I'm powerful and that all of the sudden makes me worth something to you. "
"But the bond, Mave. You don't have a fucking choice. We don't have a choice."
"Wrong, asshole," I spit at him. "But nice try.
Your dad said that same shit to me when he was threatening to get my parents fired from their jobs and let you put me in a cage in your room.
He's decided you're gonna have me however you decide you want to, even if it's as a fucking concubine, but I have news for both of you: I am not easy prey. I think you've figured that out now."
"You're lying!" he yelled at me. "My father would never—"
"HE FUCKING DID, KNOX!" I was angry now, and still full of adrenalin from the fight. "And he still decided not to be honest with you about who I am, didn't he? You need to take this shit up with him. And tell him, from me, he can go fuck himself."
Knox started to take a few steps toward me. "Mave, come on..."
"No!" I screamed at him. My wolf rippled to the surface, and I felt my hands grow claws in the partial shift I'd wished for an hour ago when he'd attacked me.
"You stay the fuck away from me. Don't think I've all of the sudden forgot you assaulting me in the hallway after I accidentally witnessed your little threesome.
Ben and I are happy to shift back and beat the fuck out of all three of you if you take even one more step. "
"You hurt her?" Mason said to Knox, angrily. "Dude, how is it that you keep fucking this up so badly? How?"
"I didn't fucking hurt her," he groused. "I might've been a little rough but I wasn't going to do anything. I was just inviting her to... join us. Fuck." He sighed, defeated.
"Gentlemen, we're done here," I said with authority. "I think we are all on the same page now. Stay the fuck away from me and my family. Leave us to live our lives and we will do the same to you. Go patch shit up with Nikka and stop being a total and complete pig, Ice Man."
"I think we should head to my house, now," Mason said to the other two.
"Yeah," Knox replied. He shucked his pants and his shirt, and stood there in his boxer briefs, looking ripped and sad.
"Mave, I don't know about all of this other shit, but on behalf of the Pack I will at least apologize for Nikka's behavior tonight.
We don't condone that kind of thing here, despite what you may think of us. "
He shifted then into a giant white wolf. He was just a bit bigger than I was—almost as big as my dad. He was majestic, and he exuded great power and authority as a wolf. I thought again how there was hope he could be a great Alpha one day.
Mason had popped into wolf form as well. He was large, just a touch smaller than Ben and me, and his fur was a deep, dark brown.
Thad was last, standing there all sleek, lean muscles in his underwear, eyes boring into Ben. He sighed.
"Ben—" he started to say.
"Fucking save it, James," Ben snapped at him. "You're no different than he is."
Whatever that means. I made a mental note to sit down with Ben later and make sure he was okay.
Thad narrowed his eyes, face morphing from resigned to pissed off. "Fine," he said curtly. Then he shifted into a sandy-colored wolf, similar in size to Mason, and darted off into the forest after his friends.
We watched them go, and I finally took a deep breath and relaxed. Harriet, who'd been standing quietly behind us, came up to Ben and hugged his side tightly. Then Blake finally came trotting out from his hiding place. He made a beeline straight for me, and I jumped into his arms.
"You're fucking magnificent, Wolf Girl," he said into my ear, as I wrapped my very naked lower half around his waist.
"Wolf Girl?" I asked. "That's not your nickname for me."
"Actually, you've always been Wolf Girl in my head. I just haven't been able to say it until now." I felt him grinning into my neck.
Interesting. How long has he known I was a wolf?
"Okay, you two," Ben said. "I suggest you find somewhere else to fuck that is not on Pack land." He raised his eyebrows at us and tried to give us a stern look, but it wasn't really working since he was smiling.
Blake set me down. "Thank you for saving Harriet," I said to him. "And thank you for staying here and having my back."
"Yeah, thanks, Blakey," Harriet chimed in. "Mave, Blake says he has a wolf grandfather or something, isn't that awesome? He was super chill about all of this."
"Uh-huh," I said, and I gave him a look. He grinned sheepishly.
Yeah, we needed to talk. Later though.
"Alright, gang," Ben announced. "Let's get the fuck out of here. Harriet, your chariot awaits." He stripped off his pants again and shifted into his wolf.
"Oh yay!" She started taking off her clothes.
"Oh man," Blake said. "I've been wondering what you are, Harriet. I didn't think you were a wolf but...."
"I'm a rabbit shifter," she grinned at him, then she disappeared, and her little black rabbit appeared sitting on the ground on top of her discarded clothes.
"Oh, badass!" Blake said enthusiastically. He walked over and bent to pick her up. "She's gotta be super rare, huh?" He stroked her little head, then he set her on Ben's back. Ben chuffed at him in thanks, then took off into the woods.
"They do that often?" he asked me, watching them go.
"Actually yeah," I said. "We never come to Pack land to shift because we've been avoiding those fucks, so we just play in our backyard."
"So, this evening was enlightening," he said, looking at me curiously. "I'd been confused about some things, but I get it now."
"Well, baby," I replied, "I remain confused about more than a few things about you, so our talk tomorrow is still happening."
"Tomorrow?"