Chapter 6 #2
“That’s it. Just breathe. I promise…I vow that we will not let anything happen to you.
We won’t let anyone hurt you. We won’t let anyone take or keep you.
Nothing that happens here will change anything.
We will get the information we need and leave.
I promise that you will never have to come back here. I swear it.”
His words weren’t filled with magic but the sincerity that came from Julian’s very soul. Inhaling and letting out a shuddering breath, I nodded, wanting so badly to believe him. Something that was easy since he so clearly believed it himself.
I had no idea how long I sat there wrapped in his arms before a familiar growl came from Tore’s throat. “Why are they surrounding the car?”
And they were. Well, not surrounding the car, but people were standing on their apartment doorsteps and stopped in the street, obviously waiting for us to step out of the luxurious parked vehicle.
I shivered, feeling oddly calm despite my brain telling me I should be worried.
Instead I just focused on breathing and felt a serenity invade my very being.
I looked at Ryder, his eyes zeroing in on my cheek as he lifted a tear from it in concern.
“They want to know who is visiting. We didn’t get outside visitors very often,” I explained.
“Yes, I believe that,” Tore grunted. “I am remembering why I had such a negative opinion of the Whitepaw Pack before.”
“What? Why?” I asked.
He turned in his seat and offered me a small grimace. “They don’t marry outside of their pack. Ever. Haven’t for at least five or six generations, I imagine.”
Horror hit me as I started to piece together what he was implying. Disgust turned my gut. “The pack isn’t that large…”
Suddenly, I saw the members of my old pack a bit differently, and I came to the startling realization that I stood out here for a very large reason, and not just because of my brightly colored hair…
No, it was because everyone sort of looked alike.
Not ‘alike’ in the sense of being the same wolf type, either, which was what I’d assumed before. No, they looked like family…
My stomach tightened, and I looked back at Tore in shock. “Are you saying they are all related?”
“To some extent, I imagine.” He shook his head. “Let’s get what we need. I don’t want you around these people, lil bit.”
I didn’t disagree with him at all.
As Caedmon put the car into park and got out with Tore, I watched authentic fear cross almost everyone’s faces, and even the men seemed to shrink away.
At first I thought it was because both Caedmon and Tore were physically imposing, the power radiating off of them beyond intimidating, but then I realized everyone seemed to be solely focused on Tore.
When he opened the door to let me out, I could feel just how much magic he was using.
It wasn’t nearly as much as I knew he had, but it was enough to make it clear to almost everyone that he was a fenrir alpha.
I had a feeling Alpha wasn’t going to like Tore.
“You would be right about that,” Dakota chuckled softly.
“I just want to leave here as soon as possible with no issues,” I murmured and then looked around. “Should we go to Gerald and Theresa’s place first? Alpha may be there. I don’t… I guess I don’t know where his house is, exactly. I’ve never been.”
“Thank fuck,” Ryder growled, causing me to jolt. He offered me an apologetic look. “Sorry, kitten.”
“Just a bit jumpy right now,” I murmured, running a hand through my hair.
I could hear people break into whispers the moment I came into view, and I tucked my chin down, trying to hide myself behind my hair to avoid their scrutiny.
Instead of trying to listen to their hushed comments, I kept my focus on my mates.
“The building is the red brick one, seventh floor.”
“Lil bit,” Tore’s voice had me looking up as he brushed my hair back. “Don’t hide yourself away. Not for them.”
My eyes widened at the fierceness behind his words. I tried to keep my chin up, wanting to show Tore that I could be as confident as my mates. Something that clearly enhanced their level of dominance, made clear by how others reacted to them.
People moved out of our way, and I found myself intertwining my fingers with Tore, who seemed to be a far different man than the one who braided my hair and bought me snow globes. I was finding I loved both sides though.
Loved. There was that word again.
“This is where you lived?” Caedmon’s voice was choked.
I looked at the building, trying to see it through his eyes. I winced, noticing the cracked pavement and empty beer cans by the stoop. There were cigarettes and other garbage near the curb, and the door was open to the building, creaking in the cold winter air.
“Yeah.” I rubbed the back of my neck, embarrassed. “Maybe we should just call them out here.”
“No.” Dakota’s voice was hard. “I need to see where these assholes had you live.”
“This isn’t on you or a reflection of you, it’s on what pieces of shit they were and how they treated you,” Julian stated quietly.
Ryder was oddly quiet as he took in our surroundings. I felt him hesitate as he moved closer to Tore and me, as if he wanted to be able to pull me into his arms at a moment’s notice. Right now… Well, that sounded absolutely wonderful.
“Just don’t view me differently,” I whispered as I walked forward, and they surrounded me.
Despite keeping my chin up, I didn’t meet the stares of any pack members, afraid of what I’d find there as we stepped up the stairs and into the foyer of the building.
The stairs were empty and wind whistled through the corridor, giving the space an eerie, abandoned feel.
As we made our way up the stairs, I felt a shiver roll up my spine, wondering if it was smart to corner ourselves like this.
There was no reason for anyone to attack us, but my mind automatically went there, and I wanted to protect my mates.
I didn’t want anyone from my past life hurting them; I would do anything I could to stop it.
When we finally reached the seventh floor, I walked to the third door on the right and raised my fist. I didn’t knock though, swallowing nervously and bringing my hand back down.
Luckily, I didn’t need to find the bravery to do it, because Tore pulled me back into his arms and Dakota knocked on the door loudly.
“Who the hell—” Gerald’s words were cut short as he threw open the door, locking gazes with me. Shock hit his face before something truly dark grew there. “Why the fuck are you back?”
I felt like I’d been slapped. Hard.
Gerald had been a lot of things, but he had always pretended to take responsibility for me to some extent. But this? The true animosity and hatred? I’d never seen that before, and it hurt, causing me to lean back into Tore more, his chest rumbling.
“What the fuck did you just say to her?” Dakota’s voice was harder than I’d ever heard it as Gerald looked up into his face, his anger transforming into a bravado that even I could see through.
He tried to offer a disinterested look, but his face started to shade purple, and sweat grew on his temples.
“Who are you?”
“We’re the people coming into your apartment.
Move.” Ryder’s tone brooked no disagreement as Dakota shoved Gerald back.
He stumbled back into the worn sofa I’d walked past for so many years, as I took in the state of the place I used to call home.
I knew it hadn’t been nice before, but now, with my mates here?
It not only seemed tiny, but also horribly taken care of.
That weird surge of anxiety tried to topple over me again, but Julian’s magic soothed me to the point that I wasn’t able to react accordingly.
“What is going on?” Theresa came from the bedroom in a tank top and shorts, her eyes going wide on me as one of my mates closed the doors. I offered her a small smile, expecting at least some type of greeting—instead the sneer that covered her face had me feeling another pang of hurt.
“You’re back. I thought Alpha sold you.”
“He did,” I murmured as I looked between her and Gerald, hearing Tore’s words play through my head.
I knew there was a lot to focus on, and outside of Tore, the others were wandering around the place, namely going into the room I slept in for years.
I had no idea what they were looking for, but they’d soon realize how little I had.
“So why are you back?” she growled, Gerald hiding partly behind her as he kept an eye on Dakota, who was glaring at him from the kitchen.
“We need to talk to Alpha.”
“Why?” Gerald demanded.
“We need to talk to him,” Tore growled. Gerald made a concerned noise and dipped into his bedroom, no doubt to call his brother.
I stepped out of Tore’s arms and looked around the living room, noticing that there were still things laid out from when I’d left.
“Don’t look at our home like that.”
Theresa’s hard tone had me jolting as I offered her a wide-eyed look. “What?”
“I see the judgment,” she growled. “You think you’re better than all of us now that you go to some stupid fucking school?
Now that you wear nice clothes because you’re whoring yourself out?
You’re not. You lived in this dump for years.
You only left because we had to fucking sell you, or else you would still be here. ”
My eyes watered as I spoke softly. “Why are you being like this?”
I didn’t understand what I’d done to her. Sure, they had never been nice to me, but the anger now was so much more extreme. I could feel the others tensing, and I knew they hated her words. I knew they were furious, but they were letting me handle things.
“Why am I being like this?” She bit out a laugh. “We watched you for years, and do you know what we got out of it? Almost nothing in comparison to what Alpha kept.”
Before I could respond, Caedmon appeared and spoke in a soft, deadly tone. “Leave your issues with your fucking Alpha away from our mate. I highly suggest never uttering the word ‘whore’ around Effie again. If you do, you’re going to have to choose between forfeiting your life or your cousin’s.”
Cousin?
Tore chuckled at the shock on Theresa’s face.
“Did you just threaten me?”
“Yes.” Tore’s voice was hard.
“Cousin?” I asked softly.
Theresa’s jaw hardened as she looked away, causing me to offer Caedmon a concerned look. Then he said something that absolutely blew my mind.
“Gerald is Theresa’s first cousin.”
“What?” I asked in shock. She didn’t deny it, instead walking into the bedroom, disappearing around the corner to reveal Gerald. His gaze was angry, but he didn’t look at any of us, instead striding towards the door as a knock sounded.
“Who is that?” Ryder demanded.
I knew who it was though.
“Alpha.”