Chapter 35: Meeting with the enemy

Roxanne’s POV

“Mina! What the fuck is this?”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. She was sitting in the middle of a private room, entwined in another man’s arms. All of those reports that Ryan had been getting this week turned out to be true. Mina was cheating on my brother. That thought sickened me and I began to feel nauseous. I felt my breakfast creeping up my throat pressing for a come back and I knew that I had to get out of there.

“Wait, Roxy! It’s not what you think!” Mina screamed from behind me as she scrambled to gather her belongings.

She followed me out into the alleyway and raced to my side. I didn’t stop to hear her out. I was so upset to have found them in that position that I kept stomping towards the parking lot. I ignored her attempts to call out to me, for all I could think of was my poor brother. I neared my car but before I could open the door, Mina grabbed my shoulder and whipped my body back towards her. With tears in her eyes, she begged me to listen. I was starting to feel bad when my gaze landed on Travis watching us from the background. He grinned my way before leaping on his motorcycle and I felt my anger multiplying.

“What could you possibly say that would make any of this okay? You were practically making out with him, Mina! I saw you! How could you do this to Benji?” I raged at her.

“That’s not true! We were just training.” Mina answered back frustrated.

“Really? Because I’ve never received that type of training. Must be new.”

“Don’t do that, Roxy. Don’t make me out to be a bad guy. I’m not a cheater and you know that. I just wanted to learn how to defend myself.”

“But why were you with HIM?” I insisted with revulsion.

Ryan had told me about Travis’s utter lack of respect for my brother and for Mina. I just couldn’t understand why she had chosen to train with him after everything he had done.

“Would you have helped me if I came to you? Would Ryan have?” She questioned me.

I tugged on the end of my braided hair unable to reply. She was right. Benjamin had passed on an order to not fight, harm or train with his mate as it could’ve led to hurting her. As members of his pack, we were all expected to follow his every command.

“I care about Benji, I really do. But I asked him to help me and he refused. Travis is not of this pack, so he accepted. That’s all.” She tried to convince me.

“Okay. But how do you explain what I just saw, Mina? It seemed like you were about to kiss and…”

“I know what it must’ve looked like. But it wasn’t that.” She cut me off abruptly.

I stared at her with my eyebrow cocked. She understood that I needed much more information than that so she admitted that the both of them had been meeting in the secrecy of the old gym to practice every morning. She told me about everything that they had been doing and swore that nothing inappropriate took place between them. She insisted that the moment I glimpsed was nothing more than a simple misunderstanding.

“Are you sure?” I asked, still a little dubious.

“He’s just a friend and he was only comforting me.”

“I saw the way that he was looking at you…” I paused recalling the soft gazes that they were exchanging.

“I would never hurt Benji. He has my heart.” She said leaning back on my car.

“Then maybe all of this happened because you’re not being honest with him. You have to tell him about Micheal. He’ll keep you safe, Mina. He’ll protect you.”

I waited for her answer but she kept quiet. I sighed and pressed my back against the car alongside her. She obviously still wasn't ready to reveal the truth and, although it annoyed me, I've made a promise to respect her choice and I had to live up to it.

“How’d you find out about us?” She asked me after a while in a low voice.

“The young werewolves… they like to gossip. Which means that it won’t be long before he finds out about it too.”

“Great!” She said as she rolled her eyes.

We remained silently rooted in place for a while when, all of a sudden, a loud and deafening noise ripped into the peaceful air and startled the both of us. Mina dropped her purse to the floor and dug through it in order to retrieve her cellphone.

“Why don’t you just keep it on vibrate like every other young person?” I asked mockingly.

She pulled out her tongue at me as she stood back up. She seemed hesitant to answer her phone and instead, let the ringing go on.

“Who is it?” I asked her.

“I’m not sure.”

She showed me her phone and it displayed a number that I couldn’t recognize either.

“Maybe it’s a nursing agency. Maybe it’s a new contract.” She smiled before picking up the call. “Hello?”

It only took a brief moment for her entire demeanour to rapidly change. Her smile began to fade away and her eyes grew twice their normal size. Her entire face twisted up with pure horror. In an instant, I've already had figured out who was on the other line. Apart from the monster that she had dated, no one else had the power to dismantle her entire being in such a distressing way. I snatched the phone from her when her breathing dangerously shortened and she began hyperventilating.

“You son of a bitch!” I yelled to the person on the other side of the phone.

“If it isn’t my dear cousin Roxanne. I can call you cousin now, can’t I? Smart as you are, you’ve probably figured it out by now.” Micheal chuckled in his own Machiavellian way.

“I will kill you!”

“See, you’ve tried that already and you failed. So let’s not lie to ourselves, Roxy. Now give Mina the phone back.” He demanded switching from a playful to a blood-curdling tone.

A simple no was all that I could muster as I fought to contain the eerie chills running through me. He was definitely back to taunt the both of us.

“Fine. She knows where to meet me anyways. Hopefully, I’ll see you there too. It’ll be our nice little reunion.” He said mockingly in his deep voice before hanging up the phone.

I turned towards my friend who was already studying me with her glossy gaze. I was going to comfort her when, for the second time, her expression drastically turned. Her thick eyebrows snapped together and her forehead furrowed. Her mouth clamped shut while her jaw tightened. She had a decided look in her eyes and I knew what she was going to say before she even said anything.

“No, Mina! You’re not going to meet him!”

Without a word she took off with her phone in hand and her purse tucked under her arm. I ran after her to stop her from getting into my brother’s car.

“Mina, don’t!” I yelled again digging my nails in the arm that I held.

“I have to go. I’m sick and tired of him living rent-free in my mind.” She shouted back. “I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I can’t even trust Benji because of him.”

She got rid of my grip and hopped in the car. She spared me one last glance before starting the engine.

“I’m not asking you to help me, Roxy. I’m only asking you to understand.” She let out in a brittle voice.

I stood by while she put the truck in reverse and prepared to drive away. I was against meeting with the enemy but even I couldn’t deny that her motives were reasonable. She had a right to confront him in order to finally move on from the torment that still hunted her. However, it felt all too dangerous. *‘He’s trying to lure her to him. He’s going to kill her.’* I thought to myself. I could hear my wolf growling in agreement. She felt the same need to protect Mina. Neither her or me could let our future Luna go alone.

I stood in front of the massive car right before Mina drove off. She stared at me mutely as I climbed in the passenger seat next to her.

“I don’t want you to go. But if you’re going then I’m coming with you.” I said in a tight voice, annoyed by the whole situation.

We drove towards the pack borders where she had first saw Micheal over a month ago. Neither of us spoke the whole way there. I was still seething for being thrown in this risky business but even more at the fact that Micheal was the one behind all of it. When we arrived, the entire camp seemed deserted. There wasn’t a single patrol guard in sight. A terrible feeling rose in me as Mina and I walked towards the log cabins. They were completely empty and the air was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“I don’t like this.” I said in an undertone.

“What is it?” Mina whispered back instinctively upon hearing me use a hushed voice.

“Where’s everyone? This camp is supposed to be full of werewolves, especially at this time of day.”

“What are you thinking?” She asked me under her breath.

“I’m thinking that this whole thing is a freaking trap. Micheal Bailey is setting us up.” I kept my voice low.

“You mean Micheal Miller.”

I gave her the most glaring look I possessed which made her instantly shrug her shoulders and mouth the word sorry. We jumped out of our skin when a few branches snapped to the left of us and the apprehension that I was feeling grew ten times fold.

“Let’s just go, Mina. I don’t like this at all.”

I could see that she was about to protest my request when we heard, all around us, more twigs breaking under heavy footsteps. Sensing imminent threat, my wolf began to snarl in my head and push for control.

“Okay, yeah, you’re right! We should definitely go!” Mina said rapidly as she pulled on my arm to get us back to the car.