A Revealing Lunch

A Revealing Lunch
Scarlett
I sat at the table between Osprey and Elena, while Laura sat on Stu’s lap across from me. I watched them make out for a moment before looking around the cafeteria, letting my eyes linger on Silver. I knew that Osprey, along with the rest of the sleuth, hated him, but the last few days I had been keeping an eye on him as Serena wanted to find out what really was going on with him. Something had been triggered in us since Grandma Karen’s funeral, and I had this urge to fix everything.
I watched the way he chewed his food, as if he couldn’t taste it. I studied the way he responded to his “friends” with a deep deadness in both his eyes and his voice. I had noticed four days ago that on his neck there was a small patch of black veins that had gotten slightly bigger as the days passed. I had kept Osprey busy with things to avoid him interacting with any of the wolves until I got to the bottom of what was going on with Silver.
I knew it shouldn’t bother me after everything that he had done to me, but Mama Tasha told me that I was starting to see weaker beings as something to protect. Serena wanted to rip his throat out, but she also wanted to hug him and keep him from harm. She didn’t feel the same way about the other wolves, which confused me. I didn’t understand it at all, and she either refused to explain to me why or she honestly just didn’t know.
“Laura, when a wolf loses their mate, what happens to them?” I asked curiously.
Osprey froze beside me. “Why?”
“Just wondering,” I said as I stuffed another bite of soggy mac and cheese in my mouth.
“It depends on how they lose their mates.”
I looked at her expectantly. “Go on.”
“Well, if they reject their mate, they have pain and are sick for a few days while the bond breaks, but then they are fine. They usually bounce back fully within a month.”
“And if their mate dies?”
Osprey narrowed his eyes on me. “What is this about, Letti?”
“Just curious, I swear. If we’re going to be allies with Jarrod, then I should know about the wolves, shouldn’t I?”
He sighed. “I know you’re up to something. Just promise you’ll be careful.”
I nodded. “I will.”
“When a wolf’s mate dies, they slowly die, too. If they are fully marked, it can take as long as a year. If they are not fully marked, it can last the rest of their lives, whether it takes them a year or 30. If their mates are humans, that changes things, too. If their mate is human, it slows their bodies down and makes them die slower. If their mates are another wolf, then their bodies age at the same time. If their mate is a bear, then they will die within a few weeks,” Osprey said.
“Why is there such a difference?”
“Because humans don’t feel the connection like shifters do. Wolves also don’t feel the bond like bears do unless fully marked. Our bonds are deeper from the start. We heal faster; we are stronger, more protective, stubborn, and ready for love. Wolves are naturally more in tune with a pack than they are with one other person. It takes them a while to register the full impact of the bond.”
I laid my head on his shoulder. “Say a wolf is mated to a human; would that affect their personality?”
“Again, it would just depend. Wolves can change their mates just like we can. Being mated to a human does not make them any weaker. It can make them more volatile and aggressive, but only because humans are frail compared to us.”
I glanced at Silver again. “Interesting.”
The bell rang, and I didn’t move. I smiled at Osprey.
“Go on. I’ll catch up. I want to finish eating.”
“Alright. Link me if you need me. I love you, Letti.”
“I promise I will. I love you, too.”
He kissed me softly before getting up to leave with the others. I waited until they were out of sight to pick up my tray and walk over to the table where Silver still sat, chatting with some of his friends. His lips lifted to reveal his teeth.
“What the fuck do you want?”
I looked around at his friends, letting my aura out. “Leave us!”
They all left, grumbling about how the bears were all power-abusing bitches. I rolled my eyes. Wolves could be such pansies. I eyed Silver, who was glaring at me.
“I want to ask you something, Silver.”
“Go to hell, Scarlett,” he snapped as he stood up, gathering his trash.
I tilted my head to study him. He was angry, but something was missing. His movements were the tiniest bit jerky and not sure, like a shifter.
“When did your wolf die?” I asked quietly as he walked by.
He stopped a foot past me with his shoulders moving up and down as he took several deep breaths.
“What makes you think my wolf died?”
“Well, you never shift during your spats with Osprey. I never even see your eyes shift color.”
His shoulders slumped, leaving him looking like a lost little boy as he turned back toward me. “What do you know about shifters, Scarlett? You’ve been one for what? A month?”
“I know that you’re hurting, Silver. I know that there’s something more to why you did what you did than you just being an asshole. I would like to know. It will help me heal and help you come to peace with the truth.”
He hesitated before sitting down at the table with me. “Why are you being so nice to me? I don’t deserve it.”
I cut my piece of cake in half before placing part of it in front of him. “Because I have a feeling that nobody was ever nice to you.”
He watched me for a moment before sighing. “When we realized that Vanessa was our mate, he left me. He didn’t want a weak human as our mate, but I did. I wanted her more than life, but he loathed her. He made me treat her like trash. He made me force her to be with a lot of the wolves. At least I thought he did, but the truth is, he didn’t. She liked it. She liked being passed around like a whore. The more of us she slept with, the happier she was. I didn’t used to be like this, Scarlett. I used to believe in the mate bond. I wanted it. I craved it. Until I realized that my mate was not worthy of being a mate. Not to me or anyone else. All she ever talked about was getting Osprey. Osprey this and Osprey that. I want Osprey. She told me that half a dozen times every day. Who wants to know that they’re not good enough? Not even for their mate?”
I stared at him in shock. “I’m sorry that she was like that. Vanessa always had to be the center of attention.”
He sighed again. “When I went to my father for advice on how to handle her behavior, he told me to beat her. He said, ‘Son, every time she talks back, slap her. She’ll stop. If she doesn’t want to mate, make her. No woman is above a man. What you say goes.’ And so that’s what I did. The first time I slapped her, she laughed and said, ‘You hit like a little bitch.’ So, I hit her harder. No matter what I did to her, she liked it. I had the wolves run a train on her, and she begged to do it again. Our pack is different from your sleuth. Where there are women of power and status in your sleuth, women in our pack are only good for breeders. They are beaten, raped, and forced to submit to men. That’s how I was raised. To take what I wanted when I wanted it.”
“Is that why you attacked me? Because that’s what you were taught?”
“Partially.”
“Tell me the rest, please?”
“You are beautiful, Scarlett. You are pure-minded. It was so obvious to everybody but you and Osprey that you were mates. It’s something in the way that you two looked at each other. I saw it the day I met you, and I wanted it. I wanted to possess you. I wanted to make Osprey suffer. Why should he have everything? He had a loving family, power, a mate who adored him, and his bear. And what did I have? Nothing. My family hated each other. I was going to lose Beta as soon as everyone realized that I didn’t have a wolf. My mate was a whore, and my wolf was gone. I just wanted to hurt him. I wanted to show my pack members that I was in control. That I would uphold our pack activities. Take what you want and share it with the pack,” he said bitterly.
“Why didn’t you just talk to Osprey, Silver? He would have helped you. It doesn’t sound like the pack is a good place for children. It’s teaching a very negative way to live,” I told him.
He shrugged. “I was beaten to within an inch of my life several times, Scarlett. My parents didn’t care, so why should I? When Jarrod’s older brother died and he became the next Alpha, everything started changing. The members of our pack that wanted to change the way we ran started speaking up more. Jarrod started punishing people for the way they were behaving. What was once a reason for celebration became a need for secrecy.”
He took a bite of his cake. “No female was safe. Not even the Luna. Every year, she was paraded in front of all the males who were coming of age and was held down while they screwed her. That’s how I was raised. I didn’t have the blessing of being able to choose my life. I did what I was taught, and now my life is over. I’m not even going to ask you to convince him to pardon me. I deserve this. I am ready to die. I have tried so many things to earn death. But none of them worked until I took you. Life was shit before that, and now it’s almost over. I can’t even say that I’m not looking forward to whatever happens.”
I reached across the table to lay my hand gently on his arm. “I forgive you, Silver, for what happened. You deserved a better childhood. You deserved a better life, and I’m sorry that your parents, pack, Alpha, and Luna all failed you.”
He looked down at my hand before looking back at me as his hand covered mine. “I’m sorry for hurting you, Scarlett. I truly am. I am sorry that I have been cruel to you since then, too. I just want Osprey to stop toying with me. I’m ready to go. I want him to kill me already.”
I cleared my throat as I tugged my hand out from under his. “I may forgive you, Silver, but I won’t stop Osprey from doing what he is doing. He feels that this is what he needs to do to avenge me. If the positions were reversed, I would be doing the same.”
He smiled sadly at me. “I understand. I would feel the same way about Vanessa had she not been the way she was.”
“I’m sure she loved you in her own way.”
“It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t like how I loved her,” he whispered.
I sat silently, unsure of how to respond to his statement, as I ate my cake. When the bell rang, I got up. He tossed my tray in the trash before nodding to the doorway of the cafeteria.
“Can I walk you to class?”
“Sure.”
He walked silently by my side, keeping people from bumping into me. All the bears watched us as we walked by. I knew they were all linking each other and Osprey about me being with Silver. When we stopped in front of my classroom, he turned toward me.
“Thank you, Scarlett. I do feel better.”
I hesitated before giving him a hug. “I can’t make Osprey move any faster, but if you need to talk while you’re still alive, I’m here for you.”
He squeezed me. “Thanks, Scarlett.”
I watched him walk away, leaning back against Osprey when he wrapped his arms around me.
“Is everything okay?”
“No, but it will be.”