The men reacted before I could. I stumbled slightly when they spun and pushed me behind them. Their loud growls echoed around the room. David stepped slightly in front of Devon. It was good to know that their relationship went deeper than they let everyone believe.
“I told you that you are not welcome here.”
“So I remember,” the man muttered. “I was missing my son so I decided to stop by.” He cleared his throat. “I also wanted to see if all the rumors were true.”
“Leave,” David growled. “Now.”
Fear rushed down my spine when he laughed. There was no humor—his laugh was emotionless and so damn cold. I stepped closer to them and stood on tip-toes to risk a look over their shoulders. All I could see was his dark hair. A hand suddenly shot out to grip my hip. Devon turned, keeping his hand on my hip. The look in his eyes scared me. I had the urge to run away from him.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your mate?”
I sucked in a sharp breath and reached down to grip Devon’s wrist. His hold on me was painful. He instantly loosened his hold. I refused to meet his eyes. Who was this man? Why were they so eager for him to leave? Why wouldn’t they introduce us? He called David his son so that must mean . . . he was the father they didn’t want visiting.
“No,” David growled. “You stay the fuck away from her.”
My eyes snapped up to Devon’s when I felt his body start to vibrate. His lips were pursed and his fists clenched tightly at his sides. His sharp teeth dented his bottom lip. I watched in surprise as hair sprouted along his arms and chest before disappearing and then appearing again. Devon was fighting not to shift. I reached up and pressed my hands against his chest.
“Calm down,” I whispered. “Shh. It’s okay. I’m okay. Relax.”
He growled and gripped my hips. His hold hurt but I said nothing. For some reason, he hated this man. I winced when he tugged me hard against his body lowered his face. Sharp teeth gripped my shoulder. It was the first time I felt scared of him. Was he going to bite me?
“Wrin please escort this man off my land,” David ordered loudly. “If I find you on my land again, I will kill you.”
I raised my head and glanced around. For the first time, I realize that we weren’t alone at all. Somehow without me realizing it, the room had filled with men and a few women. They must’ve been watching us fighting.
I swallowed when Devon’s hold on my shoulder tightened. He wasn’t breaking skin just yet, but he could at any moment. My eyes snapped to David when he moved. He walked over to where they had dropped their shirts and bent to pick them up. His eyes locked with mine as he approached us. David was just as pissed but he was better at controlling it than Devon.
He stopped next to us. Placing a hand on Devon’s shoulder, he leaned down and whispered something in his ear. Devon nodded and finally let my shoulder go with his teeth. He straightened but didn’t move away from me.
“Put this on doll,” David ordered softly, holding out a shirt.
I instantly took it from him and pulled it on. I felt a little better once my body was covered. Devon stepped away from me. His dark eyes darted around before locking with mine. I gasped when he grabbed my ponytail and tugged. My eyes widened. Anything I was going to say was forgotten when his lips smashed down on mine. He kissed me until my knees were weak and I could do nothing but cling to him. His lips were pulled up in a smirk when he pulled away.
“I’m going for a run,” he muttered. “I’ll see you later, little dove.”
There was a promise in his low voice that made anticipation fill me. I licked my lips as I watched him stroll to the exit. What were they planning?
***
There was a dark cloud hanging over our heads.
A part of it had something to do with the sudden appearance of David’s father. The man was escorted off pack land but that didn’t mean that he left. It was reported that he has been seen lurking around on numerous occasions. It made my mates tense and short-tempered.
Two more threats were received shortly after he arrived.
I heard them talking—okay so I was listening in on them. It irked me that they weren’t willing to discuss anything with me. Apparently, they had a choice: hand me over and stop the war, or keep me and start a war. There was no guarantee that handing me over would stop the pack from having to fight in a war. The thought of handing myself over had crossed my mind, so I had talked to Mel about it.
Like she had pointed out, they could kill me or use me as a threat to get whatever they wanted from Devon and David. It could be a power-thing. Jealously could be the fuel behind it. Actually, there were a lot of reasons for that. So in the end, surrendering myself to keep them alive was out of the question.
Two weeks without any trouble and threats had already passed.
Everything was going . . . normal. I had a feeling that it was going to change soon. It was the calm before the storm.
As for the pack accepting me, we were getting there. A vast majority of the members had accepted me as their Alpha Female, but there were still some rotten fruits in the basket, as my aunt would say. All I had to do was make them accept me, and then there wouldn’t be any conflicts.
The fighting classes were going great. It came as a surprise to some parents how much the children liked learning how to fight. A few of the teens wanted to take up more pack duties. Devon was reluctant to allow them but he told them that they needed to finish school first before they could start doing anything. David was a little more open about it. I knew that he would eventually talk Devon into allowing them to do more.
The safety measures were all set in place too. Most of the families that lived near the borders had been moved to the packhouse. I managed to talk them into changing the cells in the basement into some kind of safe room. The families knew where it was encased of another attack.
As for us, things were going great up to an extent; they were busy all the time. We went to bed together at night but I woke up alone. I spend my mornings teaching the young. Then I had lunch with them in their office before taking a walk with Wrin, or I used to, but it all stopped when I met her.
***
“So you’re the human,” she spat the word as if was a curse.
A hand wrapped around my arm and spun me around. I instantly pulled my arm free from her grip and glanced down at the half-moon marks her nails had left on my skin. Her beauty took my breath away. Chocolate brown eyes locked with mine for a second before lowering to glance down my body. I did the same.
She was a few inches taller than me and slim. I was sure model scouts would fight over her. She had all the curves in the right places. Her skin was golden and her blond hair was piled on top of her head in a complicated style. Even her make-up was done to perfection.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly, glancing up at her face again. “We haven’t met before.”
“Clearly, otherwise I would’ve made sure you were sent back to where you came from.”
I frowned at her. I wasn’t sure what to make of her. Obviously, she was one of the few who hated me being here. She thought of me as weak. If only she knew. I stood silently when her eyes trailed over me again, from head to toe. Her lips pulled up into a sneer, making it look like she ate something sour.
“You reek of them.”
Should I be offended by that? Maybe I would be if I knew what she was talking about. I tensed when she suddenly took a step forward and sniffed at me. I recently learned a few things about the traditions here. All the do’s and don’ts involved greeting elders and lower-ranked members. Sniffing someone the way she was sniffing me was a sign of disrespect.
Her head snapped back so suddenly that I jumped in fright. She growled at me. Her brown eyes had turned pitched black. The sight of her sharp canines made me aware of the trouble I was in.
She was a stranger to me and now it looked like she wanted to kill me. I unconsciously took a step back. Wrin was supposed to be close-by. I was too scared to take my eyes off her encase she decided to attack. My eyes dropped to her hands for only a second, but it was enough to get a glimpse of her claws.
“How dare you?” she growled. “How dare you!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. If you’ll just tell me your name then—”
A scream fell from her lips when she lunged at me. I managed to move away but the tip of her claws scraped my cheek. I could feel the blood dripping down from the cuts. She made a swipe at me again. I tripped over my own two feet as I moved away. She wanted to kill me!
“I will make you pay!” she screamed. “He’s mine. MINE!”
Wrin suddenly stepped in front of me and blogged her next hit. Within seconds she was laying in a heap at his feet. He growled loudly as he hovered over her. To my surprise, she whimpered and curled into a ball. Her bravado from earlier had faded.
“Kelsey,” Wrin growled. “You’ve just returned and already you’re starting trouble again.”
Kelsey. Where have I heard that name before? The woman in question slowly got up but she kept her head bowed and turned slightly to the side.
“She reeks of my mate.”
Her mate? What the hell was she talking about?
“He is not your mate, Kelsey. He never was and he never will be.” Wrin took a step closer until his body brushed hers. “If I find you attacking my Luna again or causing any problems, you will be punished. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes.”
“Now get lost!”
She turned and pushed her way through the crowd that had gathered to watch. Wrin watched her until she disappeared before turning around to face me. He winced when his eyes fell on my cheek. Reaching up, I touched the burning cut. It wasn’t bleeding any more.
“They are going to have my ass,” he muttered under his breath.
Wrin gently took my arms and led me back to the packhouse. We used one of the bathrooms downstairs to clean the cut. Three cuts underneath one another, they weren’t that deep, and it was already starting to heal.
I walked quietly beside him and tried to remember where I had heard her name. So much has happened that I couldn’t place it. My frown deepened. I glanced up when Wrin stopped walking. We stood outside their office. Wrin had his arm raised as if he wanted to knock. I leaned to the side to get a look at his face.
“We don’t have to tell them the truth.”
***
Of course, he ended up telling them the truth. That was why I spent most of my time locked up inside the office with them now. They refused to tell me who she was and why she went after me. I even asked about her accusing me of being with her mate.
They always changed the subject or distracted me with kisses. What they forgot was the fact that a lot had witnessed Kelsey attacking me. They talked, and I listened. I learned a lot from the women working in the kitchen. Of course, they never knew that I was within hearing distance otherwise they would have kept quiet.
“What are you thinking about?”
I looked up at Devon hovering over me. His brows were dipped in a frown. The paper he had been reading was now forgotten. Uncrossing my legs, I stretched and glanced around the room in search of David. He was nowhere to be found. When had he left?
“You and Kelsey were once a couple, right?”
He sucked in a sharp breath. “Where did you hear that?” Devon turned away and made his way over to his desk. “You know better than listening to the gossips.”
“I have a right to know that my mate has an ex who wants me dead because she believes I stole him from her.” I got to my feet when he said nothing. “How long were you together for?”
“It doesn’t matter Val,” he muttered.
My hands curled into fists as my anger rose. I had the right to know. I glanced around and then reached for the closest thing—a pillow. I threw it at him and watched as it bounced off his back. He tensed and then slowly turned around. His eyes dropped to the pillow and then darted over to me.
“She attacked me,” I said softly. “She wanted to rip my throat out and I’m pretty sure she still wants to do that. I’ve heard things, Devon. Things that make me want to crawl into a hole. I’m your mate and it is my right to know what she meant to you. Do you still have feelings for her? Do you realize that you’ve made a mistake and that you want her back? Tell me!”
The room was silent. I could hear my heart beating in my chest. The way he watched me was unnerving. Licking my lips, I sucked in a breath and slowly blew it out. Instead of answering me, he turned and dropped the files onto the desk. Then he moved towards the pillow on the floor. Devon leaned down and picked it up before straightening. He stared at it for a few seconds and then let out a loud sigh.
“Devon?”
Finally, he looked at me. His hold on the pillow tightened. He looked like he wanted to rip the thing apart. His shoulders sagged. Another sigh fell from his lips as he walked closer. Devon dropped the pillow onto the couch before closing the last few inches of distance between us.
“Yes,” he said softly. “I realized that I had made a mistake.”