The big one
Selena
Damien insisted that I meet him in person. I believed he had a secret obsession with me, but it didn’t matter how he felt, my decision was final. But I still came out, outside the park. I still covered my hair and wore glasses. I still made sure I was hardly recognizable. I covered my scent in things that I knew would make me smell distinctly different, given to me by my witchy friend.
We met at a small neutral pack miles away from the territory of Killian. When he saw me, he stood forward, then began walking closer. Damien was tall, as many alphas were, but not quite as muscular. His leanness didn’t exactly do him bad; it meant that he was faster than most. “Swift” was the word, and it earned him the title of Quick Feet. Of course, I felt the title was not quite deserved, since after all, the reason why many earned titles through feat in war, he had hardly fought a war, according to my father. He was not fit to have the title.
He wanted to hug me, but held out his hand instead. If it cost me nothing, I faced him, lighting up just a little bit. “You’re the one who wanted to talk to me. You said you needed to talk to him, and I’m the only one.”
I turned away, not caring much about the running away races. Rather different, similar to human villages, they were small, tightly knit societies where everybody was related in some way, and the only way to ensure against inbreeding was to bring in someone from the outside every once in a while, just to avoid birth defects. We would stand out, in truth, yes, but most of the people here could hardly talk to save their lives. They protected themselves more than other people’s secrets, and knew very well that if they spoke wrong about many alphas, one or two of them would be taken, and that was more than enough to guarantee their silence.
“Does your human really piss you off that much?” he dared to ask.
His question knocked me out of my thoughts. I whipped my head toward him fast enough that my scarf nearly fell off my head. “Sometimes I wonder whether or not you truly deserve that brain behind your eyes. Sometimes you’re smart, and other times you’re such a fool,” I said, rolling my eyes. “This is why you would never have me.”
He shook his head. “This,” he said, “is not the reason. The reason I would never have you is because he exists. When he’s dead, I could have you, but I highly doubt it.”
I smiled. “Just as if I would let you kill him. You know this. Why do you keep testing me?”
“I don’t mind it,” he said. “I try ever so often to bite even more. You do realize that these little acts of defiance of yours make it worse? It makes my blood boil and the rage bloom within me. I want to have you, Selena. I want to possess you, like mine.”
I held up a hand. “You have a mate, Damien. Control yourself. You’re no child, no teenage wolf who has just learned what an erection is. It disgusts me, these things you do, these words you say. You do not care for your mate even though she’s true to you, even though she’s given to you by the goddess herself.”
I turned away from him.
He was silent for a moment until he started talking again. “I wish she had given you to me,” he said. “Then maybe this desire would equalize.” He chuckled. “I don’t like her, you’re right. It’s you I’ve always wanted.”
I rolled my eyes. Truly, he was just being dramatic, and frankly, I hated it. I stood to my feet. “If you cannot handle me being with him, this alliance is pointless.”
“No,” he said quickly, grabbing my arm. “I’ll take you to him, I promise. But you didn’t answer my question,” he said, his voice slightly shyer than it was before.
I turned around, my interest piqued. “Yes,” I said. “She pisses me off so badly I want to tear her pathetic hood clean off her shoulders. So what? That isn’t new under the sun, is it? Competing for being an Alpha’s mate has been something long forgotten in our customs, but it can happen again.”
He smiled. “So do you want to compete with her? You want to fight her for the rights to be his?” He stepped closer. “I didn’t think you were that, Madelina. It is a fool’s idea. Do you think he would let you kill his true mate?”
My head snapped up towards his. “I honestly don’t care, but for the sake of propriety, that is why I am looking for him. Damien can help me. We can prove to be distraction enough to keep his mind off her. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about using the old customs, now would I?” I clicked my tongue.
Him, at this age, should be able to read between the lines, or maybe he could, maybe he just wanted to appear honest in front of me. It didn’t suit him.
“Follow me,” he said, nodding his head for me to follow, and once again, I did.
He led me to what appeared to be a house. I was half expecting to find a father, mother, and children playing happily, but the scent of blood was so strong I knew that wasn’t the case. Once the door opened, the smell became stronger. The smell was so thick everyone within the pack could by now have scented it.
I sneered as I walked through it, hating the fact that the smell would follow me all the way back home, and then I would have to explain to my father why I smelled like blood. Seated at the dining table was him. The bodies of the family members had been taken away, but the blood still remained along with some parts of their bodies.
He turned, his face breaking into a smile so bright it could have easily eclipsed the sun, if not, unfortunately, for the blood on his face. He might as well have washed his face in blood, for the smell used on him was so strong I could have gagged. No, he bathed himself in it. It was all intentional; it was also some sick and twisted plan of his to stir fear into my heart. But it didn’t work.
I frowned and pushed my chest out just a little, raising my chin to stare down at him. He stood up suddenly, his arms stretched out wide in invitation for an embrace, an embrace I didn’t take.
“Spare me the theatrics, Damon. I have not come for this.”
He stopped just a few feet short of me.
“The human,” he said.
“Oh, so you’ve heard?” I clicked my tongue in displeasure. “It’s now an open secret, apparently.” I looked back towards Damian, his nephew. “Did you tell him?”
“You should know that our spies know everything that’s going on in your pack. It’s big,” he said, walking into the room. “It’s a lot of ground to cover, but we can do it.”
He looked back towards his uncle, who still smiled.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, would you wipe the blood off your face?” I reached into my bag, pulled out a handkerchief, and tossed it at him.
He growled, a deep, guttural sound. Killian’s growl would have made me weak in the knees and genuinely desire him, this one made me want to cry and run home to my mother.
And then, to make matters worse, his silver eyes glowed. His wolf would rip me to pieces.