Chapter 48 CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
MAEVA
I won’t scream. That’s the kind of reaction that will bring more unwanted attention my way. I already get enough of that. The time is almost up and very soon, everyone will take their positions around the forest – everyone but me if I don’t come up with something soon.
Footsteps approach and I get in stance. I don’t trust anybody in this pack not to try and attack me. I’ve seen the way they look at me and I’ll be damned if I let anyone beat me in this pack. I relax when a tree branch moves and Clayton appears.
“What are you doing here?” he asks.
“None of your business. Am I not allowed to be here too?”
He laughs. “Of course you are. You can go wherever you please.”
Not according to Caius. Everything here is a privilege I have to earn.
“The Alpha asked me to escort you to your room.”
I turn away and close my eyes.
“What does he want from me?” I ask.
“What?” Clayton asks, confused.
“He said I have to earn the privilege of fighting with the pack today. I told him I’d let him kiss me and he laughed in my face. What does he want from me?”
He didn’t laugh in my face but it felt like it. I was vulnerable when I offered and his rejection stung. I shouldn’t have taken the potion from the witch. I’m softer now than I was before I took the potion.
Clayton clears his throat and shifts around awkwardly. I’m still not looking at him but I can sense his discomfort.
“I could swear with my life that none of your fears about him will ever come to pass but in the end, you have to sell it to yourself for you to believe it.”
“I’m not going to accept to mate with him just because he’s keeping me hostage.”
“I’m not saying you should. I’m saying you should make an effort in getting to know him. Find out who he is for yourself beyond what you think he is. Offer him effort and I think you might just start unlocking some privileges.”
With that, he turns and walks away. Effort. How do I fake effort? Caius is everything I think he is. He’s not going to magically become a different person because I wish it. He’s not going to be a different person because he switches his behavior when he wants to. The same way the nice version of him could be real is the same way this version could be real. I’m not taking any chances.
I take a deep breath and walk back to Caius’ office. Luckily, I don’t have to enter, he’s standing outside with pack warriors. Two of them are giving me dirty looks. Caius grunts and they all leave.
“You’re supposed to be in your room.” He says when I approach him.
I wonder what he’d have done if I had walked up to him without all the potions I’ve taken. Would his nose flare when he smells just how much I want him. He’s in a fitted shirt that hugs all his muscles and his hair looks wet.
“You said if I came up with something then I could fight with the pack.”
“Did you?” he asks.
From his tone, I can tell that he’s not hopeful. He doesn’t expect me to have anything.
“Go ahead, I don’t have all day.” He says and looks away.
“Effort. I’m going to give this bond a chance.”
He scoffs. “You’ve been talking to Clayton.”
“When would I have had the chance to speak to him?”
“I can smell him on you.” He says.
His countenance changes from relaxed to alert. “They’re here.” He says and takes off.
Since he didn’t say anything about me going back to the room, I run after him. The pack warriors see us and join us in the run. Caius shifts mid run and I watch in amazement. While the shift is no longer painful for me, I cannot shift that smoothly, mid run. I stop and shift then continue the run. Around me, all the other wolves also stop and shift before they continue running.
We enter the forest and the smell of rogues becomes overwhelming. How did they get past the border patrol? More than sixty rogues are surrounding two witches. We’re outnumbered by twenty but I know we can take them. When did the extra witch come in? I hate being out of the loop.
I can smell the fear on the witches as we get closer. They both have sticks and are waving the rogues away. I jump and fall on a rogue who tries to push me off. I growl in its face and go for its throat. I bite and drag until I rip its throat out. I spit out the blood and find my next rogue.
Adrenaline runs through me with every kill. Each rogue that drops reminds me that I can’t live a life of doing everything Caius says. I am a strong Alpha and he’s not about to make me anything but.
Finally, all the rogues are killed and we stand in the forest, surrounded by dozens of dead rogues. The witches are on the ground, weak and unmoving. Caius shifts and picks the witch up and carries her towards the exit. I growl as I watch him move unbothered with the witch in his arms.
Clayton shifts and carries the other witch out. Something doesn’t add up and I try to see past my jealousy to figure out what’s not adding up. Why couldn’t the witches use their powers?
Caius is the only one who can answer my questions and I brace myself for the conversation when I ask him. He stops just before he leaves the forest and looks straight at me. The warning look is clear, don’t shift here.
I growl at her then start running back to the pack house to change. As I run, I realize that I was injured in the fight but I don’t let it slow me down. I get to my room in the pack house and I enter the bathroom to wash off all the blood on my fur.
After my shower, I dress up in the clothes that I was given and I head downstairs to find out what is happening. I need to go to where the witches are being kept but no one will let me in that place without a fight and I don’t feel like fighting until my injures are healed.
I sniff the air for Claytons scent. Caius won’t tell me anything but I will make sure he does. I follow the scent to his house and I open the door slowly so it doesn’t alert him to my presence. He’s in his bedroom. I hide and wait for him to open the door then I get into position and lunge at him.
The air is knocked out of me as I feel collision that knocks me down to the floor. Caius’ huge wolf snarls from above me, his eyes blazing red.