“Hello,” he said again, and I held my head back, tears springing to my eyes.
I hated him, Goddess, how I hated Kaleem Mikaelson. He’d done this to me. He’d subjected me to this hell while he was living well in a town that was my home. He’d damned me to eternal suffering, and I wanted to rip him to shreds with my bare hands.
I crushed my phone, the device crumbling in my hand, but still, I threw its shattered pieces at the wall.
Falling to the ground, I palmed my face and started crying. I didn’t care if I was heard. I felt like I was living eternal death, and it was all Kaleem’s fault.
***
I followed the scent of my fellow pack members into the woods, and there I found them gathered and whispering among themselves. The moon was high, allowing light to shine down on us, and I approached my dad standing at the back of the group and looped my arm through his.
Colin and Jackson were yet to arrive I noticed with a quick scan of the crowd, and my eyes fell on Adronus. He was already staring at me, a cup in hand, as he took a sip. I held his stare, refusing to look away until my dad tugged on my arm.
Sighing, I turned my attention elsewhere.
Adronus and I had been close as young pups, and now that was hard to believe. He’d had a crush on me and followed me wherever I went, but now he was a part of Jackson’s clique, and at the top of the list for wolves, I’d love to punch in the face.
To live was to experience things and change, and he’d changed drastically. He lost his warm friendliness and grew into a bully with a bad haircut.
“Behave,” Dad whispered so only I could hear, but if only he knew that I hadn’t been the one to start anything.
All arguments I ended up in weren’t even started by me. Left up to me, I wouldn’t speak to anyone. I didn’t need any of them for anything, but, somehow, they always felt the need to pester me.
When Jackson and Alpha Colin arrived, a hush fell over the pack.
I watched Alpha Colin while he made his way to the front of the group, and Dad and I exchanged quick glances. Colin stared at everyone, his icy blue eyes making sure everyone was present as if anyone would be foolish enough not to be.
His face was shaken, and his black hair was as low as Jackson’s. Standing at 6’5, Colin was a giant compared to the rest of us, except for my dad, who shared the same height.
I was yet to apologize to dad about my rant the other night. I honestly hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings, but I had. Come Sunday, my plan was to take the day from work and surprise him with breakfast, clean the trailer, and make him dinner.
A day’s pay lost would be worth it because he was always taking care of me, and he deserved a moment to rest.
On Colin’s right, Jackson stood with his head high and his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans. The thought of him one day becoming Alpha was enough to make me want to throw up, but I doubted that would happen any time soon.
Colin wasn’t going to relinquish his position to anyone, even Jackson but recalling my run-in with Jackson the other night, I wondered how Colin would react if his precious grandson was struck by lightning.
I shook my head. My thoughts were getting increasingly violent, and I didn’t like that. This person wishing bad for someone else, even though it was someone I didn’t like, wasn’t me. But I couldn’t think of anything other than lashing out at the people that insisted on doing the same to my father and me.
Look where we were, at our pack meeting and standing at the far back as if we had a contagious disease.
“Are you okay?” Dad whispered, and I nodded.
“I’m fine.”
“Ambrose,” Alpha Colin’s voice boomed through the forest, and everyone turned to look at Ambrose, a young pup in his teens.
The boy had curly red hair and freckles that covered his face. His wide eyes looked at everyone while walking forward, his heartbeat pounding in my ear like a jackhammer.
I released Dad’s arm, my jaws clenched while I watched Ambrose approach Colin. Beside me, my father tensed because we both knew what was coming. What had Ambrose done?
“Where is it?” Colin asked when the boy was standing before him with his head down.
Colin’s dominance was like a tsunami, the wave rushing from the front of the pack to Dad and me. We winced and hunched forward, the weight on our bodies almost painful. I fought to look up and saw that several wolves had fallen to the ground while Ambrose was held by the throat.
Colin had the boy dangling off the ground.
“Is it true you’ve been lying about your earnings?” Colin growled with his eyes like glistening gems in the night. “You know the rules, boy! Speak!”