Their exit reveals a cute brunette whose name may or may not be Raina. I’m not completely sure, and I’m not in the mood to confirm. Something tells me she doesn’t care, anyway—when our eyes meet, she gives me the sort of smile I’ve come to recognize ever since I figured out what my dick is for. She’s ready and willing and won’t let something as meaningless as first names get in the way.
I turn my gaze toward the men’s room, then lift an eyebrow in her direction. She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip, and I can almost hear her giggle over the laughter, bragging, and flirting going on all around us. I wave a hand, and she follows me, both of us weaving our way through the crowd.
I don’t really want to fuck her, but I’ll be more than happy to let her wrap those plump lips around my dick and suck until I’m good and satisfied. Plus, she’ll have a story to tell her friends tomorrow.
3
LILI
The days are starting to run together, and now I’m not sure what day of the week it is. That’s how busy I’ve been, making sure all of the empty homes and living quarters in the territory are habitable in preparation for the arrival of the other packs. We have plenty of beds between the unused homes, apartments, and the building I’ve lived in ever since I stopped living with my parents. An old boarding school. I’m not the only one living there, but I am the oldest.
I’m pretty sure the facilities haven’t been updated since they were last inhabited. Why would they be? Those of us who live here are the lowest of the low, and I sit at the very bottom of the ladder. That means I get the smallest, coldest room, furthest from the furnace. I have to walk the length of the hall to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night, too, and in emergency situations, it might as well be an entire football field.
It also means I get shit work like this, going from home to home, turning on the heat, and making sure the lights and water are in working order. I’ve chased a few critters out of basements and dark corners, for once bigger and stronger than my opponents. What a pitiful thing to be proud of.
The other packs will start showing up soon, so I couldn’t have gotten all my work done at a better time. My feet are heavy as I drag myself back to the long, three-story building I call home. It’s not exactly welcoming, and everybody there seems to hate me even though we’re all in the same boat, but what else is new? They leave me alone for the most part, which is all I could ask for.
I have to wonder what it’ll be like once the other packs get here and start to settle in. I can only hope they’ll be too busy doing whatever needs to be done about the witches and the war to worry about me.
Every time I consider what’s to come—not that Daniel or the council got too deep into things while I was around to hear them—I get the same funny feeling I had during the meeting. That there’s something wrong about this, not only because war sucks, and there are always losses no matter who ends up winning. I can’t help but think this is a mistake, somehow.
And from what I’ve seen and heard in the days since, I’m the only one who feels this way. What a big surprise. Everybody else is practically licking their chops, hungry for a fight. Thirsty for blood.
Yet another way for me to stand out. It’s like Fate decided before I was even conceived to make me the most anti-wolf wolf possible. I can’t shift. The idea of finding my fated mate is pretty much a fantasy at this point. Now I’m the only member of my pack who isn’t counting the minutes until it’s time to start fighting.
Does that make me a coward? How could I be a coward when I’ve been fighting for as long as I can remember? The minute Dexter set eyes on me, it was like he decided to make me his personal project. He made it his mission to hurt and humiliate me, and his friends have never once missed an opportunity to join in.
Getting out of bed and stepping outside in the morning is an act of bravery I perform every day. I’m not a coward. So why can’t I be like everybody else for once and welcome the idea of shutting the witches down for good? Unless they’re stopped once and for all, this could keep happening. I know, on the surface, this is the way to go.