LIAM
I returned to my office, trying not to let her anger get to me. I don’t know what I was expecting... Seeing her again, those gorgeous eyes of hers. Was this mate bond only affecting me?
Damon seemed to be doing fucking fine too. Was it just me suffering like this?
Jealousy reared its ugly head at that thought. Don’t fucking let shit get to you, Liam.
I sat back. With the killing that happened last night, the pack was a little restless and everyone had heard about it. Although I made sure everything carried on as usual as best as possible. The tension was clear in the air. The uneasiness of what happened the night before still lingered on everyone’s mind, it wasn’t something we were just going to forget overnight.
The darkness that had settled over the pack was palpable and I could sense the unease and fear clawing its way through the pack link.
I really wanted Dad and Mom to go away for a week or so. Dad needed it, and with all of this crap, I think now was the time for him to just relax. Even if he didn’t let on, he was going through a lot and I wanted him to know he could count on me. They needed a break.
I would offer to babysit Azura… but I wasn’t sure I’d manage that considering it would be an entire week or two. On top of that, with the murder, I needed to get to the bottom of it. We had no leads at all. Last night I had tried to track and trace any scent that lingered but there was nothing.
I frowned and was trying to figure out what I needed to do next when there was a knock on the door. My eyes flashed, and my mood just got darker when a familiar scent hit my nose.
‘Enter.’ I said coldly.
The door opened to reveal none other than Damon.
Now, why the fuck did I need to see him?
"Hey."
I raised an eyebrow.
"What do you want?"
"I thought I’d just come to see if there’s anything I could do? What happened last night, it’s damn shocking and I know-"
"If you have nothing useful to say, leave. I have things to do." I said coldly.
"Liam, can we just talk about this?”
"Didn’t I just say take a fucking hike?" I said, my eyes flashing.
He only frowned deeply. Well if he wanted to be fucking stubborn, I didn’t have time for his shit. Flipping open my laptop, I decided to ignore him instead, but he didn't take the fucking hint.
"Liam… I am your Beta. We need to work together and at least try to get on. We can’t carry on like this." Damon said quietly.
"Yeah, well, shame that it is what it is. Unless, of course, you want to step down from your position?" I said, knowing I was being a fucking jerk.
I didn’t really care though; thanks to him, I couldn’t even call Raven mine.
"I am not going to step down, especially when there is stuff going on. We need to just stop ignoring each other, man." He said exasperatedly.
"There’s a difference between ignoring and just not wanting to see your fucking face." I shot back, standing up.
He was getting pissed off, but he was staying calm. I wondered what it’d take for him to get the fuck out of my face.
"It’s been three years, Liam... Can’t we set our differences aside and-"
"Are you for real, Nicholson? Differences? She may just have been a passing thing for you, since we all know you jump from one infatuation to the fucking next, but for me she was the one I wanted from day fucking one, so don’t think three or ten years will change that." I growled, walking up to him and looking him in the eye. "Understood."
"Understood." He said, clenching his jaw. "One question though, why aren’t you going and getting her? This is about her, right? Then why not go after her?"
"Why don’t YOU reject her?" I shot back.
"I wanted us to work something out. You ran away from her, Liam you hurt her."
I smirked coldly.
I know I did, but I didn’t trust myself or my mental state back then.
"There was a lot worse I could have done. Walking away before I said or did something I regretted was the smartest choice. The only disappointing thing is that now I'm back, I'm stuck having to see your damn face." I said coldly, my eyes burning with anger.
He clenched his fists, and I knew I had pushed him enough.
"What’s wrong? Finding it hard to control your temper?"
"Fuck off, Liam, this isn’t a fucking joke. I get it! I get that you fucking loved her since day one! But the moon goddess made this decision! Don’t you think either of us rejecting her would hurt her?!" He snapped, shoving me back a little.
"I don’t think hurting her is something you really care about right. I mean you had no issue-"
"Stop it, man!"
"I'm fucking stating facts. You wanted me to talk to you, I'm fucking talking." I said coldly, shoving him back.
His eyes flashed and I don’t even fucking know who jumped forward first. I aimed a punch at his jaw only for him to block and throw in his own, I slammed it away and was about to grab his collar when her delicious fresh floral scent hit my nose. I felt her small hand on my chest, pushing me away from him as she forced herself between us.
"What are you two doing?!" She growled, flinching when I refused to let go of Damon, crushing her between us. I slammed him against the desk, my hand tightening on his neck with Raven still caught between us. Suddenly, I was fucking aware of her stomach against my dick and those fucking sparks.
All three of our hearts were fucking racing. The storm of emotions that surrounded us; anger, rage, irritation, confusion, and so much fucking more, spread like a toxic poison.
I was the first to pull away, tugging Raven away from Damon. I didn’t want him anywhere near her. Only for her to yank away from me, her eyes filled with rage as she glared at both of us.
"You both need to get your shit together. Neither of you is fucking man enough to do anything but whine? Seriously? We lost someone yesterday and today you two are acting like goddamn high-school-aged pigs!" She snapped.
"I came here trying to sort this shit out." Damon said frowning. He didn’t look at me and I knew I had really pissed him off. Good.
"Well then, sort this shit out! Liam, for your dad, show you can be a responsible Alpha. If you two are still hung up over the mating ball, well then get over it and move the hell on. It’s been three years, what happened back then is in the past. I'm enjoying my life. You should enjoy yours! Reject me, or if you want, I can do it too…"
The very thought made my stomach churn. Don't fucking say that.
She shook her head, looking between us. I thought I saw a glimmer of sadness there, but I wasn’t sure. She was about to leave the room when she paused at the door, turning and looking at me.
"As for Owen, I can handle him myself. I don’t need a man to fight my battles. Let alone either of you two." She said coldly.
I didn’t have any fucking right to feel like shit over her words, but I sure as fuck did. Her parting left a heavy silence in the room, I glared at Damon.
"Get out." I said to him coldly.
He shook his head in defeat, stopping at the door and glancing back at me.
"Well, if you ever decide to get your head out of your ass, you know where I am." He said, slamming the door shut behind him.
I frowned, despite him fucking disrespecting me... We went way back. He had been my best friend, like a fucking brother to me, until that night. Fuck, why did it have to happen? I dropped onto my seat, placing my feet on my desk and running a hand through my hair.
He had lost his father in that final battle, he had been through a lot, but I had shut everyone out. Now that I was back, I knew deep down I did need to tolerate him. But that meant I needed to do something about us, about Raven, about everything. I couldn’t keep shutting it all out because it wasn’t helping anyone.
I had a pack to run. He was my Beta and she... She was meant to be my Luna. My wolf stirred and I pondered on their words... Do something about it... What I wanted to do was take her and claim her as my mate. I was an Alpha, and I was done stepping down. I had given them a chance... and now that we were back to square one, it was high time I took what was mine for the claiming.
LIAM It was evening, Mom had mind-linked me to stop by only for me to realise she had tricked me. "Me alone with her?" I asked, looking at the little pumpkin. "She’s a good girl, Liam." Mom said dismissively. Dad smirked. "Yup, a real angel." He added, not sounding very convincing. "We could do this tomorrow?" "No baby, we are going." Mom said firmly. They were going to visit some lone wolves who lived near our pack territory. Considering the murder, Mom and Dad decided to check in on them, and here I was stuck with my little sister Azura - Aunty Indy’s girl that Mom carried. "Wiyam, I be good." She blinked those large blue eyes as she assured me. No, that was an alarm bell right there. No kid who says they will be good will be good… and I had seen the devil, Dante. Kids were scary… Don’t mess with them. "So, since you're visiting a few elderly wolves… you should be home by eleven?" I asked. Mom
RAVEN Staying in was suffocating, so I did what I did best: I jumped out of the window and left. I was enjoying the fresh air; it was slightly chilly, but nothing that would affect us werewolves. I wrapped my arms around myself while walking along, glad I wore my suede thigh high boots. I was just walking around the edge of the trees when I heard someone crying hysterically. A child at that. Concerned, I followed the sound only to find Liam wrestling a very upset Azura. Her face was a dark pink and she looked distraught. "Need help?" I asked without thinking. He stiffened before turning to me sharply. Goddess, he was so annoyingly handsome… Even while wrestling an angry, red-faced, little cute chibi. My stomach fluttered nervously, feeling undressed under his intense, sharp gaze that still threw me off. It was like he was a stranger I didn’t recognise. His eyes were burning into me, I saw them darken when they fell on my bare thighs. T
RAVEN The moment those sparks rushed through me; my eyes blazed as I looked at the man beneath me. "And this is an even nicer punch!" I growled quietly, before punching him square in the nose. The sickening crunch as I broke it satisfied me. How dare he! I jumped off of him, resisting the urge to kick him in the balls, and instead kicked his knee, hard! How dare he! Grabbing my boots, I turned and stormed down the stairs. My heart was thundering with a hundred emotions, but above all, I felt angry. How could he ignore me for three years and think he could just start flirting with me? Nope, not happening. I am not a pushover. I will not- "Raven!" He grabbed my arm just as I reached the front door, and I was annoyed to see he had put his nose back in place. "Don’t touch me, Liam." I hissed, yanking free. "I’m fucking sorry." He said, raising his hands in surrender. "That was out of line." He looked
Damon I said it, the reason behind the guilt that had been fucking consuming me since she returned... I needed to tell her anyway. Her porcelain doll-like face stayed in its perfect mask, yet I could feel her pain, hear her racing heart and see the way her fingers trembled ever so slightly on that donut. Her eyes, which were so fucking unique and perfect, looked at me, but there was no hatred there. Dammit I fucking hurt her… I'm fucking sorry, Raven. "Raven?" I whispered closing the gap between us, but she suddenly snapped out of it, despite her erratic heartbeat. "Thanks for telling me. Do you have anything else to say?" She asked with a blank face. I frowned, slightly concerned. Shit, I didn’t know what to say… Fuck it. I stepped closer, pulling her tightly into my arms. I didn’t care if the donut went everywhere, I just needed to tell her I'm fucking sorry. Her fresh floral scent and the beating of her heart soothed
RAVEN Shit, I was running late! Last night I hadn’t been able to sleep properly and I was paying for it now! I ran down the stairs three at a time, jumping down the final six and was about to rush to the door when Dad stepped out of the living room. "This is a house and I would appreciate you treating it like one." He said curtly. "I'm getting late, sorry!" I said hurrying to the kitchen and going to the fridge to grab a water bottle. I was about to reach for one when Dad snapped the fridge shut, missing my fingers by inches. I moved back, my heart skipping a beat as I looked at Dad, who was staring at me with a cold glare on his face. I glanced at Mom who turned her back on me and busied herself with making breakfast. "This is my house and as long as you are living under my roof, you will obey my rules and that includes letting boys into your room." "Ok." I didn’t have time for this, I needed to ask Liam or Uncle El wh
RAVEN I wasn’t expecting that. No matter if she did know, I still wasn’t expecting her to apologise to me. More than that, did that mean Damon had told her? "I just want you to know we have ended things." She said twisting one of the several delicate rings she wore on her fingers. I didn’t know what to say, our situation as a whole, was a mess. "I don’t know why you two aren’t together, but he is a really selfless, caring person. He’ll treat you great." She smiled. Come on, I was the queen of fake smiles and I could see right through hers. She was in pain thanks to that dimwit and here she was telling me that Damon was good enough for me. I felt sad for her. I know the mate bond played a part for me, but I also know that love without the bond existed. It was what I had felt for Liam for years. I was scared he’d find his mate. "One bird to another, men are idiots." I said with a crooked smile. She frowned for a second befo
RAVEN Liam had told Taylor and me to return to the party whilst he and Zack dealt with the body. Damon had gone off to see if there were any traces or anything left behind. Although we returned to the lively party with upbeat songs playing, I still felt glum. ‘So... You know about Zack and I.’ Taylor said through the link as he passed me a beer bottle. I looked at him and nodded. ‘Why haven’t you gone public or accepted the bond?’ I asked, unable to resist. Taylor looked pained; his eyes were fixed on a spot in the distance. ‘Zack doesn’t want anyone to know yet, he said he needs time.’ Well, even I was surprised that they were mates, but now that I knew, I could just see how perfect they could be. I stepped up to Taylor and hugged him tightly. ‘I'm here if you need to talk. I know you have a lot going on, yet you’re still smiling.’ ‘Isn’t that what you do to?’ He asked softly, looking down at me, concer
RAVEN Brother? I couldn’t focus on Dad. I was confused, what brother? "…useless, unwanted... Just leave, I don’t want to see you here…" I looked at Mom, who looked upset but I didn’t know what to make of it. "What brother?" I asked. "Like you need to know." Dad spat. So, he wasn’t going to discuss it, fine. "Ok… Don’t tell me. I'm out." I said, grabbing the first of my two suitcases and carrying them out. Dad picked up the next two and tossed them out. I heard something break, and with it, it felt like something inside of me was breaking. Mom just stood there whilst Dad was just raging with anger. "I never knew I had a brother… and clearly you guys don’t want to tell me so fine. But I do want to say one thing before I go… You said you lost your son because of me… I'm sorry for that, even though I have no idea what I have done, but I hope you do realise you are also losing the only child you do ha