Chapter 8

Roman

My skin itched and burned. My blood was boiling through my veins. The mechanical, fake and forced laughter died in my throat as the piercing green eyes met mine. Then there was silence. The conversation that I was desperately trying to ignore and listen to at the same time muted. I looked over again and saw that the conversation had turned telepathic.

Rue was snarling and pacing, sending grotesque images through my mind— lots of bloody carnage. Sweaty muscular bodies slamming against each other, hard and dirty. Fingernails scraping, lips being painfully bitten and pulled. Teeth entering carotid arteries and ripping. Blood then even more blood. Hands running over nipples and tweaking them painfully. The building sensation of an orgasm being ripped away before the climax. Pools and pools of blood. A neck snapping. Lifeless green eyes. It was like she couldn’t decide if she wanted to rip him apart or fuck him senseless. Maybe fuck him then rip him apart? I forced the thoughts back and tried to concentrate on my breathing, tried to concentrate on Liv’s prattle through the pounding sound against my eardrums.

“Let’s go.”

“Go where?”

“Run. Rue needs out.”

“I have her under control.”

“Tell that to the bar.” I looked down where Liv was indicating and noticed that my claws were out and gently piercing the wooden bar. It looked strange to see my smooth hands ending in black fur and thick dark nails. It was even stranger looking as it was only my ring finger, index finger and thumb that appeared to be changing on each hand. The other four fingers were still perfectly slender with clean, cut nail beds. The skin on my clean fingers was wriggling. It looked as though I had tiny worms underneath my skin. I breathed deeply trying to bring my human skin to the surface. Nothing happened.

“Out the backdoor. Now,” Liv said coming around and pushing me towards the storeroom.

The backdoor had led me into a small loading area, and beyond that was a thick and dense treeline. When I turned back to look back at Liv, she was already naked and stashing her clothes behind a dumpster.

"Shift!” she ordered. Within seconds a rust-coloured wolf was bursting out of her skin. No pain registered on her face— something Liv had done a billion times without thinking. 

Most warriors were bulky, brutish beasts and in comparison, Orisha was considered a petite wolf. She was fast, zippy and deathly quiet and along with her keen sense of smell, it allowed her to be a very good tracker. And she used these skills against me as she came stealthily out of the undergrowth and knocked me to my feet again. Rue snarled menacingly at her as I chuckled against the impact. This was exactly what I needed.

Vinny was all but forgotten about. All I could feel was the dirt beneath my paws as Liv told me the latest story of Cassie’s attempts to win over the Alpha. I felt for Cassie, I really did. But honestly at this stage, I felt like the she-wolf needed to go get some actual help.

Cassie had dated Alpha Liam in high school and anyone who knows the story would confirm that he was never into a long-term thing. They broke it off repeatedly and Liam wasn’t exactly secretive in his body count during the years that followed. That all changed when he met sweet, shy Clementine, Vinny’s elder sister. And she was the total opposite of Vinny, so even though it was obviously fate bringing them together, I could totally understand how anyone could fall for her— if they were smart enough to get past her heritage. Cassie on the other hand became obsessed with winning back the Alpha. Scarily obsessed. And after the deliberate burning of the Stevens’ house, Liv and her parents disowned her, and she was banished.

Even after Cassie was welcomed back into the pack, Liv kept her emotional distance, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Nothing as drastic as the fire had ever happened again. But she never did move on from the Alpha and spent most of her time volunteering for every job he puts out. Anything to be close to him, to prove to him that she was the better match for him.

But this one took the cake— Cassie had offered to be nanny to Lacey.  

After a couple of hours Rue retreated back, clear signs of exhaustion overtaking as she allowed me to take the lead and wander back towards the bar. Liv walked my flank, her blue and silver eyes twinkling with triumph. She needed this as much as I did. She needed to run and vent about her sister, and I needed to run and distract myself from the shit-show that was my life.

“Thank you,” I muttered as I squeezed back into my jeans.

“You want to talk about it?” Why did everyone want me to talk about it?

“No,” I said with a little bit of a defensive snap. I looked over at Liv, who was trying to tame her auburn locks into a bun again. Her eyes were patient but expectant and I sighed. “It’s just Rue. I always found her hard to control, and then after what happened to Indiana, it was like she went completely rabid. The doctor says there is nothing wrong with her. But I am telling you Olivia, my wolf is demonic.”

“She isn’t demonic, she feels guilty that she couldn’t protect your sister.”

“It was years ago.”

“You aren’t exactly over it either,” Liv pointed out as we meandered back into the storeroom. I perched myself against a box as she started rummaging around.

“Do you blame me? He is walking around the pack like he didn’t hurt her. He is walking around this pack like she doesn’t even exist.”

“He was acquitted on the charges—”

“His brother-in-law is the Alpha, I am pretty sure that there was some nepotism there.”

“I recommend you keep that theory to yourself.”

“No shit.” I closed my eyes and ran my fingers over my face. “I barely have control on my wolf as it is and seeing Vinny just riles her up. She never got to act out her justice.”

“So are you going to avoid the pack while he is here? The pack run?” The idea of hiding out was abhorrent to me. Besides I really needed to join the pack runs. I wasn’t merged and running with members of my pack was a necessity— a deep and ingrained connection that I couldn’t fight.

“No. But I am going to have to up the ante on my therapy,” I said, opening the bottle of water Liv just offered me from a box. It was warm, but I didn’t care.

“Therapy?”

“Murdoch is pretty good at keeping my mind calm. As is training.” I grinned cheekily at her.

“Uh, tire yourself into sex-oblivion so your wolf is dousing in endorphins. Great plan.”

“Well endorphins make you happy and relaxed right? This way I won’t wake up and find my teeth around Vinny’s throat.”

“No, but you could still wake up and find your mouth around another part of his body.” Liv winked.  I sputtered out my water.

“W-What?”

“Come on! I have read the chemistry between you two ever since we were at school. It is as volatile and explosive as your wolf’s personality.” I scrunched my face at her and watched Liv’s eyes rolled so far up into her head that I thought she was about to have a seizure. “Oh my god! Yes, you hate him, I get that. Quite rightly so. But your issues stem from the fact that you are walking around with raging hard-ons for each other! Your wolf doesn’t only react this way because she hates him, she reacts this way cause you are denying your inner urges, and all she wants to do is rip his clothes off and run her claws over his muscular ass. She wants to punish him… sure. But she wants to be punished by him at the same time. Repeatedly.” My pussy momentarily clenched at the thought, but I pushed the intrusive feeling far back and shook my head.

“No, I am pretty sure any attraction you think you are witnessing died the minute he put Indiana into a coma.”