“Make me.” It was the last thing I heard before I saw red.
“Oh, little lamb. You shouldn’t dare me to do things.”?”Wha…?” I ripped her backpack off with one hand, knocking her off balance and throw her over my shoulder with the other. Jean was right, my mate is going to give me a run for my money and my? wolf gray hair. And we still have not had a full conversation.
Kennedy
“Are you f*cking kidding me? Ryker, put me down! Now!” It is not lost on me that I am looking down at the most perfect ass I have ever seen in my whole life and pounding my fists against muscles so ripped, he probably doesn’t feel it. I am trying not to think of the front half of this massive man. Specifically the appendage that keeps slapping the side of my ankle.
“Not a chance little lamb, you’re skittish. I wouldn’t want you to run off again and get lost. Lots of big bad wolves out there ready to gobble you up.” Now he thinks he’s a comedian.
I know it’s not going to do me any good and will probably leave bruises on me tomorrow, but I keep flailing around just to be difficult and make him as irritated as I am right now. It’s the principle of reminding him that he doesn’t have complete control over me. As long as I move enough to force him to keep adjusting his grip I am satisfied. And the pain reminds me to be mad at him and not enjoy the feel of his skin under my hands or the smell of his cologne or body wash or whatever he uses.
I hear the crunch of tires over the rough dirt path.
“It’s about f*cking time.” He grumbles under me. I can’t see anything as he moves toward what I assume is Danny and Josh, but I hear the door click open and then my world blurs as I’m thrown into the backseat.” Get her to the packhouse. She is not to be left alone under any circumstances. Not even in her own room.” Then he slams the door in my face and turns away. The f*ckers have the child locks on so I can’t let myself out again.
“Where are you going boss?” Josh asks out loud, I hope for my sake. I’m tired of the secret conversations.
“To check for more rogues in these woods. They are rarely alone.”
“You want backup?” Danny asks.
“No, she’s your priority. Check in when she’s secure and we’ll make plans from there.” It’s like I’m not even here. My anger flares again and without him so close it’s full force this time. It takes everything in me not to kick the seat like a child. I have to remember that Josh and Danny are just doing their jobs. I am not mad at them, yet.
We drive the short distance in silence and I jump out of the back window they left open before Josh has the SUV completely stopped.
“What the hell?! Kennedy!” Danny yells at me, but I ignore him and keep walking.
I didn’t even think about what I might be walking into when I got back. I was so caught up in my anger at Ryker and my new found situation. Aunt Beth’s attacking hug came out of nowhere.
“Oh! My sweet girl. We were so worried. We heard about the rogue.” She kisses the top of my head. I take a deep breath and leave her to her coddling. It tends to go faster if you don’t resist. “Where were you going?”
I pushed away from her, not answering, but Jeremiah caught me in a hug before I could get all the way out of her grip. “Ken, you can’t just take off like that. What if something happened? You were lucky Bennet and Ryker caught the rogue before he caught you.”
“Yep. I was so lucky that my wolf friends want to keep their human pet around, but on a leash so short she?can’t do anything without their knowledge or say so.” It was supposed to be sarcastic and biting, but came out more defeated and weary.
Jeremiah pulls back and looks hurt, but I’m too drained to care. “You know it’s not like that.
“Oh yeah?” I grab his and Rayna’s hands, she’s never more than a step away from him. Neither fight the movement. I look at the faint pink lines that are almost completely healed. I run my thumbs over them and whisper. “So f*cking difficult, isn’t it? At least you can’t lie to me anymore and tell me how much you really want me. It’s the only thing I ever asked for. And now I know the truth.” I look from him to Aunt Beth who is on the verge of tears and my anger swells again. “And now you’re shipping me off to go live alone in a pack full of people I don’t know, who also don’t really want me, without any input from me. No one has asked how I might feel about that. How that might affect the plans I had for my life.” Tears are running down my face and I just let them. While I stroke the pink puckered lines on their palms. There is no use in pretending to be strong through this. Clearly none of them think very highly of me anyway. Might as well add emotional to the list.
I drop their hands and turn to walk away, noticing I had a full audience. “Ken, please. You know none of that is true.” 1 look back and Jeremiah is crying just as much as I am right now in front of all of these guys. He cares, I know he does, but it’s too little too late and I just can’t right now. I move silently toward the stairs. No one stands in my way, finally.
“Kennedy, we have to talk about what’s going to happen next.” a deep timber comes from behind the group of people surrounding me.
At the sound of Ryker’s voice, my despair turns into pure hatred. I stop on the lowest step, but don’t turn to look at him or any of them. “I don’t give a sh*t what happens next. Stay the f*ck away from me. I’m tired of lies and fluffy words. You all make plans and tell me what my instructions are in the morning.” I move to leave again, but only get one more step up. He just won’t stop.
“You won’t be left alone. I don’t trust you not to run off again. That puts too many people at risk.” Well at least that was the truth and there’s nothing fluffy about the demand.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I don’t have any more energy for them tonight. “Fine, put a warrior outside my door and outside my window for good measure. By the way, there are three other ways off the roof. For future reference. Give Bennet the night off though. I’m sure he’s done being my shadow. You are abusing his service.”
“It’s your gamma’s job to be your shadow. It saved your life tonight. I would think you would be more appreciative.” His condescending tone is really starting to grate on my nerves. This time I take two steps up and turn around. He’s moved closer to me and at least had the decency to put on shorts.
“You’re right.” I look past his shoulder. “Thank you Bennet for taking care of me today. For comforting me while I watched my best friend bring his mate into the pack by way of a little cut to the hand.” I looked at Jeremiah, Rayna and Aunt Beth. It’s mean. I know I’m being mean, but I just don’t care right now. I have been bottling this hurt for so long. “Thank you for understanding that I couldn’t be around all of these happy people while they are living it up and simultaneously leaving me in the dark about what my life is going to look like tomorrow since being human renders me incapable of making decisions for myself. Thank you for following me into the woods and making sure I live to suffer another day. Was that to your satisfaction Alpha?” My eyes cut to Ryker. “If not, go f*ck yourself.” Everyone around us gasps and his team looks impressed and angry. It takes all my remaining energy not to stomp up to my room and then scream when I see my obliterated door. F*cking over reactive alpha.
I step over the destruction. I change into sweats and a t-shirt, grab my pillow and comforter, shake the debris out then head downstairs to the media room. At least everyone was dispersed by the time I came back down. I don’t know if I have any other terrible insults left in me tonight. I just wanted space. Space to think and plan and try to wrap my head around this whole situation, but none of them allowed that. Always thinking they know what’s best for me since I am the weak, stupid human.
I walk over to the love seat remembering what was going on on the big couch the last time I was in a mood like this. Geez. That seems like forever ago. I start arranging the blankets.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.