by Belle Kayce
“Shut up and get up.”
“I think I might be dying,” I try once more.
“Cool. Now let’s go.” Bo throws something towards me. I sit up immediately. These are sweat pants and a t-shirt. “Courtesy of Meg. Now hurry. Godzilla will have a coronary if we’re late. I don’t like to do this anymore than you, trust me.”
Like a zombie, I go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, and change. I look in the mirror to see someone dead looking straight at me and shrug.
If they can’t handle me at my zombie look, they don’t deserve me at my best.
“Finally,” Bo says, ushering me out of the door. “Honestly though, if it was Lance you told that you didn’t want to go, he would have let you. He’d do anything you ask of him.”
“Why would you say that?”
We get outside into the backyard. In the distance, I hear a lot of chatter. The training grounds look massive.
“Trust me, ask him for anything and he will give it to you. Mainly, a pool.”
I grin. “A pool would be nice.”
We join the group, who were talking and just lollygagging, probably waiting for us. I look around and it’s legit. There’s a huge track field with dummies to fight against. There even looks to be an archery section.
“So what do we do?” I ask, looking around the training grounds.
“Alpha Lance is ordering everyone to do a fitness test to see where we are in terms of training,” Meg says.
“I don’t need to be running.” Bo groans. “I hate anything exercise-related. Even the word exercise sucks.”
“Shut up. You need to,” Meg says.
“Are you implying to me that I’m fat?” Bo fake-gasps.
“Yeah,” Meg says with a small smirk.
Bo turns to me. “Next time, we’ll use your lame excuse of dying. Hopefully, they will think we’re both dying and then we’ll get out of this.”
The four of us stand in line, and I see Lance has a simple white shirt on and black sweatpants. His arms are crossed as he listens to what Cole is telling him. Grace is also there, and she is laughing.
Ugh. Seriously? I don’t know Cole or Lance that well, but I can tell they’re not funny at all.
“Why is Grace up there with them?” I whisper to Bo.
Bo snorts. “Godzilla? She thinks she’s the best fighter.”
Grace looks around and smirks when she sees me not standing with Lance and Cole.
“Okay!” Grace claps her hands, and I can see the male wolves drool over her. She is wearing a neon pink Nike sports bra and shorts that really bring out her assets. If I have her body, I will probably do the same.
I watch Lance’s eye movements in case they are wandering. Thankfully, his eyes are trained on Cole as they continue their conversation.
I need to stop. It’s not like Lance is mine-mine. He is my mate, so yeah, he is mine, in a way. We haven’t established anything. Relationships take time. I’m not in love with him or anything close to that. Call me modern. I’m also just gauging out what Lance and Grace’s relationship is. Grace makes it out to be like they’re something.
“I want to start off with a running test,” Grace says.
“I don’t run.” Bo grumbles.
“Amen,” I whisper.
Bo and Meg snicker, and Grace shoots us a look. “Is there a problem, Meredith?” Grace asks.
For the hundredth time, I forget my fake name until everyone is staring at me and my face heats up.
“Yeah, there is.” Bo nudges me. I look at him, wide-eyed. “Say it, luna.”
“Do we . . . have to run?” I can barely contain my laughter, so I have to pinch myself. This is so ridiculously funny. Grace is taking this too seriously. This isn’t some sort of werewolf boot camp.
“Um, yeah. You, like, have to run,” Grace answers me, full of attitude and hostility.
“But Beta Bo says we don’t,” Meg chimes in and sneaks me a smirk.
“Never said that.” Bo just wants to save his own butt.
I’m pretty sure none of us really have to run if we don’t want to, especially since Meg isn’t taking this seriously either.
“Okay then.” Grace claps again.
Who can be this chipper this early in the morning?
“Since you guys are such great volunteers, how about you three demonstrate to us how to run?” Grace gestures to the track field. “You three can race each other, and we can see how much your stamina lasts. Whoever wins will get out of training for the rest of the day.”
Is she serious?
“Get a move on,” Grace says, totally serious. Why is she so . . . extra?
I shrug and walk towards the field, feeling self-conscious. Bo is snickering behind me.
“Bo is so annoying,” Meg says.
“Can we just walk to piss her off?” I ask.
“That would be excellent,” Bo agrees. We all get in line, not even knowing what we should do.
“Okay,” Grace calls. “Ready. Set. Go!”
All three of us start laughing as we start racing.
“Bo, you farted!” Meg says.
I cough as the horrible smell comes, and I start laughing uncontrollably, as does Meg. I’m behind Meg, and Bo is in front of us.
I bend down with both hands on my knees. “I can’t breathe!”
“I shouldn’t have eaten those beans for breakfast!” Bo says, running.
He’s way ahead of Meg and I. I try to run but fail miserably.
I glance at where Grace is, and she is looking like steam is blowing out of her ears. Oh no. But it’s not like she can punish us.
“That was so weak,” Grace says, coming towards me.
“Hey, blame Bo. He’s the one that farted and almost knocked us unconscious,” Meg interjects.
I am liking her more and more.
“How can you not even finish the track?” Grace’s high-pitched voice hurt my ears.
I sigh, looking at the track I didn’t finish. “Some of us just weren’t born with athleticism, Grace.”
Grace narrows her eyes at me again. “A luna should be strong and athletic.”
She’s definitely talking about herself.
“Well, this luna isn’t,” I retort. I push pass Grace, going back to the garden to cool off.
Me and that garden bench are going to be such great friends. I sit down, thankful no one is here because mostly everyone is at the training grounds.
I hate the fact that I cry when I’m mad.
Grace is so sure what a luna is supposed to do, and it makes me feel so small. I don’t let her make me feel that way, but at the moment, it’s like I am back in my pack again with everyone picking on me because I can’t shift.
Taking deep breaths, I try to calm myself.
I’m not fit to be a freaking luna. Honestly, I think anyone and everyone can be a luna if they tried hard enough, but I’m not the one to be handling all that responsibility. It gives me anxiety to be someone that wolves look up to and try to emulate. I can’t make mistakes like I am doing right now.
“Meredith.”
He is the last person I want to see.
It’s not his fault, but it’s humiliating.
“Yeah?” I ask, sounding angrier than I should be.
“Are you alright?” Lance asks. His eyes are assessing over me as he stands just a few feet from the bench. “I didn’t hear much about what Grace said to you.”
“She’s right. I am weak.”
“You’re not weak,” he says in a softer tone.
“Yeah, I am,” I mumble. “Too weak to be . . .”
I am about to say “your luna”. Lance is the strongest Alpha and has the strongest pack. His luna can’t be some idiot like me. I can’t do it.
“Hey, look at me.”
I can’t look at his piercing gaze.
“Please,” he says in an almost-whisper.
I swallow and look up at his smoldering eyes. The emotions within me is a mess with the amount of intensity he has on that gaze
.
“Don’t you ever sell yourself short because you are meant to be my luna.”
My luna.
“And you are strong, stronger than me.”
“No, I’m not.” I laugh weakly.
Lance has a ghost of a smile. “You don’t know the power you have over me,” Lance murmurs, brushing a stray tear with his thumb.
I shiver involuntarily with how hot he sounds, and the contact is burning my skin.
“Would you buy me a pool?” I ask him and bite my lip, thinking of what Bo said earlier about Lance doing whatever I ask of him. He came for me to see if I am doing okay. That counted for something, right?
“You want a pool?” Lance asks.
“Would you get it for me?” I ask.
“Let me guess—Bo.” Lance’s tone holds a note of amusement.
I lean back and laugh at how obvious it is. Lance just looks at me like I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to him. It makes me feel so good, so powerful. It makes me feel wanted and safe.
“What?” I ask him, shaking my head a little, feeling self-conscious under his gaze.
“Hearing you laugh . . . do not stop.” Lance looks away and swallows. “Never stop having that smile on your face.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
I can’t sleep so I wake up at the crack of dawn and head downstairs.
No one is in the kitchen yet, but I know where some of the stuff are, like the snack cabinet that is Bo’s and the cookie jar.
I eye the cookie jar on the dining table but decide that I want something healthier. Naturally, that means Fruit Loops, so I grab a bowl and a spoon and pour my cereal to the top and then mix it with milk. I scroll through my phone. My service got cut off, but I still have WiFi and other means to get in contact, but my parents hasn’t texted me. My sister hasn’t either, nor Julia.
Sighing, I play some music on my phone as I wash my bowl and spoon. Sia’s Chandelier is playing.
After I finish, I twirl around and act like the ballerina person in the music video until I hear a deep voice say, “Meredith?”
My body crashes hard to the ground.
“Ack!” I say, my eyes meeting glorious blue ones. His strong arms hold me into place. Too soon does he let me go. I really hope he doesn’t see me as a fool. My best friend tells me I just need a lot of practice.
I clear my throat. “Uh, eh, why are you so up early?”
The real question is, why am I up this early? No one in their right mind is willingly up at this time.
Except for Lance and I at this moment, it seems.
“Just some rogue that is someone’s mate in the pack,” Lance answers me, then sidesteps and grabs a glass of milk to pour for himself.
“Alphas usually hate rogues,” I tell him, narrowing my eyes at him, trying to figure him out.
“I find it a bit ridiculous that they have hatred towards them. Not all rogues are evil.” Lance glances at me as if to say, “like you”.
“Alphas hate that they trespass their lands.”
“Only the really illogical alphas are the ones that imprison them for no reason. A logical alpha would know that not everyone knows where exactly the borders are. Border patrol is not going to always be there. Again, not all rogues are evil. They’re misguided and they’re mainly lost.”
“I saw something that may have looked like a dungeon or prison, but it seems like you haven’t been using it,” I note.
“I don’t use it.” Lance nods.
I bite my lip as a brilliant idea comes to me.
“Do you know what you can use that area for?” I ask, grinning at him.
His eyebrows knits, looking at me like I’m a puzzle. I’m not that hard to read. I’m so easy to please. Just give me sushi, pizza, or ice cream, and I’m a happy camper.
“What?” Lance asks, tilting his head slightly.
“A pool.” I can’t stop grinning, and I swear I see his lips twitch a fraction.
“Oh, yes, a pool Bo coerced you into.”
“Not true! I want one too. Bo and I will make such good use for it! We’ll use it every day!” My heart feels a little heavy because I’m thinking about this permanently. I said it without even thinking that I need to get out of here before anything worse happens.
“We’ll see,” is all Lance says before he takes another chug of milk.
Silence.
Then Lance asks me, “What is it?”
I ponder at this thought because rogues are taken very seriously, and everyone hates them. For some reason, Lance is so understanding of rogues. This is especially surprising with him being called the demon alpha. He has . . . sympathy? Empathy for them? The main reason Lance is called the demon alpha is because at the young age of fourteen, he killed five alphas in battle. A total of eleven packs had been in it. He is the reason why the infamous Alpha Wars came to a stop. I don’t know much of my history, but I know that one of the alphas Lance had killed was my ex-alpha’s father.
He is a demon in war.
I thought it was a scare tactic that the werewolves used so Lance’s pack would be protected, but since my former alpha was indeed affected by his father’s death because of Lance, I know it is true. The Alpha Wars happened only ten years ago. So, it is still recent. The only thing I remember is that the children and elderly women in my pack had to evacuate at some safe house, but we were safe through most of it. It was a weird time that I usually block out from my mind. I wonder how many enemies Lance made out of that even though the Great Alpha Treaty prevents something like that from happening again.
“You’re not like many alphas,” I say at last. At least compared to the two I know. My ex-alpha, Trent, is the typical alpha. His cousin, Alpha Steven, the one that killed Alpha Paxon’s mate, Vanessa, is also another wacko. Steven became alpha by challenging his own alpha into a duel. A scandal was involved, but let’s just say that kind of action is looked down upon.
“Is that . . . a good thing?” Lance asks hesitantly.
“Oh yeah. Really good.” I scrunch my nose as I think of the ugly alphas I know. Lance is a breath of fresh air, but I don’t really know him even though I slowly feel like I do. So far, it has been interesting to see him work his pack. It is unusual but it is working. He is a quiet kind of person. He doesn’t like to do anything. Nothing so grand. Practical. And on the topic of rogues, he seems understanding rather than one to generalize. Major points for him.
“Any more questions?” Lance asks me. He doesn’t seem to mind my questions.
Cole and Meg walk in one after the other. They probably just woke up too.
“How did Bo become the beta?” I ask with laughter in my tone.
I swear I hear Cole make a small noise that sounds like laughter.
“Why do you guys always gossip about me?” Bo enters the kitchen with full finesse and brushes past all of us.
“Why doesn’t Bo answer that question?” Cole suggests as he crosses his arms.
Bo shrugs and turns around before he gets to the fridge. “Easy. I’m the best option.”
“Or your family has a huge lineage of betas and you conveniently got it through some miraculous way,” Meg suggests smugly.
“This roasting sesh is over.” Bo opens the fridge.
We all kind of love teasing Bo because he’s too easy to make fun of.
“Can we please talk about how much I don’t want to train?” Bo adds.
Meg and I both groan as Bo sits next to me and leans into my ear. “Did you ask him about the pool?”
I whisper back. “He’s being a butt.”
Lance’s head shoot up, and his gaze lands on me. Whoops. I always forget about werewolf hearing, and I’m one hundred percent sure he heard that. I narrow my eyes at him in a glare that’s probably not intimidating to him at all.
Someone rushes into the kitchen, which breaks our eye contact. It’s Grace and her long beautiful hair, and she looks distraught.
“Lance, can you please come to the nursing room? My dad is
being really stubborn!” she exclaims.
Lance nods and they hurriedly get out.
Bo lets out a breath. “He’s going to give you a pool. He’s probably already working on it.”
“He said, and I quote, ‘We’ll see’, which means no.”
Bo huffs. “We’ll see if he doesn’t.”
***
This is day two of being on the training grounds, and my resolution right now is to train a lot. The main werewolf warrior is Brick, and he has an assistant named John. Brick is huge, like he can pound you with a finger. John is okay. He’s cocky and always tries to show off. Luckily, John gets his butt handed to him by Bo.
I have yet to see Lance or Cole fight. They both just watch.
I want to tell Lance that I’m not feeling too good. This isn’t a lie because I have this horrible headache. My eyes roam over to where I feel the pull. I wish I can smell him like any other werewolf that has a mate can. I faintly can when he’s close. It’s a light citrus and the smell of beach, with teakwood scent undertones. It’s alluring.
I walk up to where Lance is. A burly huge-looking wolf named Pete and a red-haired girl are talking to Lance. I overhear the conversation a little.
“I’m sorry, Alpha, but she doesn’t seem to be talking much,” Pete says. “She’s shy. She entered our lands hurt and malnourished.”
So this is the rogue that Lance was talking about earlier this morning.
I frown deeply as I come in and just blurt out my question. “Has she been abused?”
Pete glares at me and gives a low growl. Sheesh! Calm down. I raise my hands. It’s a legit question that needs to be addressed.
“Please don’t hurt me,” the red-haired girl whispers to Lance.
I don’t blame her. Lance can just stand there and look intimidating by doing nothing. Poor guy.
“Lance, you’re scaring her!” I kind of tease him because it’s funny.
Lance’s facial expression is completely awkward. It’s like he’s trying hard not to have his usual expressionless, devoid-of-emotion face and is trying to at least look like he’s friendly. It just looks like a grimace though. I grin at him and he looks away. I bite my lip. He may be embarrassed.
Lance crosses his arms. “She needs to be initiated into the pack.”