by Anna G Berry
The world under the water was breathtaking. It was a whole other world in the ocean. The different color fish and the number of types of them swimming around was amazing. There were starfish glued to the rocks under the water, the different shades of corals were beautiful. I could stay under the water for a lifetime and still be amazed by everything. I got next to Carson and he eyed me closely as I took everything in under the water. He then pointed toward the surface indicating that we were going up. I nodded my head and swam up and broke the surface. I came back to the shore waiting for Carson to see what he had planned next as he swam back to the shore and shook the water off of his body.
“Let’s run back and do some weightlifting and see how you feel after that and we’ll maybe do some fighting.” Carson said as he walked to the wood line.
“Sounds good, hope you’re ready for me.” I told him as I gave him a wink.
He only smiled and shook his head as he took off into the woods at a full run. I let out a giggle and ran after him trying to beat him back to the house. I decided to take a short cut and made my way into the prickly patch of the woods that was right behind the house. I got there right before Carson and started some light weightlifting. When Carson came back to the house, I was already waiting for him to spot me.
He shook his head and said, “You cheated!” Take a break while I do my singles and then I will come and spot you. Then you can spot me when you are done.” He picked up two one hundred pound dumbbells and started to workout with them.
I sat up and watched him do his workouts, and when he got done, he placed them down and came to me to help spot me. I laid down and grabbed the weight. I did a few reps before I reached my limit. As I placed the weight down and sat up, I was suddenly really hungry. I told myself that I could wait until after weekly training. I had let Carson fix the weight to his liking and spotted him for about twenty reps then he took a small break and did another twenty reps.
“Are you ready to fight?” he asked me as we both took a sip of water.
“Who will I be fighting today?” I asked back. I knew the answer but asked anyway.
“Me, who else?” he said as he gave me a smile.
“I don’t know, just never thought you would allow me to fight you.” I said to him.
“Normally, I wouldn’t, but seeing that everyone else has already fought today, you and I are the only ones left.” He said as he looked around the yard. I rolled my eyes to the sky, sometimes his cockiness got on my nerves and today was one of those days.
He let out a laugh and waited for me to make my first move which was stupid on his part. I always waited for my enemies to make the first move. We walked around in a circle neither of us daring to make a move. He finally made the first move, and I grabbed his fist and pulled him onto the ground. I moved away to let him up to try again, this time I made the first move. He ducked out of the way and threw me onto my back, pinning me to the ground. I wiggled out of his grasp and jumped back to my feet. We went back and forth like that for about an hour or so.
“Okay, let’s get serious. I want a real fight.” A voice from the deck called out to us.
We looked up to see Felix and the others standing outside. We looked at each other and nodded. We both agreed that it was time to really fight. I decided to take out all my anger out on Carson and see what it would do to him. I surprised him by landing a good punch to his face, making him stagger back several steps in surprise, spitting blood to the side.
The other Alphas gave a few low whistles as he tried to punch me in return, but I dodged him and put him in an arm bar. From there he leaned into me and slipped his arm out and backed up. He threw a few more punches that I blocked. He tried his luck again and this time he connected to the left side of my face. I went full on psycho on him. I started punching and didn’t stop until Ashton grabbed me and pulled me away. Thank god Carson dodged most of them but I knew I had hit him several times.
“I think that’s enough fighting for today, let’s get some food in both of you.” Sam said as he helped Carson up from the ground.
I gave him a nod and said, “Sorry, love. I must have lost it after you punched me.”
“It’s okay, I’m not mad at you. We were training and it taught me not to piss you off more than I already do.” He said as we entered the house.
Chapter Eighteen
Carson
We walked into the house to find that someone had cooked us lunch and it was still hot. There were gourmet chicken sliders and fries laid out on the counter for us. I looked over at Claudia and saw that the left side of her jaw was starting to bruise and swell up. I walked over to the freezer and grabbed her an ice pack and then I walked over to her and placed the icepack on her jaw and placed her hand over it. She gave me a smile as she held the ice pack to her face, and I fixed her chicken burger.
“How many would you like, and how would you like them fixed?” I asked her as she took a seat at the kitchen counter.
She tapped the counter with her fingers and said, “Two of them, with Colby Jack cheese, some pickles and bacon.”
I nodded my head, fixed her the sliders the way she’d requested and then added some fries to her plate as well. She looked sexy, all hungry eyed and a bit bruised, even if it was my fault, which I felt bad about, but she got me back. I could feel the bruises starting to form on my face. I have to remember to fight someone else next time or get my ass handed to me again, I thought to myself as I let out a low chuckle.
I placed her plate down and began to fix mine. When I was done fixing my plate, I placed it next to her and walked over to take my seat. We ate in silence and I began to think back to the first real fight I had ever been in.
My first fight ever was when I was thirteen and my dad made me fight his Beta, Randie. I was complaining that my dad was always putting me with kids that couldn’t fight. They were no challenge and I wasn’t learning anything. My dad thought that putting me up against the Beta of the pack would shut me up and teach me a lesson, he was right, it did because I got my ass handed to me. It started off great, we were both throwing punches and made some contact here and there, but nothing too bad. Then suddenly, my dad gave Randie the show no mercy signal and my time was up.
Randie grabbed me by my leg and threw me across the yard. I got up and went for him again. This time he picked me up and slammed me on the ground. I felt the air leave me as I tried to breathe. As I got back up off the ground, I got hit in the face with a swift right hook. I was seeing stars and blood started to drip from my mouth. I was able to get up before having another hit come my way, this time I was able to block it before he took me out again. I landed a few hits before I got kicked all the way into the woods and my dad thought I had enough and called it off.
I shook my head and looked around the kitchen, realizing that Claudia was gone.
“She went to lay down,”Bleu told me as she picked up Claudia’s plate. “You must have been off in your own world, you didn’t even see her leave.”
I nodded, “Yeah, I was. Thank you.”
I got up from the table and placed my plate in the sink. I decided to go out with the guys to Wicked, a bar that I owned. It was mostly wolves, vampires, and Fae folk there. No human knew about and I wanted it to stay that way. Yeah, vampires and wolves didn’t normally really get along… but in my bar they did. They didn’t have a choice. I didn’t allow any shit in my bar and everyone knew it.
I walked up to the guys and asked, “Hey, would you all want to go out to the bar for a few drinks? I think the girls can handle things if we go out for a few hours.”
Paul looked up and said, “Sure, I need a guy’s night, that would be great.”
Everyone nodded. We decided to walk to the bar as it wasn’t too far from the house. I made my way to the room to tell Claudia that the guys and I were going out for a few hours when I heard a voice coming from the room.
“You can’t be serious? Did you tell him?” said the voice.
“Tell me wha
t?” I said as I walked in.
There were Claudia and Millie by the window. They looked like they had seen a ghost.
“Oh, nothing.” Millie said.
“What’s going on, ladies?” I asked as I walked deeper into the room.
“Claudia thought she saw someone outside,” Millie said as she looked out the window and then at me.
“Who was it?” I asked Claudia letting out a low growl.
“My dad’s old Beta, Carter. He ran after finding out my dad was dead. We’ve had issues from him in the past after he left the pack.” She said as she looked out the window.
I could tell she had been crying but she didn’t want me to see it.
“Well the guys night out can wait for a few hours until we find him. Does Paul know what he looks like?” I asked her as I stepped closer and touched the side of her face.
She leaned into it and then said, “Yes, he mentored Paul to become a great Beta. Paul idolized him until he ran.”
“We’ll find him, I promise. Tell everyone to stay inside No one is to leave this house, okay? We don’t know whose side this guy is on and I’m not taking any chances,” I told her as I kissed her head and turned to walk out the door.
“Yes, I’ll make sure no one leaves.” She said as she gave me a smile.
I walked out of the room to find the guys. I was going to need all the help I could get to grab this guy. I found them, all except Paul, by the edge of the woods. I scanned everyone’s faces to see if I could read anything off them.
I looked at Max and before I could ask anything he said, “Paul took off after Carter and told us not to follow him. He was really pissed, too. He may listen to you more than the other Alphas here.”
I gave him a nod and took off running into the woods to find Paul before he did something he’d regret. I knew this might be a bit hard knowing that I still didn’t have his full trust, but this is about to put our trust to the test.
I could hear Paul’s wolf Logan in my head, “Don’t follow me, I need to do this.”
I couldn’t let him do anything stupid, I promised Claudia that. “Logan, this is your alpha. I command you not to do anything until I get over there. Hold him until I get there. Your sister wouldn’t want you to do this.”
I couldn’t let Zeus out because I didn’t think Logan could understand him. I was surprised that Noah could, but then again, she was a lot different than most American wolves. That’s what I liked about her, she was amazing.
I made my way over to where Paul and Carter were. Paul had partially shifted and had Carter pinned to a tree, his teeth bared. Carter looked as white as a ghost. I placed my hand on Paul’s back and gave him a pat to tell him to shift back. Which thankfully he did, and he let his grip on Carter go. I grabbed Carter and made him look at me.
“Do you know who I am?” I growled at him.
“Alpha of all male Alphas, Carson Blackman.” Carter told me as I stood up.
“Why are you here? You ran away when my parents died!” Paul yelled as flames ignited in his deep purple eyes.
Now, I understood how Claudia got so many kills. Her pack had a short temper. Which I loved, they just needed to be taught to control it.
“I ran because I was afraid I would be next, and I didn’t want to listen to a female.” Carter said as he tried to get comfortable in the fallen leaves.
I didn’t get a chance to do anything, before I even knew what had happened, Paul had slashed Carter in the face with a hand that had partially shifted into a paw.
“You ran because you didn’t want to take orders from my sister? Your alpha? Next time I will kill you and no one will be able to save you.” Paul growled at him.
I made a mental note not to cross him. I’d never seen him this angry before. I grabbed Carter by one arm and made Paul do the same. We half dragged half walked him back. Max came up to me and grabbed him from me and they threw him down in the cells.
“We’ll deal with him later, let’s go get this guys’ night out started. Paul really needs it, even more so than us.” I told them.
Chapter Nineteen
Carson
We got in our cars and headed out to go to the club that I owned in Myrtle Beach. We drove in silence all the way there. The silence didn’t really bother me, but I knew that it did bother them a little. We pulled into parking spaces and got out. I walked toward the door in front, where there were a bunch of people waiting in line to get in. I cocked my head to let the boys know that they could go ahead inside.
“Hey, we were here first!” said some vampire dick in the front.
“I’m the owner, I can let anyone I want in before you fucks. You don’t like it then go the fuck somewhere else.” I told him as I tried to hide my growl.
The guy shut his mouth quick, and I gave a cocky smile before I walked in. We got a table in the far back corner of the club and everyone ordered drinks. The club was a bit dead, but we didn’t really care. I let the music fill my senses. It didn’t take too long before it started to get busy.
“Hey when are we going to know what you guys are having?” James asked, breaking the silence.
“Soon. I think Claudia wants to wait a bit before she tells everyone.” I told them.
“That’s going to be awesome. When will you find out?” Sam asked.
“In two weeks she goes back and I think we will find out then.” I said as I took a sip of my whiskey.
I looked at Paul and saw that he seemed to be off in another world. I didn’t know what to do so I pulled Max, Sam, and Ashton to the side.
“What do I do about Paul? I want him to have a great time, but he seems to be lost in his own head.” I told them as I looked over at Paul again.
“Just go talk to him, maybe that’s what he needs right now is some bonding time with you.” Ashton says.
I nodded my head before I walked to Paul. I took a seat next to him and glanced over at him.
“Hey, are you okay? I just want you to know that I’m here for you if you ever need anything.” I placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Thanks, I just need some time, that’s all.” He said as he slammed a Bud Light.
“Okay, I can respect that. What happened between y’all anyways?” I said as I waved for the waiter to grab more beers.
“Long story. We don’t have time for it.” Paul grabbed another beer.
“I have time. Spill.” I said as I grabbed a Budweiser.
Paul shook his head and took a deep breath, “Fine. He was my father’s Beta. I followed him everywhere, we did everything together. My dad thought that it would be a good idea to have him show me the ropes. It was a great idea at first, but then things changed after my parents got killed.”
“How were things different?” I asked as I watched him stare off at something over my shoulder.
“He started trying to get friendly with my sister. Then he thought he was Alpha, but when my sister finally came back around after the death of our parents, he ran away. He would pop back up from time to time and try and turn our pack against each other so that he could swoop in and become alpha. When that didn’t work out the way he wanted it to, he tried to kill Claudia and she almost ripped him apart. That’s why he walks with a limp. He didn’t really like getting his ass kicked by a female Alpha, and just a young girl at that.” Paul slammed another beer before he looked at me with hurt and anger in his eyes.
I tried my best not to crush the glass beer bottle in my hand as Paul mentioned Claudia’s name.
“So, who told him to get lost?” I asked as I took a swig of my beer.
“Claudia and I told him that if we ever saw him again or if he ever came back to the pack house that we’d kill him. This is the first time in years that he tried to come anywhere near the house.” Paul looked off toward the dance floor, without actually looking at anyone.
“Waylon must have something to do with this, who else could it be?” I wondered, not actually looking for an answer.
“Waylon could be ver
y well be behind it, but we won’t know until we investigate.” Paul said as he took his eyes off the dance floor and looked at me.
“You are right about that, but you need to have fun right now and relax.” I told him as I handed him another bottle.
He gave me a nod and took a swig of beer. He finally seemed to snap back to the present and we decided to join the other guys in their conversation since it seemed like we were done with ours.
I turned my head and caught part of Felix’s conversation with Wen.
“We could definitely do that for you.” Felix said.
“Do what?” I asked.
“Oh, my wife wants to do a cookie swap with all the packs.” Wen said.
“That sounds great. I’m sure Claudia would love that.” I knew Claudia would enjoy doing something like that.
“Thank you.” Wen said.
I gave him a nod and I glanced at Paul to see if he was okay. He was talking to Ashton and Sam. I turned around to Harper to see how he was doing. He was talking to Ryden and Nikko about something that seemed pretty intense.
I shook my head and leaned back on the sofa and enjoyed the music.
I suddenly got pulled into a memory where I was about fourteen and I was at Hampton park in Charleston.
Harper and I were running around throwing the football back and forth, while my mom and dad set the blanket and their bags on the ground. It was during the summer. I could smell the summer flowers and the sun was beating down on us. I stopped and looked up across the park to see two red heads running around with three brunettes. I stopped and called Harper over to ask if we should go over there to see if they wanted to throw the football around with us.
We asked our mom and dad if we could see if the kids across the park wanted to play. They said yes, we jogged over there and I made it halfway across the park before I stopped. A smell hit my nose and I couldn’t go any further. The long red-haired kid turned their head and it was a girl around Harper’s age maybe a bit younger. She was beautiful and familiar but I couldn’t figure out where I knew her from.