Pack, page 21
part #3 of Five Fangs Series
That issue aside, he was also going to have to overlook her stealing and other wrongdoings as well as what she'd done to him last fall.
Right before Thanksgiving, she decided she wanted him and harassed him day after day to go out with her. He was polite at first with his refusal, which was more than I would have been, but she became more and more aggressive as he continued to turn her down. When her "affection" turned to fury, she made his life miserable until Wyatt and I went against Landry's wishes and intervened. We told her to leave him alone or we'd tell Mase, Cole, and Jay some of the things they didn't know about yet, and that calmed her ass down.
And now Wyatt and I could only watch with dismay bubbling in our guts as Landry went right to Nia and came to a dead stop in front of her. He smiled down at her, and she smiled back.
Really? I sighed. I mean, really?
Not good, Ashy, Sid muttered.
Well, hell, Wyatt and Granite grunted in unison before Wyatt continued. If it wouldn't be blasphemy, I'd say the Mood Goddess was drunk on this one.
We may not like her, I told him, but it looks like Landry's stuck with her, so we are, too.
But now we have to be nice to the bitch.
She could change for her mate, I said without any real conviction.
I hope so, for Landry's sake. There couldn't be a worse match—
Nia's expression changed so quickly, Wyatt stopped talking mid-sentence. Her face twisted into a sneer and her hate-filled eyes glared at Landry.
Wyatt and I immediately legged it over there, instinctively understanding what was about to happen.
"You didn't want me for a girlfriend when I asked, so what makes you think I want you for a mate now?" she hissed, then raised her voice. "I, Nia Sakura Hashimoto, reject you, Landry King Benson."
At her words, Landry rocked back on his heels as if hit by a stiff wind, but stayed standing.
What's wrong? Mase demanded to know.
Are you both okay? Jay's calm voice had an undertone of panic.
Is the school under attack? Cole asked.
The parents, the betas, and the other gammas bombarded us, too, and that's when I realized Nia had flung open the whole pack link so everyone could witness her rejection. She knew doing that was only for extreme emergencies, like we were under attack or hunters were invading, and Mase was going to have her ass for it.
As Wyatt linked them back to explain, I stood by my gamma's side and kept my eyes on him. I couldn't understand his agony, but thought this was probably for the best. I was wise enough, however, to keep that opinion to myself.
Unfortunately, Nia wasn't done humiliating Landry.
"Aw. Did I break the poor gamma's heart?" she cooed in a baby voice. "Well, now you know how I felt last semester every time you said no when I asked you to be with me."
Her rationale for rejecting him doesn't even make sense, Jay linked all us brothers. How can she equate having a temporary relationship with being life-long mates?
Nobody ever said the bitch was intelligent, I smirked.
Can we kill her now? Wyatt whined.
You know you can't, Mase snapped. Jay's on his way. He's going to escort her to the pack border and banish her.
Guess that'll have to do, Wyatt pouted.
While Cole linked her to close the pack link or else, I watched Landry. Somehow, he kept his face blank, but his eyes told a horror story.
"All right, Nia. That's enough," I growled. "You had your monologue. Now exit the stage."
She didn't get the hint - or was too dumb to understand the metaphor.
"Good luck finding a girl to replace me, by the way," she purred. "No female will ever want a shifter who's so worthless that his Goddess-given mate rejected him."
Then she laughed.
The bitch laughed.
And I had heard enough. I couldn't remember ever being this angry in my entire life.
"Wy, get Landry out of here," I barked.
Grabbing Nia by her shirt collar, I dragged her out of the cafeteria and down the hall to the first empty classroom I came to, and let her drop to the floor. I slammed the door closed and locked it, then crossed my arms so I didn't strangle her.
"What do you think you're doing?!" she yelled as she scrambled to her feet. "You can't punish me for rejecting my mate, Ash! That is my right!"
"True, but you did it in front of humans! Some of them had their phones out recording, dumbass! We can't risk words like shifter, gamma, mate, and Goddess-given going viral on social media! You also opened the pack link just so everyone would hear you. You know that's forbidden unless it's a dire emergency."
"You're not alpha yet, asshole, so you can't do anything about anything!"
"I can't, but Mase, Cole, and Jay can. They warned you not to screw up again. You were on your last chance and you just blew it."
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "I don't need this pack, anyway."
"Good, because this pack doesn't need you, either. You're morally corrupt, and how you rejected Landry was unreasonably cruel."
"Again, nothing the alphas can punish me for!" she yelled and made a run for the door.
Fool.
Reaching out with one long arm, I grabbed a handful of her hair and anchored her in place. It wasn't nice, but I didn't want to touch her anywhere I might make skin contact. I'd need to go scrub with bleach if I did.
"I'm not finished yet," I snarled. "Setting aside the pack, our laws, and the right to reject your mate, you still hurt and humiliated my friend in front of the biggest audience you could. Why? Why'd you do it, Nia? Was it really because he turned you down last fall?"
"You're damned right it was!" she screeched. "How dare he say no to me!"
I shook my head in disbelief. Landry had had a lucky escape, if you asked me.
"You're a psychotic skank, and I'm overjoyed my friend won't spend his life tied to you." I wished I could kill her right here and now, but I could bide my time. For now. "By the way, Jay is on his way to escort you to the border. After he banishes you, I suggest you run as far and fast as you can."
"Or what?" she sneered.
I yanked her head back and let Sid come out a bit as she met my eyes. She whined and trembled, which made me grin. Not too many people had ever seen this side of Ash Mitchell, and most of those who had, well, they weren't breathing anymore.
"You have until midnight," I smirked, "then I'm going on a rogue hunt. Might even bring Sid's buddies along. Quartz hasn't had a good chase in a while."
"You— You can't— " She swallowed and tears overflowed her wide, fearful eyes. "You can't kill me! I'll go lone wolf, not rogue!"
"Lone wolves are always so easy to confuse with rogues, aren't they? So hard to tell in the dark." I shrugged, then leaned closer and whispered, "So you'd better haul ass, hadn't you, bitch?"
Her breathing sped up and she shook harder. When the doorknob rattled, she yelped and struggled to get away. I wrapped her hair around my fist two more times, pulling it taut, and she grimaced and went still.
I'm here, Jay linked me.
Dragging her by her hair, I went over, unlocked the door, and opened it. With Quartz glittering in his eyes, Jay stared down at Nia, who whimpered and panted.
"Please," she begged in a whisper that we ignored.
"I see you've gathered up the trash for me to take out." Jay gave me a nod. "Thanks, brother."
His lip curling up with disgust, he tugged his coat sleeve down over his hand before grabbing her by the elbow. I unclenched my fist from her hair so he could haul her away.
"Oh, and Ash?" He stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder. "Make sure you wash your hands after touching this thing. Don't know what nasty diseases it might have, and I don't want you getting sick."
"Thanks for your concern, brother." I rolled my eyes.
"Well, you need to be healthy if we're going hunting tonight." He shot me a smirk, which I returned. "Quartz is hungry for a challenge."
Nia whimpered, then her eyes rolled back in her head and she crumbled to the floor like all her bones had melted.
Jay and I looked at her limp body, then each other, and I raised my hands and took a step back.
"Sorry, dude." I grinned. "You're the alpha, not me. I'm not even legally an adult yet, so suck it up, buttercup."
"Don't worry, sunshine, you have an unpleasant job to do, too," he taunted. "You get to comfort your gamma."
I groaned and jammed a hand through my hair, accidentally getting my pinky tangled in a curl and pulling it too hard.
"Owie!"
Jay burst out laughing at me, and Sid giggled.
Carefully untangling my finger, I glared at him and told my wolf to hush.
"Give me the damn bitch, Jay, and you go comfort Landry. You're way better at that shit than I am!"
"Stop swearing. Mase would have your ass for that language. Besides, you can't banish her, and you're Landry's alpha, not me. He needs you the most, so suck it up, buttercup, and stop scowling at me."
"I can't help what my face does when you speak, Jay, and your language is hardly better than mine, so shut up."
"Shut up? Really? That's your comeback, little bro?" He rolled his eyes. "You got any more amazing gifts for me like that today?"
The smug bastard always won when it came to a war of the words. Determined to crush him this time, I smirked and shouldered past him.
"Having me as your younger brother is gift enough," I said, then sprinted off before he could respond.
Running away not a win, Ashy, Sid snickered.
It is in my book, buddy.
24: Meeting the Gammas
Posy
Thanks to Wyatt's love of speed, we reached the training center before anyone else. That was okay, since we both had to change, anyway.
Wyatt led me back to the changing rooms and came inside with me, even though it was the girl's locker room.
"No one's here, cutie," he laughed when I looked at him with surprised eyes. "And even if there were, no one would say something to me."
"Don't be conceited, alpha." I shook my finger at him.
Grabbing it, he drew it between his soft pink lips and gently sucked on it. The heat in his eyes made my insides twist and tighten.
"Come on, baby," he whispered as he kissed the tip of my finger. "Get naked and let's have a quickie before the others get here."
"Wyatt!" I hissed, my face on fire, and pushed at his shoulders.
Of course, he didn't move. The guy was a tank, and my puny pushes didn't do anything. His wicked grin didn't budge, either.
"What? I'm just saying we have time—"
"Yo! Alpha!" a deep voice called. "You changing or what? We're here!"
"And you were saying?" Tipping my head to the side, I raised an eyebrow with a smug smile. "Now go change and leave me to do the same."
"But I want to watch," he whined, his hands gripping my hips and jerking me close enough to feel him growing hard. "I want to see you strip down to your bra and panties and—"
"Hmm." Stretching up on my tippy toes, I whispered in his ear, "If I promise to do that later, will you let me change in peace now?"
"All right, but you better make it up to me." He waggled his eyebrows up and down with a mischievous grin.
"Oh, I will. Ash picked out a super cute set that you're going to love. Sky blue, your favorite color, and silky with lace—"
His mouth caught the rest of my words and a deep groan vibrated out of the chest I was suddenly crushed against. We got lost in each other for several long minutes until a loud bang made me jump away from him.
"Luuunnnaaa! Where are youuuu?" I heard Thoreau call, his yodel echoing through the changing area - and probably the whole training center.
"Goddess, that kid," Wyatt grunted. "It's a good thing he's sweet and adorable. Otherwise, I'd get angry instead of amused."
Giggling, I pecked his chin, then grabbed my backpack from his hand and ran into one of the changing stalls.
I heard his chuckles growing fainter, and grinned to myself as I opened my bag to see what workout gear he'd packed for me. In addition to socks and sneakers, I discovered a pink and black sports bra and matching undies, a pair of close-fitting black shorts, and a black cropped tank top. Biting my lip, I stared at how revealing the top was before digging back in the bag, hoping against hope that I wouldn't have to wear it.
And, thankfully, folded up at the very bottom of the bag was a long-sleeved, v-neck shirt. Tearing up, I grabbed it and buried my face in the silky, dark pink fabric.
He remembered that I didn't like strangers seeing my scars.
After I got over my emotional moment, I changed quickly and bounced out the stall, then headed to the door to find him waiting for me.
"Looking good, cutie, even if all the best stuff is covered up." He ogled my boobs, which made my cheeks turn pink, then took my hand and led me out to where everyone waited for us.
Angelo, Emerson, and Thoreau had changed into workout gear, too, and I saw them talking with five big, scary-looking dudes.
What is with these wolves that they all have to be giants?
At least you have Reau, Lark teased. He's a shorty, too.
He's four inches taller than me, I grumbled as I rolled my eyes at her.
Wyatt took me over to one guy with black hair in short little braids. They weren't like Tristan's braids, which were tight against his skin. These hung loose and floppy all over his head. He was super cute with cornflower-blue eyes, a square jaw, and thick lips a little lighter than his dark skin.
"This is Rio Graves, Mase's gamma," Wyatt introduced us. "His mate is named Emmeline, and his wolf is Cedar."
"Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you," I said and bravely shook the hand he held out. "Maybe you can bring your mate to dinner one night."
"That would be an honor, luna," he said with a wide smile that showed strong, white teeth. "She would love to meet you. She's a human, so finding out about the werewolf world was a big shock to her."
"I'd love to hear the story of how you explained that to her without scaring her off or making her think you were crazy!" I grinned, and he laughed.
"Luna?" Thoreau tugged on my shirt sleeve. "I can come to dinner, too, right?"
"Reau, mind your manners," Emerson warned him in a stern tone but soft voice.
"Sure, sweetie. We'll arrange a dinner date," I told him. "In fact, I'm thinking about having the gammas and betas and their mates over for a cookout one evening. What do you think about that? Does that sound fun?"
"But I'm not a gamma or a beta." His bottom lip pooched out in a pout.
"You're Em and Gelo's baby, so of course you have to come with them."
"I'm your baby?" Thoreau looked up at his bubba and brother-in-law with wide, questioning eyes.
"Yes, you are," Angelo and Emerson said together, then smiled at him.
Thoreau looked absolutely delighted, and his happy little giggle made my heart hurt with how much I loved the little guy.
"Let's move on from the love fest." Wyatt rolled his eyes and turned to the next giant. "This is Nick Sylvestri."
"Hi!" Nick waved one hand and smiled. "I'm Alpha Cole's gamma. Birch is the name of my wolf."
He had almost black eyes, like Ash, and long black straight hair, like Cole, and high cheekbones like Poppy. His skin tone was similar to all of theirs, too.
I knew Ash's grandma was from Samoa, and Cole's mother was half Haida and half Maori - he'd had to explain who both were and where they were located - and Poppy had told me that she was Seneca, a tribe located in western New York. The fact that all three shared similar physical traits made me wonder if Nick also had indigenous people in his heritage.
I linked Wyatt, asking him about it, and was proud of myself for making the connection when he said yes.
He's Crow. They're Native Americans located in Montana.
"I'm glad to meet you, Nick," I told him with a tiny smile.
"Same, luna, and I'm looking forward to getting to know you better."
The next guy had a thick tuft of blazing white hair, which I would have thought was fake, except his eyebrows were also light, and his skin was super pale. Not like he was sick or anything, but like he'd burn before he tanned. He was very handsome and the tallest of the gammas, easily Mason's height, but lean like Jayden.
"I'm Alpha Jay's gamma, Adam," he said with a nice smile. "Adam Bishop. My wolf is Sequoia."
"Hello. Thank you for being here today."
"No worries, luna. It's my duty."
"Oh." I blinked. Was he forced to be here against his will?
"No, I didn't mean it like that." He covered his face with one of his palms. "Sorry. I'm lousy at talking to girls, even mated ones like you, luna. I'm an awkward nerd."
"He is," agreed my mate, Emerson, and the other gammas.
"You should have seen his clothes before we helped the brother out," Rio pretend-whispered with his hand cupping the side of his mouth. "All black t-shirts and jeans and old-man sneakers."
"And if it wasn't for us," Nick said, "he'd be camped out at the game shop playing Dungeons and Dragons or Magic every afternoon."
I didn't know what those games were, but I didn't like them making fun of him if he liked to play them. Crossing my arms over my chest, I glared at each of them.
"Are you bullying him?"
They stared at me with surprise in their eyes, except for Wyatt, who huffed out a laugh and pulled me into the shelter of his side.
"No, baby, they're not bullying him. They're teasing him. Adam, do you feel bullied?"
"Oh, no, alpha!" Adam raised his hands and met my eyes. "Luna, they are just teasing. They play D&D once a week, too, and I'm fully aware that I have no more dress sense than I've got game."
"I don't understand half of what you're saying, but as long as they're not bullying you, I guess that's okay." I uncrossed my arms and held out my hand to him.
He took it carefully in both of his, just like Beta Tristan had done, and bowed over it instead of shaking it. Rio's and Nick's eyes went from me to him and back to me, as if waiting for me to do or say something. Ignoring them, I gave him a full smile, dimples and all, and the pale skin of his cheeks blushed bright pink.
