In Over Her Head

Chapter Three: A Secret

     Richard's eyes widened in shock as Grayson quickly closed the gap in between them. Grabbing him by his shoulders he pulled Richard to the secluded area that was located behind the pack house and slammed him into the nearest tree. He could feel every inch of his body filling with rage as he tried to calm himself down. He knew he had f***** up and by the questionable look on Richard's face, he knew he was going to have to explain what just happened. 

    Balling his hands into fists, Grayson turned around and started heading the direction of the woods. He needed to get away from Richard before Nicoli took over and left nothing but shreds behind.

    I need to get away and clear my head for a minute. Don't wait up. 

    Take all the time you need man. But I will want answers sooner or later as to what that was all about. 

    Grayson let out a growl as he changed into his wolf and began running down the makeshift path that had been carved out by his ancestors. Feeling the breeze in his fur and the dirt beneath his paws was enough to soothe Grayson's mind but not enough to heal the secret he'd been harboring for the past three years in his heart. He made his way to the stream that eventually led him to the lake that surrounded most of the pack. The water reflected the sun's rays and shimmered in the afternoon sun. Grayson watched as Nicoli sniffed the ground and found a spot to roll in. 

        You almost blew it Nicoli. There's a reason why I don't want anyone knowing that we have found our mate. 

    But we smelt her on him. You haven't even approached Mate yet. Nicoli whinned in my head. 

    How can I? Do you see how the rest of the pack treats her? How I treated her? She's better off not knowing right now anyway. My life is perfect as it is. 

    Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Now let's go see mate!  

    With that he took a left and headed past the stream and through the woods. He spotted some rabbits and usually that would have been enough of a distraction for Nicoli but just like Grayson, it seems like he was missing his mate as well. Grayson had been very lucky for no one to have been around when he discovered her. All these years and he would have never imagined he would have been mated to Karissa Adams. Not that he was disappointed. He had pratically grown up with her. Since arriving at their pack when her and her sister were just kids, Marissa pratically told the world that Karissa was to blame for their parents deaths. Most of the pack members believed her, as did Grayson. Why would she have a reason to lie? He had watch as the other pack members used to push her around and make things hard for her. Hell, he himself just added to it by laying his hands on her. He never bothered to protect her.  

    You didn't know. But you can protect mate now. 

    Let's worry about getting there first. Grayson said before blocking Nicoli out. He would never forget how it took everything he had to not lose control the day he discovered Karissa was his. Grayson had gotten his wolf as soon as he turned 18. He had been walking through the town with a girl on his arm when the smell of warm vanilla and spice tickled his nose and made his mouth water. He looked down at her and seeing that she was distracted by some jewelry and decided to follow the scent. The pack's town was bustling as usual but everything seemed dull and lifeless next to what he walked up on. Two of his pack members, one of them being Richard himself was hassling a girl into a corner. The girl looked to be 5'2" and from what he could see, her pale skin was brushed with freckles. Her long brown hair was pulled up into a pony tail, revealing her neck. It wasn't until their eyes connected that he realized it was Karissa. No one could ever forget those emerald eyes with a speck of gold. Not even him. 

        "Karrisy, me and my friend are lonely. Won't you help your fellow pack member out? You can't keep denying me forever." Richard towered over her and Grayson watched as she slunk further down into the corner. Trying to get as far away from them as possible.  Pure rage is what Grayson felt as he looked upon the scene taking place in front of him and he knew if he didn't get Richard away from her, he would kill him where he stood. Grabbing Richard by his collar, he dragged him away from her not daring to look back as he said, "C'mon Richard. You can do better than the low life that caused her parents death."

    Even now, remembering that memory was like a knife being shoved into his heart and instead of someone else doing the twisting, it was by his own hand. Just being away from Karissa was driving him mad. But since she was 15 at the time, she didn't have her wolf and he most definately didn't want to spring it onto her. So for the past three years, he had gotten with different girls to not draw attention to himself from his pack or his parents. But they were never going to matter to him as much as Karissa. 

    Grayson started slowing them down as he started nearing the Adams's cottoge. Their aunt and uncle were out of town on a vacation and wouldn't be back for another two weeks. His heartbeat thumped loud in his head and Nicoli let out a small howl of delight as he caught the scent of mate. But it was soon cut short by a scent he didnt recognize and he immediately went on alert.

        Richard, are you still by the pack house?

        Yeah man, what's up?

        Round up everyone. We need to have a meeting. I'll be there shortly.  

           Grayson cut the connection and shifted back. He reached behind nearest tree and dug around until he found his clothes that he had stashed there previously. Putting them on, he gave himself a few words of encouragement before he headed towards what awaited him from inside. 

    Karissa's Pov:

    Knock, knock, knock. 

    Karissa was having the most amazing dream when she heard knocking on the front door. She waited a few minutes in hopes that whoever it was would get the point and leave. She was trying to get as much sleep as she could before her shift started at the packhouse. She had been late one time before and when the Alpha and Luna found out, they sent all the other maids and servants home and made Karissa clean each room top to bottom. She didn't finsih until 12 pm the next day. Karina had made a promise to herself to never be late again after that. 

    Knock, knock, knock.

    Closing her eyes, she listened as Marissa's door opened and stomped downstairs to see whoever was knocking. From what she could hear, whoever was at their front door must have been another one of her buddies, because her tone immediately took on the sultryness and in Karissa's mind eye she could only imagine what her sister was doing. She must have nodded off for a minute because the next thing she knew, Marissa barged into her room yelling at the top of her lungs. 

    "I CAN NOT believe you made me open the front door dressed like this!" 

    Karissa looked over and saw that her sister's hair was still a mess from earlier and her makeup had smudged under her eyes. She was standing in mix matched pjs and had her old rabbit slippers on. She would have dropped dead if any of the guys had seen her looking like this so for Marissa to be freaking out like this, it had to be somoene important. Rolling her eyes, Karissa threw back the covers and sat up. 

    "Who was at the door?"

    "THE ALPHA! Can you believe it? He has come to take us to the packhouse! He told us to pack our things and leave with him now. There's a car outside waiting for us!" And with that, Marissa twirled around and let out a little squeal before dashing off to her room to pack.  Karissa grabbed a bag and the pair of clothes that were sitting on the chair in her room as she made her way into her bathroom. She began to rack her brain as to why the Alpha was on their front door, let alone why he wanted them to stay in the packhouse. The only solution was that they needed help with the festivities. Their son was unmated after all. She put on the white tank top and a pair of blue jean shorts and began to gather her essentials. She wasn't sure how long they were going to be staying so she would need to take as much as she could. Smiling with satisfaction once she was done, she opened the door and ran smack into a hard barrier that caused her to flail backwards and bang her hip against the bathroom sink.                                               

     "You really ought to pay more attention to your surroundings."                                                          

     Looking up from rubbing her hip stood none other than Grayson Matthews leaning against the door frame. His clothes were wrinkled and by the look on his face, Karissa knew she was fixing to get an earful. It then dawned on her that the earlier events with Mallory was most likely why he stood before her now and her face turned a beet red. Out of all the people she didn't want to run into, Grayson had to be at the top of the list. His wrath knew no bounds and he had been pretty nasty towards her from time to time but for some reason, concern flashed over his features but was quickly replaced with annoyance.                             "I know your sister gave you a brief explanation on what is fixing to occur but if you wouldn't mind hurrying it up a bit please? We need to get back before dark. I'm calling a pack meeting and there's no telling how long it will be."  Not giving her so much as a second glance, he turned around and headed out of her room. This is going to be a long day, she thought to herself as she finished packing and then headed out the door.