Act 2 - Uninvited Guest
1525 Words
There was a pin drop silence in the room for a moment as the Beta siblings gaped at the young man who had crashed the party. Even though I had never seen this young man before, it wasn’t too difficult to put two and two together.
His eyes were almost an exact replica of Orphelin’s. His Roman nose and prominent cheekbones left no room for imagination as to who his father was, but at this very moment, I could see that his father was not particularly pleased by his presence.
“Alpha! I’m sorry, but he’s too fast!”
Levi’s panic-stricken voice made my heart skip a beat and I was careful not to look at the head warrior as he budged into the room to explain the presence of our uninvited guest.
“It’s fine, Levi, leave us,” my husband ordered sternly. “All of you! Only Chadron and Orphelin stay!”
None of the werewolves in the room could ignore the Alpha command and proceeded to leave the room hurriedly as if it was on fire. Only the Beta was throwing worried glances at his sister and nephew as he dragged his feet towards the door, but even he had no choice but to obey the Alpha command.
I was aware that Orphelin had a son but I just never quite figured out why I had never seen him before, and judging from the scene unfolding before me, some things were starting to become clearer.
“Don’t let anger get the best of you, my Alpha,” I whispered softly in his ear before leaving the room.
I wasn’t sure if it was just a figment of my imagination, but for a fleeting moment, I swore that the flames burning in Jesse’s eyes turned down a notch. Imagined or not, my lips curled slightly just at the thought of my husband starting to trust me.
My joy didn’t last for very long as my eyes caught sight of Levi right in the empty hallway. His eyes were filled with worry as he took my hand and pulled me back towards the warrior’s quarters. Not wanting to draw attention to us, I kept my mouth shut even as my heart pounded so hard that I could hear a ringing in my ears.
The warm, calming sensation washed over me again the moment Levi took my hand, except this time, I could feel a weak jolt of electricity pulsating from my hand right to my heart. I had no idea why I would still feel some sort of connection to him despite having already rejected him, and I could only guess that it had to do with his refusal to reject me.
My mind was a slushy mush of contradictory thoughts but every single one of them concentrated on Levi even as my instincts as a reaper tried hard to push through the fog to get to my mind. I should be afraid that someone would see us. That should be the reason why my heart was pounding, but alas, reason lost the moment Levi took my hand in his.
“Don’t worry, Rose, you’re safe here. This is my private quarters, separate from the rest of the warriors. No one will see us or hear us.”
Levi’s explanation after he had pushed me into a dimly lit studio apartment finally dragged me out of my crazy thoughts. With one swift move, I kneed him in the groin and side stepped to let him fall onto the ground before securing his wrists behind his back and keeping him down with my knee on the back of his neck.
Ignoring his surprised and painful growl, I applied more pressure with my knee before giving the reckless werewolf a piece of my mind.
“If trying to get us killed is your version of loving your fated mate, then congratulations Levi, you’re doing a great job!”
“We wouldn’t have gotten caught, Rose,” he spluttered as he struggled to turn his head to get air. “This hallway is only used by the Alpha and me, and trust me, he’s too busy now to pay any attention to us.”
My brows furrowed as I mulled over his words. It was obvious that my husband was furious at seeing his son but Chadron was his own blood. Surely, he wouldn’t do more than punish Chadron for showing up uninvited?
My silence earned a chuckle from Levi and before I could say anything, my world turned upside down as a brute force caused me to lose my balance and fall onto my back against the hardwood floor. Instinctively, I bent my arms at the elbow and prepared myself to shield my head but a pair of large hands grabbed me by the wrists and pinned them above my head.
Just as I was going to shift my hips and knee Levi in the groin again, he lowered his lower body completely on me, pinning me to the ground with his sheer weight.
“I’m a werewolf, Rose,” he mused. “You’re good but good isn’t enough.”
“Fück you, Levi!” I spat in his face, as I considered whether I should pull my emergency move.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Rose, but I can’t have you trying to kill me when all I’m trying to do is to talk to you. Chadron is dangerous and that’s why our Alpha flew into a rage in the dining room. I can’t tell you how your cousin really died, but all I can say is that it wasn’t an accident, and I won’t allow the same to happen to you.”
The sincerity in Levi’s eyes chipped away at my resolve as I stopped struggling against him and thought about what he had said. I knew that Julia’s death was preventable but if it was premeditated, then it would be a completely different story.
“Did Chadron have anything to do with my cousin’s death?” I asked after a long silence.
“I can’t,” Levi said through gritted teeth as beads of perspiration formed on his forehead.
“Alpha command?”
Levi’s body began to tremble and I could feel his grip on my wrists loosening until his entire body collapsed on me.
“I’m sorry, Rose, I can’t,” he mumbled apologetically as he rolled off me.
We laid on the hardwood floor side by side and stared at the boring ceiling in silence as my thoughts ran wild. Levi’s inability to explain Julia’s death told me more than I had needed to know. The fear in his eyes for my safety was genuine and it could only mean one thing, Chadron had something to do with my cousin’s death.
“Tell me about Chadron.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Why doesn’t he live with his own pack? Don’t you werewolves always live in packs?”
“He used to, until our last Luna passed away. Our Alpha announced that Chadron needed to find a suitable mate and sent him off to his grandmother’s pack. Everyone thought that it would be a short trip, since she-wolves would have to join our pack if they wanted to become a mate of a werewolf from our pack. But weeks turned into months and months turned into years. Tonight is the first time in two years that Chadron has shown up at our pack. Rumor has it that he was set to marry the daughter of the Beta from his grandmother’s pack, and he’d inherit the title of Alpha from his mother’s childless cousin, who is the current Alpha of the pack. So when he showed up tonight, all of us were shocked.”
“Did Jesse banish Chadron?” I wondered out loud, trying to piece together the information that Levi was sharing with me.
“No, if he did, then Chadron wouldn’t be able to come back to our pack. Our warriors would have to kill him on sight at the border, so any banishment would have to be made known to us.”
“Well, maybe my husband didn’t banish his son because he knew none of you would be able to stop him from coming back anyway,” I pointed out, earning a menacing growl from Levi.
“I don’t like it when you call him your husband,” he sighed before letting out a humorless laugh. “Not that you care anyway.”
A tinge of guilt gripped my heart and I had to take a deep breath to release myself from the tentacles of guilt.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said softly as I turned my head to look at the man beside me. His face was wrought with fatigue and it pained me to know that I was the cause of it all.
Unable to stop myself, I lifted my hand to smoothen the frown on his face, admitting begrudgingly to myself that I had really meant those words that I had just uttered.
- Writer
