The Ember In The Dark ( book one )

Chapter 8

“For the good of the pack” – Blake

It’s been a week since he has seen her. Every day he re-runs in

her mind how when he finally found her in the alleyway, she collapsed and was

trembling.

A thousand questions ran through his mind. Why was she

trembling? What was wrong with her? And why was he a f*****g coward and just

watched her from afar? He knew that the mate bond would help her. It would at

least comfort her. But was he really whom she needed at that very moment?

He stood by the end of the Alley and watched her until her

father came. He managed to calm her and carried her home.

Thankfully he didn’t see him; if not, the deal would be

off.

Blake’s been hating me since; he knew he caused her breakdown.

They moved, and he didn’t even know.

“Of course, they would move,” he told himself. “It’s too painful

a memory to live in a house where your loved one got murdered.”

“And I am the fucker who brought her back to the painful

memory,” I murmur under my breath.

“The word you're looking for is Asshole” Jordan, my cousin and

future Beta walks into the kitchen.

I looked at him, confused.

“I heard you, man, besides. You’ve been a mess this whole week.

So why on God’s green earth did you think it would be nice to bring your mate

to where her mom was murdered?” He arches his brow as he looks at me

teasingly.

Jordan is athletic and takes after his mom. Meanwhile, Blake

takes more on his dad. Jordan knows Danny, but they were not close growing up.

Also, since he was older than Blake by a couple of years, Jordan was already in

college when Danny was in high school.

“I didn’t know they moved,” I quip.

“Ouch,” He pressed his hands on his chest and pretended to have

been stabbed, “And what’s stopping you now from knowing where she lives. Or why

does she work at that club?”

“Club,” Blake growled. “She works were?”

Jordan raises his hands in surrender. “Don’t shoot the

messenger.”

Blake knew that he chose to ignore her; he decided not to know

anything about her, all those years, he treated her like she didn’t exist. Before speaking, he shakes his head, “it’s complicated, Jordan; you know

this.”

Jordan knew about the deal with Danny’s father. Being the Beta's

son and the future Beta of the pack, he had to learn about Danny’s father as it

involved the WHC.

Jordan noticed the sadness in his cousin’s tone as he spoke. He

walks over to Blake and places his hands on his shoulders. “I know, cousin, but

you could at least know stuff about her. Pretending she doesn’t exist will not

help. If you knew stuff, you could at least keep her safe from afar. And

that might ease the longing.”

“That until you reject her.” He slightly squeezes Blakes’s

shoulder as he speaks. Then proceeded to sit on the other end of the breakfast

nook.

Blake could feel bile with the thought of rejecting her. Could

he do that? Reject her?

“f**k it!” he murmured under my breath as I pulled out my phone.

Before he could open my social media, my phone started ringing. It was an

unknown number; who would have my number.

As soon as Blake swiped my phone open to answer the call, a

familiar but now with a thicker British accent voice greeted him.

“BLAKEY WAKEY!” it was Lucas. “Blake, long time mate, so sorry

for going MIA. The school was a lot tougher than we

thought.”

“Just for you, mate. The school was a breeze for me. I and my

man Blake like each other’s posts on social.” Jacob shouts from behind

Lucas.

Lucas and Jacob are twins who used to be Danny and Blake’s best

friends. The four of them would play in the twin’s basement Dungeons and

Dragons for hours. They were inseparable from grade school to middle

school.

It was unfortunate that the twins had to leave for boarding

school right after the funeral of Danny’s mom. The twins were British and whose

parents were just here for work. We knew eventually they had to leave for

boarding school. Yet it was heartbreaking when they had to go the day after the

funeral of Danny’s mom.

“We will be in town in a couple of days. Let’s all hang out like

before in our old house.” Lucas now has a thick British accent.

“Oi mate, make sure to tell Danny to come along.” Jacob

quips

“AM WOULD LOVE TO SEE HOW SHE LOOKS NOW,” Jacob adds as he

screams behind Lucas.

“Jacob, it’s on speaker. You don’t have to keep on shutting!”

Blake could imagine Jacob rolling his eyes as he spoke.

“Cool, great, and definitely” Were the only works Blake could

insert between the two brothers bater over the phone.

“Oi mate, how come you don’t post any photos of the two of you?

That girl has no social media; why is that, btw? We’ve been curious what’s seen

been up to all these years.”

Does she have no socials? Who does that? No teenager he ever

knows. Even Lucas and Jacob had. Though mainly Jacob, who liked to post.

They would DM each other every so often, especially on special occasions.

It annoyed Blake, even more to find out another about Danny that

he didn’t know. The twins, halfway around the world, knew she had no social.

Meanwhile, he knew bat s**t.

After putting the phone down, Jordan looks at him

judgmentally.

“What?” Blake retorts

“So, you’ll pretend you and Danny are still friends?”

“You heard the conversation; you know those two. I could barely

get a word in.” Blake defensively replied.

“Will you tell them?” Jordan looked at him accusingly, “If you

are not planning to. Then might I suggest you know more about her in the next

couple of days before the twins arrive?” He stood from the chair and walked

towards the door.

Before heading out, he turns to look at Blake, “Now, if you're

planning what I think you are planning,

It would be best if you did some major groveling. “

With that, Jordan left Blake in the kitchen.

“Dammit, how does that man read my mind” He muttered to

himself.

He was taking mental note of what he knew about Danny.

“1. She was graduating early.

2. She needed to be somewhere before summer

ended.

3. She works in a club (f**k I need to ask

Jordan, which one)

4. She moved houses

5. She has no socials.”

“Now I just need to ask her why?” Blake announced as if they had

achieved something remarkable.

HE knew the best way to find out things about Danny was either

ask one of their trackers to track her. Or he finds her and faces her.

Maybe find her first, he thought to himself, remembering their

last encounter,

“Ok, so I need some help becoming a stalker. Come on, boy, let’s

find our mate.” Blake would allow his wolf to sniff her scent

and find her. He will know everything about her.

He knew it was a bad idea to allow himself in wolf form to sniff

out Danny's scent. This will only strengthen the mate bond, and it will be

harder for him to reject her.

But was he going to reject her?

Blake knew the answer to this question, and it w3as something he

wasn’t ready to answer. For now, he didn’t care. The need to find out more

about her was much more vital.

He exits the house from the back exit leading to the forest

line. He starts running and then leaps into the air. He lands a few feet away

on all fours.

His wolf was a massive wolf with brown caramel fur, just like

his hair.

His wolf sniffs the air and could already smell a very faint

scent that got the wolf excited. It was Danny’s scent.

There was no stopping him now. He knew the bond would grow more

robust, but he could no longer resist not knowing anything.

He will be careful; he told his wolf not to reveal themselves to

her. They were merely there to see that she was safe.

His wolf knew he was lying but played along.

Here goes nothing, Blake tells himself.