Anyone But You

Chapter 4

I rolled my eyes so hard I almost fell over.

"I hope your mate knocks you down a few notches." Arthur said as he slowly lowered Aramais into the tree.

"And I hope yours likes being mated to a whimp." Atlas shot back. Arthur smirked.

"At least my mate won’t come second to my ego." He deadpanned.

"And she would at least be treated well," Aramis's voice echoed through the tree. "I’ve heard how you treat your playthings," the tree continued.

"You chase them, make them fall for you, use them for s*x, and discard them, all in less than a month. Then you move on to your next victim and do it all over," Arthur stated factually.

"And?" Atlas questioned non challantly.

"You can’t actually be serious?" I questioned in shock. "That’s disgusting on so many levels. And what about your mate?"

"I don’t believe in all that 'fated mate' garbage." Atlas said, shrugging his shoulders.

I shook my head in disbelief, but before I could argue, we heard a loud thud followed by a drawn-out "Ow" from inside the tree.

"You, okay?" I yelled out frozen in my spot.

"Good I think…Hey there’s a box in here," Aramis answered.

"Can you pull it out?" Atlas asked.

"That’d be a negative Ghost Rider. Get me out of here," Aramis shouted. Using his wolf strength, Arthur quickly yanked hard on the rope, causing Aramis to come flying out of the tree like bullet.

"Oops, bit too hard. Sorry!" Arthur said as Aramis crashed to the forest floor.

"Ya think?" He groaned as he lay still on the ground trying to get his bearings.

"Where’s the box?" Atlas asked.

"Bottom of the tree, two feet from the trunk," Aramis responded, sitting up. Grabbing the axe, Atlas made quick work of chopping a hole into the side of the tree.

"See it?" Arthur asked as he reached down and helped Aramis to his feet.

"Got it," Atlas said as he reached in and retrieved the box.

"Anyone got a key?" Atlas said, setting it down on the wagon.

"Like this?" I asked as I picked up the small silver key and walked over. Kneeling down in front of the box, I slid it into the lock and turned it. We heard a small click, and the lid was released.

"We're running out of time," Aramis said, glancing at his watch, "We should take it back to them and open it in front of our fathers."

We all agreed and loaded everything into the wagon.

"We should hurry," Arthur said, picking up the handle.

"Atlas, do you remember the path back?" I asked as we started moving very quickly.

"I got it," Atlas yelled at me, annoyed. I gritted my teeth as we all broke into a full sprint.

Ten minutes later, and with less than fifteen minutes left, the lake came into view.

"Hurry up," Atlas said, picking up the pace into a full run.

"WAIT," I screamed as the strong odor of iron filled my nose, but he was too fast.

"AHHHH!" Atlas screamed as the trap closed around his ankle and fell to the ground.

Our fathers quickly jumped up, watching us in horror as they realized what had happened. As Alpha Samuel tried to run to his son’s side, Alpha Wesley grabbed his arm.

"They have to do this together as a team," he said, holding him place. Looking at Altas laying on the ground, Alpha Samuel pulled his arm from Alpha Wesley’s grasp and took a step back to where he was sitting, knowing that unfortunately he couldn’t jump in until the six hours was over.

"Keep going," I yelled to the boys as I ran to Atlas. They nodded and kept running. I knelt down and made quick work of removing the trap and getting him to his feet. We wolves have amazing healing abilities, but the severity of the wound would determine how long it would take to fully recover. Most scratches and scrapes would take thirty minutes to an hour, where holes and punctures could take a few days.

"That’s going to leave a mark," Atlas said as I threw the trap aside.

"You're lucky it didn’t break your ankle. Can you walk?" I asked, examining his wound. He nodded his head and tried to put weight down. The pain shot through his leg and caused him to fall over.

"f**k!" he yelled, his voice laced with a mixture of pain, exhaustion, and anger.

"Watch your mouth," I said taking a step back. "Lay on your back," I said tucking in my shirt.

"Kind of a weird time to play adult twister," he said as he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"In your wildest dreams, I would still turn you down. Your disgusting," I said as he rolled onto his back. Flinging my body to the ground, I somersaulted down, grabbing his wrist and hoisting him onto my shoulders as I used the momentum to stand upright.

"What are you doing?" He yelled as I wrapped my arm around his leg and latched onto his wrist holding him in place.

"Getting our titles!" I said as I broke into a run.

"Come on," Aramis yelled as we breached the woods.

"Faster," Arthur yelled, watching my pace begin to slow. Drawing deep and pushing hard, I ran faster and made it to the boys in five minutes. Dropping Atlas to the ground, I leaned forward with my hands on my knees and began coughing.

"You good?" Arthur asked as he and Aramis reached down and picked up Atlas and set him on the rocks.

"Yeah," I said, trying to catch my breath as I stood up. "Who knew a globe could be so heavy," I said, snickering at Atlas. He laughed and rolled his eyes.

"And I didn’t know dyslexic air could be so strong." Atlas said, very proud of himself.

"Finally! a decent come back," I said as I almost fell off the rock laughing.

Aramis lifted the box out of the wagon and placed it in the next Atlas as we all moved in around it. Opening the lid, Arthur began to pull out small figurines one by one. They were little wood carved wolves painted to match each of our father. After handing out each carving, we turned and faced the looming Alphas.

"We did it." Arthur said to his father.

"That you did," Alpha Edwin said as they walked over to us.

"We know Ari decoded the journal. What did the rest of you do?" Alpha Samuel asked.

"I figured out which way the map needed to face so we could read it," Aramis said proudly.

"We all did that," Arthur countered pointedly.

"Individually, what did you do?" Alpha Wesley asked, crossing his arms over his chest. The boys just looked at each other.

"Oh, my goddess," I said exhaustedly. "Atlas navigated, Aramis climbed the tree, inside and out, Arthur made a harness and pulley system from the rope, and I identified traps, as well as bring him back after he landed on one." I deadpanned.

"That is teamwork," Alpha Andrew stated calmly.

We exchanged glances with each other and grinned.

"I guess so," Aramis said, slapping Arthur on the back with a smile.

"Remember this feeling. You four and going to need each other when you become Alphas," Alpha Samuel said, sliding his had across Atlas shoulders.

"Oh, Arthur," I said, walking up to him "Remember what you asked me?" I questioned. He thought about it for a second.

"Oh, yeah. Well?" He asked, looking sheepishly at my father. I c****d back and punched him in the face, dropping him to the ground.

"Now you get to keep your head," I said, outstretching my hand for him to grab.

"Thanks" he groaned, taking my hand and pulling himself up.

"Anytime!" I said with a smile as everyone else erupted in laughter.

"Do I want to know?" My father asked me.

"It was for Onyx," I smiled as I walked to our SUV and climbed in.