Chapter 2: Reject Her
1301 Words
Chapter 2
Jacob’s POV
“Any minute now our western borders will go extinct!” Malachi Stone, Alpha of the BloodHeart Pack, slams his fist into the roundtable. “We shouldn’t have let this drag on. And I can't help but feel that your constant postponement of our clan meetings is to blame.”
“Some of us have lives outside clan politics.” I lean back in my. “Not all of us are stuck-up alphas hiding behind their walls.”
“What did you just—”
“Enough,” Xavier Storme, Alpha of the SlaughterHounds, cuts in, always the peacemaker. “We’re here to solve a problem. This unnecessary banter won't solve anything.”
Ten Alphas make up the South Dakota Clan. Tonight, eight showed up.
Unfortunately, so did he.
Nathan Brooks.
We haven’t spoken since our last altercation a couple years back. Didn't think he'd be ballsy enough to show up here again.
But our little reunion will have to wait. There are more pressing issues.
The deliberation on how to solve our border issue stretched on for a solid hour, and just when we prepared to round it all up, exactly as planned, she made her long expected entrance.
As strong-headed as she was earlier today, Anna still took my advice. Her red, daisy gown's patterned to perfection.
Her scent’s one I still haven't wrapped my head around, and as alluring as it is, the fact that I haven't been able to see through or break it down… annoys me.
“Dinner’s ready whenever you are,” she mutters through clenched teeth, not even waiting for my reply before leaving.
I regret telling her to stop by.
My initial intention was to show her off. It definitely worked, but from the look on ‘His' face, it worked a little too well.
“So she's the one? Mrs Fated mate huh? The reason you kept postponing, I presume” Malachi comments, this time with a smile. “Not bad. Not bad at all.”
“Yeah, well—”
“Reject her” I hear from over the table, and of course… it just had to be him.
Guess our conflict really was inevitable.
“What was that?”
“You heard exactly what I said Jacob. Reject her” he repeats.
“That's a little brazen, don't you think Nathan?”
“You're gonna act like you don't smell the wounds on her as well?” he thrashes Xavier's attempt to play peacemaker.
“Why don't you just shut your mouth and give suggestions like everybody else?” I fold my arms. “I mean, you have to be good at at least one thing, don't you?”
“You little prick!”
The moment the white-haired 6’3 stands up, the tension in the room doubles. Everyone stands up as well. Everyone except me.
“Everybody just calm down. Jacob, watch your mouth. And Nathan, there really is no need for this” Xavier riles up another attempt.
“Watch my mouth? Why don't you ask him why he's all worked up” I maintain my composure, garnished with closed eyes and an unbothered expression. “I don't see why the matters between my mate and I are any of his business.”
Feigning realization, my smile grows.
“Oh, don't tell me this is seething jealousy because you lost YOUR fated mate in that unfortunate—”
I don’t finish.
Because Nathan is already across the table.
“s**t!”
I brace myself for impact, and his punch sends me flying into the wall.
My back slams hard enough to crack through the plaster and eat into the cement.
“Nathan, that's enough!” Xavier shouts.
The Alphas can do nothing but watch. Can't blame them… with the way things ended between Nathan and I last time, butting in is the last thing anyone would want to do.
“Still as pathetic as you were when I left” he says, sizing me up. “If you can't even take care of your fated mate, it's pretty hypocritical of anyone to believe you'll play a part in safeguarding our kind at the border” the acrimony in his eyes burns brighter than ever. “To hell with this meeting…” he turns, and his long dark coat flows with his ominous walk. “...I want nothing to do with any of you hypocrites.”
“You… liar.” The words rip from my chest. My body trembles as I push off the wall. “You f*****g liar!”
His head tilts, slowly.
“You’re the biggest hypocrite in this room, Nathan.” My fists curl. “Parading false righteousness, pretending to care about some girl you’ve never met. After what you did—you’re the last man who should talk about protecting anyone. You murderer!”
I launch forward and crack him across the nose. Blood dribbles instantly.
…the conflict we'd avoided for more than two years… it climaxes today.
I wait for him to reply my attack with some more of his, but my disorganized and expectant panting precedes a very surprising response.
Nathan wipes the blood with the back of his hand. Then all a sudden, his voice drops.
“Of course. You still think I killed her.”
Goosebumps crawl across my skin. His eyes—those burning red eyes—pin me to the floor.
“…you all do”
The words shake the room.
Not sure which one's worse. Maintaining the silence, or actually answering him.
“We don't have to do th—” Malachi starts.
“Fine then.”
It all happens in a flash.
Nathan seizes me by the collar and lifts me off my feet. His voice, hard and thunderous.
“If I could kill my own mate, what makes you think I can’t kill everyone in this room?”
That very moment, the scents overpower every last one of us.
That collective scent… trademark of White Lotus Pack!
Nathan’s Pack!
They're here.
They're all here!
This was… a setup!
“Nathan! What's the meaning of this? Who are—”
“I advise you keep your mouth shut, Malachi. I'd hate to leave the BloodHearts without a leader. And that warning goes for all of you!”
Unsurprisingly, Malachi's hastiness gets the best of him.
“Why you little—”
He leaps in Nathan's direction, but before he can even lay a finger, the glass pane behind me shatters, and in leaps a morphed wolf that replies Malachi's sudden outburst with a dagger-like set of paws aimed straight for his heart.
It catches the Alpha by surprise, connects with immaculate grace, and levels the hunk with one swift and simple attack.
Shock, instant and paralysing.
There and then, the members of the White Lotus all trail in.
They outnumber us all. Twenty to one.
He… he'd planned this from the very beginning!
My gaze shifts back to Nathan, and his gaze is locked straight on me.
But what is he doing?
What's the aim of this ambush?
Revenge? There's no way he'd--
“Let go of me. Let go of—” Anna’s voice returns, dragged to the room by one of Nathan's men, and breaking my soliloquy in half.
“Oi! What the hell do you think you're—”
“Shut up!”
With a powerful jab, he knocks the air right out of my lungs.
“I’ll kill every last person in this room if you don't do as I say!”
Letting go, I crumble to floor on my knees.
I can hear Anna argue in discomfort, but I don't see it's reality until Nathan pulls my head up by my short buzz.
“Reject Her, Jacob.”
What?!
- Writer
