Under the Devil's Claws

Chapter 12

DEREK:

“You like her, don’t you?” I look back to see Rafael behind me. I’m sure I didn’t observe his presence when he approached. Guess he must have sneaked up on me.

“What are you talking about?” I demand, raising my brows to make sense of what he asked me. He finally gets to me, standing right beside me in the process.

“Layla... I think you like her. I saw the way you were staring at her before she left.”

“So that’s what you do? Monitoring the things others do with their time?”

“Doesn’t change the fact that I think you like her.”

I smirk before taking my eyes off him. “And since when did I start discussing my affairs with you?”

“You could have just denied it. Would have proved my observation wrong but you didn’t. So that means I'm right. You really do like her.”

I stare ahead, watching as some guards pass by us. Those that come in facial contact with me give a slight bow as they move along while I nod a little in response to their greetings.

“Tell me something, Rafael,” I start to say, getting back to the man beside me. “What do you like to do with your free time asides from monitoring the affairs of others?”

“That’s a good question,” he says. “But unfortunately I have nothing fun going on during my free time so this is all I do best: Go around and watch our dear Derek like the pretty human.”

The fact that he pushed the issue back on me made me admire his wit. He might be a lousy one but I wouldn’t take that from him. He sure did know his way around things. Probably why father kept him around.

“If you knew me too well, you would know I don’t do women.” I start to walk off immediately after I say that to him, hoping he gets the memo that I do not want to prolong the issue with him.

As expected, he was right behind me as I walk away from there. If I could find a way to get him off me, I would so gladly do that but ever since I came back from the academy, it has been this issue of him tagging along without a care. Infuriating, yes, but I still do not know how to get him off my back which is why I’m still keeping my cool.

“So what are you? Gay?” I hear him ask.

I choose to respond. “Perhaps I am. Because if you had cared to notice, I do find a way of attracting men like you to me.”

The disgusting sound he makes is a clue that he was not in that line. If I was not able to get him off my back, I could at least create the impression that I am into him so he would at least avoid me willingly.

“I don’t believe you though. Because if you’re really gay, then why are you so interested in the human girl?”

“She is the first human I would find among our kind. Her kind never mixes with ours because they know nothing about us. So when I found out that she is not someone like us, it was actually surprising. Made me really interested in her case.”

That was the logical explanation I had to give to him. And that was the truth. I never expected to find a human among wolves. It was never recorded. And even if it had happened before, I have never witnessed it in the twenty-six years of my life. This was a first for me.

“How did she even manage not to be a topic when she went missing from the human territory? Because, with what my father told me, she didn’t enter our territory willingly. Rasmus forced her. I cannot wrap my head around how he got to do it without getting the attention of her kind.”

Rafael responds, “Alpha Rasmus has always been known to be cunning. Probably even practices the ways of the dark arts as I was made to realize a long time ago. He might have created an illusion that she never existed because that would be the only way not to make her a topic.”

“I see,” I say because that is the only thing that comes to mind to say.

When I was training in the alpha academy, we were taught about the way each alpha of the main territories act, and that included my father and Rasmus.

It was more like we were warned when given a lesson about him. Something about never to cross him because of his unpure ways. I do know that I never fussed about it because it was not something I was interested in.

What I had been most interested in was about my father. I wanted to know if they had something about him that I didn’t know of. Proved to me that the lessons about him had been useless because all they had taught had been things I already knew of.

“As I discussed with my father, I am going to find out from you as well,” I say. “Do you think it is safe for her now that Rasmus probably knows about her whereabouts? Because from what I gathered, this was the first attempt on her since her arrival here,”

“Seems you know nothing about Alpha Rasmus. I’m sure he knew about her whereabouts these years but decided not to act on it because he was taking his time. How could he just suddenly find out now and then send his men to her so they could get her back? He definitely knew something all along.”

Now, this was new to me. I didn’t even think that far because all along I just thought it was because her sort of haven was leaked. Meaning someone was spying on her without anyone else knowing. Or maybe even a betrayer.

“You sure that would be the case?” I ask Rafael because I am not entirely convinced about his opinion. He could just be saying it because that is what he thinks it would be.

“I’m sure,” is his response. “I might not have studied about him as you did while at the academy, but like every insider in the alpha family, we have been given updates on his Alpha Rasmus works. It was simply a way to keep all of us right in our tracks lest we unintentionally go against him. Alpha Rasmus shows no mercy. And your father is also aware of that which is why he himself is wary of him.”

Father did mention something about being wary of Rasmus during our discussion. Could be the same thing as what Rafael is talking about. Shows how dangerous the man is if my father who is in the same rank as him could be this wary of him.

I have to stop because I have more questions to ask Rafael. Walking would not be that comfortable for me. It isn’t. Had just been managing since I started. I have never enjoyed the idea of walking while holding a discussion.

“Make me understand something. Do you think it would be right if we doubled the protection on the girl? Because I think that this way, it would keep her safer.”

Rafael gives me a look that I could already tell what he means. He was trying to get me to make that impression about liking her which I was not going to fall for.

“Are you sure you don’t like her? You being caring about her feels really strange,”

“I have to, Rafael. It is the only way I can guarantee that this pack would not go through that bullshit that occurred some days ago. Trust me, it is still not ending so increasing her protection would mean we have not failed in keeping her safe.”

“Hmph. That sounds like a very good explanation. As a defense, though. But I’m sure I will find out later if you really like her.”

“And I will be happy to disappoint you because you are not going to be getting anything from me.”

He smiles and then finally gets back to what I asked him. “About doubling her protection, what do you suggest? Because it would be unwise to have guards surrounding her like she is some kind of celebrity. Asides from the obvious fact that it would make her uncomfortable, it would also annoy most of the pack members. It would seem to them like we are giving her more privileges than them when they do not even know the true picture of the whole thing. Besides, most of them haven’t fully accepted the idea of having a human among us. Would worsen their complaints, I’m sure of that.”

“You’re right. There’s got to be something that we can do. We might need to think of something out of the box. But, first, you’ll need to do me a favor.”

“What is it?”

“Keep whatever discussion we are having now to yourself. I don’t want to hear a word of it elsewhere.”