Royal Submission

4. I knew you were trouble

We make our way down the busy stairs. I throw a look over my shoulder to make sure the creep isn't following us. 'Sit. Creep. Stay..' Creep is still back in the booth. 'Good boy,' stay put. His eyes locked on me, which makes the hair on my neck stand, and not in a good way. Could he be any more creepy? I shoot him a hard glare, which only makes the weirdo smile bigger! He's a wolf, so I know he understands my blunt rejection of his advances. He just doesn't care. This is pissing me off.

Maybe he's gone mental? Even though he's smirking enough to be committed to an isane asylum, I know that it's a long shot. He isn't retarded.. He's just a cocky moron creep. Regardless I throw him the universal symbol for 'f**k off' just in case there's some language barrier I'm unaware of. Whatever it takes to get the message through his thick brain. 'Not today Creep," I smirk when I see his smirk slide off his smooth face before his face disappears upstairs.

I chuckle to myself, and take the last step to the bottom level of the bar. When I look up I realize that Haley just witnessed the entire showdown. She's got her arms crossed and shaking her head like I've just done something wong. I'm saving her from a predator and she's mad at me? The f**k? If it were a bear chasing after her instead of a sketchy attractive man creep she would fall at my feet with gratitude. I raise my eyebrow at her and scoff when she's looks at me for answers.

"What the hell Charlie? Just because you think all men are dogs doesn't mean you gotta c**k block me from having a little fun! He's been a perfect gentlmen and he's sexy as hell. I'm into it."

"That's exactly what he is."

"He is what? Sexy?"

"No Haley. You were right. He is a dog."

"Huh? Speak plain Charlie! You know him or something?" God the alcohol must be gumming up the gears inside of her brain. Why else are her normally witty synapsis not firing properly?

"A dog Haley. An actual dog. A furry-four legged-claw and fang-having deadly appex predator with animalistic instincts." She's staring at me gobsmacked, but since she's still not speaking I have to assume the information has not fully translated for her. "You get it now Hal? You're up there waving your t**s around like a dog treat next to a f*****g wolf."

"Wait. That sinfully sexy beast of a man up there is a 'you know what'... like you?" She whispers the last part like its a well kept secret, becaue that's exactly what it is.

"Wow I cant believe I'm friends with a real life genius. I'm so lucky right now!," I joke sarcastically and grab her by the elbow to lead the way to safety. Unfortunately for me, I forgot I am not dealing with my sensible best friend. She halts our retreat and I groan aloud. Apparently she left her sense for self-preservation at home, and now Horny-Hormonal-Haley is out to play. I should have expected this. My warning failed to incite fear and has instead has only made her more excited and headstrong.

"So what if he's a 'you-know-what," she uses her fingers to make air quotations, and by the tone of her voice I know that sometihing I said somehow offended her. "So are you, and I f*****g love you to death. I guess I dont see the problem here. There's no diffrence Charlie. Unless you feel like I'm not good enough for your kind," she asks with indignation. She knows me better than that. She knows I'm not a bigot towards humans. I c**k my eyebrow, and shoot her a glare that says 'really'?

I take a draw in a deep breath, ignoring the smell so I don't gag. Goddess give me strength. My wolf is furious with her blatant lack of concern for her own f*****g safety. If it were anyone else this determined to die, I'd chuck her a peace sign and be out of this God forsaken human hump house. I can't leave her though. Shes not just someone. She is MY someone. My bestfriend. The wolf part of me has developed a familiarity to this particular human, and I wasnt going to watch another wolf f**k and kill her for sport. I get that most people would scold me for making a baseless assumption against someone I know nothing about, but I dont give a f**k about what's acceptable in human society. I'm a highly instinctual being. I know he's an animal like me, which means I know more about him than a human could ever learn about him in a life time.

I can also recite about a hundred extremely disturbing and violent horror stories verbatum about what happends when you trust a strange wolf. I can thank my very over protective father for that disturbing knowledge. So maybe I am being paranoid and presumptious right now, but oh well. One lesson ingrained in me since birth is that it's better to be safe than sorry. Our night is turning out to be an example of that very lesson.

'Goddess I wish we would have stayed home,' I internally groan.

Just as I begin to think this night couldn't possibly get any worse, something totally terrifying happens. Out of nowhere instincts get blasted by the presence of multiple wolfs. They're not just any wolves either. I look up and see four large men enter the bar, two of them are just as large as my brothers.

I can tell by their apperance that they aren't here to have a good time. They're wearing dark clothing that screams military. I can see their eyes scanning the bar looking for something, or more likely someone.

I immediately pray to the Goddess that I haven't trespassed on another pack's territory. I didn't think any packs were known to the local area, but then again I can't deny what is right infront of me, pack wolves. What other reason would they have for being here looking like that?

I'm still too shoked to make a break for it. It's like I am frozen in place by fear. I can't help but notice some unorganized commotion coming from their small group. The third guy in makes a move to take the lead of the little posse. The guy who appeared to be leading the rest looks surprised, and confused for a moment. The men in the back make an attempt to hold him back by his arms. That's when I notice the crazed look in the man's eyes, and he's staring right at me.

I have no idea what his problem is, but it's clear he's struggling against his own people to get to me. What the hell is this guys problem? I haven't done anything to him. I don't even know him!

The leader of the group finally takes notice of me, and tries to command me to stay put with his eyes. Then his eyes catch some movement right behind me. His aura instantly changes, and becomes lethal. Wondering what caused the change, I look behind Haley and I.

Creepy has Haley by the arm, and is making his way towards the rear exit of the bar. He's trying to take my human. Oh hell no!

I take after my best friend, and her weird wolf stalker. Haley may be infatuated with the guy, and tipsy, but she's too loyal to leave without me. She's dragging her feet making sure I'm coming. She may be acting like a horny drunk fool tonight, but she's still being a good best friend.

Since she's dragging her feet the two of them are slower than me, so the three of us arrive at the exit at the same time.

"Where do you think you're going with my best friend," I yell at him. "She is NOT going anywhere with you."

He shakes his head like I said something to offend him. "I tried to get your attention, but you were stuck. I had to get your attention somehow." Before I can cut him off he continues, "We gotta get out of here. NOW! Those guys are extremely dangerous. s**t! They're headed straight for us!"

The three of us go barreling out the rear exit into the alley. I have no time to reflect on how scary this night keeps getting. I'm terrified. I have no idea who to be more afraid of the pack wolves, or creepy lover boy.

I remember murderous look that was thrown our way by the wolf leading the others inside, and make a decision. I don't exactly trust Creep, which is my new nickname for him, but I do feel he's the lesser of the two evils.

"Did you two drive here?" he asks?

Haley decides to throw him the keys, which makes me want to kill her slowly. "What the hell Haley. He's not driving, and he's NOT comimg with us! Those guys looked like they wanted him, not us," I shout at her.

"Girl did you see the way that one was staring at you? He was fighting his own friends to get to you like a crazy person. Maybe he wants to eat you or something." I get that Haley is terrified, but her assumption is totally ridiculous. Not even rogue wolves are cannibalistic. There's no time to debate the matter. Besides I do agree that it was me he was fighting to get to.

"Okay, fine! But I'm taking the seat behnd you, so don't even think of getting any crazy ideas. We are going where I say, it's non negotiable."

Luckily, we are not parked far. Just as we all pile into the car, the group of pack wolves come thundering down the street towards us. The moment before Creep gets the car started is intense. Damn Haley for all that stupid unneccessary girly s**t on her key chain. It's no wonder it took him a sexond to find the car key and start the car. Moments before they reach us Creep whips out of the parking spot and darts through traffic. I give him the basic instructions home.

Unfortunately, we are a street over when we notice that we're being followed."We gotta lose the tail before we can head to my place," I inform him.

His driving skills are pretty damn good. A cop attempted to pull us over before we got on the hgihway but Creep sped around a tight corner and squeezed our car beneath the underpass. It was the perfect hiding spot. The cop went flying past us. He waited a moment then casually scooted out of hiding and followed all traffic laws like a law abifing citizen as we made turned onto the highway.

Once on the highway he picked up the speed and made haste; Before I knew it we were taking the exit off the highway for our home town. I shot a look over my shoulder to make sure we weren't being followed. I didn't see anyone. Finally I felt like I could breathe.

The three of us were chuckling, and glancing at one another. I don't know if it was beause I was thankful for how he saved us, or if it was just the near death experience itself, but whatever it was, I was grateful for Creep's help. I felt like the crazy experience created a bond between the three of us a little bit. I still didn't trust him fully, but he wasn't as creepy as I once imagined he was and I told him so. He then laughed and said, "thanks. I guess." He was smiling when he asked, "how was I being creepy?"

"Well," I explained "you were being pretty touchy feely with my bestfriend, who is human. I gotta look out for her. You're a wolf. I've heard more horor stories than I can count about strange wolves luring human women home from the bar, and leaving them in a ditch once they've had their fun. No way was I going to let that happen to my human."

"You're human," he laughed at me. "You're weird." When I scoffed he added "but not in a bad way." The three of us were giving eachother cheesey smiles. I couldn't believe that less than two hours ago I wanted to kill this man.

"What did you say your name was again," I asked. I couldn't keep calling him Creep. That would be awfully rude of me. Especially when the man ended up saving our lives instead of killing us.

"Lucas." He didn't give a last name, not that I expected him to. He focused on the road as I gave him the next couple of steps to the directions back to my house.

's**t,' how am I going to explain what happened to my parents and brothers. They would surely exect some explanation as to why a strange man was coming home with Haley and I. I couldn't very well leave him on the side of the road either. What if those pack wolves happened upon him. I didn't want his death on my conscience. No, he would be coming home with us. My parents would know how to help him.

"So Lucas, before we get back to my pack I need to know if we can trust you. My parents aren't going to be thrilled that I'm bringing a stranger back to our den. I'm sure you understand that its just the nature of their wolves."

He paused for a moment. He glanced at Haley and seemed unsure of something. This peaked my curiosity but I waited for him to answer.

"Well, it's simple really. You can trust me because.. " he paused and glanced warily at Haley one more time before continuing, "she's my mate." He made eye contact with me for just a brief moment before returning his eyes to the road. This had me totally floored. I sat back shocked into silence.

"Well s**t, I knew you were trouble," I joked. The three of us laughed before making the last turn towards home.