Rise of the Underdogs: JACOB

Settling Dust

Word spread quickly through the ranks of the school’s hierarchy, and, by lunch, my brother was in the office talking to the Coach and Henry’s dad. By last bell, anyone who assumed I was an easy target learned the full extent of my controlled inner anarchy. They had mistaken kindness and silence for weakness, never realizing that they were just toothless pups biting the hand that fed.

When the dust settled, literally and figuratively, my true pack title was announced over the public announcement grid. Hearing “Delta Jacob Grey, Master Tracker of the Guardian pack the Howlers” over the crackling electric system saw even more of the hockey team giving me and my friends the widest berth ever.

Sam and Devon, when they heard, ran to the place I’d punched the wall with controlled, directed strength. They begged the maintenance worker to let them create a small “decoration” that actually consisted of drilling a frame to the spot I’d damaged and carving the phrase F.A.F.O. into the wood of the frame. I, on the other hand, begged the worker to just cover up the damage and let it go.

It burned the twins’ asses, but what else could I do when they were being their usual selves? It was on me to stop them while I attended the same school, especially considering I was older.

Thankfully, the rest of the year went by without another issue.

By some fluke of chance – or maybe some really, really good luck and being blessed by the Goddess – I’d become tentative friends with the hockey team. They no longer picked on me, but they didn’t let anyone else do it either. To them, seeing both their Captain and Co-captain sporting broken knuckles was a wake up call they didn’t know they needed.

I was favoured by something unseen, someone far more powerful than any mortal device in play, and I loved every second of it. Goddess Artemis was the mother of all Werewolves, and we were her loyal retainers. When rare wolves were born, we found ourselves in roles that were not there or had been long phased out over the centuries.

Of course, being the one to present in front of Sociology class about the role of Delta in my own words was something else entirely. The last known Delta was born nearly a hundred and forty years before I drew my first breath. I’d known for years, and now everyone else did, too. It earned me a passing grade, allowing me to graduate with Selene without further issue.

Now, just a week into the new school year, my baby sister was losing her perfected control over her emotions. Something had triggered her, giving rise to the emotional collapse she was facing. On top of that, I was ordered (asked. He asked me.) by Logan to go pick up his brother from the airport.

Yup! Hold my beer.

Not even a few hours later, I’d been fully briefed by Ember on Heaven’s situation. Andrast had been running her glorified brat of a mouth and upset my baby sister. I called her, begging her for news about Heaven’s stability as a person and a Healer. She was too young to suffer like this after just getting her wolf.

Aspen reached out to me, her cries mournful and carrying a deep-seated feeling of ache. She wanted her Mate, could feel him – just out of reach, just beyond her spiritual boundaries – and I felt the pain through the family bond. Other’s reached out to her, but she turned on them, telling them she didn’t want their pity.

That’s when I knew she needed understanding. Not flowery words, or grounded talk. Just someone to sit with her, be there when she was ready, and be able to help pick up the pieces.

When I got back to the school where Logan said to meet, I saw it for myself. The way Valik perked his ears, his body straining with control and conscious acknowledgement of the pull of the Mate bond, his face contorting in a mix of recognition and rage. His quick, but calm steps that carried him closer and closer to one goal. One purpose.

My sister and his Fated Mate.

Staring at them, watching how her cradled my sleep-deprived, emotionally spent, and unconscious sister, I knew what I had to do. See, despite everything, some people still harboured some distrust of the guy I adored like a brotha from anotha motha. My brother Paul was one of those people, meaning I would need to act as a buffer when he got wind of it.

As soon as I said I was glad he was the one meant for Heaven, I almost laughed. I look in his eyes, dark and foreboding, left me more humoured than humbled. Seeing him move his hand instinctively to protect her head from hitting the door when I hit a pothole made keeping some secrets worth it.

The reveal was even moreso, and it ended with me threatening to make Paul eat his Beta title if he came between Heaven and Valik without just cause. While he sputtered excuses, I threw facts at him faster than he could handle.

Yes, I was in full Delta mode. Yes, I was standing toe-to-toe with the one brother who couldn’t and wouldn’t back down from a challenge.

But he did back down. Particularly when I asked the one question I knew he had no answer for. “What would you do if the tables were turned and someone in our family said they didn’t trust Kay? If they questioned the sanity of being Mated to someone unknown from a disturbed background?”

Paul stopped arguing then, stomping away to his office while grumbling about his brother being too smart for his own good. Kaylene, on the other hand, grinned at me knowingly as she fed my niece – the first Howler-born pup.

It was when he, meaning Valik, found out that Austin killed the Grey family patriarch, that I saw the discouragement, the pain, and the fear in his eyes. That was when I knew I couldn’t let him face my family alone – not now, not ever. Explaining it to him might help, but I knew the damage his sire did wouldn’t be easy to undo.

Then again, watching him carry Heaven out of the Alpha’s office and back to his rooms while she squealed and struggled against his hold was hilarious. Her face only held a half-hearted anger. When she called him a bastard and said she wasn’t a sack of potatoes, I lost my ever-loving s**t laughing.

Our days settled into a routine. Valik and I were up at five-thirty, meeting in the foyer by six, and going for a warm-up workout before the pack woke for the day. When that was over, we made it back by seven-thirty with Valik to eat a hearty breakfast.

Then the day that the others arrived happened. Not just any arrivals, but Valik’s team from Russia had begged Lord General Blaze to serve under Valik, who was currently the Captain of the Alpha’s Elite.

“Pass,” I said, holding out my hand.

Valik handed me the pepper, without looking up, “Goading?”

“Nah, too Neanderthalic.” I commented, finishing off the rest of my food before one of the waiting Omega servers cleared the plates. I knew he was asking about my recent trump fight against my older brother, Gavin. He was the other quiet brother. The one, like me, who was basically a wallflower until pushed the right way.

“Anything else, Delta?”

I blinked, raising a brow as Leo’s sister (I forgot her name) curtseyed. “Stop that. You don’t need to be so damn formal. Just keep doing what you’re doing, and you’ll be fine.”

“It’s Grace,” she said softly. “My name is Grace.”

Oh, okay then. “Sorry. It’s a personal character flaw of mine to forget names I don’t use often.”

Rather than take offence, she smiled and nodded. “Leo told me as much, Sir. So, nothing else for anyone?”

Silence reigned as I watched her walk away after we told her we were good. She was nice, sweet, and single, but she wasn’t my Mate. I wasn’t desperate, just… patient. I knew that waiting was part of the test, part of the journey, and I wasn’t going to ruin what could be a perfect ending to my single life.

Hell, I’d heard the stories where King Neil didn’t find his Mate until she turned twenty-one. Those stories made me realize that what you needed arrived as it was demanded by Fate. Not because we want it but because we deserve it, and it made my understanding of Mate bonds more complex.

They weren’t something to be taken lightly. Ever.

Samara glanced at me, her eyes following every movement as Valik and I wordlessly passed whatever we needed without comment. “What a Confucius. Are you simply not bothered by being unMated?”

“I… what? Did you just pull one of my moves? Like a full-on play on words? Damn, woman. I shoulda forgot you were female back when we had that spar session,” I laughed.

Valik shook his head. “Mara, this guy is a staunch believer in holding himself in check until his Mate comes around. So, when’s Loralei coming?”

“Probably as soon as Samara can get her to their rooms,” I commented, pointing out a weak point in the south-west grid of the border.

Once I heard that Mara, as Samara preferred to be called, was lesbian, it was all I could do to suppress my humour. Why? Well, because her hotter-than-Hades body was either the envy or the wet dream of every other Vampire on the territory.

Peiter looked at me, then at the kitchen. They had only just arrived that morning, but he’d been acting strange. Then it hit me – his Mate was here.

“What’s the scent?” I asked.

“Mint and frost,” he whispered.

Valik caught my eye, a knowing look in his gaze. “That’s Ember.”

“Yup,” I said. “So, why are you still sitting here?”

Apparently, that’s all he needed to get his ass out of the chair and into the kitchens.