“Did you do the homework?” Orion took charge of Selena’s stamina building. They were at the waterfall. Orion didn’t make her run as far as Zaden did. Instead, he focused on building the core muscle. He is wearing punch mitts, while Selena was punching him with a bare hand. She didn’t leave much of an impact but she learns to read how to anticipate a punch or attack.
“Ha huh…” Selena nodded in between her heavy breathing.
Orion can see she was getting too used to punch mitt, too comfortable with the training. So, in the middle of punching, Orion crouched down and slide one leg below Selena, in an attempt to knock her down. Selena’s eyes widened at his sudden move and took a very high jump avoiding his leg.
“Impressive…” he stood straight with a frown. She shrugged.
“Can you try climbing the rope?” he pointed at the rope hanging from the waterfall. Selena looked at the rope, inspecting from top to bottom, a little longer than she should. Orion nudged gently, jerking her forward considerably.
“Don’t just stand there, give it a try!!!” He pointed out.
Selena glared at him in annoyance and walked to the rope, grabbing it with both her hands. She could hardly pull herself up, even for the first few feet. Orion took off his mitts, held her waist, and lifted her up, a push start which she doesn’t seem to mind, focusing on the rope.
“SELENA!!!” a scream came from behind them. Orion and Selena turned to look at the source. It was Zaden.
“Let go of the rope” he shouted one more time, storming as fast as he can towards them
“She was just trying to…” Orion tried to explain when he got cut off
“Are you crazy, Orion? She is detached from her wolf, which means she is just a regular human now. If she falls from that high, she will never recover.” He is blazing in anger.
“Zaden, I am right here. I can catch her if she falls and it’s not like she is going to die from a few feet of fall” Orion tried again but Zaden doesn’t seem to register anything.
Mating with Selena’s wolf increased his possessiveness and protective nature towards her, exponentially. Zaden’s nose flared as he grabbed Orion’s shirt into a fist and pulled him close to him.
“It’s not like she is going to DIE?” he said through his gritted teeth
“Zaden, let him go. I’m fine” Selena grabbed Zaden’s arm, trying to pull it away. He had seen Orion near death in Zaden’s palm and was not willing to face that again.
“Let go Zaden, you are making an unnecessarily big deal out of this” Orion clenched his jaw. Wolves are not made to stand up to their alpha but Orion pushed himself.
“If you are going to be so careless with her training sessions, I suggest you step out and let me take care of it” his words dripping venom as they came through gritted teeth as well.
“Oh you would love that, won’t you?” Orion clenched his jaws.
Makeala and others are already there. She had seen male werewolves fight before, and it is ugly. She pulled Selena away from them with as much force as possible. Selena protested with all her might but Makeala is stronger when she uses her wolf strength.
“What do you mean?” Zaden
“You want her, don’t you?” Zaden’s grip on his shirt loosened
“DON’T you dare to use your alpha tone and face me like a real man. You want her all to yourself, don’t you? I saw you kissing her Zaden when we left her in the city.” Zaden dropped his head
“You were cold with her right until you found out that she is a Samrat, then all of a sudden, you kissed her. Why?” Zaden kept glaring at Orion with his head slightly tilted down. Clearly, Orion doesn’t know the whole story.
“Let me tell you why. You want to lure her into becoming your mate, mark her and become the next King, am I correct?” All the bystander’s eyes widened except for Zaden who is trying his best to control his anger.
“And you are using sex as your weapon because you know she is a virgin, am I correct? You are trying to make her addicted to the pleasure of sex. That’s why you came up with this 15days to eclipse story. Nobody was there to clarify your statement and her wolf is also not going to show up to deny it either. You’re free from any suspicious eye, am I correct?” Orion is standing very close to Zaden now.
All the others exchanged look at each other
“You took away any time we have together by putting multiple training on her and you are removing me from those who train her. What the fucking hell are you doing in her room, every night?” he shouted the last sentence and the whole pack remained stiffened after that.
“And you know she likes me, so you have been trying to keep us apart from day one. It’s ok for you to kiss her but not me? It’s ok for you to care for her but not me? It’s ok for you to hug her but not me? Let her decide that, you don’t do that for her, Zaden” he sidesteps to walk away before stopped, his face right next to Zaden’s. Sunbeam splitting between them.
“You love her for her body, I love her by heart. I can give her the addictive sex but you cannot give her pure love” those last words stab deep into Zaden’s heart.
Orion walked away from there despite being stopped by his friends. All of them remained frozen for a minute, the pack leaders doesn’t know which way to go, Alpha or Beta. Zaden sensed their confusion–he can tell them what to do, where to go, what is best for them but not whose side to choose and if he did, it will backfire one day. He froze in his spot. A palm reached his shoulder, it was Xavier, the one who is the closest to Orion.
“He is confused Alpha. Give him some time, he will come around” he said and all the others nodded with a smile.
“Do you all think the same way he does? That I do all this because I want to be the king of Samrat? Be bold with me, otherwise, we will be having a dysfunctioning pack.” He is still glaring far into the waterfall now.
“I think you are doing what is best for a pack member” Sitka voiced out. With that, Zaden sighed deep and turned to walk away, chest up and his pack followed behind him.
They exit the clearing and entered the woods. From far, he can see Selena hiding behind Makeala and arguing with Orion. Orion tried to grab Selena past Makeala, but Makeala kept pushing her to the side, protecting her. Selena had tears flowing over her cheeks, face filled with worry. She was saying something, stepping in front of Makeala but nothing can make sense to Orion right at this moment. Orion grabbed her wrist gently, pulling her behind him to the left, just in time for Zaden to reach them. Makeala sensed her alpha’s, not her childhood friend’s presence, and bowed a step back. He came striding with his long legs, grabbed her other wrist, and pulled Selena to him. Selena came crashing into his embrace and Zaden glared at Orion before he whispered a word, sending shivers down everyone standing there.
“Mine…”
He turned and walked to the right, towards the brick house. Selena had to jog to meet with his long strides. A shiver climbed up her spine at Zaden’s word. His grip on her wrist, firm and steady but his eyes exerting fierce power that none dared to challenge. The pack followed them behind except for Orion.