***
“You can’t tell me how to lead my life.” Troy’s voice raised. “I’ve been told what to do my whole life. I refuse to allow you people to tell me what to do with myself.” Sweat poured out of him as he trembled from sheer fury. “How dare you insist I turn into an animal?” His eyes locked on Philip’s. “Is my body yours? Do you even think?” Troy felt as if his intestines were trying to force their way out of him. The pain…it was too much. And the people in the room with him seemed to think it was okay to feel that way. Troy started a silent chant unconsciously. “I’ve had it with you people…”
Troy felt an intense energy within that he’d never felt before. He didn’t have to chant for long at all. Just as Stan reached out to hold his arm, Troy felt the release. He was more shocked than anyone in the conference room when the fireball appeared in his hand. It had materialized in his hand just as he was snatching his arm from Stan. The ball flew… right at Ryan who had bent down to pick up his phone that had fallen.
Everyone screamed as Jeremy made a mad dash towards his mate. Of course, the deadly fireball got to an oblivious Ryan first. Just as he straightened up in his chair, ready to ask what all the screams was about, Ryan saw the fireball right in his face. He gasped and froze. But shockingly, the ball never touched him. It merely bounced harmlessly against him and then disappeared to the shock of Ryan and every other person in the room. Everyone was quiet…frozen with terror and shock. Ryan looked down at himself in stunned silence. He sure as hell didn’t know he had a protective shield.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…” Paige started to scream. “What the fuck just happened?”
And that was when everyone heard Jeremy’s angry growl. He was beside Troy in seconds, pinning him to the door with a grip around his neck.
“What the fuck, you little shit,” Jeremy growled.
“I’m sorry.” Troy began to sob quietly, completely shaken by what had almost happened. “I’m so sorry…”
“Do you have any idea what you almost caused?” Jeremy was so angry that Troy’s continuous pleading was totally lost on him. “Are you out of your…”
“Jeremy…” Everyone heard Philip’s rage-filled growl and turned to look at the alpha just as he shifted into his huge grey wolf. The wolf looked so angry everyone took a step back. ‘Take your fucking hands off my mate.’ Philip growled through their mind link.
The wolf was crouched low with its tail cocked, lips pulled back, fangs bared, ears forward, and eyes wild and threatening. The alpha was in an attack mode. Everyone held their breath. Even Jeremy knew when to submit.
“Easy there, Philip,” Jeremy murmured as his hand came away from Troy’s neck. “You know I wouldn’t harm him.”
‘You shouldn’t have put your hands on him in the first place.’ The wolf growled on their mind-link. ‘Shift.’ That meant just one thing; Philip wanted to fight Jeremy.
“Lip, please…” Jeremy muttered as he bared his throat in a show of submission. “We don’t have to do this. I got angry.”
Jeremy wasn’t afraid of Philip. Not only was he the alpha of all alphas, he was also an Ojah, which meant he wielded a lot of power. An Ojah could raze a whole community to the ground with just a snap of his finger. Jeremy was one of the three Ojahs in the Were kingdom. He was the only alpha who was also an Ojah, making him the most powerful supernatural being in the Were kingdom. No, Jeremy was definitely not afraid of the angry alpha. But he knew that the alpha wolf saw his action towards his mate as an attack on it. So it was only natural to want to kick his ass. Jeremy was, however, hoping that the Alpha would let it go. He didn’t.
‘I said shift.’ Philip growled as he snapped his teeth together with a loud clap, sending a clear warning to Jeremy.
One moment Jeremy was looking all apologetic and regretful, the next moment, his clothes were falling off his body in tatters. In place of the hunk of a man stood a huge red wolf. The two beasts flew at each other.
“Stan, the doors!” Joel bellowed at a grinning Stan just as the two wolves began to roll towards the closed doors that opened onto the balcony.
“Oh, damn, I forgot.” Stan laughed delightedly as he jumped and hit a button on the wall.
The doors instantly opened wide. The fighting wolves rolled through and jumped off the balcony to the ground below. Their snapping and snarling could be heard even as they disappeared into the woods.
“Damn, that was fucking entertaining.” Stan laughed as Paige closed the doors.
“That went well.” Paige’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on anyone.
“Troy?” Gloria gasped when she noticed that her youngest son was no longer in the room with them. “Where the hell did he go?” She moaned as she rushed to the door with the others in tow. But Troy was nowhere to be found.
“Let’s go and check the house, sweetie,” Joel told a worried Gloria. “Stan, you and Paige should look around. Now that he knows the grounds, he could be anywhere. Deloris, call Cami. Maybe he’s gone to see his pal.”
“He wouldn’t be with them though.” Deloris pointed out as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. Camille lived outside the pack house. Troy had no idea where she lived so there was no way he was with them. “She’s not picking up. I’ll go and check.” She made a beeline for the elevator.
“Ryan?” Gloria started towards Ryan who had sat back down at the table.
“I’ll just sit here and hope he comes back,” Ryan announced.
“No, you don’t have to.” Gloria hugged Ryan. “Go and get some sleep, baby.” She said with a fond smile when she released him. “That silly boy gave you a scare. Knocked some years off my life with that stunt I ain’t gonna lie. I’m so sorry about that, darling.”
“Well, your grandkid saved the day so…” Ryan shrugged.
“That was the baby?” Gloria’s eyebrow shot up.
“Well, I don’t have a protective shield.” Ryan chuckled. “Never had. So it must have been the baby. I mean I won’t put it past it.”
“Wow…” Gloria reached out to touch Ryan’s tummy. “Thanks, Precious.” She whispered.
“Aw, there’s a slight problem though.” Ryan moaned.
“What is it?” Gloria took a seat by her son-in-law, her face etched with concern.
“Ahh…there’s this thing I have.” Ryan looked totally apologetic. “Well, according to Deloris, it’s the power of absorption. I have the ability to permanently copy magical powers that are used against me.”
“Well, that’s a great thing, sweetie.” Gloria smiled.
“The downside is that I actually absorb that power from the original owner, leaving the owner without that particular power. So that means Troy has lost that power.”
“Don’t worry about it, my dear.” Gloria smiled. “He’s a werewolf. It’s about time he started behaving like one. We don’t go around throwing fireballs at will. So I don’t really care about that power. Look at what he almost did to you and that innocent baby…” She moaned.
“I’m actually immune to fireballs because Reynard used it on me during that battle,” Ryan said quickly. “And I absorbed it. So even if your show-off of a grandchild hadn’t come through, nothing would have happened to me.” Ryan suddenly groaned when a thought occurred to him. “But I guess the rest of you…”
“Would have been hurt if it had exploded,” Gloria concluded. “Thank Luna for that precious baby. Now I’m going to look for my stubborn son.” She stood up. “The sooner he embraces his nature, the better.” She muttered as she walked away. “Go get some rest, Ryan.” She called over her shoulder.