ROWAN
“Why do you hate him?” I return the question.
“Hmm, that is a loaded question,” she replies.
“So was yours.”
“Fair enough. Putting it simply, Dominic is responsible for my sister’s death.”
Oh oh.
“Um… can you explain?”
“Well, my sister was one of our patrol wolves and during one of her… patrols, she came across Dave, her mate. Who was from the Obsidian pack.”
“Wait- isn’t the herring pack located over the mountains? How did a wolf from the Obsidian pack get over there?” I ask.
“Because their aloha is a sneaky, snake, always spying or at least trying to spy on other packs. Not that they did a good job of it.”
“Hmm. Go on,” I urge her.
“Dave wasn’t a bad guy,” she says before taking a sip of her wine. “I mean, after I got over the fact that he was from the Obsidian pack and was sent to snoop on us, I kind of saw him as a good guy.. a great guy. Truly honorable. And thinking about it he couldn’t exactly go against his alpha’s orders to go spy now, could he?”
“I suppose not.”
“Anyway… he and my sister got on well together. They were great. The only problem was where they would stay. I wasn’t willing to let my sister go Over there and neither was she or Dave siked about the idea. Dave wanted to stay with us. I think… he saw it as a way to finally get away from his pack.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“Because under that stupid bravado he puts on, Dominic is just a big, whiny baby who throws foolish tantrums when things don’t go his way. In one word, he was problematic. Kept causing problems and the likes, wouldn’t let Dave be and demanded he returned or he would launch an attack on us.”
“That is foolish,” I say
“I know!” She exclaims. “And I was prepared to call him out on his bluff but those fucking elders who still had my mats ears prevailed. Bloody cowards, all of them. They gave in and told her, my sister to go with him. Biggest mistake.”
“What happened?”
“Dominic already resented Dave for even considering leaving his pack and from what my sister told me, he made their lives hell. And so, during one of his temper tantrums, he went off on her. Called her a … what is the word? A succubus or was it a seductress… the point is, he blames her for trying to take away one of his wolves. I mean, they were mates, for goddess sake. Mates!”
“What did he do?’
“He attacked her. She defended herself, which is sort of a taboo there- talking back at your Alpha- and he flew into a rage. Dave got in between them… and he died. Dominic killed him. He tried to kill her too but thank the goddess for her training. She escaped and made it back to us, but… she was heartbroken. She was never really the same again. A few months later, she was gone. Died in her sleep. I have never forgiven him for that. And now, he has the audacity to come after my husband. I am going to kill him.”
“Hmm. Get in line,” I tell her.
“Oh… there is a queue?”
“A long one.”
“Not really surprised. But… What is your own story?”
I turn to stare at her for a few seconds, trying to decide if it was worth the risk of opening up to someone I just met.
But something about her made me feel like I could trust her.
That she wasn’t the type to betray the trust placed in her.
“I was a member of the obsidian pack a few years back,” I tell her quirky, careful enough to not let the others gathered inside hear.
“Oh? Really?!’
“Hmm. I lived in the main mansion. With him. I was an orphan and the then Alpha was friends with my parents and he took me in. I and Dominic grew up together.”
“Wow. So, what made you hate him?”
“First of all, I never liked him. We never … talked. He felt I was taking advantage of my parents and I felt he was just plain trouble. Anyways, I found out he was my mate.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah, that pretty much summed it up,” I say with a chuckle.
“How did he take it?” She asks.
“Not good. I didn’t want him, he didn’t want me. Straightforward right?”
“Right.”
“Wrong.”
“Oh, boy. What did he do?”
I took a deep breath before responding.
“He got drunk and then… raped me.”
“That fucker!” She shouts in anger, getting a few curious glances at that.
“Yeah.”
“What then?”
“His mother forced him to take responsibility. Told us to have the mating ritual.”
“I don’t remember that,” she comments. “The only mating ritual I remember from him was when he joined with uh… what is her name? Cassey? Clary?”
“Clarisse,” I say.
“Right. Her.”
“Well, that is because it never happened. I was not about to marry such a beast who would hurt his mate like that. Could you imagine how my life would have been if I did?”
“Hell,” she replies.
“Exactly. So, I decided to run away at night.”
“Ah. That is how you ended up the leader of the Coalition.”
“No,” I tell her. “Not quite. Apparently, he too had no intention of mating with me. He, Clarisse, and a few others including Tommy, caught up to me. I will spare you the dark details of what happened. But at the end of it all, he rejected me, I accepted his rejection and then he threw me off the cliff, to my death.”
“What a beast,” she mutters with feeling. “Oh, he must have been so stunned when he saw you again.”
“He was. I enjoyed that,” I tell her with a smirk.
“So?” She asks. “What do you plan on doing?”
“Well now, I intend to make his life hell.”
“Need any help?”
“I won’t say no.”