“It was Davidson right?”
“The bite wasn’t too deep. Your skin is a little burnt, by tomorrow you will be fine.”
“It was Davidson right?” I ask again, reaching up to feel my bandaged neck. I don’t remember much after I was bitten, but I know I have been in pain since the incident. Something tells me it is because Sia has already marked me with his stuff, but Lyles says it is because his bite was venomous.
“Tell me something Crinka, you have been with him for years. You saw the bite yourself. Does his mark look like this?”
“I don’t know”. I say ashamed. “He has never really bitten me before. An attempt, but nothing more than that.”
“Exactly. So let’s just assume it was not Davidson.”
I will ask Sia instead since Lyles is of no help. “Since you won’t admit it was Davidson, tell me Lyles, who saved me?”
“Ask border patrol. How does it feel letting your pack members see you naked?”
“Shut up,” I say slapping his arm. I am surprised I can even do that. “That sounds so wrong coming out of your mouth.”
Lyles and I talk for a while before he leaves me all by myself when I really, (emphasis on the really) shouldn’t be alone. The excuse being he had things to do.
It is a very difficult and painful task but I endure the pain and try to prepare myself for bed before Sia decides to visit me.
He is dressed in blue cargo pants and a white button-up shirt. He is wearing sunglasses indoors. He has been doing that lately since I released him. I want to sleep, but there is a need to talk to him, and I think it is time to converse civilly with this rogue. No matter how painful it might be.
“Don’t you think it is about time you leave my pack?”
“That’s such a wonderful question to ask on your sickbed.”
“I am not sick. I am just in pain. Hey! Stop changing the object of discussion and answer my question with uttermost sincerity.”
“I have no idea what that word means so I am afraid my answer wouldn’t be as fitting as it is supposed to be.”
I have never met a rogue who speaks eloquently as Sia does. He is a man of poise and confidence. Most wolves don’t have this, every wolf is both wild and tamed in general. He has a calm demeanor and I noticed this when Leo was threatening to cut off his tongue. Despite all these attributes that are enough to sway a woman off her feet, I won’t let my guard down. It is a stupid decision to trust a stranger because of some perfect qualities.
“Just give me an answer rogue,” I demand, gritting my teeth. Other than talking and frowning, it is the only thing I can do, as Sia would say, on this sick bed.
“I thought we were on the first name basis and making progress, whatever happened now?”
“I got bitten okay? I am pissed and tired and you are only making it worse with that loud voice of yours. Now, answer me quietly rogue, why won’t you leave my pack?”
He doesn’t reply almost immediately and I am getting frustrated with this conversation and it hasn’t even started.
“I don’t want to leave, because I have nothing to go to once I leave.”
His reply makes me wonder. Who is Sia and where does he come from?
He leaves shortly after and I close my eyes for the night, one question pondering through my mind. Who is Sia?
#
“You really should get a beta,” Lyles says, eyeing all the paperwork. “You can’t do this all alone.”
“I don’t know Lyles. You could become my beta. Plus, I have a gamma and I don’t need a beta.”
Lyles rolls his eyes and I roll mine too. “I don’t know. I don’t think I am ready. Plus, you know I hate the smell of books.”
What a stupid excuse.
“There is something I want to ask you. Leo deserved to be buried? Why did you say otherwise?”
“I can not fight customs and traditions Crinka. The best thing to do now is forgotten Leo and move on.”
It was easy for him to say that. He isn’t the one who gets to bear the loss of a pack member. What hurts me more is Leo’s death, not Davidson’s venomous love bite.
“Leo wasn’t the only one that died,” I say suddenly, remembering Sia’s words. “He was not the only one that died.”
“What are you talking about?”
This was the one thing I hate about Lyles was his and what I call Purposefully Induced Short-Term Memory Loss. Check it up. I think it should be a thing. While his father is I Remember It All, Lyles is I forgot It Now. That stupid attitude of his will gets him killed one day. I am watching, and you’re reading.
‘It was something Sia said.”
“It is always something Sia says!” Lyles yells, making me jump. “That’s all you have been rambling about since he got released. Tell me something Crinka, when did a rogue’s useless choice of words become so important?”
“Lyles, don’t ta…”
“Just hold it there Crinka and let me finish. Have you ever sat down and wondered how he gets hold of all this information?”
I knew already what he was insinuating without him going further. “Sia is not like that Lyles stop it.”
‘Since you think you know much about your lover than me, don’t come back asking me questions ’cause I won’t answer them.”
It was after Lyles left my study, the alpha’s office angrily that I released he didn’t know what I was talking about. Having that awful feeling consume me, I stained my piled-up paperwork with tears.
#
Bradley is avoiding me. I know this because on a normal note when something happens and leaves me hating myself, my trusty advisor would be around to console me with words of wisdom.
Now the bastard is nowhere to be found. I have searched everywhere, while I am still in recovery mode, but I haven’t seen him anywhere. The last time I had seen him was with Sleepy Joe and I hope he is okay.
I am leaving the pack house when I bump into the aforementioned boy himself. He had to have been running because when we collided, I end up on the floor, the resulting awakening the pains that had gone to bed.
“Ouch!”
If I hadn’t said that, Bradley wouldn’t have realized he had knocked his alpha down.
“My alpha,” he says breathlessly and it is a confirmation that he had been running. But why was he running when I don’t see anything chasing him? Maybe he saw his father’s ghost chasing him with a cutlass. Bennett was not a man of peace so I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t fully parted with the mortal realm.
“Are you going to just stare at me like I am a fish out of water or are you going to help me up to my feet?”
He apologizes quickly, pulling me up to my feet, a little too hard and I jump back, yelping in pain.
“Bradley! Can you not exert your manliness on my skin? You nearly crushed my bones!”
I don’t know who invited him, but he has joined the conversation. “From the rogue to Bradley? When will it ever end? My my Mara, I didn’t know you were this whorish.”
“Your mind has always been in the gutter Sleepy Joe, it is no wonder why your brain, that is f you have one, is unable to function properly.”
Bradley’s face is white as if he has seen a ghost and I start to think my guess is true.
“Your opinions on my well-functioning brain don’t matter. Your whorish attitude is going to get this pack in trouble. But since I am this pack’s caregiver, I won’t let that happen and for that reason, I challenge you for the alpha title.”
The day has finally come, I never thought it would, but it is here. Bradley was about to say something but I am already giving him an answer, adrenaline coursing through my veins.
“8 p. m. tomorrow, I will be there.”
“Why not today Mara?” he was purring. “Or are you scared?”
Scared? Of Sleepy Joe? Not in a lifetime. This caused me to change my mind.
“Fine. Today. 8 pm sharp. Don’t be tardy Sleepy Joe.”
“I won’t be Mara, I won’t be.”