Chapter 36
Chapter 36
“Glad to see you in time.
Keep it up.” Garret says as I
walk into the war room.
He starts with his meeting but in the middle of it, Julia walks in. I am surprised but even more so I am surprised that no one bats an eye. I
thought this was supposed to be a private meeting.
I look back at Colt who starts
giving me an explanation.
“She sometimes attends
these meetings to also learn,
like you. Her father had it
cleared with Warrick.”
I would stump my foot and
throw a temper tantrum if I
could.
“Pay attention,” Garret
whispers to me.
I know Colt just told me but I ask Garret this time. “Why is
she here?”
“She is the daughter of one of the generals and wishers to learn the ways of war so
she sometimes attends.”
“And you are going to let
her?”
“Yes. Why? What is the problem?”
“Nothing,” I say as I look away and pout.
But there is a big problem.
All she does is stare at Colt.
I know it is irrational to be
angry over this because I know Colt has no feelings towards her but I can’t help
- it. It is in a werewolf’s nature
to want to protect what they deem theirs. The problem
here is that I believe Colt is
mine…but so does she. I can
see it. Mentally and
emotionally she has claimed
him.
I get close to Colt and whisper. “Colt, I am serious
here, my wolf is on edge
while she is around. You
know I won’t be able to
control myself if this girl agitates me more.”
He nods. “I know. I know
how our kind works. Do
your best but I will have a
talk with her soon. Make it
clear to her.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
I do my best to keep myself distracted with the meeting
and forget about her and the
looks she keeps giving Colt.
When it is finally over, Colt
and I go to get something to eat and then head to my
father. Every step that I take toward his office feels heavy. I do want to train my power
but I do not want to train
with him. I don’t like how he
does things and I am also scared of how I am going to
react today. I can’t control
myself and I might just do
something stupid.
“Good. You are here.”
Warrick says when he sees
- me. Most of the generals are here along with Victor and
Garret too.
It’s not like I have a choice
but I don’t say what is in my thoughts.
He silently paces around
with a finger under his chin, thinking.
“We’ll alternate. Today we’ll do something different to motivate you.”
I don’t know if I should be
relieved or afraid.
He looks at Garret. “Kill her.”
“What?!” Garret asks taken by
surprise.
“Kill her!” Warrick shouts.
With panic, I look back at Colt. He looks distraught, not
knowing what to do.
“He won’t,” Colt mouths.
I look back at Garret in time
to see him take out a knife.
“No. Use your bare hands,” Warrick says.
Colt is right, this is probably a test. He won’t really kill
me…right?
Within seconds, my brother
Garret is on me. I start
swinging my hands trying to punch him.
“Use your power to stop him
because I won’t,” Warrick
says.
Garret punches me right on the jaw, making me see stars.
“Stop!” I say as I try to straighten myself.
Garret’s hands wrap around
my n*ck and he starts
squeezing with all of his
might.
“S–st…”
I can’t even make out words
now or speak at all and soon,
I black out.
I wake up with a gasp to find that I am back in my room. Poppy hovers over me and I quickly see Colt standing in the back also watching me,
concern.
“There you are,” she says.
I hold my n*ck and feel the pain of the bruises as my fingers touch my skin.
“He…” It is painful to speak.
“Shh. Don’t say anything.
Rest.”
“Rest?” I say in a growly
voice. “Garret almost killed
me.”
“No. Alpha would never
allow it. Stopped him just in
time.”
“Warrick is too much. He
takes things too far.”
“I know he can be extreme…”
That’s an understatement.
“But his methods usually
tend to have results. But I
know it doesn’t mean it’s
right.” She says. “Rest now. I’ll get you something to soothe your throat.”
She gets up and leaves. The
moment she closes the door
behind her, Colt rushes to
- me.
“Let me see you!” he says
gently putting a hand on my
n*ck.
“I…I think I am okay.”
After checking me, he looks relieved. He closes his eyes and presses his head against
mine “I–I should have
stopped it.”
“No. If you had intervened,
you would have been
punished. That man is
crazy.”
I pull him in and press my lips against his. His kisses really do soothe my soul.
He pulls back. “I hate this. I hate that I can’t keep you
safe. It shouldn’t be like this!
should be able to keep you and make you feel safe.”
I cup his face with my hands.
“You do make me feel safe.”
“But you are not. Not while being here.”
“Unfortunately we can’t change what happened. We are here now and-” Poppy
walks in. Colt immediately
gets up. There was no way
she didn’t see how close we
were but she acted normal.
“Here you go.” She hands me a cup of water and sits next to my bed again.
“Thanks.” The water runs down my throat and it is very soothing.
“Better?”
I nod and hand her the cup
back.
“Casseopea, listen, it won’t be easy but you can do it. You
can survive the Alpha. You
have a strong will and even though he doesn’t show it, he
admires that.” She smiles.
“All he did was talk about you last night just so you know. He didn’t notice that he kept going on and on about you.”
It was quite amusing to watch.” She giggles.
I just can’t see it. She speaks
of him as if he were a normal
good man. Maybe she has
seen a side of him that he
doesn’t show to others.
I look at Colt because it
reminds me of him. He
doesn’t show his tender side
to anyone else but me.
I guess that there is a possibility that there could
be more to Warrick than just a crazy, ruthless, evil old
man.
A knock interrupts us. Garret suddenly peeks in.
“Can I?” he asks.
Poppy and I both nod.
He walks in but puts his hands in his pockets and
stands near the door, far
away from us.
I really hope he is not here
to try and finish the job.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“Yes,” I immediately respond.
He nods. “I–I wanted to
apologize. This was…not really my doing. I have no quarrel with you and I never really wanted to hurt you.”
I nod. “I get it. You were
commanded to.”
He also nods. “Yeah…so…sorry.”
I find it kind of sweet that he
took the time to come here
and apologize.
I know he and Victor are not
bad. They are not like our
father but they have no
choice but to follow orders.
Just like everyone in this damn pack.
Garret clears his throat, gives
a nod, and walks out.
Poppy turns to me with a
smile. “I know that this
might not be the family you wanted, but…we are your family nonetheless. Whether
you realize it or not, your brothers care and so do I and
Lotus. You are part of our
family now.” She gives me a
kiss on the head–which catches me by surprise–and
walks out of the room.
I am left so confused. I
mean, can I really call this my home? Lauren and James were always my home but not the pack. The pack was hardly that. This pack,
however…accepts me
but…without Lauren and
James…I don’t think It would
ever really be complete to me. Oh, how I wish I could
see them right now. How I
wish I could hear Lauren speak bluntly about her
s**ual urges as weird as it
sounds.
“Cass?” Colt asks, coming
closer.
“I…miss Lauren and James,” I
say. My eyes water.
He hugs me and stays with me for what seems like an
hour until I finally calm
down.
“I have to get back to guarding the door. If they don’t see me out there-”
“I know, I know,” I say.
“I am here, Cass. I am with you always.” He kisses me
and walks out.
I watch him leave feeling
sad. I wish he could stay with me all night.
I grab snacks and stay up watching TV, trying to distract myself. When I am full of crappy food and start feeling tired, I decide to go to bed before I just end up past out here.
With a sigh, I get up from
the couch and head to bed
but suddenly hear a
commotion outside of the
house through my window. I
look out and see that there
are warriors running towards
the woods. I am sure it has to be rogues. Even they are still stupid enough to try and get
in here.
In the distance, I can see a storm brewing. It will rain all night and probably for a couple of days to come. I
close my eyes and take in the
smell.
I love the rain.
I take my ass to the bed and
lie in it thinking of a day that
Colt and I will be able to be
together without having to hide it. I hope a day like that
comes soon.
The next morning I am up training with Victor again.
I hate having to wake up so early to do this!
It is a cloudy day and it drizzles. The ground is wet
so it is difficult training, but I
have the same routine as the
previous days. After training, I go eat lunch where Serge changes places with Colt. The day continues and
after a long boring yet insightful meeting, it is
finally over, and then it’s
time to face my father again. I have been dreading it all day.
When I walk into his office, just like yesterday everyone is here. But now there is a
kid here too. He looks to be
around 15 or 16.
“Good, you are here. Let’s
start.” Warrick says.
“Start what? On who?” I look
at the kid who is scared
shitless. “I am not doing anything to this kid.”
“Then he will die,” Warrick
says.
“Why?! Why do you have to
kill him?!”
“This boy has tried to escape and incited multiple
insubordination that
resulted in others thinking
that they could rise up or escape too. This will not be tolerated.”
“Well, of course he tried to
escape! Why wouldn’t he?” I
say. I almost put a hand in
my mouth but I don’t
because I meant it.
There is silence in the room.
“Oh, don’t stop there. You
clearly have something to say…daughter.” Warrick says.
“Have you seen how these people are treated? No better
than animals!” I shout.
“That is a very good view of things. Now since you have no intention of practicing on this boy, let me show you
what we do in a
slaughterhouse to animals.”
He grabs a knife and with speed, he approaches the
kid.
Without thinking, I run in
and hold Warrick’s hand
right before he slices
through the kid’s n*ck.
“DON’T!” I shout.
Everyone in the room gasps.
“Don’t? You think you can command me?” Warrick
asks.
“Don’t you dare hurt him?” I
say.
“You don’t want me to hurt
him? Alright, then maybe
someone else can take his place.”
This is when I am sure that
he will use Colt against me.
He looks behind me, to Colt. Colt stands straight waiting for what Warrick is going to say but I swear if he even
tries, I am ready to try and kill my father right here and
now.
“Bring him,” Warrick says but
Colt looks confused. We look
past Colt where a guard nods. Suddenly, he opens
the door behind him and
another guard pushes a man
- in.
My eyes widen and I am in
shock when I
recognize…Ezra.