Unhappily Ever After

Chapter 43 - Fly on the Wall

No updates next week. Sorry - family camping trip. 

We walked back to the party together in companionable silence, almost like friends. The dancing was now in full swing, with more people in the middle of the floor than at the edges. I could see Alpha Vaughan leafing through a script beside his Luna on a raised platform in one corner, but the Beta and his human mate were nowhere to be seen — she must have been hustled away out of earshot.

"You know who you should be recruiting?" I asked the Delta and nodded at a certain blonde young man.

He raised an eyebrow. "Saunders?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he's certainly got balls. No one can deny that," he muttered.

I must have looked confused, and I was, because there seemed to be some unspoken consent in Silver Lake that Alex had established himself as a badass, and I'd missed the crucial event. It must have involved his last Alpha, who despised him, and the long scar across his throat, but there the details were impossible to guess.

"He didn't tell you what happened at Pine Forest, huh?" the Delta asked. "Can't say that surprises me. Ask him, when you get the chance."

I looked over at Alex, who was whispering something in Evie's ear while she giggled. The two of them were still wrapped up in each other's arms and slow dancing. Yes, I would ask him. But not tonight. Tonight, they deserved for themselves.

"Anyway, as for recruiting him... He's a decent fighter, of course, but nothing special."

"Not now, maybe. But anyone can be moulded into a good fighter, given time and the right teacher," I said.

"And why should I put all that effort into Saunders, if anyone could be a candidate?" the Delta demanded.

My eyes hadn't left Alex, especially because Jess had just arrived to talk to him in hushed, anxious whispers. "Because he's got heart and guts and brains between his ears, and those things aren't so easy to teach."

"Hmm," he murmured. "I'll consider it — but that's all I can promise for now."

"Thank you," I told him. "Excuse me."

And, without waiting for a reply, I crossed the hall to reach my mate. She saw me coming, and I saw her eyes widen then narrow in quick succession. By the time I was stood at her side, she seemed to have overcome her surprise. Alex and Evie stared openly.

"You're okay," Jess marvelled.

"Yeah," I replied. It was all I could say — I was still surprised that I'd managed to escape that predicament without breaking my cover or throwing any punches.

"You've got more lives than a cat," Alex added — oh, the irony. "Did I see you talking to John?"

I nodded idly. "I think he likes me. I'm supposed to transfer to his unit and beat on my rogue friends."

Jess caught my hand and squeezed too tightly. "Oh, say that a little louder, why don't you?"

"And for my first assignment in your squad, sir, I'll apprehend the rogue trespassing on our territory," I drawled. I proceeded to throw my hands up in the hair and grimace, all vastly overdramatised. "Oh, wait. That's me."

"Shut up," my mate begged. "Please."

"I could move into the bloody pack house and no one would notice," I went on heedlessly.

Evie made shushing sounds at me and Alex scowled. But neither of them could shut me up, because there was only person alive whom I couldn't refuse, and she was keeping a firm hold of my hand.