The Arwain Chronicles Book I

Chapter Eight

Elly fully turned in her seat to face Greg, Victor didn't have to look at her to know that her eyes had turned crimson in colour. "Stop the car Victor," she said in a voice that bore deadly calm.

"No," Victor replied calmly, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Whether you stop the car or not I will attack in the next three seconds Victor, your choice," Elly informed.

A patient sigh escaped Victor. The one thing he didn't miss about being an alpha was the Jupiter sized egos that all alphas seemed to possess. Even the slightest insult or attack on their egos and they completely lost it. Greg had been calling him Vicky since they were teens. At first yes, it had bothered him but eventually over the years he'd gotten used to it.

"No, I won't stop and you won't attack him either," Victor said firmly though calmly.

"Why do you let him get away with calling you that?" Elly asked angrily. "I could put an end to it, right here right now," she said in the tone her voice usually took when she was ready for a fight.

"In case you've missed it Sis," Victor said, momentarily turning to his sister with a smile. "It's now two centuries since he started calling me that," he informed her. "You'd think he'd have come up with something better than that by now," Victor murmured the last part though he knew perfectly well that they could all hear him. In spite of her foul mood, Elly actually laughed at this. "But don't worry Greg," Victor said looking up at him through the rearview mirror. "No pressure," He said in a feigned comforting tone.

"So grumpy," Carol started up using the name she'd labelled Elly with for remaining in a foul mood for so long. "Can we hang out later or will you still be in your fun mood?" she posed, the sarcasm clear in her voice as she said 'fun mood'.

"I told you to stop calling me that," Elly eyed her friend murderously through the rearview mirror.

"Calling you what," Carol shot back immediately, feigning innocence. One who'd not known Carol as long as they had would have sworn that she genuinely had no clue what Elly was talking about owing to her tone.

"That," Elly replied.

"That what?" Carol pushed.

"Grumpy," Elly said through gritted teeth.

"Are you?" Carol immediately posed.

"Am I what?" Elly asked.

"Grumpy?" Carol asked.

"I..."

Victor only barely managed to choke back his laughter as Elly paused mid answer. She once again shot Carol a murderous look as she realized the bind Carol had just so cleverly put her in. She couldn't say no she wasn't grumpy when it was so obvious that she indeed was. Admitting that she was grumpy on the other hand, would also mean conceding that the nickname was well deserved. "I'll be busy later," Elly said at last with a huff before looking away from her friend.

"Doing what, having a stare contest with your bedroom wall?" Carol asked, her disappointment evident to all of them.

"Right now, that sounds a lot more interesting than spending the evening being called grumpy," Elly replied.

Victor honked the car's horn alerting the betas at the compound gate to open up. A few seconds later the gates to the compound swung open.

"Suit yourself then," Carol said resignedly sitting back in her seat.

"We'll hang out Carol, just not today. My mood will most likely get in the way of whatever fun we would have otherwise had," Elly spoke up a bit guiltily, turning in her seat to look at her friend.