In Between Two Alphas

Chapter 40 (Layton's POV)

But there I was, beating myself up for not killing him, and hating that Cassidy wanted him alive.

The first night that Cassidy stayed in New Elite territory, with Zeverus, I drank myself into stupor. It took a lot, considering I wasn’t just a regular Wolf, but an Alpha as well.

Jared was there was with me, even though I kept telling him to leave. The bastard just wouldn’t go.

“Cassidy wouldn’t want to see you like this,” Jared told me.

Despite that, he was holding a beer himself. I was drinking hard liquor. Anything that would make me feel numb faster was what I needed.

“Cassidy is with Zeverus, probably laughing at me!” I growled.

The thought of that made my Wolf furious, but I shut him up before he tried to shift. She wanted time, and I promised to give her time.

“If you tell her that Liam is alive, she’ll get over it.”

“Before what?” I asked, and drunkenly laughed. I was probably annoying Jared too, but he didn’t seem to mind putting up with my shit “Before she asks me to let Liam go?”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Jared said, but even in my drunken state I could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

“She would and you know it. She’s too damn nice,” I told him, and broke out laughing for some reason. “She’s nice, isn’t she? That’s a good thing,” I said, proudly.

“Cassidy will be a good Luna,” Jared agreed.

“I know she will. She’s my mate, of course she will. But she’s too stubborn. She doesn’t understand pack law.”

Jared said something else after that, but I had barely finished talking when I felt myself fading away.

I called Zeverus the next morning. Cassidy still didn’t want to talk to me. Zeverus sounded strange. I was curious, but I didn’t ask him about it. The last thing I needed was for him to think that we were okay.

Zeverus and I had started to get along. He wanted my mate, but he seemed to know that Cassidy was mine. I wasn’t going to give her up, and at least he respected that.

I reminded him that I was going to get her soon. He didn’t say anything to that.

Right after our call, I went to visit the Rogue. Jared and Tyler had been with him earlier. I never allowed Jared to be alone with Liam. Jared hated Liam. After all, Liam had killed his father. I couldn’t exactly blame him for the hatred he still carried against the Rogue.

I wished that Cassidy would have seen the day that Liam attacked, and how he had brutally murdered Wolves from both New Elite and Blue Bloods. He claimed it was self-defense, but now, I knew that wasn’t true.

When I arrived at his cell, I found him lying down on the ground. Someone had given him a change of clothes, and there was an untouched tray of food over his cot.

“You’re here to give me another dose?” Liam asked, laughing.

His humor always got the best of me. How Cassidy could stand to be in his presence for longer than a few minutes was beyond me.

“I’m still deciding what to do with you,” I replied, genuinely.

For some twisted reason, every time someone hurt Liam, it always made me feel awkward, like if I was betraying Cassidy’s trust.

I shouldn’t have been feeling that way because the Rogue deserved it. But the part of me that wanted to tell Cassidy everything, knew that she would hate me if she found out how many beatings Liam had already received.