Olive the Other Werewolves

Chapter Ten

It was immediately apparent that Jack's wolf was significantly larger than Matteo's which was strange because if I would have guessed, it would have been reversed. Don't get me wrong, Matteo was still exceptionally larger than any other normal wolf but for an alpha it was interesting to say the least. When Jack lunged snapping towards Matteo, his movements appeared clumsy in comparison to Matteo. It was clear that whatever advantage overall size might have normally played, Matteo made it up with an impressive display of speed. He moved so quickly that if I blinked I would miss him.

Every time Jack would carelessly lash out and attempt to make contact with him, Matteo was always ten steps ahead. He dodged and manipulated Jack, carefully landing several swift blows to Jack's exposed neck when he was least expecting it.

At this point, Jack was bleeding steadily from wounds on and around his neck. Matteo circled around him, he was sporting a few injuries himself but nothing compared to the state he'd left Jack in. Matteo stepped in front of me and blocked Jack from my vision and that's when I knew he was going to end this. He was no longer a human, he was a predator about to move in for the kill.

I scrambled to my feet and stood in front of Matteo, my entire body was trembling ridiculously as I positioned myself between the two alpha wolves. "Please don't do this, don't kill him. Matteo please." Despite my best efforts, I was crying, the entire situation was rather frightening for me. It made me upset that I wasn't as hardened as the other wolves, I wasn't desensitized to the violence; it was still very raw to me.

Jack breaking into the room was wrong, Jack trying to murder me in front of Matteo for some kind of twisted revenge was abhorrent but it still didn't justify Matteo killing him, to me at least. Living with no wolf really put things like this into perspective, I was constantly at the mercy of others so seeing Jack staggering defenselessly, it pulled on my sense of better self.

Matteo's wolf stared me dead on, his eyes flashing orange and black as if he was fighting with his two halves. He suddenly turned away from both Jack and me, shifting back into his human form. The wounds immediately became much more obvious without all the fur, he had a few scratches across his back and one particularly good bite mark around his ankle. But he made out pretty good if you asked me.

He turned back towards Jack, "If I ever see your face again, you're a deadman." Jack's wolf lowered it's head ever so slightly as a show of submission, albeit a rather indignant display. He quickly darted from the room and then we were alone.

Matteo quickly slipped a pair of pants on, I suppose neither of us had realized in the heat of the moment the lack of clothing. It still didn't entirely register to me. All I could think about was the cool metal that had been pressed against my throat so tightly, my hand involuntarily flew to my neck. I held onto it and somehow the feeling of my pulse raging wildly under my hands reassured and calmed me.

I flinched when I felt a hand cover mine, I looked up and saw Matteo gently taking my hand from my neck. He lifted my hand away and I was horrified to see the amount of sticky blood that coated my palm. My knees instantly buckled out from under me but Matteo was quick to snake a firm hand around my waist. He caught me and pulled me into his chest for support, "C'mon, we need to get that wrapped up."

He helped me to the bathroom and by helped I mean basically carried me there. My life had literally flashed before my eyes. The knife danced across my neck, ready to sever my lifeline at any given moment and there would have been nothing I could have done to save myself if Jack decided to follow through.

It would be easy...

Matteo set me on the ledge of the bathtub, he picked up a shirt from the floor and tore it into pieces, no doubt my shirt from the shower I took earlier. He took a seat beside me and ran one of the strips under water and began to cautiously clean the blood away from my neck so he could see exactly what he was dealing with.

His jaw was tight, I could tell he was angry but there was something else there. I flinched and Matteo immediately retracted his touch, his concerned eyes finding mine for a moment before he took a new strip and wrapped it like a bandage around my neck.

Once he was done he sat back, his brow was pursed deeply. He was clearly somewhere else. I hesitantly reached out to touch his shoulder and examine the small injuries he'd received but he pulled from my touch as he so often did.

"I didn't hear him come in." His voice was low, it was course.

He looked over at my neck once more before angrily pushing himself off of the tub. Matteo's fist connected with the wall beside the mirror and he suddenly spun around towards me with an accusing finger pointed at me before he just as quickly dropped it. Matteo twined his hands through his hair and tugged at the roots before sighing loudly and leaning back against the vanity.

Matteo stared at me from across the small room, I had a million things I wanted to ask him to the point where I think my confusion became visible, "You're not what I expected, you know."

That was definitely not one of the many pressing questions buzzing around my brain at the moment, it threw me off.

I nodded once, "I know."

He sighed and leaned forward, my hand was wrapped around my neck again. Matteo coaxed my grip from my throat but this time he didn't let go of my hand. He looked immensely uncomfortable, he was clearly not enjoying it but we both knew that what had happened tonight was a direct result of the reclusion of his wolf. So, Matteo was making an effort to restore the bond and save his wolf and I was leading him on a farce and endangering lives.

I opened my mouth to say something when Amias and Fran entered the other room. "Don't worry about us, we just had to bust our way out of solid silver chains no big deal or anything."

At the sound of Amias' sarcastic call Matteo dropped my hand. There certainly hadn't been a spark between us but I felt the loss of physical contact a little more than I should.

He straightened and stepped out of the bathroom without another word or glance in my direction. I followed Matteo out a little while after, entering the main room to Amias explaining how Fran and he were ambushed with silver by a couple of Noble wolves during the same time Matteo and Jack had been dueling each other.

I stood a little bit away from the small group, taking in the destroyed room, the blood that littered the floor and the conversation around me. It became painfully apparent that these were real people's lives I was toying with, they were all were in this situation and in harms way because of me.

It suddenly felt like the only monster that was in the room was me.

oOoOoOoOoOo
hello beauties (: thank you for showing my story lots of love, it's madly appreciated. as of writing this we are at 120, the next update will be at 140! i know it is a significant jump in votes but lately the count has been met the very day i post the chapter so i'm confident it will be easy to get still..

this chapter was 2025 words btw!

xxq