Feral Born (Viciously Yours #1)

Chapter Twenty-Two: A Coup

Go. Mate. Help.

Releasing a long breath, I turned to pace the other side of the porch. You know we can't.

Why?

Because, Slader. We're the weaker mate.

He snarled sharply, We protect Kai. She ours. Us capable.

Against threats of our own kind, yes. But we'll get her killed if we go.

No understand. Fight with mate. Always.

The porch railing exploded underneath my fist in a shower of wood chips before I shouted at him, Don't you think I want to! We can't, Slader! We aren't strong enough! Not against pissed off Feral Borns. She was right, they'd try to kill us and she'd only put herself at more risk by trying to save us! This isn't a fucking game! It's real life! The only thing we can do to help her now is to stay here, so her focus isn't divided. I will not let my pride be the reason our mate dies.

My chest heaved in aggravation to his naïve words, I hadn't meant to yell at him but he needed to understand what would happen if we went. I wasn't above accepting that I wasn't capable of handling this fight, I'd be a liability to her. It hurt to hear but I wasn't going to go run off like some dumbass and cause more trouble by trying to help. I'd apologize to Slader later but sometimes my inner wolf needed tough love.

Die if go? He whimpered.

She could, yes.

Stay here then. We protect...den! We protect den for mate.

I smiled softly at his need to protect her or at the very least something of hers, Yes, we'll protect her den.

Lifting a hand, I scratched at my shoulder only to immediately stop when I felt my claws rip through my flesh. Fuck, that hurt. Pushing my now burning shoulder forward a little so I can see the damage, I sighed at the sight of three bloody scratch marks below my collarbone. The fresh blood mingled with the dried blood lines running down my chest from Kai's bite. And it was just my luck that Otis came trudging out of the woods towards me. With no time to hide the blood or the broken banister, I just stood there waiting for him to reach me.

His apologetic look slid into one of concern as he took in the blood seeping down my chest and the broken railing, "What the fuck happened? Did you guys get into a fight?"

I gave a miserable laugh, "I wish."

"What?"

Rubbing a hand over my head, I gave an unamused huff when I realized that everything had happened so fast that no one else knew she was gone. Feeling my eyes burn once again, I shuffled over to the bench on the other side of the porch and plopped down onto it.

Staring out at the moon, I replied, "She went to the Lunar Soldiers. They threatened a pup's life if she didn't go by midnight."

"Alone?"

"Yup."

"Why wasn't I told immediately? You should have said something as soon as she mentioned the threat!" Shaking his head, Otis stomped up the porch steps to me,"Goddamn it, Ryan. You are the Beta of this pack! Start acting like it!"

I scoffed in disbelief, "I'm so sorry, Alpha. I'm so sorry, I didn't tell you the love of my life left to go on a suicide mission the second she mentioned it. I was too busy trying to come up with ways to stop her and thinking about how she might not even come back at all. I was too busy wallowing in self loathing at how I can literally do nothing but wait for her to come back or for news of her death. But no, yea. I'll get right on it next time."