You&Me: Book 4

Chapter 9: A Night Out (Archer)

"Nothing." He tossed it to the side. "I was looking for something. I thought it might be in there."

"In the middle of the night? You have the hunting party in the morning, you know."

Nodding, he swallowed hard. "It's important."

"Important enough for you to be wandering around the cave in the middle of the night?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes."

I eyed the man. "What is it?"

"Nothing important," he blurted out.

"You just said it was important. So which is it?"

He pushed back his head fur. "God, Saigon. It's nothing, okay. So leave." He waved his hand at me. "Why are you up this late?" he retorted.

"Patrol." I folded my arms. "I just got done."

He forced a smile. "Oh, how'd it go?"

I didn't respond and eyed him.

"Still as boring as ever, I bet," he laughed. "Well, I'm tired, so I better get to bed."

I didn't move. "My dad is a better liar than you."

"What?" He scowled at me. "I'm not— just get out. I want to go to bed."

I shrugged. "You still haven't told me what you were looking for. If it's that important, I can help you look for it." I marched toward the bag in the corner.

Archer hurried to get by me but I got to it first. I kept my back to him as I undid the zippers and dumped the contents onto the floor. Archer stood frozen behind me as the shoes and clothes spilled across the ground.

"I think I found what you were looking for." I shoved the bag into his chest. "Did Willow put you up to this?"

He clutched it in his hands as his ears splayed to the sides. "I wanted to go."

"To impress her?"

Archer gritted his teeth. "That's none of your business. If I want to do something, I can. I don't need your permission."

"No, you don't. But we might need to check with my uncle to see if you need his. I can go ask him for you. I'll be right back." I turned for the door.

Archer snatched my arm. "Please, don't. I'm sorry, alright. I know it's not allowed but I wanted to see what everyone was talking about. Please don't tell the alpha. He'll demote me and getting my rank back won't be as easy if it happened to anyone else. I'm a borderline dominant. Darius might keep me as a middle rank."

Letting out a deep breath, I nodded. "Fine. But this"—I grabbed the bag and held it up—"better be the last time. It's dangerous. Willow might not care about the rules, but I know you do. So end this now before Darius catches you."

"I will." Bowing his head, he picked at the fur on his arm.

Shaking my head, I tossed the bag in the corner. "I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow."

"Good night," he muttered.

"Yeah." I marched from the room and went to mine. How could he be so stupid? If it didn't get Archer in trouble, I would have gone straight to Darius. All it took was one fight and a human getting hurt for WIR to pay the pack a visit.

***

I marched through the cave on a mission to find one person: Willow. I was not going to let her bring Archer down to her level. She could break all the rules she wanted, but I wasn't going to let her manipulate Archer into doing the same.

Higher pitched voices came from outside. I wove through the boulders until I spotted the girl I was looking for. She perked up when I stepped into view, as did her friends.

"Hey, Saigon. Are you looking for Archer?" She smiled. "I think he's still on the hunt."

"Hmm..." I eyed the woman. "Why is it that you're never on the hunt?"

She laughed. "I'm high ranked, but the alpha is punishing me. Middle rank chores until I can prove I can be responsible."

That was a clear sign that Archer should have nothing to do with her.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked.

Her eyes grew wide before she gave me a smirk. "What about?"

"I'd rather talk to you alone." I glanced at her two friends.

One whispered something to Willow before slipping away. "We'll be down by the river. The hunting party should be back soon."

Willow waved as the pair hurried off. Put her hand on her hip, she took a deep breath. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I caught Archer sneaking into his room last night."

"So?" she laughed. "Is he forbidden to go in his own room?"

"I saw the human clothes. I know where you went last night."

The smile left her face. "I didn't force him if that's what you're suggesting. I told him to go home like ten times. He made the choice to stay."

Cursing under my breath, I shook my head.

"Why are you so uptight about this? Nothing happened."

"I care about Archer. I don't want to see him get demoted because of some stupid act of rebellion. You can do whatever the hell you want but leave him out of it."

She raised an eyebrow, looking rather unimpressed. "He wanted to go. So if you have a problem with that, big boy, take it up with Archer." She bumped me as she passed.

"Mind your place, Willow," I said in a low voice.

She stopped, her tail flicking back and forth. "What are you going to do if I don't?" Willow looked over her shoulder and I met her gaze. "Archer follows me around like a lost pup. I have enough self-awareness to know that he likes me. So are you going to run off to your uncle and tattle on me?" she mocked. "Go for it, and see if Archer wants to be friends with you after."

"Archer is the only reason I haven't."

She bristled at the comment before looking away. "I'll let Archer know he's not invited from now on."

I watched her leave, doing my best to calm down. My head felt weird. It might be from the lack of sleep. My anger toward that girl had kept me up all night. I rubbed my forehead. Willow could do whatever the hell she wanted as long as Archer stayed behind. Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath. He was going to kill me for chewing Willow out. It would be nice if one thing would go my way for a change.