It was two in morning when Tristan came to pick me up for our weekend away. He refused to tell me where we were going, just that I should pack for warm weather. It was a problem that he wouldn't tell me where we going, I had no idea if we were going to a territory that was on my watch list. No one else would tell me and I couldn't find anything when I hacked into his computer. It must have been important if it wasn't documented anywhere, meant he didn't want to risk someone finding out.
We were on the pack jet an hour later. I tried to stay awake but I had been up every night the past week doing security sweeps along the boundary of his territory. Something wasn't right, I could feel it, but I couldn't figure out what.
I woke up a few hours later and we were still on the plane. It had been about eight hours since we boarded, I asked him how much longer and he said a while. So I did the math and guessed we were going somewhere in Europe. About five hours later we landed. I looked around and it was just trees everywhere, I really had no idea where we were. And it wasn't like I could pull out my GPS and figure it out, he'd definitely notice.
Tristan walked off the plane and stretched like a cat who'd been asleep for days. "We're here, finally." he yawned.
I popped up in front of him, "Umm yeah where's here exactly?" I gave him a tight smile.
He just patted my head and said "Can't tell you just yet, but you'll love it here." I swear my eye twitched in annoyance.
I growled and climbed into the passenger side of the car he was already sitting in. We were driving for about an hour before we pulled up to a very large house. One that I recognized immediately.
"Welcome to Australia!" He looked so excited to be here I forced myself to plaster a smile on my face. "The alpha is a really good friend of mine, known him for a long time. You'll love his mate, she's a little shy but really nice." He got out of the car and came around to my side to help me out. We were walking up the steps when the front doors opened and two people stood there waiting for us. The girl's eyes got so wide when she saw me, I thought they would pop out of her head. She grinned and opened her mouth to say something but I subtly shook my head so she closed her mouth and gave me a confused look.
"Emma this is the alpha of Australia, Alpha Collin, and his mate Sophie." I shook both their hands and gave the polite "Hi, nice to meet you," that everyone does when meeting new people. We walked in and the guys said that they had a meeting to go to, but that me and Sophie should hang out and go to the beach. We waited until they were in the car and half way down the drive until we turned to each other.
"What are you doing here?!" She hugged me and started jumping up and down.
"Believe me, if I had known where he was going, I wouldn't have come." She frowned letting me go and I immediately felt bad. "No, not like that Soph. I'm on an assignment, I can't blow my cover." And understanding immediately shown in her eyes followed by confusion.
"So you're pretending to be the mate of the crown alpha for an assignment..?" She looked really lost.
"Umm, no. We actually are mates." And then she was hugging me again. "Oh my gosh this is great! We can double date and hang out all the time now!" She was so happy, I felt bad telling her it wasn't like that, but I didn't lie to her.
I unwrapped her arms from my neck, "Soph. It's not like that. I can't have that, not with him."
"Why not? Is this because of what you do? He won't care, he loves you." She made it sound like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"It's not black and white Soph. If he finds out what I do, he'll make me stop, keep me under lock and key so I can't get hurt. I can't live like that, you know that." She understood, but she couldn't keep the pity and sadness from her eyes.
"Don't Soph. Don't do that. My job makes me happy, I'm happy okay?" I used the tone which meant we were done with this conversation.
"Fine. So what's the job, or should I say who's the job?" She nudged me playfully. For someone so innocent she could always joke about the horrors of my job.
"Tristan." And at that she truly looked horrified.
"But..you..you're...Tris... YOU'RE KILLING TRISTAN?" I quickly covered her mouth.
"Would you keep it down." I hissed. "No, I'm not killing him, I'm protecting him." Her mouth made a shape like an "o".
"Oh, my bad. Heh heh." She gave me a sheepish grin and I just rolled my eyes.
"So if you aren't killing him then what are you doing? Saving him?" She tilted her head.
"Something like that." I said.
"So if you're saving him then shouldn't you be at the meeting?" She questioned.
"He doesn't know why I'm here or what I do, just that we're mates and yes I need to know what's happening at that meeting." She put on her thinking face and I rolled my eyes. If I keep rolling them at this frequency, one day they're gonna get stuck like that I thought to myself.
"Do you really think I wouldn't have a way to know what's going on at that meeting?"
She shrugged, "well I don't know what goes on in your head, how am I supposed to know if you have a plan?"
"Because you know me. And I always have a plan." I grabbed her hand and pulled her into Collin's office.
"What are we-" she started talking but I cut here off. "Just shush and sit down" I said so she did.
"I put a device on Tristan this morning before he left, it'll show us who's at the meeting and what they're saying." Her eyes got wide, "They make stuff like that? Can you get me one for my birthday!"
"We'll see, now shush." I turned on the device.
"Yay I'm gonna be a spy! Do I have any black clothes..." She wondered aloud so I just let her be.
I set the device on Collin's desk and a hologram appeared. There were seven wolves in the room with Tristan and Collin, all alphas I presumed.
"Tristan, this is bad. The attacks on you are getting worse, they're becoming more public." One alpha said.
"They want you gone, I'm worried how far they will take it. And who they will destoryed in their path." Collin raised his concerns. At Collin's voice Sophie tuned back in.
"You need more security or something, if you're gone then it will be chaos. Someone will take over and become a dictator. We can't have that happen." Another one expressed his concern.
"It's fine, I can handle myself and my town is one of the safest places in the country, no one gets in without me knowing." Tristan said and I snorted. "Yeah and what about those guys who attacked me the other day, I'm sure you knew they were there," I retorted even though he couldn't hear me.
"People are after Tristan?" Sophie glanced at me nervously.
"Yes, someone wants him gone. That's why I'm here." I turned back to the meeting.
"But people are always after him, he's the crown alpha, everyone would kill for that position." She titled her head wondering.
"But someone is taking it to the extreme, usually people stop after one attempt, realizing they don't have a chance. But whoever's trying now, they aren't stopping, they want it bad, and they're willing to take out anyone to get it." And with my explanation her eyes widened with alarm.
"Are you in danger?" She asked concerned.
"Soph, I'm always in danger, this is just an addition. I'll be fine, you know that." I had to be.
"I know, I just don't want you to get hurt, you're like my sister. I don't know what I'd do without you." She started tearing up.
I went over and sat down next to her, "Soph, it's my job. I have to save him, just like I had to save you. No matter the cost." I hugged her and she wrapped her arms around me.
"Wanna go to the beach? Would that make you feel better?" Hopefully that would be a distraction from all of this.
She sniffled, "And shopping. Shopping would also make me feel better." I let out an over dramatic sigh. "Well I guess we can go shopping tomorrow, but only cause I love you." She hopped up clapping her hands.
"Yay! Go get changed the beach is waiting!" And with that she skipped out of the office.
"Well doesn't she seem fine now." I rolled my eyes and went to pick up the device when they started talking again.
"I think it might be the alpha of Italy, Antonio, he's wanted the position since before you were born, he tried to take it from your father but he failed." The other alphas pondered the statement and then nodded their heads in agreement.
"Huh so they're looking into Antonio too," I mused.
"Are you almost ready?!" I heard Sophie shout from somewhere in the house.
"Yeah almost!" I jogged up to where our room was. I changed into a bikini and hurried back down the stairs, only to see Sophie standing at the bottom tapping her foot impatiently.
"What?" I whined, "I'm done aren't I?" She rolled her eyes and dragged me out to the beach.
Back home it was late evening but because of the time difference here it was still midday. The sun was beating down hard and I could feel a drop of sweat rolling down from my forehead. I glanced around at the beach, it was crowded with people I assumed were from Collin's pack.
We dropped our towels in the sand and headed towards the edge of the water. I dipped my foot in and grimaced. It felt like bath water. Sophie walked in a little further, her face tilted towards the sun soaking up the rays.
"Come on-" she didn't finish her sentence, instead there was splashing followed by giggles. I looked sideways at her and saw her on Collin's back, holding on like a little monkey. My smile faltered when they grinned and pointed behind me.
I turned around and saw Tristan running towards me. "Don't even thi-" He lunged and tackled me into the water. I came up sputtering water like I had drowned. I ran a hand down my face and looked over to Tristan. He was standing with Sophie and Collin, all of them laughing their butts off. I glowered at him and he stopped laughing.
"Don't be mad, we're just having some fun," he paused, "Right..?" I just looked at him for a long moment. He cursed and swam closer, "I'm sor-" but instead of accepting an apology, I jumped on him trying to dunk his head under. But because he was five inches taller and twice as heavy it did not work. At all. He started laughing, swatted my hands away each time I tried to push him under.
"Just give up, you can't push me under." By this time I was on his back, attempting to shove his head towards the water.
"I can so push you under," just not without you finding out how strong I really am, I added in my head.
"No you can't." He teased and grabbed my hands.
I sighed exasperatingly, "you're right, you're too big."
"What are you trying to say?" He looked back at me with narrowed eyes.
"Um you're fat?" I teased.
He gasped like a girl, "I most certainly am not." He said trying to imitate a girl, "Just look at these muscles, do they say fat to you?" He flexed. Yeah he was all muscle but I would not admit that to him.
I hopped off his back and shrugged, making him pout. I just rolled my eyes, I couldn't feed his ego all the time, it was already so big it barely fit in his house. "Stop pouting," I poked his cheek. He let out a low growl but still followed me to where Sophie and Collin were.
When we got closer Sophie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, I just gave her a deadpan look which made Collin laugh. "How was the meeting?" Sophie asked and I shot her a grateful look, if I kept asking Tristan what happened every time he had a meeting, he would get suspicious for sure.
"Fine, just discussed some safety issues." Collin answered and Tristan shot him a warning look.
"Safety issues? Is something wrong?" I asked Tristan innocently enough.
"Everything's fine, just another attempt to put me out of a job." I bit my cheek, I was hoping for more information. I guess he took my silence for worry so he added "But nothing is gonna happen, many have tried and I'm still here aren't I? I'm just too good." He said puffing out his check. His ego, I can't.
"Yeah yeah, you're so great." I shoved him lightly and turned my attention to Sophie.
"So what are we doing tonight?" I asked. She opened her mouth to answer but I held up a finger. "One sec." And I turned to Tristan who was floating on his back. I wadded closer as carefully as possible and then pushed on his chest making him go under. He came up spitting out water and looking around confused. "I just..what..you?" He scratched his head, "Yeah you're just too good." I mocked him and he slashed me.
"Anywho, as I was going to say before you two decided to start flirting, was that I think we should go clubbing tonight." Collin let out a low growl in his throat and kissed her possessively, so I faked gagged and they pulled away embarrassed.
"Alright sounds fun, Tristan you cool with that?" I turned to him and he didn't look happy. "What's wrong now?" I poked him in the side, "No short dress, I'm warning you now." He said and walked out of the water.
"What's wrong with him?" Collin asked.
"Just throwing a little fit." I shrugged and got out of the water too. Tristan was walking into the house when I ran past him calling dibs on the first shower. Well apparently he thought I would be at the beach for a little while so that he could have the first shower. So we ended up shoving each other as we raced up the stairs. It ended with me slamming the bathroom door shut in his face, laughing manically. I heard him growl and stomp out of the room, slamming the door shut on his way out.
"Sore loser." I muttered.
"I heard that!" He shouted and I made a face at the door.
When I got done the shower, I wrapped the towel around my body and reached for my clothes. Only to realized that in our race to get up here, I didn't bring any into the bathroom. "Figures," I muttered and reached for the door knob, only for it to fall off.
"What the-" I stared at the knob in my hand only to hear Tristan laughing from the other side of the door.
"Tristan!" I shouted.
"Yes dear?" He questioned politely which just pissed me off more.
"Let me out!" I banged on the door with my fists.
"No can do sweetheart, the handle broke." I could practically see his grin through the door.
"Well fix it and let me out." My voice strained in frustration.
"Nah I'm good" I heard him plop down on the bed.
My eye twitched and I growled, "Fine you wanna play it like that." I took a step back and then kicked the door open, little splinters of wood flying everywhere. I walked out, grinning at his dumbstruck expression.
"Close your mouth. Don't wanna catch flies, do you sweetheart?" I marched over to the closet and slammed door shut behind me.
Well if he's gonna be that way, fine. Two can play that game. I grabbed the most revealing dress I brought with me and the highest heels I could find. I turned around in front of the mirror a few times and let out a low whistle.
"Damn girl, you lookin good tonight." I smiled to myself. The dress was black and short, really short, and had cut outs on the side. "He's gonna kill me," I said quietly. "Eh whatever," I shrugged and walked out.
"WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?" He roared stomping over to me.
"Um a dress?" I asked like it was obvious.
"That's not a dress! Where's the rest of it!" He motioned like it was poisonous.
"Payback honey." I tapped his cheek and headed into the bathroom. He followed me in, yelling the entire time. He continued to yell while I did my hair and make up, and then yelled until we reached the bottom of the stairs where Sophie and Collin were waiting for us.
"Problem?" Collin asked amused.
"Yes there's a problem," Tristan hissed, "Look at her dress." They turned towards me confused. "I don't know what his problem is either," I shrugged.
"You're not leaving this house in that!" He crossed his arms so I mimicked the motion.
"Oh I am, I most definitely am." And I walked out the door.
Thirty minutes and a whole lot of shouting later, we were finally at the club. We got out of the car and Tristan was by my side grumbling.
"We're already here, it's too late to change. Besides look at how everyone loves the dress." I gestured to a few guys who were looking my way. Tristan growled at them and they immediately looked elsewhere.
"Have I mentioned how much I hate your dress?" He pulled me closer until I was pressed fully against his side.
"Maybe once or twice." I retorted making him scowl.
The bouncer stepped aside to let us in, as we passed him and Tristan did that man hug handshake thing that I never understood. We made our way to the bar, pushing past mobs of drunk people.
"4 shots of tequila," I told the bartender. I looked around while I waited, the place was actually pretty high class, I can see why they wanted to come here. The only downfall was all the drunk people basically having sex on the dance floor. I grimaced, class people, have some class.
"On the house," the bartender said and pushed the shots my way. I raised an eyebrow and he winked. I smiled at him, and Tristan started growling.
"Will you calm down." I handed him a shot and then gave another to Sophie and Collin.
"Cheers," we clinked our glasses together. I downed my shot and noticed that Tristan didn't do his.
"Problem?" I raised an eyebrow.
"You're my problem." He scowled at me.
"Fine, be that way." I took his shot for him and handed him back the empty glass. I grabbed Sophie's wrist and dragged her to the dance floor.
"You should go easier on him." She frowned at me.
"It has to be this way." I shook my head.
"No it doesn't. Quit the agency and be with Tristan, the director will understand." She wanted what was best for me I knew that. But being with the agency is what's best for me, she just didn't understand why.
"I belong with the agency." I gave her a sad smile when I saw tears welling up in her eyes.
"But giving up Tristan, how is that good for you? You'd be giving up part of yourself." A tear leaked out of the corner of her eye.
I hugged her, "Soph don't cry. It was always going to be like this."
"Fine then be with the agency and with Tristan." She sniffled.
"The moment I get involved with him is the moment protecting him becomes second. Feelings cloud judgment, I won't be able to protect him and I'll be removed from the assignment. I'm his best chance; I can't compromise that for selfish reasons. And after he's safe, I'll disappear, the way it should be." I tried my best to reassure her that this was the right thing to do, but she still couldn't stop the tears.
"What's wrong, why is she crying?" Collin appeared from no where. He looked her over to make sure she wasn't hurt and then kept asking her what was wrong but she refused to answer. Tristan appeared behind me, looking as confused as Collin as to what was wrong.
I stepped closer and hugged her, she wrapped her arms around me tightly. "It was always the plan Soph." I whispered and she sniffled, nodding her head. "I'm gonna tell them you don't feel good and that we should go." I rubbed her back and pulled away.
"She doesn't feel good, I think we should get outta here." They nodded trailing behind us as we walked out. The drive back was quiet, the only sound was Sophie's occasional sniffling.
Tristan and I headed up to our room when we got back, giving Sophie and Collin some privacy. I walked into the closet and changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. I walked out onto the balcony connected to our room and looked across the courtyard to where Sophie and Collin's room was. He was holding her against him, it was obvious she started crying again. There was a tug on my heart because I was the reason she was crying. Sophie was the one person I didn't hide anything from, she was more than a friend to me, she was family. Which was why it hurt so much that she was upset. I knew she wanted me to be happy with a mate just like she was, and knowing that I couldn't have that, it hit her pretty hard.
"So you and Sophie look like you've gotten close." Tristan said walking out. I turned around to him and didn't say anything, just nodded.
"I'm glad. She doesn't have many friends because she's so shy, but she seems to really like you." He gave me a smile but it faulted when I didn't return it.
"Is everything ok?" He stepped closer. His eyes searching my face for any sign if something was wrong.
"Fine. I'm just tired." He nodded, still looking into my eyes not believing me completely.
"Alright, come on in and we'll go to bed." He stepped back towards the doors tugging me along.
I slipped my hand out of his, "I'll be inside in a minute." I told him. He paused and just looked at me for a long moment before nodding and going into our room.
I sighed and turned back around. I stood there for a while just looking at the stars, not thinking about anything particularly, just looking. The temperature started dropping so I headed back inside, throwing one more glance over to their room as I did.