"We should invest in a mini fridge."
"Why would we do that?"
"Because sometimes I get thirsty, but I don't want to get up because you're warm," I explained as we pulled into the car garage intended for the pack house. With all of the people living in the house, it only makes sense that all of their vehicles are stored in a giant garage adjacent to it. "If we had a mini fridge beside our bed, I'd just have to lean over, grab some juice, and then pass back out."
"Mhm," Matteo hummed as he whipped his sleek, black car, that I didn't know the name of, into his parking spot. I never cared enough to know the names of cars in the past, and I didn't now. He put the car in park and shut it off using a button which I didn't understand. I was always convinced that cars used keys, but I guess not. "Your stomach okay?" He asked making little butterflies erupt in my stomach. I silently prayed that I wasn't about to throw up. I nodded with a smile and grabbed the bottle of motion-sickness medication.
"Yeah, this is like my new heroin," I joked, but Matteo found it anything but comical. His serious facial expression left me confused for a moment before memories of when he had explained to me when we first met that his mother died of a drug overdose. That changed my attitude really fast. "I mean, not heroin. No, no not that. I don't like needles," I babbled trying to make the situation better, but only managing to make it worse.
Thankfully, Matteo being his unemotional self just rolled his eyes, took the medicine from me, and got out of the car. "Hey, wait for me! I have small legs!" I hollered as I jumped out of the car and ran after him.
I swear I heard him chuckle, but by the time I caught up to him to see his face, he was completely stoic.
"I know you laughed," I stated confidently as Matteo pressed some buttons on the security system outside of the door.
"Shut up," he countered, making me smile. The click of the lock sounded alerting us that the door was now open, and we entered.
Immediately, we were greeted by someone who I felt like I hadn't seen in weeks.
"You guys said you'd be home an hour ago. I've been waiting here the entire time like an idiot," Jack complained.
"He's not lying," Daniella's voice sounded from somewhere in the area. From where, I don't know.
"Well, she was hungry and wanted to try pancakes, so we got brunch," Matteo said casually.
"Pancakes?" Jack repeated as if he wasn't positive that he heard Matteo correctly. "Brunch?"
"Yeah, they were so good! My dad never let me eat them," I replied. I always wanted to try pancakes, but my father wasn't a fan of my brother and I eating sugary food. We had a pretty solid diet of meat.
"Since when do you eat pancakes?" Jack asked Matteo.
"I don't. Kaia ate them. I just sat there," he stated simply.
"What?" Jack whispered to himself in confusion. I could pretty much guess it was because Jack knew just as much as I did how impatient Matteo is and how much he dislikes being around me when I eat food. That was never a secret.
"Anything I should be aware of before I'm pleasantly surprised?" Matteo cut to the chase. Sarcasm dripped from his monotonous, deep tone.
"Nope, not really. You've got a phone call this morning, but that's about it. Patrols are smooth, and the group we sent to Parvus Pack returned yesterday afternoon all in one piece. Once again, I had the situation under control," Jack smirked proudly. He was such a dork.
"Uh huh," Matteo hummed, unimpressed. Without another word, Matteo pushed past Jack and headed toward the direction of his office. I was gonna follow behind him, but Jack stopped me before I had the opportunity to. His hand had a firm grasp around my bicep, halting me from continuing forward.
"What?" I asked looking into his emerald green eyes that no longer held any joking emotions within them.
"Do you want to talk about what happened?" He asked making my lips flatten. I knew he was just asking because he was trying to be supportive, but it really was not wanted.
"I have no clue what you're talking about," I stated without a single waver in my tone. He took my hint and nodded, sending me an apologetic smile.
"Okay. I'm just glad you're back, Kaia. We all missed you around here," Jack chuckled as he released my arm. "It's been too quiet."
"It's been like a day, relax," I retorted with a laugh of my own.
"A day too long." I rolled my eyes at his childishness.
"Whatever."
"Seriously, it's weird around here. You and Matteo have been bouncing in and out of our pack-grounds. I think everyone was starting to miss the constant arguing over nothing that happened constantly. Especially now that the two of you seem to weirdly be getting along so well," Jack explained. He wasn't wrong. The day Matteo and I left, we were still a bit rough around the edges, but we've practically been saints since then, minus a few little screw ups.
"Well, I guess we're just evolving," I shrugged, not trying too think to much about it. "I'm going to go find Matteo."
"Alright, Alright. I guess hanging out with me isn't as fun as it was before. I get it," Jack joked, feigning hurt.
"Oh, shut up," I snapped, punching his shoulder.
"Nope, get out of here. Leave me like you always do."
"You're so stupid," I chided before turning away from him. "We will talk later! I swear!" I shouted back at him as I made my way down the hall.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure!"
I had to admit, I did miss talking to Jack. It was weird to admit considering I never had anyone that wasn't blood related to miss in the past, but I missed Jack.
I guess I could consider him even a friend at this point.
Weird.
Gives me chills.
"Knock, knock. I'm coming in," I hollered as I tapped on the door to Matteo's office with my knuckles. I opened the door to be greeted by the sight of Matteo standing over his desk. He was looking down at it, unmoving. I couldn't see the look on his face. His back was the only think facing me in that moment. "Matteo—?"
"What did you do?" His words were as soft as air. It was as if it hurt him to say them. Almost like he didn't want to believe he was actually asking me that question.
"What?" I asked, not sure what he was talking about. He couldn't have possibly known that I accidentally dropped his toothbrush in the toilet on our way out of the hotel this morning. I washed it, but I was going to replace it. I swear.
Matteo didn't say anything. He didn't turn to face me. He only pressed a button on the phone. My eyebrows drew together in confusion.
"Alpha Nerezza, its Adrian—Adrian Rache." My heart stopped. My blood went cold. I couldn't remember how to breathe. I wanted to run out of the room, but my feet were glued to the floor as the audio continued to play. "I would like to apologize in advance for the inconvenience. I am truly sorry for the abrupt call especially at this time in the morning, but I would like to ask for assistance on behalf of the Vindicta Pack. A rogue wolf has escaped our custody, murdering my mate in the process a few weeks ago. We've been searching for her ourselves, but we have yet to come up with anything. We believe she is dangerous, and we would greatly appreciate your services. We just want to put an end to the issue before anyone else is hurt or anything else happens. Thank you for your time."
"Um, that's very vague," I replied uncomfortably. Was my tongue always this dry?
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too. That is until I saw this," he said, angling his computer screen in my direction. Yeah, my tongue has never been this dry.
In the computer screen, was an email with two pictures attached. They were both of me when I was fifteen. One was a front view, and one was a side. There was a large purple bruise surrounding my left eye which stood out vividly against my pale skin. My lip was busted, my shirt I had on was torn down the shoulder allowing everyone to see the wound on the inside, and—to top it all off—I was smiling like a mothef—ker in the photos. I looked like someone just told me that I had just won the lottery when, in reality, I had just been caught for slitting the neck of their Beta.
"That's a terrible picture of me," I huffed, crossing my arms. The loud slam of Matteo's fist on his desk caused me to jump. I went from irritated to terrified really fast.
Oh, yeah. I forgot. I've been busted.
"Kai, do you know what the f—k this means?" Matteo growled, turning around to face me. To say he was angry was an understatement. I'd never seen Matteo lose control of himself to his wolf. It was something I found so interesting about him. That was completely out the window now, though. Matteo's eyes were completely glazed by darkness. You could hardly tell that under it all, there were indeed blue eyes.
"Um, not exactly, but I'm just going to assume it's not good," I answered. It was a terrible response. I knew as soon as I saw steam practically start coming out of Matteo's ears. He was livid.
"You murdered the Luna of one of the strongest packs in North America, Kaia! They're going to f—king hunt you down, and kill you!"
"So, I was right. It wasn't good," I mumbled quietly. I paused for a second thinking about what he had just said. "Wait a minute, I didn't kill that dumbass Luna. I snapped her neck. She should have recovered from that," I accused. I may not be a genius, but I did know my own species.
Matteo seemed to shut down at that point. His eyes went blank, and an unreadable expression replaced his obviously angry face. He seemed extremely relaxed which freaked me out ten times more than when he was screaming two seconds ago. He definitely just lost all hope for me, right then.
"She's dead, Kaia, because she was a human," he stated making my heart drop. "She was human."
"No," I shook my head, not believing a word he was telling me. "Her scent—it was there, I swear. I smelled it. The scent of a wolf was there." I expected like a scream or something, but instead, Matteo began laughing. It wasn't like a "oh, what a big misunderstanding" laugh. No. It was a psychotic, bone-chilling laugh containing absolutely no amusement that had even the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
"She was marked, Kai. You smelled the mark from her alpha mate. The same mate that is currently hunting you down to f—king kill you. You murdered a Luna, a human Luna."
"Matteo, I—"
"When were you going to tell me?" He interrupted me. I shook my head, looking anywhere but into his eyes. I couldn't do it.
"I didn't even know! I thought she'd wake up!" I stressed.
"When were you going to tell me that you were locked up for four f—king years?" He spat, making my chest burn. I assumed he knew that by the dates on the pictures or else some information was also sent within that email.
I wanted to die in that very moment, but not like forever. I wanted just a temporary death. Just for like the next two hours.
I opened my mouth trying to find something to say, but I couldn't. I cursed my father in that moment. Maybe if I attended school, I would have had a better vocabulary to talk my way out of the situation.
"You were never going to say a damn thing, were you?"
"Did I have to tell you? You got a f—king rogue for a mate! It never crossed your mind that I was a murderer? That I was a monster? This is how we live! Don't tell me that you were naive enough to never think that lowly of me! Look at me! You know me! What more do you expect?" I shouted feeling not only hate for the situation, but for myself, as well. "I had to survive, Matteo. I had to get out of there. Morals were out the window at that point."
The room settled into a tense silence. I think neither of us knew what to say. We didn't know what to say to each other or about the situation. It was just silent.
"You were the rogue wolf that murdered their beta four years ago, weren't you?" Matteo asked in the same tone that he had when I first entered the room. He was terrified to hear my answer.
"Yes." I wasn't about to lie, not when he already knew the truth.
"Why?" I gulped at his question.
"I don't know, anymore. It made more sense back then." I was trying my hardest to sound as honest as possible. "I wish I could take it all back. I'm not that person anymore."
Matteo removed his gaze from me and moved it to the floor. His teeth caught his bottom lip and just held it there for a moment. It was obvious that he was deep in thought.
"How many others were there?" He asked. I clenched my teeth together wishing, somehow, that this was easier.
"I really don't know," I mumbled quietly. I never kept count. There were too many to keep count of. There were too many accidents, too many almosts, too many I didn't knows. There were too many people that I did know and too many people that I didn't. There were too many people that got in the way or were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. There were too many people to keep count of.
"Kaia, don't lie to me."
"Matteo, I really don't know," I affirmed, raising my voice. "There's just too many. It could be hundreds for all I know."
"But why?" He repeated. I drew in a large breath, and ran a shaky hand through my hair.
"It's all that I knew." The room fell into a deadly silence, again. Matteo's thick brows were drawn together, and a frustrated expression took over his features as if he were trying to figure out the hardest math problem in the universe.
"I'm sorry," I choked out unwillingly. Sorry was such a foreign word to me. I wasn't even sure if I was pronouncing it correctly, "but I can't change what happened. I thought differently before I met you."
A part of me wanted to take back the last sentence. It hurt a little piece of me to admit it, but I knew I had to get it out there. If there was any chance that Matteo wasn't going to turn me into Alpha Rache, I had to use his emotions against him. I had to use his feelings toward me in order to keep me protected.
His intense stare stayed glue to the floor. His breathing was calm, and he seemed to have full control of himself again. His posture was no longer tense or rigid. Instead, it was relaxed. He seemed totally in control. I, on the other hand, was sweating like a pig while I was waiting for my impending doom. I just wanted to scream, 'if you're going to kill me, just do it already!'.
"I refuse to let that f—king pack try to take anything else that's mine from me."
"What?" Was I losing my mind, or did he just say something angry that wasn't directed toward me? Was I in the clear, or was he having a delayed reaction, and the wrath was coming in like two minutes? He looked up from the ground to face me.
"You're my Luna, and they'll have to kill me before they even lay a hand on you." The determination and sincerity in his voice sent a chill through my bones. His cold eyes held a darkness within them that I'd never seen before in Matteo. It made my insides feel like they were shutting down, but it also made a smile want to burst through the surface of my terrified features. I didn't allow that to happen, though, because I figured now was not the time to be smiling like a lunatic. The look in his eyes was something just above evil. I would be lying if I said that it didn't scare me just as much as it excited me. "God have mercy on anyone who dares to even try."
"This is going to end in a war, isn't it?" I don't even know why I was asking. Of course, it was. I murdered an Alpha's mate in cold blood. "There's no way that no one is going to snitch. Almost every Alpha in the continent knows who I am, now."
"Well, lets just hope you made a good enough impression with those Lunas," Matteo stated. I gulped, remembering all the commotion I had caused at the beginning of the week. The only hope I really had was that they still felt some sort of admiration for me after standing up to Matteo and trying my hardest to be civil. Although, I knew that was a long shot. I think they only got along with me because Nyla Kaun took a weird liking toward me. That could be totally forgotten at this point, though.
"What if we just fly me to another continent?" I offered. "I always wanted to spend a little time in Russia."
"Yeah, and leave you alone? Not happening." I sighed in exasperation. Why did he have to be so difficult?
"Well, how the hell am I going to be safe here?" I countered which seemed to irritate him. I'm assuming he never really had to argue with anyone on matters like this. Matteo wasn't someone who knew much about compromise.
"Kai, if you're out there alone, I can't protect you."
"Okay, but at least I can run and hide if I'm an ocean away. I've done it all before," I stated stubbornly.
"Did you have every pack in Northern America and possibly more hunting you down at the same damn time?" He asked making my teeth clench. Well, no. "Let's try to figure this out together. This isn't something you can charm your way out of, Kai."
"You'd be surprised the situations I can charm my way out of," I chided with my arms crossed. I guess I wasn't the best with compromise, either.
I knew he was right, though.
There's no way in hell that I would survive outside of Caedes territory.
Matteo raised a brow. I assumed by the unconvincing look on my face that he already knew I was going to lose this argument. I needed his protection. There was no way in hell I could possibly escape Vindicta. They already tracked me down and took me into custody once just by themselves. They could definitely do it again with the help of other packs across the continent.
"God, fine," I sighed, agreeing unwillingly as if someone was holding a knife to my throat. "What's the plan of action?"
"Well," he began as he took a seat in his leather chair behind his desk. I secretly wondered how many times Jack had sat in it and pretended to be Matteo while we were gone. I would have done it like nine times, "we need to make sure there are packs out there that actually like you, first of all."
"Great. Because that won't be the hardest, most depressing thing ever."
And, that was the beginning of the shit-storm I had managed to create with one dumb-ass decision.
Go figure.
____________
I DIDNT UPDATE SO HECKIN LATE THIS TIME.
shit went down. The story is about to implode.
1/15/18