"What?" I gaped at Sasha, not believing my own ears. "Why would you want to leave?"
The said girl and I were still in the middle of the underground floor, with Sasha crouching in front of the small table.
"I don't know," she huffed. "It might be because my supposed mate is pretending like I don't exist. Or it might be because I'm surrounded with strangers, who don't seem to know what to do with a witch like me."
"Then why don't you just leave?" I surprised even myself when I asked that. "Why do you need to invent a new potion?"
"Because Dyson's an arrogant ass." For the first time since I met her, Sasha's eyes narrowed into small slits. "He does everything in his power to avoid me, but the moment I set my foot outside the pack house, he bullies me back inside."
"So, the potion..."
"With the potion he'll have no idea I've left, until I will be already long gone." She added a pinch from the third heap, which caused a small line of smoke to evaporate out of the glass bottle.
A part of me wanted to smack Dyson across his head for acting in such a way to his mate. Until now, I had thought him to be much better than his Alpha, but apparently I had been wrong. These werewolves really had a knack for acting like the worst mates possible.
Then I suddenly remembered what Dyson had told me in the forest.
"I... I don't think it's personal."
Sasha continued to keep her eyes focused on the glass bottle, but I didn't miss the way her shoulders tensed. Despite not wanting to seem like it, I guessed she wanted to know why her mate was acting like that.
"His father..."
For a second I contemplated telling Sasha to get the truth from Dyson himself, but I doubted he would be willing to share. At least not right now.
"His father used to beat him when he was younger." Sasha's eyes snapped up to mine, and I forced myself to continue despite the pungent taste in my mouth. "And I think Dyson is now afraid to turn out like him. He's afraid he might hurt you."
"Of all the stupid potions!" Sasha jumped up to her feet and began to march toward the door.
"Where are you going?"
"To find my stupid ma—"
Before Sasha could even finish her sentence, the door flung open and crashed against the wall. A loud bang filled our otherwise silent surroundings, while two dark figures appeared in the now open doorway.
"You dare lock up my mate!" Jared's shout followed before I could even register which of the two figures he was. "Naia is afraid of—"
I edged a step forward to come to Sasha's aid, however, the said girl dismissed the heaving Jared with nothing but a wave of her hand. She walked right past him and instead stopped in front of the second person who had barged into the room.
"You." She poked her index finger right into the middle of Dyson's chest. "If you ever dare to lay a single finger on me in harm, I will use a potion that will turn you into an obedient wolf for the rest of your life."
"This is not—" Jared began instead of Dyson.
Before he could go on, I rushed over to him and grasped his hand. This immediately caught his attention, and he turned to face me.
"It wasn't Sasha," I whispered and then focused back on the other two mates.
"So, will you now stop ignoring me?" Sasha asked, while keeping the tip of her finger pressed into Dyson's chest. "Or do you really want me to leave?"
"No." Dyson quickly shook his head. "I want you to stay."
"Then stop acting like an asshole and give us a chance to get to know each other."
For a heartbeat Dyson remained unmoving, and then in the next moment he pulled her toward him. He lowered his lips onto hers in a hot kiss, which brought a cough out of my mouth. I quickly clasped my hand over my mouth and forced myself not to ruin their moment. Then again, neither of them seemed to have heard me as they continued their kiss uninterrupted.
Before things could become awkward, Jared pulled me out of the room. Wordlessly I followed him down the dark hallway and up the stairs until we reached the first floor. We stopped right on top of the stairs where I finally removed the other hand off my mouth and allowed my lips to stretch into a wide grin.
"I'm so happy for them."
I looked up to Jared, expecting to find at least a small smirk playing on his lips. Instead, he was scowling at me with his blue eyes already softly darkened.
"Aren't you happy for them?"
"I don't care about them." He tightened his hold on my hand. "What I care about is the fact that you've been keeping secrets from me."
"What?" I gaped at him, not knowing what he was talking about.
"Don't even try to pretend. Ortiz already told me the truth."
"Oh." The moment he mentioned Ortiz's name I knew what this about.
"Oh?" His eyes darkened, and he pulled me even closer to him. "Is that all you have to say?"
"I'm sorry." I wanted to slap myself at how high-pitched my voice sounded. "I... I don't even know why I didn't tell you. I just... I convinced myself that it wasn't a big deal. That maybe I was just being paranoid."
"Not a big deal? He could have seriously hurt you."
"But he realized he was in the wrong. And he already apologized."
"Do you think that changes anything?" he growled.
A week ago I would have retrieved into my own self at even the slightest glare from him, let alone the wild anger radiating off him right now. Yet here I was barely noticing his shaking figure.
"What did you do to Ortiz?"
"What do you think? I removed him from the position of the Gamma. As for the rest of his punishment, I'm still deciding."
"But he never seriously harmed me."
"The lemonade?"
With one word had all of my protests dying in my throat. While the two incidents inside the underground floor could have been dismissed, the peanuts in the lemonade had been a close call. If the pack doctor had been as clueless as Jared about human allergies, I could have been dead right now.
"Just don't do anything rash, okay? He's still your friend."
"He tried to harm my mate," Jared growled. "I will deal with him as I see fit."
He let go of me and began to stalk away. Before I could call after him, however, he spun around and marched back toward me. Without really knowing what I was doing I backed up, until my back hit against the wall.
"You said it wasn't the witch who locked you up in that room just now." He rested his hands on either side of me, caging me in between his body and the wall. "Who was it?"
"I don't know." I shook my head.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"I didn't see the person. Someone pushed me inside the room and then locked the door."
"Son of a bitch." He smashed his hand into the wall beside me. "Has my entire pack lost their mind?"
"I'm sure it was—" I began while eyeing the hole in the wall his fist created.
"Don't you dare say it was a mistake. Nobody would push their Luna and then lock her up by mistake."
"Then it could have been a prank."
"Are you deliberately being this stupid?" His dark eyes bored into mine.
"Are you deliberately being such a jerk?" I narrowed my own eyes at him. "A loving mate would first wonder if I was okay, and not shout at me like it was all my fault."
We stared at each other for three heaving heartbeats, with neither of us willing to back down.
"I'm sorry." He slowly lowered his arms off the wall and edged an almost invisible step backwards. "Of course, I don't blame you."
"Thank you." I lifted my hand and ran the tips of my fingers across his cheek. "And I'm sorry I kept the incidents from you."
"Are you okay?" He clasped his hand over mine and pressed it against his cheek. "About being locked down there."
"I am." With my free hand I reached for the small glass bottle still wrapped around my neck, and lifted it, so he could see it. "And it's all because of Sasha. She gave me this potion that can melt through anything. That way I will never be locked up again."
"Just don't let it come in contact with your skin." Jared let go of my hand and instead pulled me into his chest. "I don't want you to accidentally hurt yourself."
"Deal." I let go of the bottle and wrapped my arms around him. "Do you think it could have been Ortiz again?"
"No. He was with me, so it couldn't have been him."
"What's going on?" A third voice spoke before I could even open my mouth.
I squirmed out of Jared's hold the second I recognized Aiko's voice. She was standing a couple of steps away from us, while her eyes flickered from me to Jared. The moment I saw a soft brown bandage wrapped around her forearm, I instantly remember just what had happened before the entire incident with Ortiz.
"Are you okay?" I rushed over to her and scanned her from top to bottom, to make sure she didn't have any further injuries.
"I'm fine." She reassured me and then to my surprise turned toward Jared. "What happened to the people who tried to kidnap us?"
"The two in the van got away, but we have the third one in our custody. It won't be long before we break him, and he starts talking."
Jared opened his mouth as if he wanted to add something else, but his eyes suddenly clouded. The mind-link lasted for only a moment, and then he focused back on the two of us.
"I'm needed with the prisoner," he said.
"Go." I was just as eager to find out why the hunters were after me as he was.
"Conner." Jared called out and I turned to find the said werewolf walk down the hallway toward us. "Escort Naia and Aiko to their bedroom."
"We don't need—" I scowled at him.
"It's just a precaution." Jared kissed me on my forehead and then with a nod at Conner disappeared down the hallway.
"Fine." I gave in with a sigh as Conner stopped a step away from us. "Let's go."
Aiko took the lead, while Conner and I followed behind her. While walking, I couldn't help but notice the thin line Conner's lips were pressed into and the rigid way in which he held himself.
"Where's Larry?" I asked, while remembering that he had been the one ordered to escort Aiko and me right before the kidnapping.
With the way Jared had been acting a moment ago, I had a bad feeling that my mate had dumped some of his anger onto Larry.
"One of his family members outside the pack got sick, so he went to help his family," Conner said, but it was impossible to miss the dark undertone in his voice.
Then again, because they were mates, I guessed he hated being parted from Larry, just as much as Jared and I would probably hate it if we were parted.
"When will he be back?"
I waited for him to answer me, but all he did was continue to stare forward. The cold attitude was something I would have expected from Ortiz, but not from him. While he wasn't as warm as Larry, he had always been polite to me.
"I'm sure he'll be back before you know it."
"Just drop it."
I faltered for a step at the curt tone, while he continued forward uninterrupted. This wasn't just about missing his mate. Something was definitely going on. My best guess was that he and Larry were having some kind of disagreement.
While following behind him, I made a mental note to find out when Larry was scheduled to come back, and then figure out what was going on between him and Conner.
*
Once again, I found myself unable to fall sleep. I wanted to squirm around in the bed, however, Aiko's peacefully asleep presence forced me to remain still.
This time I lasted for only two hours before I slipped out of bed and tiptoed my way out. Although I wasn't especially thirsty, a glass of warm milk didn't sound too bad.
Again I made sure not to cause a single sound when I passed Jared's door and then headed further down the hallway. Just when I rounded the last corner before I would reach the stairs, I caught another figure tiptoeing her way forward. Sasha was soundlessly making her way down the other end of the hallway. Opposite to me, however, she seemed still oblivious to my presence.
I opened my mouth to ask her where she was going when a strong hand was clasped over my mouth. A tiny squeak erupted from my mouth right before the figure behind me pulled me backwards, and I was engulfed by the shadows of the night.
***
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- E