Page 21 of Bullied By the Alpha Wolf

Chapter 10 - Kit

I stood there in the room alone, and I just…stood there. I was completely frozen in place, rooted to the spot like I was a tree. One that had just been struck by lightning, at that. What in the absolute hell had just happened? Kaiden had been so weird, coiled up like a snake ready to strike.

My heart still pounded in my chest, hard enough to be noticeable. Kaiden had been so close to me, his nose buried in my neck like that.

“Why did he run off like that?” I whispered to myself.

It was all so strange. He’d never really acted quite like that before, and this version of Kaiden was simultaneously alien and familiar. What had he been about to say? And why the fuck did it seem like the guy was interested?

That’s insane, Kit. It was just the proximity. Hell, he’s probably close to a rut or something. Does that happen for male wolves?

I couldn’t remember, but it was beside the point, anyway. As I’d stated a number of times, I wasn’t a wolf, and I wasn’t about to have sex with the guy, so if he needed to go run his hormones off, he could be my guest.

Still…

Memory swirled in my mind, and I could remember one other similar instance, drilling into my mind like a railroad spike.

My heart hurt. There was no other way to put it. It was achy and empty and cracked open—a vase spilling its contents onto the floor.

Papa Glen and Mama Tansy were gone—just like that. I was alone again, with no parents, and despite what anyone might think, no siblings or pack.

Grayson tolerated me before, and now he fucking hated me. He was convinced it was my being here that caused his parents to get sick. It was ridiculous, of course, but Grayson didn’t seem to care. He was too upset and needed someone to blame.

That person was always me, the useless human.

I felt the chill creep up my feet as I dangled my legs over the bank of the river. The water just touched the bottoms of my toes, and I sighed, my chest too heavy to take a full breath. Why was life like this? I hadn’t done anything. I hadn’t betrayed the pack or revealed their secrets to other humans.

Hell, I never even spoke to other humans. I knew they were all worried that I was some wolf in sheep’s clothing, but it wasn’t true. I was just some girl whose parents had been killed by their own dumb hunter friends.

Glen and Tansy had taken me in. They didn’t have to. I could have been adopted by the humans left alive, but there was something that connected us that day. They’d lost some of their family, and I lost mine.

So we became each other’s.

From the time I was four, Glen and Tansy were the only parents I knew. I loved them dearly.

And now they were just gone.

“It’s not fair,” I mumbled to myself, throwing the rock I’d been fiddling with into the river.

“Yeah, it usually ain’t.”

I yelped, jumping and nearly falling into the water when Kaiden’s voice cut through the silence around me. When I turned over my shoulder, he was fighting back a grin, and I glared at him.

“Go away, Kaiden.”

“This Jet’s territory. I can be wherever I want.” He smirked, plopping down a few feet away and dangling his legs over the bank’s edge just like I was.

“Seriously? My parents are dead—again—and I just wanted some time alone. Why are you such a bully? I’ve never done anything to you.”

“’Cept be human. It’s your dumb kind that got themselves killed, and since you came here, there’s been more sickness. So…yeah.”

I glared, my eyes stinging with tears. “Is that really why you came here? To make me feel worse? Well, fuck off. I feel bad enough without your help, jerk.”

He laughed, that lilting sound like the water rushing over the rocks below me. “Well, look who's got some stones. And no. I’m not doing anything I don’t want to. And I happen to like this bank.”

As he looked down, seemingly ignoring me, I sighed and then rolled my eyes. Kaiden had never been here before, as far as I could tell. It was a regular hangout spot for me, and I’d yet to see him darkening the cheery atmosphere with his bullshit.

“You’re such a liar,” I mumbled under my breath.

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