Page 7 of Villainous Fate

Non sei mio figlio. Tu non sei niente.

I’d looked them up later.

You aren’t my son. You’re nothing.

Without any remorse, he spit onto Deacon's lifeless body and walked away, leaving him to die in the frigid temperatures.

Instinctively, I wanted to run to him, help him, save him, but I knew if the Alpha found me, if he knew what I had witnessed, my fate would be the same.

I must have waited ten solid minutes before running to him, my pulse throbbing in my ears. I tried everything I could to stop the bleeding. I knew he needed to shift, but I could see the exhaustion taking its toll on his body. I lifted his eyelids, calling out to him, trying to get a response, any response.

He was a boy I barely knew, but in that moment, his survival meant everything. He was the only person who cared enough to see me. The only one who knew my secret. My only friend.

“Please, Deacon, you need to wake up! Please!” Tears fell from my eyes, and blood soaked my hands as I pressed into his more significant cuts.

“Please...” it was barely a whisper as I cried over him. I closed my eyes, sending a silent prayer to whoever was listening. I begged The Fates to intervene, to save this boy. The boy who showed me kindness. The boy who saw through my bravado to my pain. The boy who saw in me a kindred spirit.

“Don’t cry, Tails.”

My eyes flew open, and my breath caught in my throat.

“Shift! You need to shift!” I nearly shouted at him. With a short nod of his head, he gave himself over to the change, and where once I was holding a broken boy, now lay a panting jet-black wolf.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I hadn’t ever really bought into believing in The Fates before, but that night, I knew they had a hand in everything, and I knew it would be ok.

***

Present

A bell ringing over the door pulls me out of my memories, and I turn around to greet the customer. My smile falters for a second before I replaster it.

Greg Belsom.

“Welcome in. Grab yourself a seat anywhere. I’ll grab you a menu,” I recite, trying to hold a friendly tone through my clenched teeth. Greg spent the better part of my middle school years teasing me mercilessly, and my high school ones, trying to get me to date him despite knowing that Deacon and I had been together since Freshman year.

“Hey there, Splotches, just you in here tonight?” he asks, looking over my shoulder at the abandoned cafe.

I freaking hate that name.

“No, Pete's in the back on his break,” I respond, not liking being alone with him.

Greg was only about five-foot-eight and maybe a hundred and sixty pounds, which still dwarfed my five-foot-nothing, hundred-pound self. He was considered small for a shifter, but since his father was the Second, he lived in an imaginary world where he could do whatever he wanted, and very few people batted an eye. Some days, I was surprised he could carry an ego that big.

“I haven’t seen your little friend hanging around here much lately. You two have a fight?” he asks, zero concern in his voice.

I move away from him, aiming to create as much space as possible, even feigning work I need to complete to look busy while I casually answer over my shoulder.

“What can I help you with, Greg? Are you here to eat, have a drink, or annoy me?” I rattle off without the customer service voice I usually use at work. I gave up being polite to him when “kill him with kindness” was taking too long, which was coincidentally the same time his stupid nickname caught on with the rest of the butt-kissing, low-ranking wolves.

The only splotches I see are his blood splatter across the white-wash walls and the antique photos that adorn them. That visual causes me to smile a bit to myself.

“You just seem stressed, is all. You know I would be happy to take one for the team and help you work out some of that frustration.” His voice was dripping with innuendo, and his hand slid over his faded jeans, gripping himself.

Gross.

“All set in that department, actually, but if you aren’t going to order anything, you better go. Pete doesn’t approve of trespassers or loiterers, and currently, you're both.”

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