Page 54 of Defiant
Guess what, fuckwad? We betas feel the same way about you. We aren't allowed to say it. That's the only difference.
"Stay right here," Pluto commands as he turns and walks briskly across the marble entryway to a hall with a wooden floor and a door that opens to show me the sliver of a fancy-ass office.
When he disappears from sight, I mull over our conversation and then want to kick myself.
Fuck. Pluto said he was on his way to talk to us. He's Alpha Maddox's second right now? His right-hand man? Of course he is. It's only fitting our alpha pick a total dick to back him up. Great. Should have paid more attention to the elites at the howls. But the reality is, running into any of the ego-driven, puffed-up dickheads during a howl is the perfect way for a beta to get punked.
My friends and I generally try to avoid them at all costs. Not to mention the fact that their constant fights for rank mean that the second position shifts often. I think the first year I became a Lobo I tracked it but the second shifted about six times. Since then, I haven’t bothered.
Alpha Maddox comes out of the office right behind Pluto, his huge bulk filling the hall and blocking out the hanging overhead light behind him for a second. Not creepy at all.
I try to keep my shoulders straight and not look intimidated.I didn't do anything wrong,I remind my wolf, though he whines and immediately wants to roll over and show his belly. Fuck that.
The alpha reaches me and stares down, his crisp white shirt a huge contrast against my wrinkled tee. I search for a flaw in his wall of muscle. I find a couple gray hairs.
Elena really wants a guy that old?
Even my wolf curls his lip a bit, though he's not about to growl, even in my head where no one else can hear.
That only annoys me more and I poke at my wolf, thinking,Look at that old man. Black’s practically ancient.
My wolf tucks his ears back and growls at me for failing to call Black by his alpha title. But fuck it. He's taken the one person that meant more than anything from me. Not like he can take much else.
I find Black's dark eyes giving me a steady once over and my skin prickles uneasily. My nerve endings don't agree with my rebellious logic. They think there's plenty more that Black can take from me in the form of skin, blood, pain.
"How do you know Elena?" he asks quietly.
I swallow and say, "We met in a class. We go to the same college." I don't add anything else, like howwellI know her.
He gives a brief nod as if what I say makes perfect sense. Which it does. It's the truth, even if it's only a partial truth.
"And why did you have her phone?"
"She ran out of class yesterday saying she was sick."
Again, I get that thoughtful nod from him. His alpha energy radiates just underneath his skin, almost like one of those heat shimmers that happen in the summertime, where you stare into the distance and the air itself squirms in the heat. But he doesn't shove it out at me like Pluto just did. He doesn't try to manipulate me. Just studies me.
"Name?" he asks.
With a sigh, I give him my pack name. "Murky. My friends chose it. Don't hold it against me."
He chuckles and, to my shock, reaches out and pats my shoulder. "Come on. You can say hello."
"You really think that's a good—" Pluto shuts up when Alpha Maddox gives him a glare.
"He's a beta. There won't be an issue," Black retorts, already leading me toward the door I'd been eyeing.
My heart thumps a warning. Black’s being too nice. Alphas aren’t nice in my experience. "Is she here, sir?" I ask, though her scent's growing stronger every second. "Did she finally shift?"
I think I already know the answer. But hearing the words from Black's lips confirms. "Oh, she shifted."
The way he says it, with that self-congratulatory tone, has me bristling.
He pulls out a key and unlocks the door and I blink twice at that.What the fuck?I try not to let my heart speed up, try to force it to stay slow by taking deep, meditative breaths. But why is Elena locked in a room? Did something go wrong when she shifted? Did she actually turn into an alpha instead of a beta wolf? Or worse...did she cross paths with a human on her first run?
I swallow hard as one possibility comes to mind. "She didn't hurt anyone, did she?" I ask as Black starts down a set of stairs. This door apparently leads to a basement.
He turns back toward me and bursts into laughter as though I've said the funniest fucking thing ever. Instead of answering, he just continues down the steps.
