Page 18 of The Wolf Slayer

As the men were deep in thought as to how to solve their messenger problem, all Blake could think of was Niev. He couldn’t wait to hear her voice again in just a few hours. He always looked forward to his calls with her. Although short, they were always the highlight of his day. As he was thinking of the phone calls, an idea popped in his head.

“Why do we have to send someone at all?”

They all turned their heads and looked at him in disbelief.

Seth’s face showed pure anger. He’d always had a short fuse. “Do you not understand what kind of situation we are in?”

“If we don’t try and solve this before they reach our ground many will be hurt,” his father continued with a serious tone. “We need to try and stop their advances on our territory before they are too close to us.”

“I’m not stupid I get that,” Blake snapped back at them. “But you all seem to be stuck in the stone age. Why can’t you just call them and ask to meet somewhere neutral?”

His father raised his eyebrows and Seth looked at him as if he was trying to decide whether to love him or hate him.

“Tanner, he has a point.” Aside from his father’s closest family, Bill was the only one allowed to call his father by his first name. Anyone else had to address him as Alpha or Alpha Tanner.

“And how do you suppose we do that? Perhaps you’re carrying a book with all our enemies phone numbers around?” Seth had clearly decided to hate him.

Blake threw his hand in the air and let out an annoyed grunt. “That seems to be a problem for the alpha, future alpha, and beta of this pack. Will you three excuse me? This seems like a conversation way out of my pay grade.” He turned to the door and without hesitation, Blake walked out of the office.

This conversation had clearly overstepped the very thin line he’d been trying not to cross. He didn’t want nor did he need to be involved in such discussions. He was neither the future alpha or beta of the pack. He’d been trying to stay out of these things so people would stop seeing him as a threat to Seth–he didn’t understand why his father couldn’t see that. He retreated from the pack so everyone could be happy, yet his father tried to ruin the little trust Blake had earned over the years. If Blake were to be involved in any decision making, the pack members would question his motives.

Blake walked out of the house and toward the tree line. He was deep in his thoughts and didn’t notice Tristan calling for him until he was only a few feet behind him.

“Are you trying to escape me?” Tristan asked out of breath. He put a hand on Blake’s shoulder and motioned him to stop.

“Sorry man, I didn’t hear you call for me.” Blake gave him an apologetic smile.

“Yeah, I kind of noticed that on my sprint over here.” Tristan’s face turned serious, which was unusual for him. “Are you okay? You’ve been acting strange lately.”

“I’m fine.” Blake started moving toward the tree line again.

Tristan walked beside him, like he’d done all of Blake’s life. “If it’s because I told Alpha Tanner about the woman you brought over, I’m truly sorry.”

“That’s long forgotten.”

It was true that he’d been trying to stay away from Tristan. Not because he’d told on him, but rather because they were too close. Blake knew he needed to keep Niev a secret from everyone, including Tristan. Blake was afraid that he could accidentally tell Tristan about Niev and the plans he had for her.

“I know about the punishment Alpha Tanner gave you. I came to talk afterwards and check on you, but you were already gone. So, I thought… you know… you didn’t want to see me…” Tristen trailed off.

“That’s not it. Father wants me to play a bigger role in the pack from now on. He has been giving me lots of tasks and Seth has been babysitting me.”

“So, you’re not mad at me?”

“When have I ever been mad at you?”

Tristan seemed relieved and an amused smile returned to his face. “That time I stole your last ice cream and you went after Seth thinking it was him?”

“Yeah true, I hated your guts after that.” Blake grinned, Tristan always had his own way to cheer him up.

“Are you about to go on a run? You look like you need to let off some steam.” Tristan sounded hopeful, as if he wanted to go on a run too.

“Wanna join?”

Tristan didn’t even answer, instead dropped his jeans on the floor and shifted. For a split second, Blake could see his bones break and hear his muscles tear. Blake followed his lead and shifted without bothering to take off his jeans. They ripped as his body grew larger. It only took seconds for him to shift but Tristan had already gotten a head start and Blake started to chase after him.

Uncertainty

Two weeks had passed since Niev had seen Blake. She hadn’t seen him since he’d stayed the night. Now, Niev was sitting on her couch with a tub of ice cream in her hand and watching her favorite sitcom. Halfway into the episode her phone started ringing. She picked it up and saw Blake’s number pop up on the screen, her heart excitedly skipping a beat.

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