003 | Wrong time, wrong place, wrong wolf

Rhiannon’s POV

Still holding our gaze, Caleb narrowed his eyes.

And then he sidled closer to his Luna.

Balls.

I’d never said or even thought the word balls before – at least not in that context – but suddenly it seemed to perfectly sum up exactly how I felt. 

It was a good thing that Alpha Caleb was showing me where he stood – because I had Stephen already, and I had no plans to jump ship to an arrogant arse who’d never once given me the time of day before because I was an Omega.

If it’s such a good thing, an irritating voice in the back of my head whispered, why does your heart feel like it’s breaking?

I huffed and moved closer to Stephen’s wolf. Brian nudged Tiger with his nose, but she didn’t turn to look at him. Her gaze remained locked on Alpha Caleb, taking in every inch of his muscular form. I sniffed the air discreetly, aching to smell that crisp, fresh, outdoorsy scent again.

‘This is impossible,’ Tiger was saying. I had no idea how long she’d been talking or how much of it I’d missed. ‘The Alpha has a mate. Right, Rhi? In fact,’ she went on, never once pausing long enough for me to get a word in bloody edgeways, ‘he definitely does. The only reason we aren’t at war right now is because he and Luna Amelia realised they were mates. Without that alliance, we’d still be fighting the Moon Chasm pack.’

‘Unless he’s lying, too,’ I said, only half paying attention. ‘I mean, Stephen isn’t my true mate, but he is my chosen mate. And we didn’t even have the weight of a war resting on our shoulders.’

‘I bet you’re feeling real good about that choice right now, aren’t you?’

‘I’m gutted, actually,’ I retorted dryly. ‘I’d much rather throw in my lot with some Alpha I barely know than the boyfriend I’ve been in love with for five years.’

Oh my goddess – why did that taunt feel like the truth? 

‘Omegas,’ barked Caleb, making me jump, ‘I don’t know why you’re all standing around like lemons. Get hunting. Unless you need me to hold your hands?’ His wolf’s lips pulled into a smirk. It was too human to be off-the-cuff, and I knew that he’d practised it in the mirror. 

Luna Amelia, in her huge black wolf form, flicked him with her tail. Her eyes narrowed at him – clearly they were mindlinking – and then, a few long moments later, she turned to face us. ‘I’ll take three of you with me. The other two can go with Alpha Caleb.’

‘We don’t need to be babysat,’ I scoffed. 

Her eyebrows rose in amusement. ‘Feel free to go off on your own.’ 

I jerked my chin up. ‘Maybe I will.’  I lifted a paw and turned away.

‘No,’ Caleb snarled. ‘Get back here.’ He blinked, seeming as surprised by his outburst as everyone else. ‘We have to stick together,’ he said, in a calmer voice. ‘Until we know who cursed us, or why, we can’t take any risks. You’d better come with me, Rhiannon. I think you need to be kept under close watch.’

He knew my name? Stupid, childish, pathetic joy fizzled through me. Of course he knew my damn name. He was our Alpha. He knew every wolf in his pack, no matter how much he seemed to enjoy pretending he didn’t. Even now he was squinting between the others, acting as if he didn’t know one from the other.

‘Massie?’ he said, looking at Marcella. ‘You can come with us, too.’

Brian opened and closed his mouth, but he’d never dare argue with his Alpha. I shot him a look of condolence, then mindlinked Stephen. ‘Sorry.’

‘If anyone should be feeling sorry for anyone, I should be feeling sorry for you. You’re going to miss out on all of my most titillating banter.’

I snorted. ‘Titillating?’

‘See, you’re already laughing.’

‘At you, Steph, not with you.’

‘Keep telling yourself that. Anything to get you through a morning without me.’ His eyes softened as the Alpha and Luna started to lead us apart. ‘I love you, Rhi. Come back safe.’

A lump filled my throat. ‘Love you too,’ I murmured. I wasn’t lying to him – so why did it feel like I was?

* * *

The mate bond leapt with joy when I was finally alone with Alpha Caleb. Well – we weren’t alone, not really, but Marcella was such dull, quiet company that it felt as if we were. 

‘You Omegas do know how to hunt, don’t you?’ 

I glared at him. Alpha or not, I wasn’t going to take his shit. ‘No,’ I drawled, ‘we’ve never been. It’s not like we’ve been relying on hunting these woods for the last year.’

Marcella snickered, though she was quick to cover it up. Maybe she wasn’t such terrible company, I amended. 

‘Hilarious. I just hope you’re better at hunting than you are at making jokes.’

I held his gaze, arching an eyebrow. Tiger had slunk away, giving me full control over her wolf body. He stared back, unbothered. I liked the challenge; it lit something in me, something dark and unprecedented, something dangerous. I wanted to keep playing this game with him, to keep baiting him until he bit, but Alpha Caleb just sighed and looked away.

‘Come on,’ he said. ‘We don’t have long out here today. We need to make the most of it.’

I stalked away into the underbrush, giving Tiger full control once more. As she put her nose to the ground and started to track what I both hoped was a deer and prayed was nothing, I finally confronted the tidal wave of emotions threatening to spill out of my eyes and throat.

I loved Stephen. That was a fact. 

But facts weren’t emotions, and I…

I wanted to be close to Alpha Caleb. Even now, when he’d shown me that he wasn’t budging from his Luna, and after he’d been just short of behaving like a colossal dick, I ached to be with him. Even now, when I kept telling myself that I’d made the right decision in letting Stephen mark me, a traitorous part of my mind was wondering what Caleb’s teeth would feel like as they scraped down the sensitive curve of my neck. 

Warm fur brushed against my side. Tiger swung around, baring her teeth.

It was Alpha Caleb. He didn’t say anything; he just started slinking through the woods beside me. After the initial awkwardness fizzled away, his company felt… easy. Right.

Goddess, I was fucked. 

‘Where’s Marcella?’ I asked, wanting to ease into a conversation.

He completely ignored my attempt at politeness and grunted, ‘Did you feel it too?’

I fluttered my eyelashes at him, faking innocence. ‘Feel what?’

He ground his teeth together. ‘I’ll take that as a yes, then.’

‘Yes,’ I sighed. ‘I did. But–’

‘It doesn’t mean anything,’ he snapped, cutting me off. ‘I have a mate. I don’t know why we both felt… that, but it was wrong. The Moon Goddess chose Amelia for me – not you.’ He paused. ‘Did you drug me?’

I almost choked. ‘What?’

‘Did you drug me?’

‘Of course not! If I had any good drugs, I sure as hell wouldn’t be wasting them on something like that.’ I rolled my eyes at him. ‘Maybe it was just some sort of mistake. I have a mate, too.’

‘Oh.’ Hurt flashed across his face, there and gone so fast I almost wondered if I’d imagined it. ‘Oh,’ he said again, his voice stronger this time. ‘That’s fine, then.’

‘Yeah, I guess it is.’

Steely silence followed. And then, just as quickly as he’d appeared, Alpha Caleb slunk away into the undergrowth. 

I stared after him, more pathetic than a lovesick tween stood up at the prom. It was fine. It should be fine.

But it really, really wasn’t.

* * *

Things went from bad to worse when we got home. 

‘Some birthday this is shaping up to be, huh?’ muttered Tiger.

Staring down at the dead wolf, I rasped, ‘Best one yet.’