6. So Damn Complicated.

~ RAELIN ~

Wes and I are just about a hundred meters away from the water fountain right in front of the Packhouse, where the current thorn in my flesh is waiting for me.

The Bloodhounds Packhouse, my home, is huge, standing tall and domineering like it always is right in the middle of vast hectares of land.

It is a fucking estate, built and equipped with high tech gotten from our numerous favors and trade deals with humans and other neighboring packs.

Kira Gandall should not be here.

Wes and I pass through the gates, the guards greeting us as we walk by. I take a deep breath, trying to stop my mind from wandering back to my rogue mate still locked up in one of my cells.

However, the storm of emotions swirling inside me is strong, both tugging and forcefully pulling at my mind.

I feel the anger, the frustration… and something else.

Something else I still don’t want to acknowledge that has been taking up every part of me since the moment I held Layla's bleeding body in my arms on that night I found her struggling to draw in ragged breath after breath.

Watching her bleed and calling out to me was so close to the same desperation I felt on the night I lost my parents. Also, feeling her immense pain through our bond, something shifted inside me.

The instant need to protect her.

The urge was so primal and dangerous, so lethal that it drove me with the mindless rage that made me kill the men that dared hurt her.

Even the thought of—

“I wonder why Kira can't fucking let you go.” Weston’s voice cuts sharply into my thoughts, bringing me back to reality. “Thank Selene you've found your mate now.”

I rub my eyes, shaking my head. “No Wes. I’m not feeling anything close enough to being grateful. Everything happening now is all bullshit. By the way, why the hell is Kira even here?”

“That's for you to find out, dear brother. But I think it has to do with Layla. I think she knows that you are still keeping Layla alive.”

Fuck.

"It is none of her business." I say angrily.

Wes shrugs. "Like I said, don't let her pester you for long. I'm sure you can handle her."

The instant we both arrive at where Kira is waiting, Wes quickly waves to her greeting and abandons me.

As soon as he takes the path leading to the pool house on the right side of the packhouse, I nudge past Kira and begin heading towards my office upstairs inside the packhouse.

I don't have any time to waste with her shenanigans this morning. I have a lot of tasks to accomplish today.

“Raelin—”

“Kira I am busy right now." I cut her off sharply. "I believe whatever you want to say to me can wait.”

“What I need to discuss with you can't wait." She snaps back, her footsteps echoing right behind me as she follows me upstairs.

She is really getting on my nerves right now.

I arrive at the door of my office and push it open. I enter inside and don't bother looking back or think about closing the door.

The crazy she-wolf will do the job for me.

When she slams the door shut, I huff out an annoyed sigh and walk over to my desk. I settle down and grab the bottle of Macallan 15 resting on one of my shelves beside me.

I pour myself a half glass, needing to calm down my nerves.

“Tell me the truth Raelin, why are you still keeping that pathetic rogue dirt alive? She should be—”

“Watch your tongue whenever you speak to me, Gandall.”

Her surname is bitter on my lips as I warn her, shooting her an angry commanding stare. I take a gulp of my precious whiskey.

“Whether the rogue dies or stays alive is my business.” I warn further. “You have no fucking right to interfere.”

Silence hovers over us as she keeps her mouth shut. Her face is trying so hard to cloak the fuming expression plastered all over it.

I don’t fucking care.

She is silent now, but I know Kira Gandall. It will only be a matter of seconds left before she opens her fucking mouth again to annoy the shit out of me.

I hate when people don't know their fucking place.

“She is a worthless rogue, Ray.” Kira purrs softly, her deceptive tone now itching me to the core. She makes her way towards me, her hips swaying with a seductive confidence that only pisses me off the more.

When she reaches my desk, she bends, her breasts almost spilling out from her corset blouse. “The longer that rogue stays in our pack, the harder it might be to get rid of her.” She whispers, flipping her dark hair back, the action making her breasts bounce.

I know what she wants. What she truly wants.

But I'd damned if I ever let her have her way.

I take another sip of my whiskey. She should try harder if she really wants me to fuck and claim her that badly.

It is no secret to the dearest people around me that Kira here has been trying to make herself my equal for months now.

Ever since I took over as Alpha, she keeps filling her head with the notion that she will be my rightful Luna someday.

Yes, she is beautiful, there is no denying that, but there is also something fucking nasty and so arrogant about her. Something really fucked up.

And like I said before, I have never liked her since we were kids.

“Are you done?” I ask in a stern voice.

“What—”

“Unlike you Kira,” I wave my whiskey glass across the file stacks on my desk, “I have a lot more to worry about than obsessing over getting rid of a rogue that is my prisoner. Now, get out of my office.”

The tone of finality in my voice will not be questioned, and Kira knows it. She tilts her head, her gaze never leaving mine.

“I trust you, Alpha.”

Her lips curl into a smile that makes my skin prickle. She bends closer, her elbows pushing up her breasts more, and this time, her tone is softer, almost coaxing.

“If you ever need…. assistance, whatever assistance, you know where to find me.”

And there it is. Her cunning way of always trying to trap me into letting her get what she wants.

I scoff. “Wes and Caleb are all the assistance I need. I'm still waiting for you to get out of my sight. You've overstayed your welcome here.”

I watch as the gleam in her expression falters for a brief second, but she quickly recovers, stepping the hell away from my desk and standing straight.

She smiles and flips her hair back like she always does arrogantly before turning to leave, but just as she reaches the door, she glances over her shoulder back at me, her blue green mismatched eyes hooded with something sinister I have always felt around her.

“Be careful, Raelin.” She warns. “Rogues can never be trusted.”

And with that, she is gone out of my sight, shutting the door loudly behind her.

With her annoying presence gone, I grab my glass still containing my Macallan. I take a gulp and relish in the burning sensation of the liquid as it trails down my throat.

After taking another sip, I keep the glass down and breathe out in exasperation.

Fucking hell.

Kira is imposing and so fucking annoying. She always has a way of getting under my skin.

I don't like her, but I can't deny that she is right about one thing.

Rogues can never be trusted. And this one in my possession right now is one nasty stubborn irk.

When I tried getting into her mind to dig for the truth, she fought me with everything she had, despite her weakness. I am not quite sure if the mate bond between us was what made her resistance to my aura so strong.

But that theory is one I have quite established to be the reason why.

I gently rub my forehead that is still aching me, relaxing back into my comfy leather chair.

As Alpha, my pack comes first.

It always has.

But now… now everything feels so damn complicated.

And I fucking hate it.