C4

Nyla Ravensalt POV

"Hey, where do you think you are going?" Selene Thornmoon sneers, stepping right in front of me.

I do not want to see her ugly face. She always tries to fight with me since we are pups. I just pull out my small leather pouch to pay the barkeep for my fire-water so I can leave this tavern in the Shadowmoon Territory.

But Selene grabs my arm hard and stops me.

"Look at this low Omega courier!" she laughs super loud so the other girls can hear. "What are you delivering tonight? Is it cheap pack oils or dirty rogue herbs for bad wolves?"

She reaches out her hand to grab my leather bag.

I pull away fast and give her a cold look.

"Selene Thornmoon, do not make me bite you!" I say.

"Bite me? Ha!" Selene looks like she just heard a funny joke. "Nyla Ravensalt, you are not the mate of my brother anymore. You are a nobody now. Why are you still acting like a proud Luna?"

I keep my mouth shut tight. My jaw hurts because I am pressing my teeth together so hard.

Selene waves her hand to the other girls. "Go grab her bag right now!"

"Why, just look at her bag?" another wolf girl yells, stepping up close to me. "She is out late at night doing delivery work for rogues. I think she is not just delivering boxes. Maybe she is selling her own body to random lone wolves in the woods!"

"That is true," the third girl says, showing her sharp teeth. "But she looks like a cold, dead fish anyway. No real male wolf wants to touch her. Let us just tear her clothes off right here and see what she has. That will show the pack my brother did nothing wrong!"

Selene's eyes go super bright. "Yes! Let us do that!"

The wolf girls move toward me together. Their hands look ready to grab me. My face goes white.

I turn around fast and run away like a deer. I am super quick, so they cannot even catch my tail.

But I drank too much firewater, so my legs feel heavy, and I do not know where I am going in this big, dark place. I see a bone sign on a door that says 'Gents', and I push it open and jump inside fast.

"What the hell!" a boy screams.

There are two male wolves inside. One is leaning on the wall with a smoking herb stick, and the other one is using the stone wall toilet. He gets so scared when I barge in that he almost pees on his own fur boots.

My face goes super red. I never saw a boy wolf do that before. I stand there like a dumb pup for two seconds. Then I realise I am in the wrong room.

"I am sorry!" I say, my voice sounding super small. "I went into the wrong door!"

I try to turn around to run out, but I hear Selene's loud voice right outside the woods.

"Where did that Omega girl go?" Selene screams. "Where is she hiding?"

"I saw her run this way!" another girl shouts. "She must be inside the toilet! Go in and find her!"

My heart goes super fast. I look at the two big boys in front of me. The boy with the smoking stick looks familiar, but my head hurts too much to think.

"Please," I whisper to them. "Can I just hide in here for a little bit?"

I know it is a bad thing to ask, but I do not want Selene and her friends to tear my clothes off.

The tall boy with the smoking stick does not say anything. His face looks like ice. He looks at the other boy, who is still fixing his pants fast.

"Get out," the tall boy says. His voice is deep and cold.

The other boy looks super scared. His heart is shaking so much I can hear it. He runs out of the room like a rogue wolf is chasing him.

My head feels super dizzy now. I try to hold onto the wall, but my knees go soft like water. I start falling to the stone floor.

I close my eyes because I think it is going to hurt.

But I do not hit the hard floor. A big, strong arm catches me around my waist. He lifts me easily.

I hit his hard chest, and my head spins even more. My feet cannot even stay on the ground.

The tall boy throws his smoking stick away. He holds me tight with both hands, so I do not fall. He looks at my red, drunk face and makes a mad face.

"Nyla Ravensalt, how many horns of fire-water did you drink tonight?" he asks.

My eyes are blurry. I do not understand how this big wolf knows my name.

"Do you know who I am?" I ask him.

His eyes are super calm. I cannot see what he is thinking. Then his lips move a little bit into a small smile.

"No," he says. "I do not."

...

The tall boy carries me out of the tavern in his arms.

I put my hands around his big neck because I am so dizzy. My face feels super hot, and my eyes are almost closed. I am too drunk to move.

He puts me down on the soft fur seat inside a big black horse wagon. Then he climbs in and sits next to me.

The other boy from the toilet sits in the front and moves the horses. "Where are we going, Supreme Alpha Lord?" Garrick Wolfhart asks.

"To the Saltwood Alpha Keep," Magnus Saltwood says.

"Yes, Alpha!" Garrick says.

The big wagon moves fast down the dark dirt road in the middle of the night. I am so drunk that I just press my head against the cold glass window. I cannot even think.

When I get drunk, I do not scream or make a mess. I just want to sleep.

So I do not even know what is happening to me. I do not even care that a strange, big Alpha boy is sitting right next to me in the dark.

My mind is completely blank and fuzzy. My stomach feels a little sick from the fire-water.

Suddenly, my talker makes a buzzing sound inside my bag.

I feel around inside the leather for a long time before I find it. I press the button and put it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Nyla Ravensalt, Selene told me you left the fortress with a strange male wolf!" a mad voice yells.

It is Ronan Ashclaw.

I open my eyes a little bit. Everything looks blurry and watery. "What do you want? Did your sister run to tell you tales?"

Ronan's voice sounds heavy and mean. "I know I hurt your heart today, but you should not go and throw your body away with random wolves because of that! A tavern is a bad place for a girl. How can you just—"

I do not want to hear his voice anymore. "Cut it out," I say. "Why are you calling me?"

"Where are you right now?" he asks. "I will send a pack warrior to pick you up."

"Did Seraphine let you do that?" I ask him.

"Seraphine is a good girl!" Ronan shouts. "She loves you like a real sister. If some rogue hurts you tonight, she will be the one crying the most!"

I let out a big laugh.

He is the most shameless wolf in the whole world.

Seraphine keeps showing me how bad a wolf can be.

"Then I guess she did not tell you she called me a little bit ago?" I tell him. "She told me she finally stole my boy. She even talked about the pup in her belly to make me feel bad!"

Ronan says right away, "That is a lie! She would never do that!"

I just laugh because it is so funny how dumb he is.

Ronan takes a big breath. He sounds super impatient now.

"Nyla, what do you want from me?" he snaps. "Seraphine never says a mean word about you. She heard you were drinking at the tavern, and she told me to call you fast because she is worried. But look at you!"

He keeps yelling into the talker.

"You always say mean things about her! We did a bad thing, but are you perfect? No!"

"You always bully her because your family line has more pack resources! Every time I ask you to come to the Alpha Council meetings with me, you make up dumb excuses. I told you to stop your delivery job, but you told me some stupid stuff about how all work is good!

"Nyla, I am the Alpha Successor! I care about what the pack thinks of me. I cannot let the other wolves know my girl is carrying boxes around like a low courier wolf!"

"You only care about yourself, and you do not care about my feelings. And now you are still blaming us!"

My whole body starts shaking with hot anger.

I never knew Ronan thought about me like that this whole time.

I bullied Seraphine?

I did not want to go to meetings with him.

I made him look bad because I work hard?

My eyes get super hot and red. Then a small, crazy laugh comes out of my mouth. It is just too funny.

"So that is what you think!" I tell him. "Great! Remember what you said to me today. I will never forgive your wolf. One day, I will make you regret this so bad!"

I hit the button and turn the talker off.

The big horse wagon becomes super quiet and dark.