“Fuck yeah, bet under that nice girl act she'd let you fuck her whatever way you wanted. It's always the quiet ones. Plus those scars, bet she loves it rough,” his unranked buddy replies. They all burst into laughter, and I see fucking red. Rage ignites inside me like a match dropped on gasoline. I'm going to fucking kill him.
I’m in front of this piece of shit in a matter of seconds, slamming him back against the hallway wall so hard the drywall cracks behind him. “You want to say that again?” I growl, my voice low and borderline feral.
“We’re just talking shit—” he starts, but he doesn't get to finish. I grip his neck and lift him off his feet so he’s eye level with me. He glances at his buddies, hoping for backup that won’t come. He claws at my hand, but I ignore the sharp sting as his claws slice into me and the blood drips down, dripping off my elbow onto the floor. I squeeze his throat tighter, and he starts to turn purple. He should know to submit quicker. I outrank him.
“You think it’s okay to talk shit about an omega who has spent days in the pack hospital recovering from her extensive injuries and imply that she got them because she likes it fucking rough?” I punctuate my words by slamming him against the wall repeatedly.
He can’t respond; he can’t even breathe right now, so I turn to his friend. “What do you think, Aaron? Is it okay to objectify omegas?”
“N… no, Delta,” he stammers.
“And is it acceptable to talk shit about females in general?”
“No, Delta.”
I drop the unranked wolf when I feel him go limp. He crumples to the floor, gasping and wheezing as he regains consciousness. My wolf pushes me to tear into this piece of shit. He thrashes against the boundary that separates us. Thick brown hair erupts on my arms and my canines extend as he tries to force a shift. I know when I speak that my words will be laced with a growl as I struggle to hold on to my control.
“She is under my protection,” I growl, my voice laced with Alpha-like authority despite my rank. “Trust me when I tell you; you will be sorry if I ever fucking catch any of you talking like that again.”
“Yes, Delta,” they all respond except the one still in a heap on the ground. He's somewhat conscious again but he just nods and bares his neck in submission. The acrid smell of his fear soothes my wolf ever so slightly.
“And stay the fuck away from her. Any of you touch her and I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Yes, Delta,” they chorus.
I glare at them all one last time before storming out of the pack house. I had wanted to keep squeezing that little shit’s throat. Far past the point of losing consciousness. I wanted to see the life drain out of him. But that’s not an option. Ryan would have had to banish me from the pack if I killed a pack member unprovoked like that. I couldn’t do that to my best friend, no matter how much I wanted to.
I need to run. I need to clear my head of the anger still bubbling inside me. When the rage subsides; I’m finally able to stop thinking about Emily long enough to remember I have patrol tonight. I need to get a couple of hours of sleep first.
I sigh and head back to my house and have a quick shower where I absolutely don’t jerk off to the mental image of bending Emily over and tearing off those tight little leggings she wears before sinking into her dripping wet pussy.
Nope, I categorically do not think about that at all, as I come harder than possibly ever before in my life. Fuck, I'm no better than those assholes at the pack house.
Luca joins me for patrol tonight. Something about needing to burn off energy. I don’t even need to ask what caused it. “Sofia getting under your skin again?” I ask after we check in at the first outpost. He nods, his jaw clenched tightly. "Did she do something?"
He huffs out a breath before responding. “She exists. That’s all it takes.”
“Have you ever considered dropping the overprotective big brother act? She’s not a kid anymore,” I prompt, remembering what Sofia said to me recently.
“I fucking know she’s not a kid,” he snarls at me, and I drop it.
We shift into our wolf forms and take off in silence around the perimeter of the pack lands. As always, we do a full sweep first and then on our second lap we check in with the border patrol warriors on duty. Halfway into lap two, Luca’s run has calmed his wolf enough to be able to communicate again via mindlink.
“Sorry, man,” he sighs. “That girl knows how to push every one of my buttons.”
I bark a laugh at him because he doesn’t need to tell me that; I’ve seen plenty of evidence over the years. “What did she do this time?”
“Ugh, I can’t even explain it. She won’t tell me shit.” His wolf huffs out a disgruntled breath, clearly as annoyed as Luca’s human form at being kept in the dark. “How’s it going with the new girl? Sofia seems to be a big fan if her protectiveness is anything to go by.”
“Yeah, she wants Ryan to invite her to stay with the pack. He asked me to tell him if I agree when he gets back from his pack visits.”
“And?”
“And I don’t know yet. She’s jumpy as hell. Clearly traumatized. But genuine too. I think. Maybe. I offered to train her one-on-one. See what she’s really about.”
“You? Offering private lessons? Damn.”
I ignore him.
