AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t know how to get around this,” I said. “I’m not willing to take more time to find other options, we have to convince him. I need you to support me.”
“Around what?” he asked. He’d easily caught onto my panic.
“Apparently it’s not official unless we fuck and it’s witnessed,” I said in a rush. “I told him no. I’m willing to say I’ll be his Luna, that I’ll give us a shot. But the right way. Not decisions made out of fear and desperation. I’m giving him a moment to consider that.” The fire in Nyx’s eyes had my own widening. We didn't need an all out brawl that would set us back even further.
“Oh, fuck no,” he growled. Before I could stop him, he was storming up to the waiting alpha. Torryn looked more amused than anything, practically begging for the punch that Nyx landed to his jaw. Now he was sporting bruises on both sides of his face, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t give me a bit of satisfaction.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Nyx yelled. “She comes to you for help after giving years of her life to this godforsaken pack. Then you try to get her to fuck you? Or what, you let her lose even more? If you actually cared about her, Torryn, you’d man the fuck up and do this the right way.”
“I no longer have the right way in me,” Torryn said without hesitation. “The last thing I want is to live and die as a disgrace. This is my chance to make something more of my pack, to save them from the shame and torture awaiting them. If she’s my Luna then my pack will merge, not be dissolved.”
“You could just as easily do that without dragging her into it,” Nyx bit out as he swung again. This time Torryn dodged the hit. Though I was shocked he didn’t swing back.
“No. Without her as my Luna, my pack is lost. Merging into your pack as a member isnotthe same. If I join your pack, it will be as an alpha adviser, having my Luna who I’ve loved since we were kids, and making you stronger. Not just becoming another burden or submissive pack member.”
“You’ve loved me since we were kids?” I finally butted in. He turned to me with eyes that pleaded for me to accept him, to love him, to choose him. And fuck if a small piece of my heart didn’t want to. There was still a whole fucking lot of contention to work through, and call it the crazy bitch in me, but having him fight this hard for me only made me want to give him a tentative chance. He used to fight with his father on my behalf. On late nights under the stars he would promise to be a better alpha and in many ways he was. Though he had a really fucking long way to go to reach something that resembled a respectable alpha. Just like I did, he had to get away from this cursed land and see the world had changed. That this life was not how we were meant to live.
“I have,” he said with every ounce of sincerity he could manage. “Be my Luna.”
“The cycle stops with you, Torryn. Traditions are for the old world, and we are fighting for a new one,” I challenged. “In Callum’s pack, we do things differently and you will have to change.”
“I’m willing to do that,” he said. “I’ll drop this fight. We can take our relationship at whatever pace you choose. Just give me a real chance.”
At this point I expected to turn to find Nyx livid and ready to continue the fight. But instead, I found it drained from him and only resignation in its place.
“This is deplorable, but I’m willing to trust you,” Nyx told me. “But this shit excuse for an alpha better fucking work twice as hard if he hopes to fix this. Now I’ve seen his character and I wouldn’t trust him to be alone with my mate. I won’t stand by and watch you be used, though.” He turned and walked out on that note and I swallowed down the lump rising in my throat. Nyx was right to be angry, I’d be livid if they came to me with this, but we had few options and it could have ended so much worse.
“Your mate is intense,” Torryn said with a sigh. He stepped close to me so our noses barely brushed. My heart raced at the proximity and now that I was more open to the thought of him, butterflies danced in my stomach. But before he could kiss me, I shoved him gently away. He wasn’t getting the chance to get under my skin so easily. Like Nyx said, he’d have to earn it.
“Just wait until you meet my other mates. Nyx is the nice one.” I laughed as I turned and followed Nyx, praying I didn’t do more damage than good.
ChapterNineteen
Nyx
Part of me was so fucking angry with myself for allowing this to happen. I could practically hear Leven and Callum screaming at me for being a pushover. And I was so close to beating the shit out of the overzealous alpha. But then I saw the look in her eyes. There was something between them. It had obviously gone unspoken for years but her hesitation to ignore his request didn’t go unnoticed. She had feelings for Torryn, though she lied to herself and buried them. It was a right-guy-wrong-place situation, and I didn’t have it in me to not let her find out where it could go.
And in some ways she was right, this wasn’t an easy position to be in but we did need his help. Refusing might mean the downfall of our pack. Could I really fault her for that? If she had been ready to jump right into bed with him then this would be a completely different situation. But that wasn’t Vanya, she’d never treat us like that.
“Nyx, Please,” Vanya called out. Her voice was frantic enough that I stopped walking and turned. She caught up with me, face red from exertion and eyes wild with fear. “I… I don’t know what to say or do now. This needed to happen but I didn’t expect him to take it so far…” She trailed off as she seemed to fight with herself. Tears burned at her eyes and I hated to see her hurting. Even if I was too.
“I’m not happy about it, Vanya. I love you and I don’t want to see you hurt. He spent years breaking you down right along with that pack and you have the scars to prove it. You can’t expect me to just be okay with that. But I also won’t stand in your way,” I promised. My voice was detached and a bit colder than I meant for it to be.
“I’m sorry. The others aren’t going to take it well either, Nyx. And I don’t expect them to. But I truly think this could work,” she said. The conviction in her tone was strong enough that I latched onto it and let it chase away some of the worries this brought up in me.
“I hope you’re right. We need a lucky break,” I said. “But how well can this broken pack fight? Their alpha is unhinged and they’re all in hiding. Outside of Stella, I’ve seen no one else. Are those even numbers that will help us?”
“We can fight and there are more of us than you think,” Torryn said fiercely. We hadn’t heard him come up and we both turned to see him glaring at us. “Don’t count our pack out already or this won’t work.”
“It’s a little late for that,” I deadpanned. “You’ve already claimed her as your Luna. But I’ll be honest with you. Callum won’t share his role as alpha. He’s fair and he’d give you the respect you deserve, but this is where your title began and will end.”
Torryn stared at me for a long moment. I half expected anger to flare in his expression but there wasn’t any. The man had the shadowed eyes of someone who had seen too much. He’d lost half his pack and knew death was swiftly racing toward the second half. It seemed Vanya’s agreement had given him back some of his determination.
“Then I’m glad I’m sharing my pack with a generous and respectful alpha. They’ve been through enough,” he said. “I’m calling a pack meeting now.”
He walked away from us, and I turned to Vanya. “He’s a bit of a contradiction. There seems to be a bond with his people. Yet he hurt you like this.”
“The alpha before him did most of it. Mainly the elders, honestly,” she explained. “Torryn’s were much less severe, but this pack and our traditions were all we knew. He tried to save me from punishment whenever he could but it was a constant battle with the elders. And I’m not the most compliant or silent of wolves. If he didn’t punish us as they demanded, then he’d lose his support and his title. And I have a feeling it would have been just as toxic as Grave’s without him.”
