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I jumped to my feet, his Beta jumping in front of him, our noses pressed together as we growled. “You don’t know shit about witches,” I snarled, shoving his beta to the side to look my actual opponent in his eyes. “You’re ignorant words show that. Covens are as sacred to witches as packs are to werewolves. They’re family.”
“So, you think your little witch feels that your pack is her coven?” He let out a booming laugh. “I’ve seen how this pack treats her. There is no way in hell she has loyalty to any of you.”
I felt my claws extending, the desire to punish Markus for his disrespect of my mate and her kind. I was just about to make my move when Alexander’s voice boomed out around the room.
“Nyte! Madilyn! Stand down!”
I jerked my head around, finding that Madilyn had taken the Beta I had shoved away to the ground, holding him in place with a chokehold. The lesser Beta had begun to turn blue as she held him, gasping for air when she released him at our Alpha’s command.
With a crack of her neck and knuckles, she stepped away from her fallen opponent, obeying Alpha Alexander and placing herself between me and the other Beta as he slowly rose back to his feet.
“Nyte, I understand the desire to protect your mate, but I’ve told you before that we can’t afford this internal bickering. Not when any of our packs could be the next.” Alexander scrubbed his hand down his face, Beta Jose growling low at us. “We can now confirm that a vampire and a witch are doing this. And the fact that they attempted to take Orion’s pack means they have the confidence to go for larger packs. Orion’s pack is twice our size, and since they couldn’t take that pack, they will be coming for any of us now. We pose less resistance than a pack protected by an entire coven of witches.”
“Maybe we should enlist witches then,” Madilyn spoke up.
“Over my dead body,” Jose growled.
“It just might be,” Madilyn countered with a huff. “You are so blinded by a history that has long been in the past. Witches are not our enemy. Not all of them, anyway, and certainly not Paige or her family. They have done nothing to our kind except accept Nyte into their home and family. They were praising the couple even! Yet we stand divided. You even voted to remove Nyte as the future Alpha over his connection to a witch, despite him being one of the most powerful werewolves within the last century.”
She looked around the room, scoffing before turning away and heading to the door. “People love to say that love is blind, but I’m finding that hate is the blind emotion. Love sees too much beauty in those different to us to be truly blind.”
She left the room, her words ringing in the silence of the office. Not even Markus spoke up; his brows furrowed in deep thought. I looked back at Alexander and Jose; they exchanged glances equally thoughtful in their silence. I said nothing, turning and following Madilyn out of the office. As I approached my room, I stilled; the door was left ajar, and a lack of scent sent alarm bells through my head.
Shit.
Chapter eighteen
Paige
Ionlycarriedonebag with me, a couple of shirts and shorts stuffed inside with my tarot cards, walking along the winding road towards home. It had been more complicated than I expected to sneak out of the packhouse. Even with Nyte and Madilyn in the meeting, I had caught more than a few curious stares as I made my way to the door as naturally as possible.
The real test of my stealth was to sneak around Katya and Chase, the two speaking just off to the side of the house. Part of me wanted to find out what they were talking about. I still didn’t trust Chase entirely, and seeing as he didn’t seem to respect Katya, I couldn’t help but wonder what they could be talking about outside the house, alone. However, I was too furious with Nyte to really care at that moment. I just wanted to get home to my mom and tell her everything that has happened, all the way back to the beginning.
I wanted her to comfort me and promise that everything would be okay. That this moment wouldn’t be the foundation of my and Nyte’s future. Because Heaven help me, I still wanted to be with him. I still loved him with everything I had, and I would forgive him when the anger passed. Maybe I’d even be able to trust him again. But for now, I needed some space away from him. I watched lizards scurry across the road, and seagulls fly overhead, squawking to one another in their search for food along the beach. It was going to be a long walk back to my part of the peninsula, but I didn’t mind. I always walked home from my job, and although this was a far longer walk, I could manage it just fine.
“Wouldn’t have to be walking at all if I had found Nyte’s car keys,” I groaned, kicking a rock along the path.
Luckily, my chucks were available, making the walk much more manageable than if I had to wear my flip-flops, which would have most likely broken before I reached the cemetery. I turned my head at the sound of an approaching car, frowning as the unfamiliar vehicle began to slow to a stop beside me.
“What in the hell are you doing out here?” Katya asked, lifting the sunglasses from her face as she looked at me with a disgusted smirk.
I rolled my eyes, returning to walk as she inched her car alongside me. “None of your business, Katya. Just go on about whatever you’re doing, and I’ll do the same.”
“You really don’t get how a pack works,” Katya snarked. “Just because we fight doesn’t mean we won’t help each other out. And you were right; I don’t have a future as Nyte’s Luna. He isn’t even going to be Alpha now, so none of that stuff matters. But as his mate, you are technically pack, so I can’t exactly leave you on the side of the road now that I’ve seen you out here.”
I looked at her; my eyebrow raised suspiciously. “You were literally ready to rip me apart earlier today.”
“Yeah? I’m ready to rip my sister apart every morning, but she’s still my sister.” She pulled the car up ahead of me, turning to block my path along the road before getting out of the car. “Listen, I’m already in hot water for picking fights with you in front of the kids. If anyone finds out that I left you to walk to wherever the hell it is you think you are going, then I run the risk of exile. So, how about you help a girl out and get in the car? I’ll take you wherever you need to go.” She held up three fingers, smiling. “Scout’s honor.”
I groaned, dismissing my best judgment as I looked along the road, seeing just how far I had to go. I barely could see the cemetery entrance from here, and my family’s home was all the way up by the Sunset Cliffs.
“Fine,” I submitted.
Katya smiled, her eyes glistening like the ocean as they caught the sunlight. “Good! I knew you couldn’t be all that bad.”
I snorted, walking around her car and sliding into the passenger seat. I dropped my bag at my feet, fastening my seat belt as she checked her lipstick in the review mirror before pulling back onto the road.
“I’m just going to my parent's house,” I told her. “You can drop me off at the Sunset Cliffs. I can walk from there.”
