Talons

Chapter 109: The Plans

Rhea’s POV

I’m stuck staring at the two men who are going back and forth with one another as if I’ve already agreed to any of them, when I feel a tiny hand on my cheek forcing my face to turn in its direction. 

“Wice,” Carly says, and I swear there is a little aggression in her tone. I chuckle a bit at her baby priorities. She’s unconcerned with the arguing men because her stomach is more important. Mandy is the same way, so I don’t even have to ask where she picked that trait up from.

Holly told us that she ran out of ‘wice’ about an hour before we arrived, and obviously, Carly is still hungry. I see it as my way out of the awkward situation, so I try to subtly sneak away. 

“I’m just going to…” I start to scoot around the men, but one of them stops me.

“Wait. What’s your name?” I stare at the man speaking. I have met him several times, we have even had classes together.

“You know me as Brain,” I say, and both men gasp.

“Stop f*cking around,” he says, and now I’m annoyed. He has gone beyond mating instinct and is crossing into dangerous territory for himself.

“I’m going to leave now, and I suggest for you to get out of my way before I get angry.” One of the men listened, but the one I had class with chuckled. 

His name is Daniel and I remember him being extra touchy with the girls in high school. Some of them didn’t mine it, but others called him ‘free hands Dan.’

“There’s no way Alpha Colt would allow you to step foot within this territory if you are who you say you are. If you aren’t interested just say so.”

“Fine, I’m not interested.” By this time, Mandy and Holly have stopped laughing, and many of the males who had been trying to show off now have worried expressions on their faces.

“You know what you little rogue b*tch. I was trying to be polite before, but you obviously don’t have any manners.”

I hand my baby cousin over to her mother, expecting to have to break the jaw of the man in front of me, but before Mandy can fully move out of the way, Colton tackles Daniel to the grass.

“What did you call her?” He growls into the male’s face as he straddles him on the ground.

Carter pulls me away from the men, and in place of Daniel, I imagine myself cowering under Colton as he continuously punches my shoulder. I start hyperventilating before I break into a full sprint, tears streaming down my face as fear consumes me.

Colton’s POV

Dolton and I were talking about issues he noticed with our patrols, and men he thought needed ‘correction.’ I didn’t need him to tell me that our guards have become lazy, but the fact that a visiting alpha is more concerned about our safety than they are is seriously an issue.

My brother knows it's because of our father, so he isn’t accusing me, but rather giving me pointers on where I can implement improvements. He has no desire to stay in the states, and the only reason he is still around is because of Miracle.

To Dolton, taking over a ‘dead-end’ pack when he already has a functioning pack he’s poised to lead is an unnecessary burden that will only interfere with him bonding with his mate, which he claims is a struggle. Apparently, she has a very specific order in which she wants things between them to follow.

“This is the longest I’ve gone without having real sex.”

“Yeah, well. It’s been a year for me.” My brother coughs dramatically, and literally jumps out of his seat.

“A year?” He shouts. “Why?” I explain the whole Carly’s birth and the hospital things and Dolton sinks in his chair.

I was about to go into further detail, but someone started to push against my block, so I dropped it. Mandy tells me that a group of unmated males has started to stalk B, and I curse myself for not telling her what I noticed earlier.

I sprint out of my office, hoping nothing bad happens and just before I send out a mass link to all male pack members, Mandy mind-links me again, telling me to block Daniel out of any warning I send. 

At first, I didn’t understand it, but I trust my beta female's judgement. When I get to where they are, I see what Mandy was trying to do. She can be cunning when she wants to be, and apparently, she wants to teach Daniel a lesson.

I tackle him; he’s one of our better fighters, but I can easily kill him, which is likely if I ever hear him talking to my mate the way he had been doing again.

“What did you call her?” I growl, straddling the male whose eyes have gone wide in shock.

“Alpha Colt… I- She-” Daniel can’t make out a full sentence, and I find myself pummeling him with punches as I warn him and everyone else around that Rhea is taken and to make sure that no one misunderstands, I add her nicknames to my warning.

Daniel’s body goes slack before I get off him, and when I look up, my mate is gone.

“Where did she go?” I question, wiping the blood on my hands away.

“Holly took Carly and followed her. I think she’s scared,” Carter replies. 

As I thought, my mate isn’t cut out for violence, and I must have gone too far, but Mandy and I knew what we were doing. Two men approached Rhea, but only one of them chose to disrespect her, and thanks to Mandy’s quick thinking, I just made an example out of him.

I don’t blame either male for finding my fated partner attractive, but I will not tolerate any sort of disrespect, and I make sure all the men standing around understand that. She is their future luna, and I have no intentions of rejecting her.

“Where did you go earlier? Why didn’t you help us with B’s things?” I rub my forehead, annoyed with myself.

“I needed to get away from her,” I admit. “Her scent was smothering me, and… I’ll tell you about it later.”

After cleaning my hands with one of Carly’s wipes, I mind-link Holly who tells me that she was unable to keep up with my mate, which doesn’t surprise me. 

Rhea was always good at disappearing into her surroundings and based on my knowledge of what the girl would do anytime she was trying to get away from me, I headed straight to my mother’s garden.

As I expected, she was there, huddled against the tree.

“Rhea,” I say calmly. “I’m not angry with you, but he overstepped. Do you understand that?” My mate nods, and I sit near her, but she scrambles away, making me sigh in dejection. “I want to talk to you about the woman at the-”

“Wice,” a very cute, yet angry voice interrupts, and Rhea jumps up and away from me to respond to it, leaving me to my own thoughts. 

It was painfully obvious that she didn't want to be near me, so my wolf and I started trying to come up with ways to get her back to a point where she isn’t moving away from us again.

"What about our mother’s tool shed?" Orlin suggests, and my eyes light up.

Rhea’s POV

I don’t want to be near Colton right now, so I’m immediately relieved when I hear Carly’s voice, and I find myself sprinting toward it. I don’t know what he was going to say about Giovanna, but I don’t want to hear it.

Holly and I walk back to the Packhouse with the little girl, who has started to get cranky. I take her in my arms, and start to explain the situation, and why it’s taking so long. 

Colton’s cousin is shaking her head at me, but like magic, Carly quiets down and stops fussing.

“How did you do that?” Holly asks, and I shrug. I’ve always been good with children, just like my mother and grandmother. She responds to my shrug with a shrug of her own then changes the subject. “Did Colt talk to you?” I shake my head and she tells me that we’re having a lady’s night.

That confuses me, but I think I would like to go out with just her and my cousins. If I can show Colton that I can be trusted coming and going early on, then escaping will be much easier. He wouldn’t even suspect anything as I walked right out the front gate.

After returning Carly to her mother, who has already started cooking ‘wice,’ Holly follows me back to my room. There is a very young girl putting away the groceries, and I’m extremely put off by the fact that she is working.

It’s not quite summer break, and while it is a weekend, it's past 8PM, too late for young children to work.

“I know what you are thinking, but my cousin doesn’t allow many people into his suite; she is an exception.” My eyes widen with Holly's words, and she clasps her hand over her mouth. “Wait, I didn’t mean it that way.”  I choose to ignore it, but I’ll keep that piece of information for our next rejection hearing.

Colton’s POV

I was in my office when Holly sent me a mind-link that she may have made my mate think I was a pervert. I sigh dramatically and start walking to my suite, where I find Rhea talking to Crystal. She is omega born, and last year both of her parents were killed while coming back from work.

Her twelve-year-old sister is now responsible for her and their eight-year-old brother, so I ‘hire’ her to do small tasks around my suite. Somehow, Holly made that sound sinister, and now my mate is questioning the girl who is beyond confused.

“I’m very grateful for your help, but I  just want to make sure you are taking school seriously,” my mate says.

Rhea is smooth. She was not asking about school at all, but at only ten, Crystal was lost.

“Alpha Colt makes it so we don’t have to borrow too much from the pack. Please don’t make me choose.” My mate’s reaction is to hug Crystal with a promise, and I see a way in. I clear my throat and they look up at me. “Alpha,” Crystal cheers.

“Hey Crys, when does summer break start?” I ask.

“In two weeks,” she replies excitedly.

“I may have a permanent position for you.”