Scum (Book 1)

10. Loyal

Liam’s POV

After the confusion over what I was ‘doing’ with an incapacitated Cheyenne, my gamma and I are no longer in the mood for a party.

Chey is Dallas’s little sister; if someone is willing to anger him, they’d be willing to do the same to us. Although Kelvin’s sister is five years older than him and already marked and mated in another pack, and Royce's little sister is like twelve, that still leaves my sister Jenna, who isn’t much older than Chey.

She’s away at school, so I rarely get to see her lately, but this situation makes me want to call her, knowing that human males are no different from our species, so it makes sense that she encountered or may encounter this behavior in college.

“Do we tell your dad?”

“Not yet. I want to see if Chey was targeted or not.” Kelvin agrees with me, and we continue monitoring the party, but at lights out, there hasn’t been another girl who was acting out of character, confirming my suspicion.

I want the person to think that they got away with it, and I want Dallas to be involved, so I tell Kelvin not to say anything to anyone until I do. He looks confused, but I know he will do as I asked because, as my gamma, that is his role.

“Do you suspect Royce?” I have to suppress the urge to growl at my friend who I know is still kind of tipsy, but I can understand why his mind went there.

My beta isn’t around, but he’s never had trouble finding a bed warmer, and he was so upset about Chey being dressed up that I would have thought she was his sister too.

I know exactly where the man is because he told me where he was going to be, and who he would be with, which seems to shock Kelvin.

Lately the two of them haven’t been the best at communicating, in part because Royce doesn’t like Porsha, but Kelvin does. I didn’t think the issue was going to become a problem, but now I’m seeing that it is.

“He didn’t say anything to me, so I didn’t know.”

“The two of you need to let go of whatever petty feud you’ve been having.”

“It’s not petty. If you choose Porsha as your Luna, we will have to respect her. Royce is out of line.” I can’t argue there, but I know that Royce only dislikes Porsha because of the way she treats me, nothing more.

“It won’t get that far, but I appreciate your concern.” As I’m speaking, it kind of dawns on me that my feelings are actually hurt by Kelvin, who has never pointed out Porsha’s attitude toward me. Even I know that she can be a b*tch, and it makes me question if he will be more loyal to her than to me. “Remember, not a word until you hear from me,” I remind.

Cheyenne’s POV

“Chey… Chey… Chey… Chey….” My brother has been following me since I left the house, but he knows better than to touch me right now.

“Chey, please listen to your brother.” Nora stands in front of me with her hands held up as if she can stop me, but Dallas moves her before I can, which is good for all of us.

“I don’t know why you guys are so worked up. I’m simply walking to the training grounds.”

“With murderous intent,” Nora says, making me chuckle menacingly.

“Dammit Chey, what if mom finds out?”

“Who’s gonna tell her?” I ask, glaring at my brother who clutches at his imaginary pearls.

“Who are you, and what have you done with my little sister?”

“Not gonna work this time,” I sing, knowing that my brother is trying to lighten the mood.

“Come on Chey, Liam said he’d handle it. Give him time.”

“I’m just trying to make life easier for our future alpha. You can either back me up, or continue trying to stop me, but if you touch me; I’m going to cry and tell mommy that you beat me up for no reason.” My brother gasps, clearly confused on what to do.

In my statement, I challenged his loyalty to the pack and his familial bond, which is a serious thing for wolves of gamma blood.

Under our alpha is our family, then our Luna. It’s just the way our brains are programmed, whether it’s nature or nurture, no one is sure, but just like any other animal, certain traits can be bred, and that’s the running theory.

My brother has gone silent, and by default so has Nora, who may not be of gamma blood, but she has a connection to Dallas that allows her to feel what he feels.

School's over for today, and because alpha Liam is around, I know exactly where to find Candice, who like all other girls, has a thing for the ‘Golden boys.’

She takes one look at me and tries to flee, but I catch her by the hair, giving her a quick slap to gain her attention.

“What did you give me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Candice looks at Nora, knowing that my friend is soft-hearted, but I slap her again, reminding her that her attention should be focused on me. “I didn’t do anything wrong. Someone, please call the-” I release the woman’s hair abruptly, but not because I’m afraid, but because I feel bad about what’s going to happen to her in a second.

“Defend yourself.” Candice retreats several steps, shaking because she knows that she can’t beat me, but she should have thought about that before she drugged me.

“Chey, please… You’ll kill me.” That is exactly my intention, so I shrug, not failing to notice that Dallas is watching what’s happening from behind his hands, conflicted to the max. He has a duty to protect the pack from harm, but as my brother, he doesn’t know which one of us to choose.

“I'll make it quick if you tell me who put you up to it.” I'm not about to pretend that murder isn't on my mind, and I’m fully prepared for whatever consequences may follow, especially since nothing seems to have been done about it.

Just like in any other pack, there is a certain amount of sexism within ours, and what that means is many men, especially those who are higher ranked, seem to think that lower-ranked females are expendable.

They forget that status doesn’t determine our worth, and that, like everyone else, we have people who love and care about us, but today, I will do whatever little I can to change that mindset by beating the crap out of everyone involved.

There’s no point in rushing Candice because, unless she shifts, she’s no threat to me, and from what I know, she can’t shift yet.

It isn’t uncommon or unheard of for wolves of a low rank to take longer to experience their first shift, and some never do, even if they've had an emergence.

I’m beating the poor woman bloody when someone attempts to sneak me, but I’m not the top female fighter by vote, so I dodge the attack, punching the man in the jaw with a satisfying pop.

I could have shattered his face if I were really trying, just like I could have broken Candice’s neck from the very beginning, but it's just not good enough for me.

“What did she do?” Daniel is physically shaking over his sister's form, trying his best to appear tough as he protects her unmoving body, making me think of my own brother.

I was so angry that I just wanted to maim someone, but like me, Candice is loved by her family, even if she’s a horrible woman.

“Someone drugged me last night; she was the only person I accepted a drink from.” The man looks down at his sister and frowns, telling me that he knows the answer.

“It had to be him.” Daniel points, and I grin at Jeremy, who turns as white as a sheet.

He tries to run too late, and I catch him by the back of his shirt, punching his kidney area with full force before kicking him to the ground.

Something tells me that he’s done this before, and even though the man has curled up into a ball, I pummel him, bearing down with so many unrestrained blows that it's beginning to hurt my knuckles. However, I’m unsatisfied.

I pry open one of his fists and break a finger, causing the man to reveal his face as he screams in pain, but just as the sound escapes, I break his nose.

Blood starts pouring from the injury, but I keep punching until my name is shouted in a command so heavy that I’m frozen in place.

Liam’s POV

Porsha called me this morning and she and I got into our first real argument in which neither of us wanted to cave. She was accusing me of being soft-hearted, which isn’t a compliment to an alpha male, but I don’t think being empathetic is a weakness.

Our bickering eventually spread to other things, like her feeling 'neglected’ by me because I didn’t follow her back to school, and honestly, this is a part of the woman that I’ve never experienced before, so I cave and promise her that I won’t get directly involved in unimportant matters, which she takes as me saying that I won’t help innocent people in trouble; that wasn’t what I meant, but I’m not going to correct it.

Eventually, our talk gets dirty, and I can’t wait until she lets me do some of the things she likes to describe. I was Porsha’s first, which fills me with pride, knowing that she chose me because she wanted to and for no other reason, but she’s weird about s*x.

We don’t have a private place to be together yet, so we don’t do it often, but when we do, it's missionary only. She claims that she’s in pain, so she isn’t ready to try anything else, but sometimes, I feel like she just says that because she knows I won’t press her about it.

Truthfully, my feelings for her aren’t rooted in the physical, so I respect her body, and when she’s ready, she will let me know. At that time, I will give her every inch of my d*ck for as long as she lets me.

I groan as I burst into my hand, making Porsha chuckle, knowing exactly what I was doing while she spoke.

Sadly, our conversation is interrupted by a mind-link from my father, so I have to rush her off the phone.