Scum (Book 2)

101. Anger

Chey’s POV

Sometimes, people act without really thinking about the consequences, and right now, I’m three rounds into a bloody match against the woman who volunteered to fight me.

She might be a city wolf, but she’s not weak, so I won't make the mistake of underestimating her and losing.

I've landed many blows, so the woman looks terrible, and while she’s given me a few knicks, I’m not bleeding anywhere, while her nose and mouth are literally leaking.

Nevertheless, I have to commend her because, despite the fact that she can barely stand straight, she still avoided my last knockout strike.

“What are you getting out of this?” I ask, realizing that the woman has been doing more dodging than swinging for the last minute or so. Her energy is completely spent, and despite one eye being swollen shut, she hasn't quit. “I don’t want to hurt you anymore, but I will…”

“Don't try to intimidate me!” The woman throws a sloppy punch that allows me to swoop behind her and place her in a chokehold.

If I punch her face any more than I already have, I’ll end up breaking something, and I doubt she has friends with healing potions.

“Tap," I grunt, using my strength to keep the girl immobile, but she allows herself to pass out instead of giving up.

That's not good; all fighters should know when to stop, but something is wrong with the woman I just incapacitated. In fact, I can somehow smell it.

"Poor little rogue," the ref says, checking the woman's neck for a pulse. "A shame there's nothing we can do for her." When I first encountered Jett and Marissa, they smelled sickly sweet to me, a scent I now know indicated that they were ousted from their packs on bad terms.

To them, I smelled strongly of werewolf, but I also smelled sweet, so they knew I was without a pack too.

However, the woman I just fought smells wrong, and if I had to compare it to anything, I'd say she smells like yeast.

It's neither pleasant nor unpleasant, but it's unmistakably 'not right.'

I’ve fought rogues before, but I couldn’t smell them, and I want to believe that had I known my challenger wasn’t in her right mind, I wouldn’t have accepted her challenge.

The woman is out cold, so I help carry her off the mats, and immediately I overhear Cornell complaining.

"I was misled! That girl fights like a professional; she should be barred from challenging anyone untrained." I kind of feel bad for the man because, in a way, he’s right, but he signed the same contract I signed, so he knows that death is the consequence of not following through.

I, however, am still very curious about the rogue I just fought, specifically because I’m just noticing that her body is riddled with bruises, telling me that she’s no stranger to being hit.

"What will happen to her?"

“She’ll probably be confined then assessed for being put down.”

“What did she do wrong?”

“Don’t act like you care, you little b*tch. We all saw what you did to her. You already took my pack, surely you could have allowed that girl to take home a little bit of money.” I ignore the man because, for whatever reason, I don’t think she fought me for money." I mind-link my pack members, asking them if they saw my challenger speaking to, or sitting with anyone before she ‘volunteered;’ they didn’t, but Miguel claimed to know of her.

Apparently, after her mother died, she was abandoned by her alpha, even though she's biologically related to him, because she's inbred and he was embarrassed.

Hearing that story makes me angry, but more than that, it makes me wonder if she was fighting for respect, or if she needed money to survive.

That aside, I can’t stop the council from putting the rogue down, but I can turn my aggression against the person who likely knew this would happen.

“Alpha Franchelle… I might kill someone.”

"Haven't you spilled enough blood?" Cornell asks.

"Clearly I haven't." I know I'm scowling because Marissa is still mind-linking me, and I'm disgusted by what I'm hearing.

"Alpha Lively, check your rage!" Alpha Franchelle is trying to use her authority against me, and while I want to be respectful of her, I just can't.

It's not until after I start questioning Cornell that the woman understands why I’m so upset.

I knew the rogue I fought was trying too hard, and as Marissa gets more information, I don't even have to wait for Cornell to confess to anything.

The man used the woman's sickness and desperation to his advantage.

She wanted to prove herself to him, just like she'd 'proven' herself to so many before him, but I doubt he would have kept her by his side, even if she did win.

"That woman saw you as her alpha. She looked up to, and trusted you, and how did you repay her?" I've already stripped myself of the collar I was wearing, and out of self-preservation, Cornell took his off too.

I don't know why, but right now, all I'm seeing is Liam, and before anyone in the room can stop me, I lunge at and start viciously beating the sick and sorry excuse of a man who dared call himself an alpha.

Money is good, but I would never sacrifice someone else's life to get it, but apparently, Cornell would.

“You lied to her,” I shout. “You made her think she was special to you, but you just wanted to use her. Her life meant nothing. Her sacrifice was-” I’m literally tackled mid-sentence by several people, each one grabbing a different limb to stop me from clawing them as someone else puts the collar back on me.

“Cheyenne, you need to calm down!” Someone shouts.

My vision clears, and instead of seeing Liam, I see Alpha Mateo, his nephew, and some of the other men who were at dinner, and I’m immediately embarrassed.

All the things I said had nothing to do with the rogue I fought. It’s just that her situation was so much like mine that I couldn’t help but compare us.

“Is that what happened to you?” Bruno is looking at me like the sorriest sight in the world, but I don’t need his pity; I don’t need anyone's pity anymore.

“I need to go.” Whether or not Alpha Cornell lives isn't my concern, but I’ve started to think about the rogues I’ve killed in the past.

At the time, the only thing I thought about was protecting the people that I love, but never did I think about the fact that they may have been too broken to consider the consequences.

Just a few months ago, Liam could have asked me to fight anyone, and I would have done it without question, and now, I’m…

“ALPHA?!” I don’t know when I got outside, but based on the way people are staring at me, I need to get out of sight. “Let’s go to the car,” Jett says, pushing me toward where we parked.

“Marrissa?”

“With Miguel and Dyson.” Nodding, I climb into the vehicle and sink into the seat, reeling from the overwhelming emotions that are threatening to drown me.

“STOP!” We hear. “She needs help.” I can now recognize Alpha Mateo’s voice, and despite wanting to get away, I ask Jett to wait for the man to jog up to our car. “Alpha Chey, what’s happening to you right now isn’t normal, and that anger isn’t all from you. When you get home, shower, get in bed, and figure out where it’s coming from.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Stop panicking and focus. Who’s in your head right now?” I close my eyes, breathing deeply as I try to calm myself.

Like Alpha Mateo said, this anger isn’t all mine. I’m an alpha of more than just two people, and I’m currently channeling emotions that don’t belong to me.

“Now is not a good time, and while you’re an Alpha, you’re also something else, so we need to talk, no negotiations.” Nodding, I roll up my window, and close my eyes again, this time overcome by pain.

I don’t have children, but I can feel what it’s like to only have enough money for a single meal. I suddenly don’t know how I’m going to feed my family tomorrow, and mixed in with that, my ‘mate,’ the man I thought would love me more than anyone in this world, is an alcoholic drunk who beats me.

When those feelings fade, I feel worthless because, no matter how much my boyfriend tells me that he loves me, he keeps cheating on me, and I just found messages on his phone that confirm he’s going to be a father.

I’m not his mate, so I don’t have the ‘right’ to be jealous. At least, that's what I was taught, but I’m still hurt because he’s the only man I’ve ever loved, and I left my family to be with him.

“Chey, please calm down. You’re hurting me.” I wish that I could listen to Jett, but all I can do is cry.

By the time I’m in the apartment, I can’t even move, so Marissa, as pregnant as she is, has to help me undress and get into the tub, where I continued to cry until members from the werewolf council showed up.

“Cheyenne, it’s me, Franchelle. Can I come in?” I don’t respond, but the woman still cracks open the door, and sits on the floor.

“Do you know who your biological parents are?”

“I do.” I whisper, struggling not to lash out because I hate watching my mate play with the son he had before he met me; a son that should be mine, but belongs to a random human who bleeds us dry with child support payments. “Why am I feeling this way?” I ask, hating that Cornell may have been right. I’m weak.

“You’re officially an alpha of your own pack, and I think something in your bloodline is causing you to bond too quickly.”

“My father’s a gamma.” The woman sighs, but I know it’s not because of what I just said, it’s because she knows what my file says, so she knows that I’ve always had to deny that part of me, which is why the council doesn’t have it in my records.

“If it helps, you could relinquish your pack to me, or Mateo could help you-”

“I’m not joining the council,” I growl, hating that I’m feeling used again.

Somehow, all of this feels like a sinister plot to make me so indebted to the council that I do whatever they say.