Chasing After Ashes

Chapter 4: Tension

You know what they say when you’re doing something you know would have terrible results but you do it anyway? As I stared down at Wendell, feeling Tate’s annoyance behind my back like a warm storm I didn’t want to face anytime soon, I knew I had made things worse. Without the guy even doing something which could have justified my blowing up at him, besides my gut telling me I didn’t feel comfortable with his attention.

It wasn’t a good turn of events. Definitely far from it, but I knew if I could rewind time and have the option to do it all over again, I wouldn’t have done anything else other than what I just did. Because I didn’t feel comfortable. And that was it, I realized. That was all the reason I needed because I knew deep in my gut there was something wrong.

What Wendell did wasn’t merely stare at an unknown person who entered the room. No, there was something in his eyes, some sort of interest that sent a screeching, high-pitched alarm all over my body and made me instantly dislike him, be wary of him.

At this point, it didn’t matter we were supposed to follow werewolf protocols, that I promised Tate I wouldn’t show I was dominant or even how dominant I really was; no, nothing else mattered than making sure this guy knew he made a mistake to ensure he wouldn’t do it again to anyone else.

Because it wasn’t a matter of looking at someone wrong, staring at someone for too long, or the fact there was still a sea of never-ending anger coursing through my veins. No. What mattered was the intention behind the glint in his eyes and from what I saw and felt deep in my guts that he wanted to do something I knew I wouldn’t like.

It wasn’t s****l, but I knew once he acted to whatever thoughts were running through his head, I would not like what he would do. The same thing he would feel if he had done anything to me—he wouldn’t like what I would have done to him.

So I didn’t regret anything at all as I crossed my arms and twitched an eyebrow, daring him to say whatever he was thinking. “You got something to say to me?” I asked when seconds passed and not one word came out of his mouth.

He hadn’t even greeted Tate, something he should have done first off when we came in. I may not know every rule in this society, but I know enforcers weren’t usually more dominant than wolves who were next-in-line to be the Alpha, like Tate was. There may be cases where it wasn’t true, but the power which surrounded Wendell paled in comparison to Tate’s, so he didn’t have a good excuse to be this dismissive of him.

The skin around Wendell’s eyes tightened a little but he still didn’t say anything. Instead, he went about a whole other way as he ignored me and turned to Tate. “A little late for propriety’s sake, aren’t we?”

A wave of warm rage roared inside me at the backhanded insult he had done. The nerve of this guy!

My power had roiled out of control unveiling itself fully to wrap itself comfortably around me as soon as I snapped in annoyance at Wendell. As soon I did, he should have immediately felt I was more dominant than him and he should have shown respect or at the very least, acknowledgement of the fact.

It was common sense, something utterly natural and instinctual in wolves that I doubted he just didn’t know it. Had we truly been beasts without a hint of logic and reason, this kind of act alone would have cost him his life as I felt the need in my blood to put him in his place, no matter what.

Well if he was going to do this, then werewolf rules be damned, I thought. Making sure the scorching, primordial fury I had felt before hadn’t surfaced, I stepped closer towards him, blocking his view of Tate.

“I don’t appreciate being ignored so if you have something to say to me, say it now or I will rip the words right out of your throat.”

I heard Tate’s sharp intake of breath behind me but I was past the point of caring. This guy had been making mistake after another mistake and this was one too many today to be called a coincidence. He had gone so far over the line I was sure he didn’t think he was in the wrong nor did he think he was weaker than me.

Something he proved a second later when he leaned to the side to look at Tate and asked, “Is this how members of your pack are supposed to act, brazen, rash, and incredibly stupid?”

I grabbed him by his shirt collar, pulling him closer to me as I growled, “You just have a death wish, don’t you? Well, don’t worry. I’m here to make your wish come true”

Due to our close proximity, he turned to finally look at me, our noses almost touching. Instead of looking like the repercussions of his actions had dawned on him, there was a hardness in his eyes which said he didn’t regret one thing. His dark eyes conveyed how insignificant he thought I was, despite my power which coated the air like perfume so thick and palpable, it could have choked you if it wanted to.

And frankly, I wanted to do it to this nuisance in front of me. It was possible, every bone in my body knew I could do it if I wanted to, yet I hanged on to the spider-web thin control I had left. It wasn’t the right time, not yet. Time for what, I didn’t know, but it felt right so I listened, no matter how I didn’t want to.

“You are nothing but a freak of nature,” he whispered in a soft but firm voice, a smirk on his lips as he continued, “Nothing to be feared of.”

The anger coursing through my veins roared to life that I couldn’t control myself as I gripped his shirt tighter, a deafening growl thundering all around the room as I snarled, “You will regret ever crossing my path you—“

Before I could continue my line of thought, a familiar voice spoke as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Evangeline.”

Instantly, a wave of serenity spread through my body, pushing the anger back inside until what was left was only a hint of annoyance at the whole situation. And for Tate.

I turned my head to Tate, about to snap at him for interrupting my disciplining Wendell, when I saw the look on his face. There was no hint of playfulness in his emerald eyes, besides a seriousness which told me to stop what I was doing because I was making a mistake.

My earlier thought as well but I disagreed because I had a valid reason. Of which I couldn’t explain right now because at this moment, he seemed much older than his age. There was an aura of authority which surrounded him as he stared at me, that I realized I had never seen this side of him.

Shaking my head and feeling like I was being childish in front of Tate— of all people! —I begrudgingly released Wendell’s shirt collar. However, the annoyance at being interrupted from being reasonable enough to put someone in their place, I placed a small amount of force as I released him and pushed him hard against the booth.

There was a loud c***k in the air as the chair splintered right in the middle, spreading quickly like a contagious disease in a second until it split open and Wendell fell through it.

Laughter bubbled up in my stomach as I stared at him stuck at the c***k in the booth only large enough like it was made to be an exact fit for his mid-sized frame. His hands reached for the smooth ceramic planes of the booth, most likely searching for something to grab and boost him off, to no avail.

Unable to hold the sight of him failing so horribly to remove himself from the mess he had gotten himself into courtesy of me, laughter erupted out of me, making me shake in giddiness. The two men with him, let’s call them Assistant 1 and 2, rushed to his aid, each grabbing one arm before they pulled him off the broken dining booth.

“Now who’s acting stupid?” I said to Wendell as I wiped the happy tears that came out of my eyes.

“Evangeline, enough,” Tate said, his voice soft yet firm from behind me.

I turned to look at him, a wide smile playing on my face for the first time in a long while as I said, “What? It’s funny.”

He only shook his head at me, his face all hard lines and angles as he looked back at the Wendell situation with a grim look. I shrugged at him and added, “If you didn’t have a stick up your a*s right now, you’d laugh too.”

He walked towards me, leaning down until his face was inches away from mine. Again. What’s up with him getting this close to me for the nth time today? Feeling weirded out by how he was acting, I leaned away from him.

“This stick up my a*s is needed because you don’t know how to listen,” Tate said in a low voice, soft enough that I knew the other wolves wouldn’t have been able to hear what he said. “or is it that you just refuse to listen because it was me asking?”

My body felt warm at how close he was, his breath sending pleasant shivers down my spine. What the? I thought, my eyes widening as I realized how weirdly my body acted.

Knowing it was neither the time nor the place to think about my reaction or about Tate—not that I wanted to do it at all—I pushed his face away from me and made sure there was a significant distance between us.

I almost sighed in relief as soon as he wasn’t that close to me when I heard a particularly nauseating chuckle. I don’t often hate people upon meeting them but looks like Wendell is a different case because he just grates on my nerves, I thought, my forehead scrunching together in annoyance as I turned to look at him.

He was brushing off bits of dust and the chair away from his polo shirt, a small smile on his face. “So the rumor is true. The mate of the son of the Alpha of the Alcatrozz pack is really the infamous member of the murdering Rosewood Pack.”

“What is it to you?” asked Tate at the same time I said, “No, I’m not.”

I glanced at him before turning my attention back to the hateful bastard. Seriously, I just hate his guts. “Yes, I’m part of the Rosewood pack, but we are not mates. We are nothing at all to each other. In fact, if I wasn’t forced to come here today, I wouldn’t even be anywhere in the same room as this guy.” I raised my thumb, pointing backwards at Tate.

Ignoring the confusion I was sure Tate felt at my statement, I crossed my arms in front of me, raised an eyebrow and asked, “That’s not important. What’s important is, what’s it to you?”

Finally done with cleaning off himself, he stared at me with the same glint in his eyes from earlier that I didn’t like one bit. “A horrible attitude that leaves something more to be desired. Exactly what I expected from someone who belongs in that pack.”

My eyebrows rose high enough that I felt like it could have left my forehead. My voice was a bit higher as I quickly said, “Oh, my apologies that I was exactly what you were expecting. Let me change my question, nay, my attitude real quick so I won’t bore you with my predictability.” The pitch of my voice became lower with an edge of a growl as I said, “What the f**k do you want with us?”

There was no warning sign. One moment he was a few feet away from us with a dark look on his face, the next he had dashed forward and slammed the air out of my lungs in a series of quick punches. Unbelievable, I thought, falling to the ground in surprise at the suddenness of his attack, unable to do anything but stare into space for a second or two.

In that second, I caught sight of Tate fending off the other two men, Assistant 1 and 2, where they all stood earlier. Seeing how he exchanged a series of attacks he had no doubt he would win made me feel angry at myself, more than the man who had the audacity to attack me.

The fury at being beaten like I was nothing but trash on the ground spread through my body. Every nerve ending came to life, making me move quickly to the side to avoid the heel of his shoe from smashing my face. Who would have thought this guy was idiotic enough to actually go through with what he was thinking?

Wendell moved forward, his hands opened in an act to pull me up but I kicked him in the shins. Immediately as he winced in pain, I changed the direction of my right leg and slammed my sneakers into his crotch. Unable to avoid it, he fell to the ground in pain just as I stood quickly, grabbing the back of his head and slamming my knee to his face.

I felt the force behind my knee smash his face broken, feeling something warm and wet soak my jeans. Stepping back, I placed my hands on my waist, shaking my head at Wendell holding a hand to his face. There was blood on his hand, a little dripping to the floor.

“Do you really think you would have won against me, you slimy freak of a bastard?”

I took a step forward, about to grab his shirt again to make my point clear. I was far from finished making sure this guy knew not to disrespect me like that ever again when I stopped, feeling an unfamiliar mix of annoyance, anger, and disappointment spread through my consciousness.

Evangeline, enough! I heard Tate’s voice clearly as if he spoke right beside me, making me snap my head to look around. But he wasn’t close. In fact, he was still at the booths with the assistants, his hands on both of their shoulders, holding them. However, he was looking at me, a grim look on his face.

Not knowing if I hallucinated his voice and the mix of emotions I felt since it was a very real possibility as I knew I wasn’t completely over from the realm I had been under for months, I hesitantly moved away from Wendell. As soon as I did, he dashed forward again, quickly changing his hands into claws.

“Wendell,” the voice was low, husky, totally unfamiliar, and immediately stopped Wendell in his tracks.

I turned my head to the door of the diner and saw a beautiful woman with golden hair cascading down to her back and cream-colored eyes that took one look at the room in one second before settling her gaze at the man who still kneeled in front of me. As soon as he saw her, he stood, all the while still holding a hand to his face.

“Louve.” He bowed his head at her.

Louve? Why would she be here? I thought, remembering what Tate said about sending another member of the pack to a supposedly important meeting. If this woman could have come, why wasn’t she the one to have met us in the first place, and why was she here now?

“What are you doing?” she asked, the heels of her shoes click-clacking on the ceramic floor sounding as ominous as the sharp steel in her voice.

“Putting her in place,” he nodded his head towards me, making me shake my head at him. The nerve of this guy!

But I pursed my lips, getting the feeling it was best to not bother this woman on a mission. This close, I saw her eyes were a dark gold, burning with anger, the skin around her wrinkling as she stalked towards Wendell.

“What have I told you about this meeting? You have embarrassed yourself and our pack needlessly, and for what?”

Wendell moved, kneeling down on one knee as he bowed his head. The Louve turned to me, and as she did, the anger seeped out of her face until she looked as calm and serene as a snake waiting for the right moment to strike.

Snake? I thought, wondering why I, or anyone, would ever think it about this beautiful woman. “My sincerest apologies for how my wolf has treated you. If I had known this was how he would react when he sees the offspring of the woman who had murdered his family and pack, then I wouldn’t have made him come.”

My eyebrows rose at what she said and the way she said it, realizing then why I had the feeling she was a snake.

“Yeah, well how else would he have reacted?” I asked, my tone dripping with every bit of sarcasm I felt at her considerably insincere statement.

Her blonde brow rose delicately as she stared at me up and down, sneering, “My, my. Such a brash child. Although with where you came from, I would not have expected any less.”

The wave of anger I had been trying to push away, to not let it overwhelm me the way it had that day when the rogues came, rose to the surface in a mind-numbing roar that made me stumble back in surprise.

I can’t let this happen again, I thought, knowing the last time it had taken over my body, I could not recognize who I was. As if another person had slipped into me, pushing me back into the furthest parts of my mind where I could do nothing but watch the destruction the stranger caused in my own body.

I stared at the ground, willing with my all for the anger to stand down, be pushed back to where it usually hid in the deepest part of my body, my consciousness, wherever it was. I felt sweat starting to appear on my forehead, dripping down the side of my face as my body started shaking in the effort it took to push it down.

What seemed like an eternity later, the primordial anger coursing through my veins slinked back to the deepest parts of me I had not yet ventured and had no plans to do so at all. It was already frightening to feel it these two times it rose and took over my body, what more if I actually welcomed it with open arms just to see what would happen?

Wheezing, I slowly opened my eyes, and was startled when I saw the woman’s face was inches from mine. She leaned back, placing a hand on her waist as she delicately turned to look at Tate who was walking towards me.

His blonde brows were scrunched together in worry, making me wonder if anything else had happened in the brief span of time I had my eyes closed. I opened my mouth about to ask him that exact question when he gave a brief shake of his head. Not now.

I quickly closed my mouth, immediately understanding it would not be safe to ask that question in the presence of strangers. Well, other werewolves who obviously had strong feelings against me and my family. It would have been one thing to speak to them and insult them but a whole other thing to show even a moment of vulnerability in front of them. Asking if something had happened, showing a lack of knowledge despite all the bravado and courage I showed earlier, would have been exactly the weakness they could grab hold of and tear us apart.

“Things had...,” Tate paused for a second as he held out a hand to me, making me realize my body had not yet stopped shaking at all. I took his hand and immediately the anxiety and fear of not being in control of my own body diminished. “...unfortunately taken an odd turn of events. However we’ve already wasted a lot of time, so let’s get down to why we are all here.”

Tate turned back to the booths, tugging me along with him before he turned his head back to the Louve and Wendell. “Shall we?”

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Hi guys! I think I will be updating daily in the following days, so wait for them! Comment down below what you thought of this chapter or better yet, join the group in the link down below. :)

For those of you who have read up to this point, Chasing After Ashes is the Book 2 of the Rosewood Trilogy. The first book is Alpha, Do I Know You? Kindly see link here for Book 1: https://www.dreame.com/novel/1964802.html

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