Caelum.
All I felt was a blinding pain. And red hot rage as I glared up at the smug-looking Alpha Frostclaw who seemed so satisfied that he'd been able to hit me this hard.
Anger coiled tight and deep in my stomach, only intensifying when I saw the smile on Leilani's face.
Obviously, she enjoyed this. She liked that I was hurt. Revelled in the sight of my blood pouring down my face and seeping into my shirt like I was some deranged hobo.
I growled in rage, ready to charge at Frostclaw when suddenly I felt a strong pull from behind me.
Yeah right, it was Zevran. My pussy ass brother.
He held my arm in a grip so tight, I feared he wanted to rip my arm off, and then he turned to me, seething; "E.N.O.U.G.H!"
"Are you kidding me?!" I screamed, enraged. "You're just going to stand there and allow this… this…" my voice trailed off as I found no adjective suitable for classifying Alpha Frostclaw, so I settled for something not so disrespectful. "… man here hit me like that?! And all you can say is enough?!"
"Caelum!"
"Don't call my name!" I snarled, pulling out my arm from his hold in irritation. "Don't speak to me like I don't know what I am doing!"
"And if you did know what you were doing, you would realize that you've gone out of line this time. We're at Frostclaw. Inc. Look around you!"
It wasn't until then that the gravity of our situation settled at the base of my stomach like a boulder in a ditch. I gritted my teeth in rage and turned away. "Whatever!"
But as if to further shame me, he tootled his head curtly— not to me but to them, and whispered; "I'm sorry for what happened here today, Ms Sinclair and Alpha Frostclaw. Maybe we can talk about the business some other time."
Alpha Jarek scoffed. Leilani dropped her gaze, but I didn't miss the smug smile on her face. Or the satisfaction oozing off of her like blood from a cut.
She was truly enjoying this!
What a malicious little slut!
"Please…" Zevran added, and I immediately had this irresistible urge to smack him hard across the face. Probably inflict him with as much pain as I was in right now.
My anger tripled when Jarek stepped forward, his chest almost brushing against Zevran's as he spat; "I will not do any form of business with you both in the future," he glowered; "But if Leilani here decides to do business with you later, then I have no say. It's all totally up to her."
My blood boiled.
But to my surprise, Zevran didn't seem mad. He simply turned to look at her, his gaze unreasonably soft. Then he muttered; "Guess I'll have to talk to you some other time then?"
Hearing that, Leilani scoffed derisively at him. "Save it." She snapped, and with that, strutted away from us without a second glance.
Alpha Frostclaw followed behind her shortly after pinning us with a cold glare, and I couldn't help but be enraged further by watching them leave.
He looked… seemed like she had him wrapped around her pinky finger, and Leilani being the ever scheming bitch was riding this high to her advantage.
"Bitch!" I seethed under breath, causing Zevran to quickly turn to me with cocked eyebrows. "See how satisfied she is with everything that's just happened! See how good they look together!"
"Caelum!"
"Did we ever look that good with her? Did she ever smile to any of us like she's smiling to that guy?! She's head over heels for him and he feels the same way too! Urghhh so disgusting!"
"What's disgusting about that?" Zevran's voice was small. Cold. Calculated. But due to my rage, I didn't notice the weird glance he was throwing at me, or the small twitching at the corners of his lips as he stepped closer.
Too close.
"What makes their love-life so disgusting?"
"Because she's supposed to be mine!" I growled in annoyance, surprised that he would even ask something like that. "Because it hurts seeing her with that testosterone-shots-advert of a man! Because she's my mate— our mate! And she's busy frolicking with another man when she should be with us!"
Zevran scoffed. "Unbelievable!" Then turning away from me, he muttered under his breath; "…you're so fucking unbelievable right now!"
Huh?
"I can't believe that you're jealous right now! And stupid!" He snarled, causing me to frown even further.
When did I say I was jealous? When did I ever mention the word; 'Jealous'?
It took me a moment to realize my slip up as the previous words I'd just said rushed back to my memory like a freight train, and when it did, I bit down on my tongue in embarrassment, hating myself for saying that shit out loud.
And hating myself more when I noticed Leilani standing not so far away, glaring at me with eyes as cold as the Appalachian.
She tipped her head to the side, beckoning on someone I couldn't quite see, and then she spat; "Security, that's him."
I froze.
—
Even way before we arrived at the pack, news about our failed 'alliance' had reached Kael, Chalice and Gavin, who were all presently waiting for us at the parking lot when our car arrived.
However, as soon as we stepped out of the car, the looks on their faces quickly morphed from confusion into worry as soon as they saw the state I was in— all broken nose-d, bloodied and bartered.
Chalice cried out; "What the hell happened to you?!"
"Leilani happened," I drawled back, allowing her to loop her arms around mine as she led me into the house.
However, Kael and Gavin stopped as soon as I spoke. Kael snarled; "What did she do this time?"
"I guess she cannot handle a little bit of truth and had her new plaything, Frostclaw, punch me square in the face for pointing out some of her flaws." I snapped, my eyes momentarily meeting Zevran's steely gaze before he looked away.
"What?!"
"We couldn't afford to fight back though. We were on Frostclaw lands. In his company. We were extremely outmatched." I continued, ignoring how rigid Chalice had become beside me.
"Oh that bitch will never cease to amaze me! She's such a wench! If I was there, I would've plucked out her fucking stupid purple eyes and feed it to a praying mantis." Chalice swore so loud, I froze midstep.
But I wasn't the only one stunned— Gavin, Zevran, and Kael were too.
We all turned to her in surprise because she had sounded so raw, so vile, I could hardly believe that it was my innocent Chalice that had spoken just now.
She suddenly smiled, scratching her neck nervously. "Guess I was just so pissed…" she squealed, causing everyone to nod in understanding.
But I didn't.
That had sounded too natural coming from her… too real. Or was I overthinking things?