Sniffling, I pull back and giggle nervously. “I’m sorry for being angry at you.”
Aurora reaches out and cups my cheek with a deep look of tender concern in her eyes. “You don’t have to be sorry, Rissa. I know it’s a burden to carry, and Yvonne and I have both been there. But you have to know that we’re here for you, and will be there every step of the way.”
“We’re just worried about you,” Yvonne adds, and I offer her a terse half-smile.
“I’m fine,” I tell her as I wipe at my cheeks. “Encountering the demon dog was…a lot…” I giggle nervously again. “And I just wouldn’t want anyone in the pack to go through that. That’s why I want to do everything I can to help. We need to defeat the demon.”
As soon as I say those words, my resolve strengthens. When I fought the demon before and healed Brooks, I knew that there was no way to run away from my fate. Healing and helping others is what has always given me a purpose in life, and now that I have magic powers, I want to use them for good.
Aurora and Yvonne smile proudly as if they were waiting for this moment.
“Does that mean you’re ready to train with us?” Aurora chuckles lightly as she raises a playful brow.
I smile in response and nod. “I’m ready to be shown the ropes.”
***
Feeling chuffed after a day spent training, I make my way back to the south side of Girdwood, the claws of anxiety washing over me when Alpha Brooks’s house comes into view.
I’d been so distracted with training that I’d forgotten all about my new living arrangement. How am I supposed to face Brooks after everything that’s happened?
Luckily, neither Aurora nor Yvonne brought him up today. I guess that they’re avoiding the subject of my mate bond until I bring it up myself. It’s not something I can avoid forever, since he has me living in his house now.
The only reason I didn’t deny his offer is that, truthfully, I’m afraid of being alone out there near the woods while the demon is out there, waiting for any reason to attack. There’s also the part of me that can’t seem to stop thinking about Brooks, wanting to be near him for some strange reason, despite how much I hate him.
Perhaps it’s because I want to get back at him, make his life a misery because of what he did to me in the past. I know it goes against everything I stand for, but getting an ounce of revenge on him would be satisfying enough to get closure on that past now that the Elders have forced us into a mate bond.
Is that what this is?
Revenge?
The mate bond with Brooks remains something I can’t accept. I have to muster the courage to face him again as I near his house, taking a deep breath to put myself together.
“Rissa Rudolph…” a female voice purrs behind me, stopping me in my tracks.
I turn to find an old classmate at the bottom of the path leading to Brooks’s house, a confused frown furrowing my brows.
“Emily…?” I call back, wondering what she’s doing out here. Because of what happened the night of our graduation,I’d been avoiding everyone with whom I’d once been friends after Brooks humiliated me in front of them. Laura, Emily’s best friend, had used my humiliation as leverage to sink her charming claws into Brooks’s ego that night.
They were so quick to follow his lead and make fun of me, breaking my spirit and continuing the chastise me as the pack’s omega. The memory of that night resurfaces to send a shiver down my spine, as cold as their hostility toward me.
Emily has been shunning me ever since, so what does she want now?
She saunters forward, her chin held high in a haughty manner with a malicious glint in her eyes.
“Is it true you’re Alpha Brooks’s mate now?” she purrs with malice on her tongue, then scoffs. “We’ve heard the soldiers talking, so you can’t deny it.”
I cross my arms and remain as calm and collected as I can be. “What is it to you, anyway? It’s my business, after all.”
Emily scoffs again. “Are you blackmailing him?”
“Blackmailing?!” I chuckle at the ridiculous statement. “Why would I be blackmailing him? He’s an alpha.”
“Exactly!” Emily sneers. “Why would he choose you as a mate when we all know you’re the pack’s weakest link?”
Out of nowhere, Brooks roars from behind me, his thundering footsteps echoing down the path.
“What do you want, Emily?!” he snaps at the she-wolf, whose eyes widen when she spots the alpha coming up behind me.
