“I’m more concerned with the guy thinking he is better than everyone else.” Dane murmurs

“I wouldn’t worry about it. You have more than enough people here to protect everyone.” I shrug my shoulders.

“What if he is already here?” Neah asks. “Lycans have been arriving in groups for days. Some have even said they found each other on the way here. What if that is what he did?”

“There is no one here by the name of Cooper.” Damien mutters. He had been keeping a checklist of everyone.

“You heard her, ‘if it was even his real name.”” Neah scowls

“I wouldn’t worry too much, every asshole shows themselves eventually.” I turn to walk away and Damien stops me.

“Where were you this morning?”

“Do I really need to answer that?”

“Dottie was looking for you.”

“I was watching.”

“She didn’t need you to watch, she needed you to be present.”

“I saw you Damien. You wanted to punch Ryken into the ground, how do you think I would have handled it? My guess is, you already know the answer. Now if you will excuse me, I have some business I need to attend to.”

I walk off across the grounds, disappearing behind Mallory’s burnt out home and dip into the forest.

It’s not long before I could hear Madison talking to someone.

“I don’t know. It’s always been like that.” She tells someone with a heavy sigh, like she had been repeating the same thing for some time.

“I don’t buy it. Lycans always have their Lycans. You don’t just wake up without one.” A male responds

“I didn’t! I told you, this is how it’s always been. Not that it is any of your business.”

I quietly make my way through the trees.

“Sorry.” The guy replies. “I’m just curious about these things. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. Did you hear that our Alpha didn’t have her Lycan for most of her life?”

“I did, but I don’t think that is really any of our business. She is still our Alpha. And if you keep asking, people are going to think you have some sort of problem with it.”

“You are right. Sorry. I guess, I dunno, you seem different to the others. I thought maybe you could help me understand a few things, like why we are here, what does she want from us.”

I roll my eyes, and start making a lot of noise as I make my way to them.

“Someone’s coming.” The guy mutters

“I know, I’m not stupid or deaf.” Madison retorts.

She seems to have this tendency of throwing sarcastic comments out, but not actually taking in what is happening around her. He was trying to get information from her.

“Brax.” she mutters when she sees me and lowers her chestnut eyes

“We’re not doing anything.” The guy mutters

“No, you just happen to be following a woman into the forest.” He has strange eyes, green with little blue flecks. “I didn’t catch your name.” Though remembered his arrival yesterday. He was difficult to read. Not necessarily untrustworthy, but not open either. Dorothy had given him one of her stickers and I had to trust my daughter’s opinion. It didn’t mean I couldn’t keep an eye on him.

“I was just going for a walk.” Madison tells me.

“And I was just making sure she is alright.” The guy gives me a huge grin with perfect white teeth. “There is alot going on around here. You can never be sure.” He looks me up and down. He knew very well who I was. And he is suggesting that Madison needs protecting from me.

“What’s your name?”

“Ash, Ash Thomas.”

“Right.”

Madison smiles at me. “Ash was just going.”

“Are you sure? I mean….” He gestures his head at me.

“I’ve been here a while, Ash. If he was going to shoot me, he would have done so by now.”

Ash bobs his head and weighs up whether or not he should go.

“I suggest you go.” I mutter, taking the choice from him.

He looks back at Madison. “Are you sure?”

“I’m fine, like I said, Brax won’t hurt me.”

He nods and walks away. Madison goes to speak and I put my hand over her mouth, listening to the footsteps move away.

She waits for a few minutes and then pulls my hand away. “What was that for?”

“I don’t like him.”

“I would never have guessed.”

“Was this for my benefit, Madison? To have someone follow you into the forest so I would come running.”

“No. And how did you even know I was here?” She stands on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek.

“I know a lot of things, but if you want him to stay alive, I suggest you don’t let him touch you.”

“You can’t keep me a secret forever, Brax.”

She starts unbuttoning her shirt, backing up against a tree. Trailing my fingers across her stomach, my tanned skin is a stark contrast to her paleness. She shudders against my fingers and her arousal is quick to fill

the air.

It was wrong, but I found myself less and less capable of refusing her, especially when she tasted so good against my tongue.

Her body tremors as my tongue circles her belly button and her hands slide into my black curls. I’m just starting to loosen her jeans when the guy calls out.

“Hey Maddie, I forgot to ask…..”