Heavenly Poison

Damien Gray

“Brian,” Anthony nodded at Luke’s father.

Anthony had not been kidding when he said others would rise up against us. Mountain Peak had around two hundred and twenty members. Standing behind Brian were somewhere around twenty or thirty of them, backing him up.

“Alpha,” Brian replied in the same tone Anthony had used.

“This isn’t something public,” Anthony said, looking the shifters standing behind Brian.

“They are here with me to protest.”

Despite Brian’s words, I had to give him props for acting civilized, a department in which Luke was lacking.

“To protest what?” Anthony asked.

Brian, who was Anthony’s third in command, should have been in the spot I took. While I was standing on Anthony’s right, Wayne was on his left. Emilia was next to me, but I made sure to keep her a step behind. Sebastian was leaning against the building wall, with his arms crossed.

“I want Luke back. I hear you locked him up.” His words were directed to the Alpha, but Brian was looking at me when he spoke.

“I’m not letting him go.”

“So you’re going to lock up anyone who tells you how weak your daughter’s mate is?” he asked, in a defying tone.

Everyone went quiet after Brian made that snarky comment, everyone except Sebastian. He broke out laughing uncontrollably and enough to gain everyone’s attention.

“Seriously,” he said in between laughs. “Your cockiness is for nothing. Maybe you should ask Lukey boy how exactly he got locked up.”

Brain growled at Sebastian, and he tried to take a step forward, but he didn’t get too far. I was surprised when it was the same people from the pack who kept him back.

“You don’t belong to the pack. Humans don’t have a say or a part in our world,” Brian growled.

“You should be careful with your words. We did manage to capture Luke. Although, I can’t say it was that hard. The guy’s a little on the slow side,” Sebastian casually commented.

Brian became angrier with each word that Sebastian spoke.

“Anthony locked him up. That wasn’t fair for Luke. Anthony’s an Alpha, he’s naturally stronger,” Brian explained to Sebastian, in a condescending tone.

“You say that and yet you still want to take over the pack? Stupid much?” Sebastian asked, and there was a grin on his face. He was all too aware of what his words were doing to Brian.

Anthony didn’t even try to intervene when Brian went after Sebastian. It almost seemed like he wanted to see how Sebastian would handle the attack.

“Seb,” I sighed, knowing it wasn’t going to end well for Brian.

“What? I’m not doing anything.” Sebastian raised his hands innocently, just before Brian was in his face.

Brian aimed his fist at Sebastian’s jaw, but he easily swerved it, only to have Brian go at him again.

“Stop,” I ordered.

I held my hand out to keep Brian standing still. I was glad that Sebastian listened and actually stopped any attack he was planning.

“What are you doing to me?” Brian asked with panic clear in his voice.

“I’ll let you handle this one,” Anthony said, pressing his hand on my shoulders.

The way he was looking at me, like he was proud of me for some reason, it made me feel strange. He didn’t have any reason to be proud of me.

He looked at me the way a parent would to his son and that messed with my head, it wasn’t something I was expecting from him.

“Back off or we’ll make you back off. It might not be nice for any of you.” As I said those words, I moved my eyes over the group of shifters that came with Brian.

“You are not a Werewolf! How can you be our Alpha? You have to be a Werewolf to be an Alpha,” Brian snapped at me. To Anthony, he said, “How can you trust this kid with your pack, with our pack?”

It was hard to take Brian seriously while he was restrained, by me nonetheless. He kept fighting me. I felt him tugging on the hold I had on him, but it wasn’t enough to break him free. The more he struggled, the more tired he grew.

“The kid is stronger than you,” Anthony said, knowingly.

I grinned at his vote of confidence, although he wasn’t exactly right. I wasn’t really stronger than a Wolf, at least not stronger than most. I just happened to have some advantages.

“Are we doing this or what?” Sebastian interrupted.

“We’re doing this,” I replied.

“I just want my son,” Brian stated.

“What do you all want?” Anthony asked, turning to the group of shifters that came along with Brian.

“An Alpha, a real Alpha,” one of the guys from the group answered.

When the he spoke, the rest of them cheered along.

Most of them were guys. The few girls in the crowd were holding on tightly to whichever man they were with. I was betting the only reason they were leaving the pack or attacking it was for blindly following after their mate.

“Haven’t I been an Alpha?” Anthony questioned.

He was trying to keep himself composed, but I could see what was behind the words he spoke. This was getting to him, the uprising from his own pack.

“We don’t want the kid as an Alpha. Brian promised us a better Alpha. We want Luke,” another one of them replied.

I released the hold I had on Brian, mainly because I felt bad for him. He didn’t realize that no matter what he did, he wouldn’t be able to move unless I allowed it.

As soon as I let him go, he ran back to his little group of rebels.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, although nothing had been resolved.

“Luke disobeyed Emilia,” Anthony said.

“She’s your daughter, but Emilia isn’t the Alpha just yet,” Brian replied.

He got a smug look on his face, one that was short-lived after Anthony spoke.

“Luke was still part of the pack when he tried to overthrow me. His betrayal will be punished as I deem fit. You can choose to abandon the pack, all of you,” Anthony said, giving a cold look to every one of the shifters standing before him.

“If you leave now, you will not be welcomed back. I will not allow an attack towards the pack, towards myself, or towards Damien and Emilia. They will become Alphas, whether any of you like it or not,” he finished.

They had to have been aware of the authority in Anthony’s voice as he said that. Some of them even cowered back.

“Is this your final decision?” Brian asked in a snarl.

He was ready to attack, whether he was going after Anthony or myself, I couldn’t be too sure.

“It is.”

“Then so be it.” As soon as Brian spoke those words, he shifted into his dark brown Wolf.

It was smaller than Anthony’s, but he was still of good size and looked intimidating enough. He threw himself at Anthony, who wasted no time in shifting into his black Wolf as well.

The rest of the shifters that came with Brian joined the fight soon after. They started shifting and began attacking any of the Wolves who stood to the side. Some of them came after Emilia and me. They were easy enough to take care of.

I could see the confusion in their eyes when I held out my hand in front of me and kept them a safe distance away.

Sebastian finally looked excited. He was by my side soon enough, ready to get in on the action.

“Finally, I thought we were going to stand here all day discussing the weather,” he said, before choosing his target.

I didn’t try to join in. I simply kept any Werewolf that came to close to Emilia and me, back.

Randy, my future Beta, wanted to jump in the fight. I didn’t allow it and he seemed disappointed when I stopped him. I didn’t want to restrain him, but I knew I would have to if it came to it.

“Can you fight against a Werewolf?” Emilia asked.

Her eyes were concentrated on Sebastian, who was fighting against a Wolf. They were both about the same height. I always found it awkward to fight against a shifter if it was in his Werewolf form, but Sebastian didn’t seem to mind. Whenever he thought the Wolf had an advantage or the fight was getting too difficult, he simply used his mind to shove the Wolf away.

It was really messing with any shifter that fought with him. They couldn’t explain the unknown force that took over them when Sebastian shoved them away or broke something in their body without even touching them.

“I’m not as strong as he is,” I said, nodding in Sebastian’s direction.

I had just finished speaking, when Brian shifted back into his human form. I hadn’t realized that he and two other guys were going against Anthony. I guessed that Brian was smart enough to know that he couldn’t take the Alpha on his own. And he hadn’t been able to do it, even with help.

He was pleading for mercy.

“We’re only twenty-two. Now we’re less because you killed some of us. It isn’t a fair fight,” Brian said.

I had less respect for Brian when I saw him standing there, naked, bleeding out from his neck, stomach, and legs. The bites on those areas weren’t deep, which I was sure Anthony had done on purpose. If it had been me, I would have just killed Brian and the rest of them off.

Anthony was a lot more compassionate than I was.

“He’s letting them go,” Emilia whispered by my side.

I turned to look at her, a frown surely forming on my face.

Anthony hadn’t shifted back. He was standing, high and mighty, directly in front of Brian and whatever was left of the shifters that came along with him.

“He shouldn’t,” I said.

When Anthony’s head turned in my direction, the way he was looking at me, I realized why he was letting them go.

In the next few minutes, Brian and his guys began either shifting or just running away. I shook my head at the sight in front of me. I couldn’t decide whether they were more pathetic or embarrassing.

“Well that was lame,” Sebastian said, as he made his way towards us.

“You seemed too excited about killing off our kind,” Anthony’s scolded him.

He was walking in our direction, only wearing a pair of black sweatpants.

“I was excited about the fight. But hey, they seemed too excited about killing you off and you didn’t have much of a problem with that,” Sebastian replied.

“I fought against them,” Anthony retorted through gritted teeth.

Sebastian’s comments were getting to him.

“And you also let them go,” Sebastian added.

I put my hand on his shoulder, hoping he would back off Anthony’s case. Anthony shook his head at Sebastian, but he didn’t say anything else about his comment.

I took the tense silence that had settled in our group, to speak up. “They will be back.”

“What makes you think that?” Anthony asked.

I heard orders being shouted, and got distracted for a second, while I watched Wayne take care of the mess that had been made in the area. While some shifters were being ordered to pick up the bodies, others were starting rounds around Mountain Peak territory.

Only a select few, who seemed to be the most injured, had been sent with the pack doctor.

“Luke is still here. Brian was determined to get him out. Just because he couldn’t do it today, it doesn’t mean he’ll just back off. You shouldn’t have let them go.”

“You don’t understand,” Anthony said.

It seemed like he wanted to explain, but one look around at the dead bodies in the area seemed to make him hold off on his words.

“I think Damy’s right,” Sebastian piped up.

“What do you think he’ll do?” Emilia asked me, but she was giving her father a worried look.

“I’ll take the precautions necessary.” With that said, Anthony walked away from us.

“I vote we should kill Luke,” Sebastian said, raising his hand, although no one was really taking a vote.

“I don’t think my dad could go through with it. Luke had been a loyal member of the pack, and so had Brian,” Emilia replied, in what sounded like a sad voice.

I didn’t like that she was defending him, or that she thought Luke had ever been loyal to her and Anthony.

“I have to agree with Sebastian on this one. I hate the guy, but it isn’t just that. I still don’t think it was right to let Brian and the rest of those men go. They’re going to come back and they might bring others with them,” I said.

We were walking back to Emilia’s house.

“When did you get so smart?” Sebastian asked. “You’re talking all grown-up now.”

I laughed at him, and shoved him away when he started messing up my hair and pinching my cheeks like a little kid.

“I’m just saying what I heard,” I replied with a shrug, although Sebastian didn’t back off.

When I tried pushing him away with my mind, he did the same, only he made me trip.

Emilia laughed at us, but I could tell she was still worried. I wasn’t sure what was worrying though, her father, the possible attack they might be facing, or that bastard Luke. I was hoping her worry had nothing to do with Luke.

“What do you have to do with the Blue Bloods Alpha?”

I shrugged at her and thought back to what Layton had told me.

“I think your dad might be interested in meeting Layton now. He thinks your pack is in danger. After today, I’m pretty much sure that he’s right.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me right away that you found another Legen,” Sebastian said.

There was a grin on his face, which made me sigh in relief. I didn’t want him mad at me for keeping Cassidy a secret from him, even if it had been only a few hours.

“You should meet her. She’s awesome,” I told him with a grin of my own.

“Is she hot?” Sebastian asked. I had to laugh at that.

While Sebastian joined in on my laugh, I heard Emilia growl beside me.

“So is she hot?” Emilia asked, her blue eyes shifting to black in just seconds.

Her hand came over my chest and she stopped my walk before I could take another step.

Sebastian stopped beside us, arms crossed and a smirk on his face. He seemed too amused by the situation.

“She is,” I replied, keeping my voice steady.

“Nice,” Sebastian said, nodding his head knowingly, while Emilia directed her coldest glare at me.

“I can’t believe you just said that,” Emilia said, before removing her hand from my chest and walking ahead.

Her pace was faster than before, but I don’t think she cared.

“Well that’s a nice way to piss of your mate,” Sebastian said.

We both watched Emilia’s retreating figure. I probably should have tried to stop her, but I wasn’t in the mood for it. A part of me, one that didn’t make me too proud, was happy that my words had gotten her mad.

“You asked me a question and I answered it. I was just being honest,” I shrugged.

Sebastian sighed and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, shaking his head at me.

“You can only push her too far before she breaks,” he said.

“I’m not pushing her,” I replied to his unneeded, uncalled for, advice.

“Yes, you are. I don’t know if it’s good or bad that you’re here, helping these dogs out, but I don’t think you should be messing with Emilia.”

“I’m not messing with her,” I replied. My voice sounded more defensive than I would have liked.

“Yeah you are. I told you this yesterday, Damy. Either you work things out with her or you don’t. But don’t be that douchey kind of guy, leaving her guessing. She’s not just some girl, even if she grates your nerves and mine.”

“Am I supposed to take relationship advice from you?” We both broke out laughing after my question.

“You probably shouldn’t. But just because I’ve never had a girlfriend, doesn’t mean I don’t know what it’s like. Heck, if I didn’t know how girls worked, I’d probably never get laid,” he replied with a toothy grin.

Instead of going to the Alpha’s house, we went back to the apartment.

“I want to meet her,” Sebastian told me right after we arrived at the apartment.

“Who?”

“You know who, the other Legen.”

“It’ll be a few hours going and a few more coming back. We can’t be gone for so long.”

“Why not?”

“I want to be ready in case Brian comes back,” I replied.

“He won’t come back today, or tomorrow.”

“How do you know?”

“He’s not stupid. He didn’t win, whatever it is he was hoping to win, with a little over twenty Wolves. He’s going to wait until he can recruit more of them,” Sebastian said.

He had a good point, but I wasn’t willing to risk it. Anthony would be able to handle himself in case of an attack. I just didn’t trust anyone else being in charge of Emilia’s safety. I knew I could protect her. I wasn’t sure anyone else could, at least not as good as I would.

“Not yet. We will probably end up scheduling the meeting in Mountain Peak territory.”

“How is she like?” Sebastian asked, completely changing the subject.

“Don’t be getting any ideas. She has a mate,” I warned him.

“What? I’m not doing anything,” he replied, with that teasing smile on his lips that told me he was up to something.

“I like her and I like Layton too.”

“Seriously Damy, have a little faith in me,” Sebastian said, but the excited look in his face didn’t let up.

“I think he’s asleep,” I faintly heard Sebastian’s voice drift through my sleep.

“I don’t know if he’ll like that,” he said.

His voice sounded faraway and I almost thought I was dreaming, that was, until Emilia barged into my room.

It was already dark outside. I had slept for most of the afternoon, yet my body ached, demanding more rest.

“Hey,” I lazily waved at her. My voice sounded husky from sleep.

I ran my hands through my hair, attempting to fix it up, although I probably messed it up more. My eyes burned, wanting to close for a couple more hours before waking up.

“Umm, I guess I’ll leave you two lovebirds,” Sebastian awkwardly said. He was giving Emilia a strange look.

“We need to talk,” Emilia stated, leaving no room for argument.

“Alright,” I sighed, making no move to get up from the bed.

With my index and middle finger, I waved her over. Emilia seemed stunned for a moment, before she slowly made her way towards me.

“What is it?” I asked her, getting comfortable in the bed.

I had to admit certain thoughts were running through my mind. I was sitting up, my back resting on a few pillows. Emilia was sitting right next to, dressed in clothes that were more provocative than what she usually wore.

For a moment, I thought she didn’t really want to talk, more than she wanted to get my attention. I discarded the idea after only a few seconds.

In the short time I had known her; I realized that Emilia didn’t hold back her feelings when it came to me. If she wanted to kiss me, she did. If she wanted to touch me, she went for it. If she wanted us to make out in the stacks at the library, she found a way to get us there.

“Are we together?”

I had been distracted with my own thoughts so her question took some time to settle in my mind.

“What?”

“Are we together?” She paused after each word, her voice taking on a harsher tone.

“Are we together,” I repeated to myself.

“You heard me.” She was trying to sound firm, but I could tell that she was nervous.

“I want you,” I admitted, because it was the truth.

“So we are together. When we were at the prison, before Brian arrived, you acted like we were. Then you go and start calling other girls hot.” I could hear the hurt in her words.

She stood up from the bed, creating distance between us.

“Cassidy is just one girl. Besides, Sebastian asked a question and I answered. That was it.”

“I don’t think that was it. What happened between you and her when you were away? You were really mad at me and I know what people can do when they’re mad,” she said, dropping her gaze to the ground.

“Cassidy has a mate.”

Emilia turned up to give me a clear view of her frown.

“Cassidy has a mate. Is that really your answer? Just because she has a mate doesn’t mean you didn’t do anything with her,” she spat at me, sounding really pissed off.

Her accusations made me mad as well, especially because going out with any other girl had been the last thing on my mind yesterday. I had been too hurt and angry to think about being with anybody else.

“I guess you’re one to talk, since having a mate didn’t stop you from kissing Luke.”

Emilia’s sharp intake of breath and the way she cringed at my words made me feel guilty.

I ran my hands through my hair, and closed my eyes.

“Will you ever get past that?” Emilia asked. Her voice sounded so vulnerable, her eyes were tearing up, despite how hard she was fighting to hold back the waterworks.

“I don’t know. Maybe,” I replied.

“You told me you weren’t mad,” she quietly said.

“No, I told you I didn’t think I was mad. I just, I don’t know.”

I was getting frustrated with myself, which only seemed to make things worse when it came to dealing with Emilia.

I didn’t want to be mad, but something inside of me couldn’t let it go. It hadn’t just been Emilia and Luke kissing. They had history together. If I hadn’t come along when I did, Emilia would have probably mated with Luke. The thought of that made me sick.

After a minute or two of silence between us, one which both of us seemed reluctant to break, Emilia finally spoke.

“My dad wanted me to tell you to come over to the house tomorrow.”

“Alright,” I nodded. “Did he say what for?”

“He wants to talk to you about the meeting with those two Alphas. He thinks now that Brian rebelled, we should have all the support we can get.”

She began making her way towards the door. I didn’t even know why, but my heart started beating faster in my chest.

“Did he decide anything on Luke?” I asked.

Emilia didn’t turn around to face me, but she didn’t have to for me to hear that she was going to be crying as soon as she left me.

“Not yet. He’ll remain locked up for now,” she replied with a shaky voice.

“It’s late,” I told her.

“I know, I’m leaving already,” she said.

I got up from the bed and reached her before she turned the knob on the door.

“You can stay here. It’s probably better than going out at night while Brian is out there.”

That was my reasoning, but I was mainly saying it so that she wouldn’t leave.

“I can handle Brian.”

“If he’s out there, and I think he is, he won’t be alone.”

Emilia stared deep into my eyes for a long while, before she gave me a short nod.

“I guess I can sleep in the floor,” she said.

I gave her a half-smile, amused by the way she had been behaving since I asked her to stay. She had made sure to keep her distance from me, like if touching me burned her.

“You can sleep in the bed with me. I won’t try anything,” I told her.

“I should be the one telling you that,” she said.

I raised an eyebrow, wondering what she meant with that.

“I’m the one usually attacking you,” she replied my unanswered question, and a light shade of pink began tinting her cheeks.

“I like getting attacked sometimes,” I shrugged, smiling when the blush in her face deepened.

My mind kept telling me that it was wrong, what I was doing to her. Wanting her close, yet pushing her away, but I couldn’t stop myself from doing any of it.

“Sebastian was right you know,” Emilia said after we were both lying down in my bed.

There was about one or two feet of distance between us, but we were still facing each other.

“About what?”

“You’re acting so mature with everything,” she said.

I was surprised when she reached over and rested her hand on my cheek. I closed my eyes for a moment, and allowed myself to enjoy her warmth.

“Not entirely,” I mumbled, but of course, she picked up on my words.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“If I was really mature, then I wouldn’t be acting like a jerk.”