Chapter 5: Advanced. Retreat.

“What the f*ck is going on here?”

The suddenness with which Snow stopped pulling her weight threw me off balance and sent me crashing to the floor.

“Alpha Linus,” Liz’s anxious cry put to bed the brief hope I’d had that I’d imagined Valen’s voice.

Ignoring my aching limbs, I gingerly rose to my feet and took a survey of my surrounding.

Valen, Ezra, and Lucas were standing at the entrance of a previously locked door, looking on at the scene before them with various expressions. Valen with heated anger, Ezra with casual bemusement, and Lucas with barely concealed surprise.

Several chairs were overturned and there was broken glass scattered across the wooden floor.

Liz had retreated to one corner of the room—I wasn't sure if that had been when Snow had lost her damn mind or when her Alpha, Beta, and second-in-command had arrived.

"Snow! Here!"

Snow, who was still growling threateningly at Bethany whose face she'd been trying to take a chunk out of about two seconds ago, ceased immediately and ran to Valen at his command.

"Someone explain to me what this is," Valen ordered tightly.

Liz cowered in the corner at the evidence of Valen's displeasure and before I could answer, Bethany cried out, "She hit me!"

She pointed at me in an overly dramatic fashion, as if anyone would think she was referring to anybody but me.

"And she set Snow to attack me!"

"I most certainly did not!" I countered, shocked at her blatant lie.

I had hit her, which was why I hadn't denied her first claim, but the second accusation was too ridiculous for me to remain silent.

"I was the only thing preventing your pretty little face from getting eaten!" I told her hotly.

The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it all seemed. What sort of shifter was that scared of a dog anyhow?

Valen's little sister had no problem letting her claws loose when she'd attacked me, but as soon as Snow had shown her teeth, she'd become a big baby.

"I'm bleeding, Linus!" Bethany announced, sounding like a pitiful child, similar to how she'd sounded in most of the interactions I'd witnessed between her and her brother in my dreams, but completely opposite to how she'd sounded when she'd been spewing her insults five minutes ago.

Valen's eyes glanced over the cuts and scrapes that peppered along Bethany's arms and legs courtesy of the broken glass.

He was across the room faster than my eyes could track and before I knew what was happening, my back was slammed into a wall, with Valen’s fingers wrapped carefully around my throat.

“Not only did you disobey a direct order and escape confinement, but you dare to put your hands on my sister?”

I clutched at his wrist, but it didn’t budge. His grip wasn’t tight enough to be painful, but firm enough to hold me in place.

"She started it," I pointed out, which, in hindsight, didn't sound any more mature than Bethany's whining.

"She was going around lying to everyone in town about being your mate," Bethany complained.

I rolled my eyes at the exaggeration. I’d spoken to a total of one person.

I was almost to my limit tonight with dealing with the Linus siblings. It was all too much really. The total disregard for my feelings. The verbal and physical abuse I had tolerated from Bethany. Valen immediately sided with his sibling instead of first finding out the truth. And I still hadn't gotten a damn thing to eat!

Without thinking twice, I brought my knee up with as much force as my sudden irritation allowed.

Whether it was because his anger had made him slow to react or he simply hadn't expected me to attack him, his reactionary block was too late and my knee connected fully with its intended target.

"Ouch," Ezra muttered from somewhere in the room.

Valen grunted, his grip on my neck loosening, but not releasing. He stumbled to the ground, bringing me with him.

In his momentary lapse, I swung at him but his free hand blocked my fist before capturing my wrist and slamming it to the ground above my head. He released his grip on my neck and captured my other hand before I could react, and held my knees immobile between his thighs. I was pinned to the ground in less than two seconds, with a fuming Valen hovering over me.

I wriggled around for half a minute, but he gave me no quarter.

The b*stard.

“Let go of me, Valen. I’m warning you, I’m this close to losing my temper!” I glared into his narrowed grey eyes.

“You’re warning me?” Valen snarled angrily.

He glowered with menace, before whispering his threat, “The only reason you’re still alive is because I haven’t finished questioning you.”

“And the only reason your manly parts are still intact is because I have use for them later!” I countered angrily.

A burst of choking laughter from the doorway brought my attention back to the room, or what little of it I could see with a six-and-a-half-foot shifter looming over me.

I could barely make out the feet of Lucas and Ezra who hadn't moved from the doorway and Liz wasn’t in my field of vision at all. The only person I could fully see was Bethany, who was still sitting back in the corner Snow had lured her into.

I glared at her, sending the full force of my anger, wishing to hell those cuts wouldn’t heal for at least a week. The witch!

“You have to kill her, Linus! She’s dangerous!” Bethany droned when she saw me looking at her.

“Just what the hell are you doing here at this hour, Bethany?” Valen suddenly turned his attention to his sister. “You should be at home, in bed!”

I watched as Bethany’s eyes flickered in fear before a sheen of tears glossed them over. She obviously wasn't used to her brother raising his voice at her. Raising his voice at all.

Some of my anger toward her shifted.

Even though I was only two years older than her, Bethany appeared much younger than her 18 years. The fact that I knew the reason she was so wary of her brother helped to drain my remaining anger.

“No need to yell at her, Valen,” I muttered under my breath.

If looks could kill, the one he sent me would have done me in for certain, but my whispered reproach seemed to also drain some of his anger.

“Lucas,” he called after taking a deep breath, “make sure there aren’t any unwanted listeners left outside. Ezra, help Bethany back home.”

“But Linus—”

“That’s enough, little girl,” Valen interrupted his sister’s protest firmly, though it lacked the heat from earlier.

There were shuffling footsteps before Ezra appeared to help Bethany to her feet. Once standing, the younger woman shrugged off Ezra’s hand, sent me a hateful glance, and flounced away.

Ezra winked down at me with an amused grin, seemingly unconcerned by Bethany’s attitude.

“Good luck, Sprite,” he muttered laughingly before trekking after Bethany.

There was the sound of the door slamming shut, then silence.

“Aren’t you going to let me up?” I asked Valen curiously, before tacking on, “You’re hurting me.”

That was a half-fib. His sister had done most of the damage when she’d grabbed at my wrist earlier, claws and all, but in the absence of my anger, his restraining grip was starting to sting.

I pulled at my left hand experimentally and his grip immediately vanished.

"What the hell happened to you?" he grumbled, releasing my other hand and sitting back on his hunches.

I examined the dried specks of blood surrounding the scratches on my wrist. "Your sister," I complained.

He pulled my hand toward him, gently turning it this way and that as he examined the wound in its entirety. "How long does it take to heal?"

His question surprised me because he almost sounded concerned.

I knew shifters had superior healing capabilities, possibly the most superior of all the species. Bethany would be good as new in a few hours. Not a scrape in sight.

I, on the other hand, healed on par with the average human. I told him so and he frowned fiercely at my wrist as if the wound suddenly offended him.

"Eliza, a first-aid kit," Valen said without looking up.

Shifting in the corner made me notice Eliza. I had completely forgotten her presence in the chaos that had ensued.

"Yes, Alpha," Liz answered before slipping quietly from the room

"Where else are you hurt?" Valen suddenly asked.

Without missing a beat, I took hold of the hand he'd been using to examine my wrist and pulled it to my chest, directly over my heart.

"Here," I told him, unable to pull back my teasing smile.

Valen appeared momentarily flustered by my actions, but the expression vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

He cleared his throat and pulled his hand away before easing off me completely, standing and pulling me to my feet in one go. I watched as he began to right the scattered chairs in the room.

“Sit,” he ordered when the last one was placed upright, and I followed his instruction without arguing.

“I’m hungry,” I groused as soon as I sat down.

“Is that why you left your cell?” Valen asked calmly.

“Yes.” If I was being completely honest with myself, I probably would have ended up leaving even without my empty stomach prompting me. I didn’t have it in me to sit still for that long. But he didn’t need to know that right now.

He seemed a lot calmer as he considered my answer, then, nodding once, he turned and started from the room.

“Where are you going?” I asked, surprised at his sudden departure.

“Stay.”

I would have been offended by his tone if I wasn’t so tired. He didn’t sound very different from when he’d ordered Snow around.

Speaking of Snow…

Where had the little she-devil disappeared to? It was hard to blame her for how quickly things had escalated tonight.

After Bethany’s verbal spew had begun drawing attention from the onlookers outside, Eliza had somehow coaxed her back into the building, which had turned out to be a lodge of sorts.

On our way to this room in the back, Eliza explained the building was owned by her father and that it was currently under repair, so there were no visitors. As soon as we’d entered, Bethany resumed her tirade.

Past the cursory annoyance at her incessant shouting, I hadn’t minded her much. Her insults had been terribly boring and unimaginative. I didn’t even remember how she’d gone from calling me a manipulative b*tch to insulting Valen, but I hadn’t liked that one bit, and I’d told her so.

“You can say whatever you want about me, but I won’t let you get away with insulting my mate.”

To say Bethany had not liked that reproach would have been an understatement. Even when she'd gotten physical, shoving my shoulder, I kept reminding myself that she was Valen’s little sister. If I lost my temper, I would end up seriously hurting her and regretting it afterward.

My lack of reaction had seemed only to fuel her anger. And that’s when the claws had come out. Literally. When I’d felt them digging into my skin, did I slap her then?

No.

What she’d said afterward had been the last straw.

“He promised me he wouldn’t ever mate with anyone! He’s a liar! He’s just like our father!”

I only realized I’d slapped her after feeling the sting against my palm. A quiet, shocked gasp was issued from Liz, and I wasn’t altogether sure if it was in reaction to my hitting Bethany, or Bethany’s ridiculous statement.

The fact that she could ever compare Valen to that…monster.

I had barely finished the thought before chaos reigned. Apparently, Snow, who’d remained dutifully still the entire time, had taken my hitting Bethany to mean that she’d become a threat. One that needed to be eliminated. And no amount of my pleading for her to “stay” or “stop” had worked this time.

Hence the scattered chairs and broken glass.

Remembering the events only made me irritated all over again. To think I had defended him and he’d shown up and immediately taken his sister’s side.

As if my annoyance had summoned him, Valen returned to the room with a white box in his hand. He said nothing at my obviously annoyed look, and instead pulled a chair up and sat facing me. He began rummaging through the box, pulling out several items and placing them on the wooden table.

I watched him silently as he pulled my hand to him and began cleaning the dried blood with a damp, square napkin he’d pulled out of a packet.

“Isn’t bandaging the wound of someone you plan on killing a bit perverse?” I asked, trying to hold on to my irritation which was fading rapidly at the gentle way he held my hand.

If I wasn’t angry, then I’d get distracted by that delicious woodsy scent wafting from him. I’d become too immersed in imagining how many tattoos he’d gotten in the last two years.

I cleared my throat. “Aren’t you going to ask me what happened?” I pressed when he didn't respond to my previous bait.

“Tomorrow,” he responded simply as he rubbed something over the cleaned scrapes. It stung, but I held still as I watched in fascination as his fingers glided gently across my skin.

Could a man’s hands be beautiful? They were golden and calloused yet his long, tapered fingers were infinitely gently as they circled my wound, round and round…

A shiver skated across my skin.

“Are you cold?” His roughened voice penetrated my wandering thoughts.

We’re angry Zira. Angry, remember?

“How many tattoos do you have?”

Damn it! Not what I meant to say.

He glanced up at me briefly, before reaching for a roll of bandage.

“Do you make a habit of saying random things?”

“Yes. Does it bother you?” I responded.

“Would it matter if it did?”

“Of course it does. If we’re going to be living together—Ow!”

“Too tight?” he asked while loosening the bandage he had deliberately pulled too tight. He was obviously telling me to shut up.

“Weren’t you going to ask me questions about Savalet Peak?”

He taped off the end of the bandage before answering, “You’ll stay here for tonight. I’ve asked Eliza to prepare a room for you.”

He was as fond of ignoring my questions as I was of asking them.

“Why can’t I stay with you?”

“I think it’s best if you keep your distance from my sister for the time being,” he said matter-of-factly as he began repacking the first-aid kit.

Solid point.

“But—”

“Eliza will bring you something to eat,” he told me, immediately putting my protest to rest.

As much as I disliked the idea, maybe space was the best option for now.

Plus…food.

“I’ll save all my questions for tomorrow,” he told me as he rose to leave.

Just before he opened the door, he looked back at me. “Three,” he said.

“What?”

“You asked how many tattoos I have.”

I was still staring in open-mouthed shock as the door closed behind him.