Dark Times

Chapter Thirteen

When we finally stopped in a small circle in the trees to call it a night, Igor opted to be the one to tie the Alpha up to the tree. Since Peter had clearly demonstrated that he would always be incompetent, he was left out of the discussion, sent off to gather more wood.

With a pile of firewood spread out in front of me, I got to work trying to start the fire, my ears peeled as I eavesdropped into what the Alpha and the ex-Beta were saying.

It was boring, in all honesty. It was pretty much Igor apologising a load whilst the Alpha made a load of threats about touching his mate and letting him go.

After that, Igor would just apologise some more and say how none of this was ideal.

If the Alpha whined for me one more time, I'd go over there and castrate him. I doubted he'd do much calling for me after that.

As the sparks started up, I heard the crunching of leaves beside me as Trish approached. She sidled right up to me, that guilty look on her face that she always wore when she had something annoying to say. I wished she'd just hold her breath.

Alas, there was no luck.

"Hey Lorrie, do you remember that talk we had last night?"

"We had lots of talks last night. You'll have to be more specific than that."

I was a bit preoccupied last night. Last I remembered, I was slitting a Beta's throat, hanging him above a stage and washing a load of Beta blood out from beneath my nails.

"Oh, you know the one about not doing anything that you can't take back."

"No. I don't remember that talk."

"How can you not remember that talk?"

"Because you asked me to forget about it."

She snarled at me. "Fucking hell Lorrie- you're not making this any easier on anyone."

"I'm sorry, am I supposed to be making something easier?"

I'd make this as difficult for her as I possibly could in the hopes that she'd give up, get up and walk away. I didn't need more of her sappy moral stories.

"You know Igor's been trying to calm that Alpha of yours down for about half an hour now."

What was with people calling him mine? He wasn't mine and never would be.

"How many times am I going to have to say that he's not my Alpha? Nor is he my mate." Why did people never listen to me? Yes, maybe I had this unshakable habit of lying, but if you tell the same lie often enough... "If I'm going to be completely honest with you, he's not my anything. I'm not even sure that I'd call him an acquaintance. He's a pain in the ass. Nothing more, nothing less."

The sooner I could get rid of him, the better. I didn't want him here in the first place. The only reason I agreed to taking him with us was because it was safer. Now, I kind of wished we'd kill him.

Even now, he was calling for me, ignoring Igor's onslaught of apologies.

"Well, that thing about calming him down," She pressed. "Igor's been trying and failing for about half an hour now. You could probably shut him up in two minutes flat if you gave it a try."

I spared a quick glance in their direction.

Aidan was chained to the tree with Igor crouched in front of him. Igor's usually stoic expression was gone. His black hair was a mess, his frown one of utmost sympathy. But the Alpha wasn't paying him any mind. Those hazel eyes were focused solely on me. They were pleading for something. I didn't care enough to find out what.