Inhumane

026

DAMON

When I first saw Paige, I knew exactly who she was. There were few humans brave enough to venture that deep into the wilderness that they would stumble across my pack. There were even fewer humans who knew exactly how to find us. The hunters were out there, we had all heard the stories. We knew that the most deadly of them all lived close enough to us that merely a day's hike would land you in the heart of his territory. Our families monitored them from afar, unable to do anything for fear of risking our members. Maybe it was cowardice that kept us at bay from attacking them. We knew what they did to other packs.

And so I shouldn't have been surprised when Samuel Baylor's daughter was toeing our line. It was all anyone could talk about. She stirred panic and confusion in the pack, raising questions of how much longer we had until we were at the top of his hit list.

As the Beta, I knew I had to take care of the problem. I was the protector of the pack, everything about me was wired to do so, down to my blood. So I planned to kill her. I didn't want to, but I knew I had to. To protect my pack.

I consulted my father about it for weeks, voicing my displeasure and discomfort at killing a female who had done nothing but observe us. He agreed with me, it was truly a misfortune that she had been born to such a man as her father. My mother was sympathetic as well, but we all knew how lethal Samuel's family was. We all agreed that the threat had to be taken out before they could take out us. It didn't change the fact that I avoided tracking her down for equally as long. The guilt rose and fell in waves, begging me to fulfill my job as the newly employed Beta, discouraging me as a decent being that wasn't all wolf.

But when I saw her, my resolve dissolved in an instant. In that moment, there was no longer an option to kill her. I knew exactly who she was to me. Her scent was carried to me on the wind, sweet and subtle. I drank it in from my hiding place in the copse of evergreens. Everything about her was alluring. It took all of my self control to retreat. I ran for days, unable to shift into my skin, trying to sort out the dilemma I had been served.

When I finally shifted back, I went to the Alphas. They were my best friends, they had to know what to do. Faith was optimistic, Cody was less so. But the two of them understood the power of mates, they knew exactly what would have to happen.

So I met her at the territory line every time I could, and we grew closer. As close as two distinct species could with one sided understanding.

She seemed somewhat happy, healthy, taken care of. But she was a stoic and a liar. She never let anyone see through the thick and unbreakable mask she had mastered. No one would ever know how truly broken she was inside.

When the bear attacked her and she shifted, it was like the final straw for her. Nothing was the same. Everything had been stripped from her life, humanity included, and I was a part of it. It was painful, to watch and to endure. Paige didn't know how to cut her own path, she didn't know what choice was really good for her versus what choice would save her from her father's wrath.

I didn't see it sooner and I wish I would have. Maybe some of the pain and heartbreak could have been avoided. The vision of her standing over me with a dagger raised high into the air stuck with me for a long time, haunting me.

But when our lips collided, I knew that something good had ultimately come from all the bad and pain of the last few months since the attack. I had her. That was all that mattered. It was like a window had opened into the very core of her. She was different, real even. As if all the moments of her that had come before were just the mask she had tried so desperately to uphold. This was the real her, right in my arms. The female who had been hiding, smothered by her parents, bad finally surfaced.