A Little Left to Give (Forgotten Series #8)

Chapter Two

Everything was wrong.

My paws dug into the earth as I ran.

Nothing was right.

I tried to pull back, to let my wolf take over but he snapped at me in my head, a direct refusal. Refusing me the dark and the comfort it brought.

Nothing fit anymore.

I ran harder, trying to exhaust myself. The bond tugged at me, urging me to head south, to head back to where it all began so I could see her again. My wolf and I snarled at it. The stupid, useless thing. I had preferred the pain. It had been a sharp, aching, biting, but it kept us from wanting to go back to her.

Vera

The name was as bitter as the wolfsbane she had used to poison me. A female as pretty as a sunset and as deadly as a viper. I had loved her, worshipped the damn ground she walked on, and it resulted in her poisoning me and throwing me at her newest toy to deal with. I couldn't even blame him for it, part of me did, but I knew her. I knew her more than anyone ever had.

She had always been ambitious but I made the mistake in thinking I could temper her. That my easy going nature would even her out. She would whisper at me that I was so much better than the delta position, that I could be so much more than where I was placed. If I hadn't been so close with the ranks, I might have listened, but knowing the losing challengers would be banished kept my head on my shoulders.

I explained it to her again and again that being delta was an honour. That us ranked members, Luiz the beta, and Antonio the Alpha, worked great together, that I wouldn't do that to my best friends. Luiz and I had grown up together, the thought that I could carelessly toss him aside for ambition was sickening to me. I said no.

She agreed with me. Told me I was right, that tht she was just dreaming of a future, a possibility that didn't have to happen. Only to find another male who would listen and then slid a blade between my ribs made of wolfsbane. She had planned out the betrayal, foubd a challenger for my position. I had been confident, there was no way I could lose. Then she made me coffee. It had been bitter, the overly sweet sugar hadn't hidden it but it had worked fast, too fast. I had known something was wrong the moment I had staggered into the challenge.

My body hadn't moved right, my wolf barely reacting, lethargic and ill. It made my reflexes slow, my strength dwindle, and then Blake beat the shit out of me. It hadn't been a challenge, it had been a beat down. I hadn't been able to do anything to defend myself and Vera laughed.

We had been together for six years, I had loved her, worshipped her, gave her every bit of me, and she laughed. I lay defeated, struggling to move in a body that had been poisoned, and she told me that clearly Blake was a better choice, at least he could defeat challengers.

Then I had been banished. Luiz and Antonio had been somber as they did so. Taken out beyond the pack lines, given some money and a few things, and then left there. Escaping into my wolf was the only solace I had, the only respite, and now he was barring me from the comfort of the dark, forcing me to think.

I hated thinking,

Too many thoughts, too many urges, too much... everything.

I had thought the blessing would change things, make it better, but all it did was make things worse. I was left knowing that my darling, sweet girl, the one I had guarded so diligently, watched grow, loved, my niece had died and her blessing had destroyed my life. It wasn't even, it would never be even. Worse still I had to sit there and watch how it transformed everyone around me.

And now nothing fit.

I didn't fit.

Micheal and Luka were my family, blood or not. We had grown, fought, lived, been together for well over a decade. I could see how much they had grown, changed. They were moving forward, no matter how hard, no matter how difficult, they pushed onwards. I loved them, so fucking much.