Find My Heart (boyxboy)

3. Another Year of Hell

Nathan

"We should pull out."

Ronan sighed from where he sat lazily across the armchair, his legs dangling over one side. He put down his book and looked at me.

"Why would we pull out?"

"We're you not just listening to me?" I cried in exasperation.

"Yes, I was listening," he replied calmly, "but I didn't hear anything that made me think we should pull out."

"There was a human trespassing!" I shouted back, while I resumed my pacing.

Even as I said it, I knew I was overreacting. And I hated that. I, Nathan Blake, did not do over-reacting.

Ronan narrowed his eyes at me. "Are you sure there's not something else you're failing to tell me?"

I'd been Ronan's Beta for nearly a year now, after his dad retired, and he knew this was not normal behaviour for me. I immediately felt myself tense up.

"No, of course not. You know how we like to keep humans out of our business. It's just too risky."

Ronan sighed again but stood up and walked over to me.

"I'm going to ignore the fact your hiding something from me.....for now," he said with raised eyebrows, "but I think you're wrong about keeping away from the humans. I've been thinking about it, and where is the one place that the hunters would never think to look for us? I think it's our anti-social behaviour that actually draws attention to ourselves. Maybe if we interacted more with the outside world, they will never suspect who we really are."

I opened my mouth to argue, but for once he made quite a good point. So instead I just mumbled, "I'm not sure it'll go down well with some of the pack."

"That may be," he replied, "but 8 deaths in the last 2 month is a pretty good reminder to shut them up."

Ronan was right. We did need action, and quick. The hunters had been gathering momentum over the last couple of years. The Bournville pack, with Casper now as the alpha, had stayed put and defended their territory, but it hadn't been without their losses. And just less than 2 months ago, we'd had our first attack.

Rather than sit and wait for the next attack, we'd decided the best course of action was to move.

We weren't giving up our territory, we were just moving our resources so to speak. Some would be left behind, but they would be under strict instructions not to change into their wolf at all, and to go about their daily lives as if they were humans.

The hunter's tended to attack when we were out training, and already in our wolf form. So if we took all the young active members of the pack to another location, we could continue training without the fear of being attacked.

"It won't do any harm to try looking at a few other places," I said hopefully.

"Why would I bother when this place is perfect?" Ronan asked.

I growled lightly, but decided there was no point in arguing.

"So are you going to tell me then?" Ronan asked.

"What?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

Ronan locked eyes with me for a couple of seconds before saying, "You know that a good Beta would never lie to his Alpha...."

I felt my jaw clench tightly.

The bastard. He knew exactly how to get me to talk. I prided myself on always being the best. That was why I was so good. No I wasn't being arrogant. I was just being honest.