Lola (Completed)

39 Fishing

Lola

The doors in this place have peepholes. How funny is that? We're wolves, so we can scent whoever is at the door. Except, this motel/packhouse has exterior doors instead of interior hallways, so with the rain and the scent of the outdoors I can't tell who is pounding on the door.

Because of this relative newness, when I peek through the hole, it takes me a minute to adjust to the weird view. Everything is blurry and it's honestly hard to tell if I'm looking at a person or a swamp monster.

Then, the scent grows strong enough for me to know who is standing on the other side of the door.

I swing it open. "Gillian?"

"Can I come in?" she asks. Her eyes are downcast with dark shadows underneath. Her skin looks sallow and pinched. She has her arms wrapped tight around herself. She doesn't look like she could be a threat to me. She looks like she's about to shatter into pieces without me touching a hair on her head.

"Yeah," I open the door wider and let her sidle past me.

She looks around the empty apartment. It's still blank and depressing, but I came here after going over the files with Mac because I just wanted to be alone for awhile to get ready for this damn party.

"Ryker isn't the father," Gillian says suddenly.

"I know," I respond when she stops speaking.

"My father..." she swallows, "he wanted me to become a Luna, or at least the mother to a future alpha. I don't think he cares about me or this pup. My life is ruined all because he tried to pin this on Ryker."

I look at Gillian and feel the sympathy well up. I believe her. I know what's it's like to be labeled the whore, don't I? I never tried to take a male from his mate, but what if Alpha Roland had forced me to? Would I have had the strength to refuse? What if my mom was more hands-on in her awful machinations, the way Don is with his daughter? Would I have ended up just as desperate and sick as Gillian?

"How is your dad?" I ask her.

"In the clinic, who cares?" she says flippantly. "Just one less male to try and control me."

I was awfully close to being Gillian. Just the slightest change in Bastian or Alpha Ryker or Mackenzie and I would have been sunk. My fate was... maybe still is... a delicate balance.

"I knew you would get it, Lola," she whispers to me. Her defeated eyes are on me. I wonder what she sees in my face. "You and I, we understand. This is a male's world. When a powerful male wants you, what do you do?" Her mouth twists bitterly, but her eyes... they are hollow wells of angry sorrow.

I go cold. How does Gillian know about Alpha's obsession with me?

"They're all the same," Gillian whispers, "but I guess it's better that Bastian Claimed you first. You dodged a bullet with Nicolai."

"I'm happy with Bastian," I tell her, just to keep the conversation going. In my own head, I'm telling myself to remember every word, every nuance of this conversation so that I can tell Alpha Ryker about it later. How does she know that Nicolai is after me? Why is he after me?

"He's a good male to capture. You're lucky you got to him young."

"Nicolai is wealthier," I toss at her, digging for more information. Gillian just ruined herself completely in my eyes. She knows about Nicolai and is assuming so many things about me.

"He's a bad male, Lola. I have no idea why you ever got involved with him, but stick with Bastian. Don't be like me, trying to get a bigger fish."

"I understand how you feel," I admit, "but I can't let you hurt my alphas," I add softly. I'm firm in this. Gillian and her unborn pup are not going to remain Ryker and Mac's problem.