Betrayed by the Beta, Loved by the Alpha

15. No Survival Skills

Eden’s pov:

Cindy was a bubbly omega, 1 year my senior, and with enough peps and wit to shut down anyone. Ergo, one could imagine my surprise when she stopped me from confronting dumb and dumber, whose plots and schemes were as sick as them, and as rotten as their souls.

I saw Clarissa shoot glares my way, and I figured that she must hate that someone beneath her could get so much attention while she got none. Sebastian, on the other hand, had a complicated look on his face – which was hypocritical of him if one were to ask me, seeing as they had actually both set me up for failure.

“Let me just teach them a lesson,” I all but growled at Cindy, pursing my lips slightly.

“Not now,” she shook her head vehemently. “Not here.”

The crowd had yet to disperse totally, and I thought it would be in my favor as a matter of fact – exposing them publicly was better than a secret confrontation.

“They did me dirty,” I retorted angrily, playing with a jade bracelet which never left my right wrist.

“I know,” she assured me. “But trust me. They’re more trouble than they look.”

“I’m plenty trouble myself,” I shot back, a smirk tugging at the corner of my lips.

“Trust me,” she insisted, shaking her head negatively at me. “They would easily manipulate the narrative and shift the blame to you. Being a hot-headed brute isn’t going to work, no offense.”

“None taken,” I heaved a sigh, realizing that she wasn’t completely wrong.

Before she could say something else, a throat was cleared from behind me. I wouldn’t have paid the gesture any attention if it hadn’t been for the widening of Cindy’s eyes.

I turned around in a deliberately slow manner, refusing to be startled by my future Alpha, but also willing my heart to stop thudding loudly in my ears – but to no avail.

“A word, Eden?”

Though worded out as a request, one could almost taste the dangerous undercurrent.

Alpha Hunter wasn’t pleased, and it showed in the narrowing of his eyes, in the darkening of his hazel orbs, and in the low and threatening tone of his voice.

I let out a noncommittal sound in the back of my throat in agreement, and turned to Cindy, who still gaped at us, “I’ll see you around.”

“Sure,” she nodded eagerly, a grin splitting her face.

Before long, Hunter was ushering me forward. His hand, on the low of my back, branded me in ways that shouldn’t even be allowed.

People bore holes in our backs, but he only said softly, “Walk straighter, little wolf.”

This time around, his words sounded much like an advice, and they had the knack to make me smile.

The man truly was dangerous. My heart wouldn’t take his proximity for long. It tried desperately to beat its way out of my chest. I didn’t even know why I was reacting so strongly to him.

He led me to the lake, slowly but surely, silent all through the way there.

“You’ve been vague about what that man said to you,” his low whisper spoke of his restraint, and of the impending doom promised to Gamma Daniel.

I heaved a sigh and looked into his eyes, ready to tell him to just drop it, when I saw murder in his eyes.

I heaved a sigh, looked ahead of me, feeling like the intensity of his gaze was too much for me, “He called me worthless, a defect the pack shouldn’t be protecting and feeding, a waste of air... you get the drift.”

Hunter’s sharp inhale told me he didn’t like that one bit.

“Did he ever try to hit you, or hit on you?” The way he growled the words out, he sounded more like a beast and less like a human.

I shook my head negatively, “He never did. Probably thought I was unworthy of his attention anyway. His glares used to always send my heart into overdrive though, as if I truly was using air that wasn’t mine to use.”

“He’ll pay for what he did and said, little wolf,” he assured me after a beat.

“I have no doubt,” I nodded, a small smile stretching my lips as I turned to him.

“Trust me, he’ll wish he were dead,” his smirk was sinister and predatory, and I couldn’t help but wonder why he cared so much.

That being said, I didn’t care to ask.

I was playing absent-mindedly with my bracelet, and Hunter’s gaze zeroed in on it. For some reason, the ghost of a smile settled over his face for a split-second. I blinked and it was gone.

“This was a birthday present,” I flashed him a tentative smile, ready to shift the focus and have a more pleasant conversation.

“The person who gave you this bracelet, is he dear to you?” He asked.

“Very,” I nodded with a big bright smile. “My sixteenth birthday was a disaster. I didn’t shift. I wasn’t deemed worthy by the moon goddess herself… but amidst the chaos that followed, someone remembered to leave a gift on my bed. It was this very bracelet.”

“You weren’t spooked?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

“About?” I tilted my head to the side quizzically.

“Damn it, Eden! Where are you survival skills?” He quipped almost to himself, but the wry chuckle told me he was actually making fun of me. “Someone was in your room, and you weren’t shaken?”

“It had to be someone from the pack, so I wasn’t worried to be honest,” I shrugged.

He shook his head at me, in obvious disapproval, and I could only retort defensively, “I had had such a bad day that all and any survival instincts fled right out of the window.”

“I understand,” he conceded with a nod. “I bet you’re as dear to them as they are to you.”

“I would hope so,” I offered him a bleak smile, recalling how I hadn’t received a gift for my eighteenth birthday.

Could it be that the secret admirer met his mate, and thus found no reason to cheer little old boring me?