The Challenge (The Pack 2)

I thought about getting Dom and doing a search but as raised voices reached me though the open window, I decided to follow them instead. I scrambled out the window and tiptoed toward the voices as they drifted from the breezeway where the vending machines were.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Trent had his hand wrapped around Anna’s arm, holding her still.

“None of your business,” she bit out caustically.

“I’m on patrol,” he informed her. “Anybody wandering around is my business.”

“I need to debrief my Alpha,” she finally said when he didn’t let go.

Trent snorted, “You wouldn’t need to debrief him if he’d been there.”

“He was here protecting the Pack,” Anna defended. “Something you couldn’t manage,” she added scornfully, her words intended to cut. He hauled her closer to him and I had to lean forward to hear them.

“When are you going to quit following him around like a lovesick puppy?” He growled, shaking her lightly. “Do you even know where he is?”

“Taking Sam and Nicky to Dom’s house,” she answered confidently, but some of her confidence slipped at the appearance of his slow smile.

“He was,” Trent agreed readily. “He came back though.” Anna’s head jerked in surprise and as she glanced around, I ducked out of sight. “Not for you,” Trent said mockingly. “He came back to escort the little human girl home. I think her name is Leah?” Anna flinched at his words and he gave a mirthless chuckle. “You’re better than this. You can do better than that boy,” he scathed.

“What? You mean you,” she taunted, not backing down as he got in her face. “A pack less wolf with nothing to his name but a chip on his shoulder?”

“Better me than a boy that won’t take responsibility for his Pack,” Trent snarled, breathing heavily as he faced off with Anna.

“You don’t know him,” she protested, her head tilted back as she challenged him. “You don’t know me.”

“Wrong,” he muttered before his lips crashed down on hers. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before she jerked away, stunned as she stared at him.

“You’re not…” she broke off, shaking her head.

“I’m not him,” Trent finished for her and she yanked her arm from his hold, running straight for the forest as he stared after her.

I was contemplating backing away when Trent glanced over at me, “I know you’re there, Jess. I can smell you.”

“Should I be offended by that?” I asked, shuffling toward him, my arms crossed over my chest.

“No,” he replied, his gaze haunted as he stared at the spot where Anna had disappeared. “The eavesdropping though,” he glanced at me and I shrugged.

“No one tells me anything,” I defended myself and he smiled bitterly.

“Maybe so,” he finally murmured his hands moving restlessly.

I scuffed my toe against the concrete, ducking my head as I offered him a sucker I’d stashed in my pocket. He took it with a muttered thanks as I cast a sideways glance at him.

“Spit it out,” he grumbled, unwrapping the sucker.

“You told me once before that Anna was special. Rare.” I stared at where she’d run. “I don’t think I understood.” I glanced at him. “Can you explain?”

The sucker rolled from one cheek to the other before he nodded. “I was fifteen when I was cast out of my Pack. I wandered all over the country. Met a lot of wolves. Visited a lot of packs.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Only met one female shifter though.” He popped the sucker out of his mouth, pointing it in the direction Anna had gone. “At least, until her.”

“Maybe the other packs hid their female shifters?” I offered, lifting one shoulder and he shook his head.

“Nah, they’re rare. Special,” he confided, his eyes cutting toward me. “The one I met was kind. She offered me a place in her pack.”

I stilled at his words, my gaze jerking to his face and he smiled.

“Yeah, you heard me right. The only female shifter I’ve ever come across was the Alpha of her pack.”

The words echoed in my head as I stared at him, his persistence that Anna was more, that she was better, taking on a new meaning.

“She’s not meant to be an Alpha’s mate,” Trent stated, his expression almost reverent. “She’s meant to rule.”

I stuffed my hands in my pockets, the night air suddenly chilly, and Trent nudged me back toward my room. I spun around as I came to the corner and declared, “She doesn’t know.”

Trent shook his head, his gaze straying back to the forest. “None of them know, except for Dom.”