Chapter 11 Sydney

Chapter 11 Sydney

 

 

The upper level of Moon Guardian Private security was similar to the lower; only there was no reception area. There were only doors leading to what I guessed were other offices or departments. I stood with Violet outside a door that she said was Cole’s private office.

I swallowed hard when she knocked.

“Here’s to hoping we both survive crashing their important private meeting.”

My wide eyes flew to her. “What?”

She smirked. “I’m kidding. Cole hates when pack meetings are interrupted.”

“You mean there’s more than one werewolf who hates my guts in there?” I whispered.

“Don’t be so dramatic, Sydney. They don’t hate you. They can’t. None of us even knows you.”

I stifled a groan. My last interaction with the pack said a lot. They hated me. Violet was just an optimist. I liked that about her. If her entire family despised me, I hoped we could be friends. I needed someone in my corner right now.

The door swung open. To my chagrin, it was Damian. “What is it, Violet?” he snapped.

“Don’t be rude. We’ve got a visitor.”

His jaw clenched when he looked at me, but he didn’t seem surprised.

“Let her in, Damian,” Cole’s exasperated voice echoed behind the door.

Damian pulled the door further open, revealing a few familiar faces. I didn’t remember all the names I’d heard when I was at the compound, but I remembered Alex. My gaze zeroed in on Cole, and I gulped. His face was twisted in the same stony mask he’d worn since I met him.

I thought Damian was scary, but the Alpha was right at the top of the intimidating spectrum with him. The only difference with Cole was that he appeared to be someone who could be reasoned with. That was why I’d garnered the courage to try speaking with him again.

“Violet,” he said coolly. “I’ll deal with you later.”

I heard Violet’s soft sigh and felt terrible for getting her into trouble.

Not once did Cole take his eyes off me. “Everyone out,” he ordered.

There was a scurry of movements as men cleared the room. I noticed that they all kept a wide berth between them and me when they walked past me. It was the same way Alex and Damian had refused to touch me after discovering I was Cole’s mate.

“Good luck,” Violet whispered and hurried off.

I stood in the doorway, staring at Cole and Damian.

“Damian, give us a minute.”

The man Violet had called the “Beta” folded his arms over his chest. “I’m not leaving you alone with her.”

“I think I’ll survive if the tiny half-wolf launches an attack,” Cole said, sarcasm dripping from his words.

Damian turned to glower at Cole. “This isn’t funny. She could be a hun—”

“Go, Damian.”

I frowned, wondering what Damian was about to call me.

He said nothing more. The authoritative tone had him sighing and walking out with stiff shoulders. From the interaction, I gathered that the Alpha’s orders were always to be obeyed.

After Damian disappeared—to my relief—Cole and I had a stare-down. His gaze lingered so long on me that I was about to start squirming until he said, “Come in.”

Stepping inside, I glanced back at the door, wondering if I should leave it open in the event that I had to hightail it out of there.

“I won’t bite,” he drawled, getting up.

It was hard to tell if he was teasing or not because his expression didn’t change. Figuring there was no need for polite pleasantries, considering the suffocating tension in the room, I said, “You knew I was here.”

He stepped around the desk, unbuttoning his jacket. Then he shoved his hands into his pockets. I observed him keenly, taking in his stance. He didn’t appear to feel threatened by me. But maybe that was because he knew he could crush me with one wolf’s paw.

“I’ll always know when you’re close,” he said.

“Because we’re mates?” He didn’t answer. “Maybe you could explain the whole mate thing to me. I mean, I’ve grasped the basic concept, but I suspect there’s more to it, and I…” I stopped my nervous babble when he just continued to stare.

“What do you want this time?” he asked, perching on one corner of his desk. He didn’t invite me to sit, so I took that as a sign that I still wasn’t welcome.

Taking a deep breath, I tried my best to mimic his impassive attitude. Anything he could do, I could do better. I stepped closer to him. He visibly tensed, and his nostrils flared. It comforted me to know he was affected by me, too. Whether it was the mate’s pull or his hatred of me, it was satisfying getting a reaction from the impossibly aloof man.

“I want answers.”

He blew out a long breath. “If you’re here to give me a hard time about rejecting you, you’re wasting your time.”

The arrogance of the man. Fury almost outweighed my hurt. “Look, I’m not here to beg you to claim me or whatever you guys call it. I just want to know why you or the pack won’t accept me. None of you know me.”

“I already told you the pack won’t accept a half-breed.”

“I don’t think that’s the full story.” When Damian found that dagger in my bag, it had almost caused pandemonium in the compound. “And it’s time you tell me what’s going on.”

His eyes flashed that feral amber like they had the last time I was here. “It’s time you stopped trying to play games with me.”

The cool indifference with which Cole carried himself told me that the Alpha rarely lost his temper. However, he kept losing it with me. Clearly, I was the bane of his existence. “I’m not playing any games. I just want your help.”

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Damn it, why won’t you leave me alone? I rejected you as a mate, and the pack will never accept you. Just go away. I don’t want you. No one does.”

One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was to hear those words and not break down into tears. They weren’t unfamiliar words. Uncle Sam threw them in my face over the years, claiming that he didn’t want me around, and Aunt Lydia only tolerated me because she was a kind soul who felt sorry for an orphan. But my aunt’s genuine show of love helped to comfort me when that feeling of not belonging surfaced. Now that I didn’t have her, I doubted I could keep myself together.

Cole shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Stop making things harder than it is.” When he opened his eyes and looked at me, I thought I saw a flash of torment in the blue orbs. But that didn’t make sense. If anyone was in pain, it should be me.

Feeling defeated, my shoulders slumped. “I didn’t come here to make anyone’s life difficult.” As hard as I willed my tears away, they surfaced. “I just wanted help,” I whispered. I’d come here to demand Cole give me answers about my mother, but my determination dwindled down to nothing in the face of his rejection yet again.

He was looking at me intently as if he was trying to see through me, but he averted his gaze. “For the last time, stay away, Sydney.”

Frozen in place—mostly because disappointment left me numb—I stared at him. I’d always prided myself on keeping up a tough façade in the face of difficulty, but this time it crumbled. That strange thing I’d felt inside me since I discovered what I was stirred again. With a tad more knowledge about werewolves, I suspected she was my wolf, but I couldn’t be sure. Her presence was faint. It was like a different being sharing my body, but our emotions seemed intertwined. That’s why I assumed it was her tears and not mine that ran down my cheek.

The strong being I felt with me, who I think helped me to survive this long, folded into herself. She let out a mewl that resonated with despair and vanished, leaving me feeling empty and scared, and unsure once again. Without a word, I turned and walked out the door.

I hurried to the elevator, desperate to get out of the building to avoid anyone seeing my state of distress. Thankfully, none of the others that had vacated Cole’s office were present. This walk of shame wasn’t as humiliating as the first without an audience.

“Sydney, wait!”

At the sound of Violet’s voice, I jabbed at the button, trying to get the door closed. They slid shut just in time, and I let out a relieved breath. Leaning against the wall, I wiped my tears away and reached deep for my composure before I made it to the downstairs lobby. I refused to be seen leaving in tears.

By the time the doors opened again, I had somewhat gathered myself. Head held high, although I was dying on the inside, I found a smile for the receptionist and made a beeline for the exit.

I shrieked when I stepped out, and Violet appeared in front of me. “What the hell! How did you beat me out here?”

She rolled her eyes and said, “Werewolf, remember?”

“Right.” I didn’t want to be rude to her because she helped me. “Thanks for your help. Goodbye, Violet.”

“I don’t agree with what’s going on.”

I stopped my trek down the steps and turned to her. “What are you talking about?”

She came closer, her voice in a whisper. “The way Cole and the others are behaving. So what if you’re not a full shifter? You’re still one of us.”

I shrugged. “That’s what I thought. We’re both wrong.”

“Did he tell you the real reason he turned you away?”

“No.” Hope crept in as I gazed at Violet. “If you know, please tell me. Not knowing has been driving me crazy. I want to know what’s really going on. I’ll leave you all alone, I swear.”

Her expression softened. “I don’t want that.”

“Your Alpha has spoken. I have to.”

Nibbling her lower lip, Violet glanced up at Cole’s office window. “I’m already in deep shit, so I might as well get myself into more trouble, right?”

I let out a laugh, surprised that I could find amusement in anything right now. Violet was a girl I’d love to get to know. I didn’t feel awkward around her like I did around most people. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “I’ve been dealing with Cole and Damian for twenty-one years. I know my way around those two. What the Alpha has failed to tell you is that the pack won’t accept you because of what your mother did. She supposedly betrayed her people to be with a man who was part of an organization that specializes in killing our kind and other supernatural creatures.”

“Supposedly?”

“I don’t know if it’s true. I would have been a baby then, so I wouldn’t remember. However, the rumors of the wolf who betrayed her pack to be with a hunter have circulated for years. The example of what your mother did and what happened to her has been used to scare us into sticking with our kind.”

I pulled in a deep breath. “Are you saying—”

“Your father is a hunter, Sydney. If there’s any truth to the rumor, that is. Truth or not, the pack will never let you in.”

I reeled from the revelation. My father might have been a part of something sinister. It was devastatingly mind-blowing. Was that why that hunter targeted me? If my mother betrayed her pack to be with a hunter, my father’s organization would see him as a traitor for procreating with a werewolf. But Violet wasn’t sure if the story was true. Still more questions to be answered.

Things were getting too complicated.