Chapter 35

Chapt er 35

Rose

I follow Mav across the gym. When we walk past Cade and Amber, they both stare at us. Amber's eyes are huge. I return her wide-eyed stare and lift my shoulders in a just-as-confused motion. Cade nods his head at me respectfully, and I can't help but feel about seven feet tall.

After a moment's hesitation I follow Mav out the door and away from the training gym. When he stops suddenly in front of me, I run right into him. Feeling like an idiot, I step back quickly. "Why'd you stop me?" he asks as he throws his shirt on.

My eyes skitter away, and I try to think of an intelligent response. "I don't like violence," I finally say.

"Hate to break it to you, but that's practically our way of life."

I take a deep breath, so I don't say something I'll regret. "I know." I look him in the eye. "But I don't have to be okay with it." Something flashes across his eyes, but it's gone before I can decipher what it means. I steady myself and say what I've needed to say since we argued. "I'm sorry for what I said about your sister and about you," I say softly. "I had no right, and I'm really sorry."

He looks away a minute. "I meant what I said about you really living." I resist the urge to roll my eyes, but he continues. "But I should have probably been a little...nicer."

I laugh. I can't help it; it just kind of rolls out of me. "How painful was that for you to say?"

He narrows his eyes a moment and shakes his head. "You're impossible," he mutters under his breath, but there's no heat to his words.

We both watch as several cars pull into the wrap-around driveway in front of the pack house. "Do you know those people?" I ask.

"Cade's having a meeting with several of the packs in the area over the next few days," he surprises me by telling me. The doors open and several guys step out. Mav curses, and I turn to look up at him. His entire body stiffens, and his face loses its color.

"Mav?" I ask putting my hand on his arm. Before I can say anything else, he snaps out of it and turns around. He puts a hand on my lower back and practically pushes me back toward the gym. We don't get very far before somebody shouts his name. We keep walking until somebody else yells his name. Loudly. He stops, and I can feel the tension practically vibrating in his body. Cade comes out of the gym and strides towards us. His face is tight.

"Cade," Mav says in a low voice.

"I didn't invite them here," Cade responds.

I look between the two of them, knowing I'm missing something. "Then why are they here?" Mav bites out.

"That's what I'm going to go find out."

I can see the change come over Mav. I watch the cold mask settle back over his face. "I'll get Rose inside and then come meet them with you."

"I'm fine," I say, but I don't think either of them hear me.

They turn and face the newcomers, and I don't miss the fact that they put me between them. We walk towards them, but when we get close, Mav puts a hand on my back and turns us towards the pack house. I hear Cade's voice as he talks to them.

"Maverick," somebody shouts.

I stop, but Maverick urges me forward. "Just keep going," he says in a low voice.

"They know you," I feel the need to point out. He doesn't say anything. I look over my shoulder and meet the eyes of one of the shifters.

"You gonna run away?" he shouts. "Always knew you were—" Whatever he says is cut off when Mav opens the door and ushers me inside.

"Stay in here."

"Wait." I grab his arm, halting him. "Not so fast. Who are those people?" Normally, I would happily escape up to my room, but I saw how he reacted to them.

He doesn't look at me; he stares at the men through the glass doors. "My old pack." With that, he steps outside, never looking back. I stare at his back as he walks away. Everything Cade told me about Maverick's pack comes flooding back. Everything kind of comes together at once, including Mav's face when he saw them. Before I realize what I'm doing, I push the door open and walk out to where the newcomers stand around Cade and Mav. More than a few pairs of eyes notice me, and I smile brightly.

"Mav," I call out, both to warn him that I'm approaching and to let everybody in this group know as well. He turns toward me, and I don't miss the dark look in his eyes. He is not happy that I came out. Tough. I walk right over to him and wrap my arm around his waist and put my other hand on his chest, doing my best to ignore both the hard muscles under my hand and the tension that is oozing off him. "Hi, I'm Rose, Mav's mate."

If Cade was surprised by my sudden appearance, he handles it smoothly. "Rose is our pack healer."

I force an even brighter smile on my face even as I feel Maverick stiffen even more. I can tell who the alpha is without anyone having to tell me. I can tell by the way he practically puffs out his chest. He steps toward us, and I force myself not to flinch. I can't step backward because I practically plastered myself across Maverick. On a positive note though, he's holding up my body. So, when I start shaking in fear, I won't collapse. "So," he drawls. "You're the healer?" He turns his head and spits something black and disgusting about an inch from my feet. I refuse to cower.

"Back off," Maverick growls.

The alpha turns his gaze to Mav. "Or what? You gonna stop me?"

"I will," Cade says from a few feet away.

The alpha doesn't even turn in Cade's direction. "Aw. You have other people fighting your battles for you now? Lost some of that toughness you used to have, huh? You lost all that when you became a man? You lose your wolf too?"

"No. He didn't lose any of his toughness. He just chooses what battles to fight, and he doesn't fight people who are weaker than him. That's obviously not s omething he picked up in your pack." I stare at the alpha, meaning every word I said. "As for being a man, he's more of a man than you'll ever be."

I watch as the alpha's face turns a dark red. "I think somebody needs to be taught some manners. Obviously, being a healer, you don't know the proper etiquette when dealing with an alpha." He takes a step forward.

"Don't." That one word from Mav has the hair on the back of my neck raised. There's a menace to his voice that nobody misses.

"So, you let your wolves mate humans now?" He practically spits the word out. "It's a good thing we showed up. You need us to help set your pack straight. Take out the trash." He says the words while looking at me. He reaches out a hand. I instinctively try to take a step back, but I have nowhere to go with how I positioned myself around Mav.

Mav moves so fast, I don't even see it coming. He pins the alpha's arm painfully behind him, wrenching a gasp from the man's lips. "Don't touch her," Mav says through grit teeth. The other members of Mav's old pack surround Mav, and my heartrate picks up speed.

"You gonna fight all of us?" the alpha asks, pain lining his face.

"If I have to," Mav responds easily. He doesn't look to even be breaking a sweat. I glance over to Cade, but he stays out of it.

"Mav, don't," I say softly, wondering if he'll even respond. To my shock, he loosens his hold and then steps back completely. He says something I can't hear and then walks back over to me.

"Your girl doesn't think you can take us," one of them calls out, casting a scornful look at me.

I laugh. "You've obviously never been on the other side of Mav in a fight. I have no doubt he could take down all of you with a blindfold on. I just hate violence."

"I agree with that assessment," Cade says. "Now if you want to talk, we'll talk. But insult a member of my pack again, and my enforcers will show you the exit." They wisely don't say anything, especially since Eli and a few other enforcers are surrounding us now, all wearing matching scowls. Before I get a chance to see what's going to happen next, Mav puts a hand on my back and propels me away from the group. He doesn't stop, not even when we step inside.

"Where are we going?" I ask at one point, but a glance at his face makes me bite my tongue and just keep walking. I figure we're heading either to his room or to mine. He stops at his door and opens it and ushers me inside, all without saying a word. He closes the door and faces me, still not saying a word.

Not knowing what to say, I blurt out the first thing I can think of. "So that was your pack? I get it why you left them. They're terrible!" I regret it immediately, especially when the look on his face darkens. I wince. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't have said that," I mumble more to myself than him. When he still doesn't give me anything, I wander over to his chair and sit. "So, are we going to watch something? Bluey?" I ask, trying to get something out him. Anything .

"What was that?" he finally asks.

Finally. I take a breath. "I was just trying to get your attention. We don't really have to watch Bluey," I say, even though I know exactly what he's talking about.

"Outside," he growls. "Why would you antagonize them like that?"

"Me?" My eyebrows raise. "I'm pretty sure you did all that by yourself without me. Well, I mean I sort of added to it. But they're a bunch of jerks, Mav. I don't know how you don't lose your cool with them. I certainly would have. If I had your," I nod at him, "you know, I would teach them all a lesson."

He cocks his head to the side and smirks. "My what?"

I roll my eyes. "All that," I say, moving my hand up and down in front of me. He lifts an eyebrow. "Your muscles!" I finally spit out. "If I had your muscles and ability to fight, I'd show them all a thing or two."

"Why?" he asks.

My eyes widen. "Because they're awful! They're not nice people, Mav. They're rude and insulting and demeaning and..."

"Oh, is that all?" he mutters.

"And they were being awful to you! That's not all right in my book." He stills and watches me intently, but I'm on too much of a roll to notice it. "Sure, you're cocky and rude and sometimes mean. But you're respectful and protective, and you would never talk about me the way they did, nor would you make me feel the way they did."

"You stood up for me out there," he points out, still watching me carefully.

"Of course I did. You're a good person, Mav." I wiggle my head a little. "Well, most of the time."

"Thanks," he says dryly.

"Well, if you would stop making other shifters angry by saying snide things about their mates, that would probably take care of most of your problems," I point out.