Chapter Nine Cory

I t had been a week since Liam had surprised me with his sudden appearance and I hadn't seen hide nor hair of him again. He was doing a damn good job avoiding me for a guy that lived only two floors below me. Don't get me wrong, I was happy not to have seen his face. If he knew what was good for him, he'd leave me alone for good.

But that didn't stop me from seeing him in my dreams every fucking night. It seemed my subconscious was hellbent on torturing me as much as possible. Each night I went to bed doing everything I could to forget about him and within seconds of my head hitting the pillow, he was right there beside me.

Every night was a new elaborate explanation for why he'd done the things he'd done. And then, because my dream self was stupid, I forgave him and went on like nothing bad had ever happened between us. We went on adventures together, saved whole towns, or, for most of my dreams, we just spent the night in one another's arms, fucking until the sun came up. That was all fine and dandy until I had to wake up and remember the truth.

Not to mention, I was getting a bit tired of having to change my shorts every morning after those all night fuckfests. The guy wasn't even around, and I still had to clean up after him. And I was embarrassed most of all. Cumming in your sleep was something teenagers did, not grown men, and especially not grown men who wanted to rip the heart out of the man they were cumming to.

All of that was making life a bit tedious for me and it was starting to show whenever I was out in public. And it was definitely showing while I was at work.

"Are you okay?" Vincent, my boss, asked when I accidentally threw an entire pizza on the ground and then proceeded to call it a cocksucking piece of shit. "You seem a bit… I don't know… enraged I guess."

"I'm fine," I snapped, grabbing the broom and trying to force the uncooked ball of dough and toppings into the dustpan. All I was really doing was spreading sauce all over the floor. "I'm just tired of being so clumsy."

"Well, if you keep being clumsy, I'm gonna have to raise my prices," he joked.

"Ha ha. Very funny."

Vincent crouched down beside me. "Cory. What's going on with you?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit. You haven't been yourself for a week now. Something's wrong."

"I told you," I insisted. "Nothing is wrong." I picked up the sloppy dustpan and hurled its contents into the trash. "It's not like I want to kill anyone or anything. Or that I had some shitty ex show up in town unexpectedly."

"That… was oddly specific."

"It's nothing."

"Cory," he said again, placing a hand on my arm before I beat the dustpan into oblivion on the side of the trash can. "Talk to me. I'm not just your boss, you know? I consider you a close friend."

I looked up into those lively green eyes of his. They were so full of concern, but I really didn't want to tell him. Then again, I wasn't sure I could hold all this in much longer. I felt like I was going to explode. As much as I didn't want to share, blowing up on him wasn't fair. Not after the man had given me a job, accepted me, and become my good friend without ever even knowing what had brought me to Shifter Grove.

Finally, I let out a long sigh.

"Fine," I said at last. "An ex of mine showed up unexpectedly."

"Something gave me a feeling that could be the case." He lifted an eyebrow in my direction. "And clearly, it's got you upset. I don't think I've ever seen you this angry."

"I know," I said, shaking my head. "It's stupid and I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Just tell me what I can do to help."

"Unless you can convince Sam to kick him out of the hotel and drown him in the lake, I don't think there's anything you can do."

"Well, you're right. I can't do either of those things." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "But I can listen." He tipped his head to the side. "Tell me what's going on?"

"Fine," I sighed again. "But it's not a nice story."

"Doesn't matter. I'm here to listen."

"What about the orders?"

"They can wait ten minutes." He waved his hand for me to follow as he headed to the back office. "Come on."

Vincent flicked on the lights as we stepped inside and flopped down on the couch. He patted the cushion next to him, inviting me to sit. I did and let out another sigh. I was sighing a lot. It was a thing that happened when your ex was back in town. Then I just stared at Vincent.

"So?" he asked. "What did your ex do to get you so riled up?"

I finally threw my hands up in the air, knowing there was no reason to beat around the bush any longer. "He tried to have me killed."

Vincent's brows furrowed. "This week?!"

"No," I replied with a huff. "Two years ago. When him and I were together."

"Two years ago…" Vincent's eyes widened. "You mean… he's…"

"He's from my old pack," I finished. "And the Alpha's son if that gives you any context."

"Christ."

"Tell me about it."

Vincent looked at me for a long moment, his jaw working up the courage to say the words he wanted to say.

"Will you… tell me the story?" he asked at last. "If you're open to that."

I let out a long sigh, shaking my head. "I guess it's time I told someone."

"I'm all ears."

"Well, I won't bog you down with too many details, but obviously I had parents. They weren't important in the pack, just regular members. As far as I know I don't have any other siblings. So that meant most of their focus was on me all the time. Growing up under their watchful eyes was a bit… stifling to say the least. And that made staying in the closet nearly impossible." I let out another sigh. "And it was really impossible after they caught me blowing my friend in our basement when I was fifteen."

"Cory!" Vincent joked, giving me a nudge. "You tramp!"

I couldn't help but smile. "Eh, I was a teenager. You do all sorts of crazy stuff at that age." The smile faded. "But my parents weren't very happy about it to say the least and they made me promise to keep it under wraps. Our pack, like most of them, wasn't very open to the idea of gay wolves. But since we were nobodies, the chances of anyone looking close enough to find out was slim. After all that, my parents became distant. By the time I graduated high school, I felt like I barely knew them anymore."

Vincent sat quietly, all hints of jokes and smiles now gone from his face. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say my story was hitting close to home for him. As far as I knew, his family hadn't been very accepting either. They'd even tried to replace him by having another kid. I had no doubt my family did the same, but I wasn't brave enough to go back and find out.

"I moved out as soon as I could, got a job and my own shitty little studio apartment. From there I could fuck or date whoever I wanted. And I usually chose the former because, let's face it, sharing my wolf heritage with a human was a bad idea and male wolves that came to my bed went right back to their girlfriends afterward." I leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. "And then… I met him ."

"Him?"

"Liam. The Alpha's son." I couldn't help but smile, remembering that first kiss we'd shared. "When we first started seeing one another I had no idea he was the Alpha's son. I could smell the Alpha blood in him, but I'd never met the family that ran our pack, so I had no idea who he was. But I didn't care either. He was so sweet and gentle with me. Not to mention he fully accepted me without hesitation. He was the first real friend I had after my parents pretty much stopped talking to me." The smile left my face as I recalled those painful memories and the hopes I had that never came to fruition. "At first, I thought our romance was just a fling. But as time went on and he didn't leave, I began to grow hopeful." I paused, dropping my gaze to the floor. "And that was my mistake."

"What happened?"

"One night, after spending the entire day together on pack land, he took me back to his house. Needless to say I was pretty surprised when he snuck me into the Alpha's mansion. But I was so enamored with him by then that I didn't even think to ask. I just assumed that the Alpha didn't care what his son did. Maybe there were others in line to take over the pack, an older brother or something. I should have asked… but I didn't." I glanced up at Vincent, feeling a bit embarrassed by what I was about to say. My cheeks were burning. "We'd decided we were mates by that point, and he took me up to his bedroom so we could…"

"Fuck?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "We wanted to seal the bond between us permanently."

"What happened?"

"We were naked in bed and I was… you know… servicing him with my mouth when his father walked in without knocking."

"Oh fuck…"

"Yeah." I let my gaze drop to the floor again. "Liam was taken away immediately, and I was ushered into the library. I sat there for an hour at least. Maybe two. Either way, it was a long time before anyone came to speak with me. When they finally did, it was just the Alpha and his Beta that stepped inside. And I was pretty sure I wasn't going to leave that room alive."

"What did they do?"

"They just spoke. I was told that Liam claimed I'd forced myself on him. That the Alpha's son wanted nothing to do with me and that if I were human, I'd be going to jail for rape."

"WHAT?! But he–"

I nodded. "I know. I couldn't believe it either." Another sigh. "The Alpha told me that since I wasn't human, he'd give me a fighting chance." I paused, looking up at Vincent. "He gave me fifteen minutes to get off pack land and out of the city forever."

"Fifteen… Fifteen minutes?" Vincent asked, his brows furrowed. "How… How can that be right?"

"That's all I got. He told me if I wasn't off pack land and out of the city in fifteen minutes, he would kill me. He already knew who I was and where I'd come from. And he knew nobody would ever miss me. Then he told me if I ever came back or ever spoke about what I'd done to his son, he would hunt me down and kill me regardless of where I was." I shook my head. "And then, before I could ask a single question, he reached down, turned the hourglass over on his desk, and told me the clock was ticking."

"What did you do?"

I laughed in disbelief. "The only thing I could do. I ran. As soon as I was clear of the house, I tore off my clothing, shifted into a wolf, and bolted. I never looked back either. The pack territory was massive, and fifteen minutes wasn't enough time to clear the boundaries at a normal pace. I sprinted until I nearly collapsed from exhaustion. Even then, I kept going and going until the sun came up. I never went back to my apartment, I never went back to the city, and I never went back to see what became of Liam. By the time the sun came up, I was so heartbroken and exhausted that I made a vow to myself never to see or speak of him ever again. As far as I was concerned, he was dead to me."

Vincent's eyes were wide as he stared at me. "Cory… my god…"

"It took me two or three weeks to get to Shifter Grove. I walked through the backcountry, surviving off wild game and following rumors of a rogue werewolf sanctuary somewhere on the shores of Lake Huron. By the time I got here I was nearly dead. And if it wasn't for Sam and his charity, I definitely would've been."

"And this guy… he came back?"

I nodded. "He did."

"And do you think he did it?" Vincent pushed. "Do you think he really told his father that you forced yourself on him?"

The question caught me off guard. "I… I'm not sure now. Over the years I've convinced myself that his father was telling the truth. But something about the way Liam looked at me… I don't know. He was so happy to see me and seemed to think I was just going to welcome him with open arms." I shrugged. "I almost fucking did before I remembered myself." I glanced up at Vincent. "And there's a huge scar on his face now. He… He said his father gave it to him."

"You're sure it's real?"

"It's definitely real," I nodded. "He's blind in one eye and it's permanently stuck in wolf form." I reached up, pinching the bridge of my nose as a headache began to loom in the back of my skull. "He looked so surprised and confused when I yelled at him. It makes me wonder…"

"If the Alpha was lying?"

"That," I agreed. "And wondering if Liam himself is just a great liar. His father wants me dead, there's no doubt about that. And if Liam has somehow convinced himself that I really did hurt him all those years ago, or that I turned him gay… maybe he's come back for revenge. Maybe his father sent him to clean up loose ends so nobody can ever find out what happened."

"Would they really go through all that trouble?"

"Vince," I sighed. "These people are intensely wealthy. The pack is named after them. Their family has been running it since before the US was even a country. If anyone in this entire world was terrified of sullying their perfect reputation, it's them. I didn't interact with them much, but what little I did convinced me that finding myself at the bottom of a lake in concrete shoes was probably the tenth worst thing they'd do to me if they caught me. And I have no doubts that I wouldn't be the first wolf that crossed them and met a sticky end."

"So, what are you going to do?" Vincent asked. "Do you want me to talk to Sam for you or anything?"

I shook my head. "No. I don't think I'm in any danger as long as I steer clear of him. It's been a week now, and he hasn't said a word. I haven't seen him, and he won't come near me. If anything, I think I might have shocked him that I'm not just some weak little lovesick pup anymore." I pushed myself up from the couch, dusting the flour off my jeans. "And if I'm lucky, he'll just disappear and I'll never have to look at his stupid fucking face ever again."