Chapter 7: Jamie

7

JAMIE

M urmured voices as I sneak closer to their position tell me that Wyatt is playing his part to perfection. They haven’t killed him yet, which is a good start, and the fact that we made it across the river at all is further than we thought we’d get.

Alive, anyway.

“We want to compete,” Wyatt repeats again, voice still calm and confident despite the fact he’s now staring down an angry alpha.

Trespassing onto a reclusive pack’s territory and then challenging his authority is not the way to get what you want. Wyatt is wisely opting to remain as non-threatening as a six-foot five man with arms like tree trunks can be.

The shifters surrounding him grit their teeth, recognising the strength of Wyatt’s wolf and the hint of an order behind his demand. All but one.

“You want to compete in the Alpha Games? A rogue wants to win a pack?” Dean’s tone isn’t condescending as he emerges from the shadows, pale moonlight illuminating every hard plain of his perfectly sculpted body. In fact, from the slight tilt of his jaw, he seems intrigued. “Do you really think you stand a chance?”

Wyatt shrugs. “I’ve got as good a shot as most of those pampered pricks I saw strutting across the bridge earlier.”

Dean’s lip twitches, and for a moment, I think he might even crack a smile, but instead, he presses his full lips into a thin line, stubbornly refusing to act like anything other than a robot.

“Every pack has already submitted their nominated entries, and you’re not on the list.” Dean turns his palms up as if to say there’s nothing he can do. His fingers are long, tanned and strong. A dark tattoo wraps itself around his forearm, moving as the corded muscles flex with each gesture. “We’re already in the middle of the welcoming dinner, which your arrival rudely interrupted. It’s too late.”

Dean strolls casually closer to Wyatt, apparently unconcerned about the threat he might represent and waits for my brother’s response.

My heart pounds, fearing he’ll lash out at my brother for trespassing on his land. Dread creeps up my spine and wraps itself around my throat. I can’t breathe. His father, Graham Reynolds, was a vicious tyrant. Dean could easily be cut from the same cloth.

If he hurts Wyatt, I’ll never forgive myself for pushing him into this stupid plan. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Not everyone is part of a pack. How are we supposed to enter if we have no alpha? I thought the games were open to everyone.” Wyatt remains polite and measured, tone reasonable, hands behind his broad back. “And technically , registration is open until midnight.” He’s relaxed, not an ounce of neither submissiveness nor aggression in his body language, despite how Dean sidles ever closer to him, purposely invading his personal space.

“Do you not think it makes sense for the person who’s going to inherit a pack to have successfully lived in one?”

Dean’s provocative question hits its mark, and I see Wyatt bristle, though he does a good job of hiding it. A man who would have done anything for his pack before we were unceremoniously booted out, that question hurts.

“I’ve lived in a pack. Very successfully in my opinion. Too successfully if you ask my alpha. Not everyone on the outside chose to leave their home.”

Some rogues are living feral because of moon madness or other temperament issues, and I can see why Dean is cautious. Wyatt is powerful, and if he were to attack, not many could subdue him. I can see the cogs turning in Dean’s mind as he studies my brother. There are plenty of alphas out there who’d get rid of a wolf like Wyatt, a potential threat to their position as leader, before he got the chance to challenge them.

“I doubt many could force you to leave if you didn’t want to,” Dean comments, eyes shrewd, head tilted, watching Wyatt and his posture carefully. “But maybe they could force someone you care about to leave.”

Dean’s gaze flicks to me, and as our eyes lock, just for a millisecond before he refocuses on Wyatt, it’s like being struck by lightning. I shrink back into the camouflage of the sun-dappled leaves, heart pounding, chest heaving. This is not good. He knows I’m here, just like last night.

Wyatt blinks hard, stunned by how easily Dean picked him apart. They weren’t strong enough to force Wyatt to leave, but they could make my life hell pretty easily. And Wyatt couldn’t protect me twenty-four seven. Eventually, it was safer for both of us to just go. And who wants to stay in a pack that could turn against us so easily.

“You’re right, I could have stayed living inside a rotten pack, but I wouldn’t call that success either. I chose to protect my family by leaving.” Wyatt counters, and Dean’s head snaps up, eyes blazing as he figures out whether Wyatt’s words were a thinly veiled insult. Wyatt cleverly continues on, glossing over the near faux pas. “There are plenty of people here who live a privileged existence and have never known what it’s like to struggle. How does that prepare you for making the difficult decisions being an alpha entails any better than what I’ve been through?”

Narrowing his eyes, Dean frowns at Wyatt, all but admitting that he has a point without saying as much.

“And I suppose you’re suggesting that living the tough life of a rogue bestows grit upon you that the others will never possess? Is that the angle you’re working? Don’t forget who you’re speaking to here. Not all alphas have had it easy.”

Everyone knows the story of what Dean had to do to take back control of his pack. Rogues aren’t the only people who know hardship.

Wyatt looks Dean dead in the eye and shrugs. “Not the life of a rogue necessarily, but hard choices, pain and sacrifice, protecting those we love, and doing what nobody else wants or has the balls to do.”

Wyatt is referring to Dean challenging his father for the pack. Rumour has it that the old alpha, Graham Reynolds, almost killed Maya in a violent rage, and though he was still relatively young, Dean was forced to end his father’s life to stop his increasingly vicious and erratic behaviour hurting others.

That’s only noble if you stop the cycle, not if you’re just as bad as him. The stony-faced alpha before us is an enigma, so the jury is still out.

“Like coming here to face me,” Dean comments. “You said we want to compete, yet you’re the only one brave enough to speak with me man to man. Your companion waits in the hills, again, ready to flee if you’re captured or killed. It appears the love and protection you offer is not reciprocated.”

Grinding my teeth, I stare daggers into the back of his head. He knew it was me all along.

“That was my choice. Jamie will come if we’re granted permission. It didn’t make sense for us both to be captured if you were as unwelcoming as we were led to believe you’d be.”

Dean continues to move in a wide arc around Wyatt, testing his nerves, baiting his wolf who will hate having someone as potentially lethal as this alpha at his back. Dean’s face comes back into view, and I flush even from this distance at how gorgeous he is. I watch his tall, strong, exquisitely naked frame move like a true predator in the clearing below. He commands the situation with ease, and my core tightens, my wolf more than happy to let him boss her around.

Watching the composed way in which he questions Wyatt has my insides all twisted up. He’s in complete control. It’s impressive, watching someone as powerful as this alpha demonstrate this level of restraint. Most alphas I’ve met are short-tempered and quick to anger.

“If I was as unwelcoming as my reputation suggests, Jamie would have already found himself captured and contained in my cells.” Dean sneers, still not deigning to look my way while he considers Wyatt. He looks him up and down, assessing him like an animal at auction. Finally, he nods, sharp and short.

“Fine. You may enter. We'll find you both somewhere to stay…for as long as you last.”

While certainly not enthusiastic, it’s a better welcome than we expected.

“Thank you, Alpha.” Wyatt smiles, not lowering his head but nodding in respect, before his eyes lift to mine, full of nervous excitement. We did it. We’re in.

Dean growls, pulling Wyatt’s focus back to him. “Tell Jamie he doesn’t need to hide in the trees anymore. We’re not animals, despite what you may have heard.” He scoffs. “But he’s dropped way down in my estimation for leaving you here to deal with me alone.”

Wyatt fidgets, not wanting to be the one to correct him. Finally, when the tension is unbearable, Wyatt clears his throat and tips his head toward where I’m slowly emerging from the trees.

I hold my head up and focus on Wyatt, but I’m drawn toward Dean by his raw power and magnetic energy.

Except as our eyes meet, the colour drains from Dean’s face and his eyes narrow. He’s not pleased. A knack for self-preservation keeps my pace steady and my mouth shut as he takes me in.

A low rumble sounds in his chest as he looks me up and down, each pass of his gaze feeling like an intimate caress.

My belly tightens as I realise just how huge he is, close up. His arms are thick, his chest and abs sculpted, and those smoky grey eyes have me pinned in place.

“Alpha, do you know her?” one of the enforcers ask, his head swivelling back and forth between us. Dean hesitates, just for a moment, checking in with his wolf, just as I have, before clearing his throat.

“I have no idea who she is.”

The calm, confident mask I normally wear like armour is gone, and suddenly, I feel completely exposed. Like he can see right through the tough front I put on.

“This is Jamie. My sister. He is a she .” Wyatt clarifies, as though Dean hasn’t already worked that part out. “Thank you for allowing us to enter.” He offers Dean his hand, hoping to shake on it before the alpha has the chance to change his mind.

It doesn’t work.

Dean’s eyes flash silver, sending butterflies fluttering in my stomach, and his gaze never waivers from mine.

Warmth pools inside me. I’m wondering if this alpha is really so bad, he certainly looks good. But then he opens his mouth and speaks, and I’m not feeling quite so enamoured anymore.

“Jamie can leave right fucking now, because she’s not entering the games. No way, no how.”