"The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves." - William Penn
29.
Ethan’s grey eyes settled on me for a brief second before moving back to glare at Elliot.
The air was so brittle, it could snap. The temperature in the room had immediately dropped low. No one spoke, silence encompassed the entire place. In the suspended horror, I waited for Ethan to make a move.
You had one job, Vivian.
One job.
All you had to do was to keep him away but like always, you managed to fuck that up too.
“I think I told you to stay away from her,” Ethan's voice was cold, hard and punishing.
Elliot took a step to walk inside the room but stopped when Ethan raised his eyebrows in a way which said are-you-sure-you-want-to-do-this?
If looks could kill, then I’m pretty damn sure Elliot would be six-feet under.
Elliot gulped and stayed rooted at his old spot, “I’m staying here as a guest.”
“For what reasons, pray tell?” The icy tone of his voice sent shivers down my spine.
My eyes gathered his appearance. Even without his wolf, he appeared intimidating and strong enough to knock the shit out of Elliot... which I obviously didn’t want to happen.
“I asked him too.” I interrupted letting myself become the prey of his scrutinizing, cold, grey eyes.
“You ‘asked’ him?” A bewildered expression made its way on his face.
I turned my head towards Elliot but still felt Ethan’s gaze bore holes into me.
I knew exactly what was going inside his head. The ugly green-eyed monster was whispering doubts about us, fuelling his jealousy. But I wasn’t going to have any of it. We are grown ups – adults. Just minutes ago we had decided to move past everything and hell if I’d let his jealousy and over-possessiveness ruin it.
“He was the one who found Zack. I needed him here in case he remembered anything that could be crucial to the investigation.” I walked towards him with my arms crossed and eyebrows raised – challenging him.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. He was the last one to see Zack,” he let out a sarcastic laugh and turned towards Elliot, “May I know what exactly were you doing there? Last I checked, I had already kicked you out of the pack.”
“Ethan...,” I warned. This wasn’t the time to ruffle Elliot’s feathers. We already had an important matter at hand. Can he for once manage to keep his cool?
“No, Vivian... Let him enlighten us. Let’s see what your ‘guest’ has to say.” When Elliot didn’t answer, Ethan urged him, “Come on, go on then. We are waiting.”
Elliot walked inside, anger imminent in his face. “You know what your problem is, Ethan?” he spat, “You’re an insecure and miserable piece of shit. All your life others made decisions for you, you have been controlled by everyone around you and now when everything is out of control, you’ve completely lost it!” He angrily pointed a finger at him, “I was your Beta. Screw that, we were fucking best friends! And what did you do? You stripped me of my rank and kicked me out of my pack, my home! Did you ever ask for an explanation? Did you ever took the time to hear my side of the story? No, of course not. All you care about is yourself. Ethan fucking Salvador. The high and mighty.” His eyes darkened, signalling the presence of his wolf, “Well here is a reality check: You ain’t shit. You’re a jerk. And I am glad Vivian reject-,” before he could even complete that sentence, Ethan punched him straight in the face.
Elliot fell on impact. He spat blood on my floor and laughed, “Yes, go on! Hit me. That’s what you were always good at!” He wiped his mouth.
“Oh for Goddess’ sake, did he just spit blood in my office.” My wolf cursed in the back of my mind, not caring about the fight that was happening.
"They're just showing off as men do," she answered in return.
Before the fight escalated any further, I stepped between them and with surprisingly less effort, managed to push both of them away.
“If you both want to fight, then I suggest you do it somewhere which is preferably not inside my pack.”
They both gave one final, intense glare to each other before moving towards two separate corners of the room to cool down.
“Elliot, go to the infirmary and get yourself checked.” He opened his mouth to argue but my glare shut him up.
I closed the door and shifted my attention to Ethan.
“Are you serious?”
“What?”
“After all that fucking crap about ‘second chances’ and ‘moving on’, the first thing you do is this?”
“It is hardly my fault. I wasn’t informed that he was staying at your pack.”
I rolled my eyes and flailed my hands, exasperated, “Unbelievable!”
“He slept with you. I don’t want him anywhere near you.”
“Yes, I slept with him too, you don't have to remind me. It was a two-party, consensual act. I’ve been with other men too - What are you going to do? Hunt and kill them all?”
His eyes widened in rage at the mention of other men. I knew he was about to explode and reply with a ‘yes’ but he managed to restrain himself when he noticed my anger was more profound than his.
“All of this was in the past! When both of us weren’t mates! How can you blame it on Elliot when neither of us knew?!” I was enraged, my entire body was heating up, “Do you see me marching to your pack and attacking Cindy? Or any other girl you must’ve slept with? Do you?”
He didn’t answer.
“If you want us to work, then you need to move past this thought of me sleeping with Elliot and other men. It happened. It was in the past. Now, move on! If you cannot trust me, then I am sorry to tell you, 'we' cannot happen.”
Ethan’s nostrils flared, his hands clenching at his sides. Those grey eyes were burning a hole deep into my soul.
A knock on the door halted our conversation. I turned around to see Jonathan entering the office.
“The other Alphas have been summoned and are on their way. Shall we proceed?”
I nodded because I was done with the conversation Ethan and I were having. I grabbed the letter from the desk and walked towards the door to leave, but not before grabbing a box of tissues from a nearby shelf and tossing them in Ethan’s direction.
I felt my wolf take over, “When you’ve calmed down, and cleaned the mess you’ve created on the floor, you can join us.”
----
“This has never happened before.”
“Exactly. No past events talk about Lycans throwing a ball in celebration of an Alpha female crowning.”
“They might have thrown a party for killing one though,” Josh joked, but soon realised no one was amused, “A bit morbid? My apologies. Continue with the concerns, please.” He leaned as far as he possibly could on his chair, trying his best to find a comfortable position.
“I thought this was an Alpha only meeting,” Ethan asked Jonathan, signalling towards Josh and Tyler.
“Vivian called us, you’ve got a problem?” Tyler answered in his stead
Not this, again.
“What do you propose we do?” I diverted my attention to Alpha Lennon, Alpha Carlos, Jeremy and Ex-Alpha Chris.
“There is danger in both circumstances. We don’t know for certain what their intention with you is.”
“I do, I thought it was already quite clear enough,” Josh nonchalantly replied, as his index finger rose to point at me, “they want to kill her.”
Ethan slammed the desk, scaring everyone with the sudden noise, “That. Will. Never. Happen.”
Josh furrowed his eyebrows, “Chill out. I said ‘want’ not ‘will’, pay attention.”
Alpha Lennon was about to contribute something to the conversation but his eyes unfocused and hazed signalling that someone was mind-linking him.
YOU ARE READING
The Alpha Academy
Werewolf"No matter where you run, I'll always be at the other side, tesoro," he softly whispers. My eyes slowly close as reality sets in. He was right. I could never run away from him. I feel him walking behind me, getting closer and closer with each pass...
