Chapter 8: Unwanted Animal

Garrett

“What do you mean, you let her go into town?” I shouted at Liam.

“Shall I repeat myself?” my brother sighed.

I had slept in this morning, usually because of work I was forced to rise before the sun did. But since I was no longer working for that company, I had no more reason to follow that strict schedule.

I expected to see Liam awake, as he had always been an early riser, but seeing Damien up and about told me that I had slept way later than intended.

Damien, who had been preoccupying himself by hanging up some weird cluster of railroad spikes that were tied together over the fireplace, turned to join the conversation.

“Ivy wanted to go into town - what’s the big deal?”

I couldn’t believe that I was hearing this from them, least of all Liam who was always ten steps ahead of everyone else, and had more common sense than anyone else I had ever met.

“The big deal,” I snapped “is that this is a new town, a new place. We don’t know who these people are!”

“Well, to become familiar with a place and its people usually requires exploring it,” Liam said, rolling his eyes.

“Screw you both. I’m going to get her,” I said, stepping over the still-broken front door. I was going to have to fix that today.

***

I would give Ivy’s father one thing: he had truly picked a beautiful place for his pack to live. Wolf’s Cove was nothing short of idyllic. At least, it would be if it wasn’t for my tearing through it like a madman.

I scanned the roads for Ivy’s cherry red Jeep, and it didn’t take me long to find it parked in front of Starlight Bakery. I saw her in the park right beside the bakery, sat in the gazebo with a human man knelt beside her.

I must have blacked out because before I knew it, I was out of my car and pushing this guy as far away from her as I could.

“Get the hell away from her!” I snarled. The wolf in me was pissed, raging over the sight of a human man that was close to my mate. The thought alone was enough for the Change to nearly take over me.

The human was smaller than me, about the same size as Ivy but to my surprise, he was a bit sturdier than he looked and when I pushed him, he stumbled back, but only a few steps.

“Hey, calm down, dude. I was just helping her.” The man shot a look back at me.

“You don’t get to touch her!” I snapped, pushing him again.

This time he was prepared for it and only took a step back, allowing me to push him. The silent challenge was in and I was sent over the edge.

My wolf clawed at the surface, and I was just about to let it out before both Ivy and one of the worst scents I ever smelled in my life slammed into me.

“Garrett, stop!”

I nearly gagged and my wolf subsided, my anger dulled by the scent of whatever this was. Goddess, it was so bad! What the hell was that?

I pressed the crook of my arm to my mouth and nose to cover the stench. The man looked at me, and I swear I saw his eyes narrow. Ivy seemed just as affected by the smell as I was, she pressed her hand to her mouth and continued to push me away from the human.

“Aidan, I’m sorry. Thank you so much for your help, but I think I’m going to head home now-come on!” she called over her shoulder, before trying to herd me back toward our cars.

“Aidan? Why the f-” I uncovered my mouth, nearly screaming.

“Let’s go now!” Ivy said, shushing me. “You’re making a scene!”

“Making a scene, am I?” Without another word, I grabbed Ivy by the waist and carried her to my car. I tossed her in, closing the door before I got in on my side, started the car, and sped away.

“Wait, my car!” Ivy cried.

“I’ll come to get it later for you.”

Ivy’s mouth was agape as we drove and she looked...shocked. She blinked for a moment before her fist slammed into the arm closest to her, hard but not enough to hurt me.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Me?” I asked. “Why the hell did you go into town by yourself?”

“Because I’m a grown woman and I can do whatever I’d like?” Ivy snapped. “Why did you have to come after me like that and act like a complete psycho?”

“Something could have happened to you! We don’t know these people.”

“Nothing happened!”

“It sure didn’t look like nothing. Why were you with that human?”

Ivy looked embarrassed suddenly despite herself. “Well, I fainted-”

“You what!” I nearly slammed on the breaks.

Ivy ignored me.

“And Aidan had carried me outside. I don’t really know what happened. There was this smell that just kind of came out of nowhere and made me sick.”

I paused. “You smelled that too?”

“That weird, gross rotten bleach smell? Yeah! What was it?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’ve never smelled anything so bad in my life.”

“Me neither. I’m glad that he got me out of there as quickly as he did.”

“Yeah..I guess it’s good that the human-Aidan decided to help you,” I said begrudgingly.

“You’re going to have to apologize to him, you know. We’re going to be living here - we have to make sure that we try to blend in with the humans and get along with them,” she said.

“That may be true, but that doesn’t mean that we have to trust them. Not yet at least,” I said.

“Well fighting them isn’t going to do anything other than expose our kind. You almost shifted back there!”

“Ivy,” I began. “It is the Alpha’s job to protect the pack, and especially his mate. I know that you haven’t chosen me yet, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to allow you to put yourself in danger.”

We pulled down the long dirt path that led to our home, and I released a breath that I hadn’t been aware I was holding in. I had actually been worried about Ivy.

The idea of her out and about in this town all by herself filled me with anxiety. Yes, she was a shifter and stronger than most humans, but I wanted her safe. And the only way I could ensure that was if she stayed by my side.

Liam was intelligent and Damien..well, he was Damien. But neither of them were exactly fighters. Ivy needed a strong Alpha that was capable of keeping her and her future family safe.

“Look, Ivy,” I began as I pulled into the driveway and parked the car. “I know that you’re set on choosing your mate and all that but I think that you and I both know that you should just save us all this wasted time and choose me. Life will be easier for all of us.”

Ivy looked up at me and something vulnerable shone in those hazel eyes of hers. Suddenly the feeling that I had said something wrong overtook me. She turned from me and without a word, unlocked the car door and stomped up the stairs that led inside.

I sighed and scrubbed my hands through my hair. I had never lived with a woman outside of my mother before. Yeah, I’d had girlfriends and sure, they stayed with me sometimes, but those had all been casual flings.

They never lasted more than a few months, and that was always fine by me. But Ivy wasn’t a casual fling. I was going to be spending the rest of my life with this woman, which meant I was going to have to get used to sharing a house with her and learning to deal with it when she was annoyed.

I knew all of this logically, but it didn’t make it any easier to deal with. I didn’t like when women were upset, especially with me. It made me uncomfortable, and I really didn’t know what to do.

I sat in the car for a few minutes, prolonging the inevitable tongue-lashing I was going to get when I went inside. I sighed and finally got out to follow Ivy into the house.

Ivy was sitting on the couch, and my brother Damien crouched beside her. Her face was in her hands and her shoulders shook. It took me a moment to realize that she was crying.

“Hey, come on. It’s alright-” Damien crooned to her.

“What did you do to her?” I snarled at him.

“I didn’t do anything to her, dumbass! You did!” Damien said as he shot to his feet and pointed to me.

“Fat chance! I was just with her and she was fine. But now I come in here and she’s crying? So, what did you say to her?”

“I didn’t-”

“That’s it!” Ivy shouted, her face red and tear-streaked. I hated to see it. “I’ve had enough. We need to have a pack meeting now!”