After my conversation with Alec I felt emotionally drained after he left to speak with Liam. Listening about his past and his mate Evelny's betrayal I felt awful about my initial first impression of him. I had him pinned as a ladies man but it was obviously a coping mechanism to get through the loss of his mate. Ohhh and the fact that his current Alpha and best friend was the one to murder her. I didn't realise how much we had in common in terms of being lonely and self reliant and after what had happened this morning with the attack in the forest, my brain was in overdrive and I decided it was probably for the best that I left 'Trevor the Turd' to train on his own today. If I was this distracted now just sitting here in my room, imagine how bad things could go with a punch flying towards my face.

Call me a pessimist, but I was still unsettled about the near 'miss' Alec and I had in the woods earlier today. What fully shifted werewolf has time to throw a knife and shift to attack that quickly? Unless these rogues had super speed I smelled a rat. Not to mention the five 'strange siblings' who four of them were mute by the way and their sister seemed to worship tinker bell with that haircut. She said that all of them had to travel on foot? How does that work out? I know one would need to carry the young boy Noah, but that wouldn't stop the males from shifting, providing food and carrying them the rest of the way. Those males were built like rhinos so I wasn't buying the whole 'too weak to shift shit' and those so called rags for clothing seemed a little too far fetched in my mind. And..... sorry for not letting this one go just yet.... Why did they pass Redfang pack to come to ours? RedFang was the closest pack to them in terms of distance. Hell, they had to go around them to reach us!

'Ughhhhh!!!!!' I lay back in the bed with a dramatic flop and spread my arms out liked an eagle. I looked towards the ceiling and closed my eyes and tried replaying the forest scene in my head.

'Jesus... will you give it a rest already? Alec was right you know - you think too much''. Said Layla.

I blew out a raspberry in defiance of her criticism.

'Very mature'

'Layla... you know there's something dodgy about all of this don't you? And how do we explain those voices we heard on the other side of the door? something about staying by the Luna and not keeping some guy waiting'!'

She stayed quiet and I stayed still waiting for her response.

I waited a little more.....

'LAYLA!!!!!!!!!! I shouted out loud.

''Oh shit, sorry.... must have fell asleep ... did you say something'?

I stamped my foot against the devan and stood up whilst Layla laughed in my mind.

'I'm being serious'! I said. I was getting really emotional about this and she wasnt exactly being supportive here.

'Look, calm down. First of all you dont know a thing about these 'siblings'.. or Tinkerbell for that matter. Just do what Alec told you to do and lay low. You're all over the place right now and haven't been the same since we had that creepy dream, your obviously hormonal around Alec and not to mention my brain is hurting alllll the time with this stupid mental block you put up in defence against our own pack... who are still grieving the loss of Alpha Malcolm by the way. You're just over thinking things that's all. What happened today was bad and we need to make sure that no one else other than Alec knows about this power and if your that worried about Anya, why don't you just hang around her a little more'?

I sighed dejectidly.

'You're right Layla, I guess I am over thinking things. I'll go and hang out with Anya for a while'.

I felt Layla smile in my mind as I opened the door to my room and stepped outside. I closed the door to my room and would have bumped straight into a wall of steel if my reflexes hadn't kicked in. I crained my kneck to look up at this leaning tower of piza to see one of the 'survivor's brothers from earlier watching me stoically and in silently might I add.

Weird!

He didn't move even though I attempted to side step him. He just stood over me in brooding silence.

I bristled and straightened my shoulders. The problems with living in a pack as a werewolf was the little tiny issue we have called dominance. Werewolves are naturally pack creatures who survive solely on rank and if you show even the smallest ounce of weakness you could loose your position or be challenged at any time. That's why we have the 'pecking order' so to speak so we can avoid any animalistic type of behaviour where everyone fights all the time. Without rank there's discord and then ultimately chaos. I was technically a Luna with or without my position in Demitri's pack being finalised or announced through our usually ceremony, so I was, shall we say 'pretty high up in that pecking order' so this 'Gamma' trying to assert his dominance over me, was quite frankly pissing me the fuck off!

I kept my eye contact with him and widened my stance. I engaged my core and raised my chin in defiance. If this piece of shit wanted an ass kicking I would happily oblige. A low growl reverberated in my chest and Layla's spine turned to steel in my mind. At least i knew that if things went south 'my girl' had my back.

'Always'. She said in my mind.

Then.. he did something I wasn't expecting at all. He smiled or grinned shall we say.... reallllllllllly slowly.

Now, I'm now angel nor have I ever not seen some shady shit in my life OR have previously been exposed to some horrid people. A.K.A my rapist springs to mind. But this..... this was something else. I wasnt afraid because I knew I could wipe the floor with this little ass hat, but his open challenge was unnerving and quite frankly unwarranted considering his recent introduction into the pack after seeking 'sanctuary' too. Something made me think that the REAL threat wasn't those wolves Alec and I had disposed of earlier. The real threat was the dumb shmuck smiling at me. He chuckled and.....

Wait for it..........

TURNED HIS BACK ON ME and started to slowly walk away from me. The ultimate disrespect to his superior. I started to shake uncontrollably with rage.

'

'I know Layla...... I know'.

I was dumb struck. The only thing holding me back right now was the fact I was in Liam's house. I couldn't openly engage in a fight unless I was attacked or provoked and I was forced to defend myself, and this bastard knew it. I now had confirmation that Anya was indeed trouble and I had to speak to Liam about it urgently. A conversation I wasnt looking forward to. Then it clicked .....'I was the 'one' they had to keep an eye on. The voices from earlier. His challenge was a warning and a promise that he would be watching me and I'll be damned if I let them win...