RAIDEN ||

"Babe, you might hate me, but I need to tell you what's going to happen next."

His words brought me pause.

I didn't want to hear what else my pups had to say after that, I knew by his tone of voice and the look on his beautiful face, that I would not like where this was going.

Sitting upright in my chair, I nervously stare into those wave crashing eyes of his.

"Why would I hate you pups? What are you thinking in that confusing head of yours?"

"To be honest.." My pups paused before looking down at his hands in his lap. "Going to the cells and enduring what I've put you through."

The expression on my face told it all, confusion, dumbfounded and a little worried about my pups mental health.

This man hasn't made a sound decision on his own since I've met him, there's just no way that he's running this pack alone. I actually think he may need therapy.

"Are you fucking insane?" He flinched from the aggression behind my tone, I think this may be the first time I've ever used such foul language in front of my love, but right now, he needed to hear it.

He's being incredibly......stupid.

"Babe." Pups whispered, leaning back into his chair. "You cursed at me."

"Yeah I did because you're not fucking thinking clearly, what you just suggested wouldn't help anyone." I tell him, standing up from my chair before walking towards the bookshelf. "It definitely won't help the situation at hand pups."

"I just don't think that I should be walking around free right now, not after finding out the truth babe... you never caused issues for the pack Raiden, you just killed random rogues that attacked you first. Everything you said was true and I didn't believe you." He runs his hands through his hair as he lets out a frustrated sigh.

"If this we're anyone else, they would have been punished Raiden. What I did was unacceptable and I need to fix it."

I ran my hands down my face and sighed out of pure frustration. This man would be the reason I have gray hairs before 30.

"Fix it how pups? By locking yourself away? Who would that be helping?"

"I DON'T KNOW! BUT I NEED TO DO SOMETHING!" He yells.

"WHY?!" I yell back, suddenly growing more and more frustrated at how bullheaded my mate is.

He's so fucking frustrating sometimes! I just don't get his whole thought process, like what, a thought pops into his head and then he decides after a second or two, that it's a good idea or not, then just jumps into action.

He doesn't even think about the consequences of his fucking actions, he's such a loose cannon and that's dangerous thing to be when you have a pack of 470 wolves all looking at you for guidance.

It's like the dumb leading the dumb here...

Wolves man..

"What do you mean, why? I just told you-"

"No, what you told me sounded selfish as fuck again pups, it's not happening! You're not going into those cells! That's the end of this shit." I tell him as I continue to pace the office.

"You don't get to tell me what the end is or not babe, I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do."

"Well tough titty, because I just told you what the end was and to clarify, what you said is entirely fucking selfish, not the right thing to do!" I glare at him.

"How is it selfish babe? I'm not just thinking about myself here. This is about you and what I've done, what I've allowed to happen, what my family has done. We all need some form of punishment for this! Why are you fighting me on this?!"

"I'm fighting you because you're being ridiculous. I agree that your family does need to be punished for their parts but not you, not now. Maybe later, but not right now." I try to reason with him, but he just shakes his head.

Like seriously, what is wrong with him? The way his brain currently works can't be healthy for him.

"I need to do this before the rogue issue gets worse, before there's an all out war babe! The only time to do this is now!"

"No, we have our whole lives for you to punish yourself for what you've done and believe me when I tell you, I will enjoy watching you try to live without your damn Apple juice."

He rolls his eyes before trying to fight the smile that crept onto his face.

"But right now pups, is not the time for this shit. Right now, you need to put your big boy pants on and grow the fuck up! Right now, you need to be the Alpha that your pack needs. You made a mistake, that's fine, we all make those, but you fix it in a way that makes sense, not like this!" My tone was a lot harsher than I intended, but he needed this.

He stays completely silent as his smile fades and he nods after a few minutes.

Seeing his sudden change of emotion, I sigh and walk around the desk to stand in front of my mate, then I grab his hands.

"Right now is not the time for this stupid shit. Your pack needs you, I need you... think about it, if you were to lock yourself and your family away in the cells, who would run the pack? It surely wouldn't be me, so who would keep things going around here?"

He frowns as he looks around the office, probably trying to figure out who would run this shit if he were to leave.

"I-I don't know." He whispers as he hangs his head. I let go of his hands and cup his face instead, guiding his eyes up to mine.

"Exactly, there's nobody here that can do what you do pups." I tell him before I start rubbing gentle circles across his jaw, before sliding one of my hands to the side of his neck.

"I know you think doing this will make things better for us, but it won't.. it will do the opposite, I would be pissed if you did this." I tell him and he gasps.

"Really? Why? I just want to make things right."

"I get that, but this is not the way to do it. What we're doing now, taking things slow, you giving me what I want and me returning what you need is what's making things right between us pups."

He frowns again before twisting his face up. I could tell that he was seriously pondering my words.

I didn't want to be so harsh with him, but he's so fucking immature and bullheaded sometimes, it's hard to get through to him. He just jumps into situations and doesn't think about the consequences after.

Dylan is the fucking Alpha. What sense does it make to lock himself and his family away all at the same time? Who in Goddess name would make sure the pack runs smoothly, not me, I don't want any parts in running this shit show right now.

I'm still trying to get used to the fact that his family stops by so much. I can't even get through a family dinner without having an anxiety attack, so I definitely couldn't run a whole pack by myself.

No, him doing this idiotic plan of his would make things so much worse. Not to mention, what would happen if the rogues did attack again. I don't know how to lead a battle, I've always been by myself, I can't take control of a whole warrior system.

It's time my pups grows the fuck up and pulls up those big boy briefs. He needs to be the Alpha that this pack depends on and not think about punishing himself so much.

Goddess, I get that he made a mistake, but seriously, punishing himself and majority of his best warriors, wouldn't help shit.

I sigh as I continue to stare into his eyes, he hasn't uttered a single word since my previous explanation.

"Pups, I need you to say something."

"I don't know what to say." He tells me as he grips onto the front of my shirt. I was noticing this was a comforting gesture for him.

"At least say that you understand what I told you and you're not going to make bullheaded decisions before thinking about the consequences." I tell him as I lift his chin even higher, forcing his eyes to hold mine.

"I understand what you said Raiden." He rolls his eyes, I raise my eyebrow clearly challenging him not to repeat the rest of what I just said.

His attitude drops almost immediately as he repeats my words.

"And I won't make bullheaded decisions before thinking about the consequences."

"Thank you." I smile, prompting his own to come back out. Leaning in, I place a quick, gentle kiss on those perfect lips of his, pulling back before he could deepen the kiss.

I was rewarded with a growl from him before he tried to lean in for another kiss and denied him yet again.

"You know, I'm the Alpha." He mumbles as he tries to pull away from my grasp, but all that did was make me hold onto him tighter.

"You may be the Alpha out there.." I nod towards the door. "But when it's just me and you, we both know what's going on pups."

"Whatever." He rolls his eyes again before glaring at me.

"You're so ridicu-" I started to tease my pups until the office door flew open, slamming against the wall.

"ALPHA!" Gabe and Hunter rush inside.

I let go of my pups as I watch them bare their necks to me, then look at Dylan.

"There's been another incident." Gabe tells him.

We didn't take much time before rushing out the door, following Gabe and Hunter to the incident they were referring to. I kind of had a hunch what we were walking into, but I didn't want to believe my horrifying thoughts.

Running through the forest, we quickly approached the eastern side of the border where there were maybe 10 warriors standing in front a tree.

"Brace yourself Alpha." Hunter whispers to Dylan as we slowly approach the tree that held everyone's attention.

I sucked in a sharp breath at the sight in front of me, it was more gruesome than I thought it would be.

There was a gray wolf hanging from one of the tree branches, completely covered in blood, with a letter attached to the rope around its neck.

Gabe walked up the wolf before snatching the letter off its body and handing it to me because Dylan seemed to be in shock.

I WILL NEVER FORGET

For the love of the Gods and Goddesses.. what is going on around here?

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