Bonded to the Pack (Born to be Were) (13 page)

“I would do anything for her.  She is
the first of our kind to ever believe in me. I won’t let you down,” he
promised.

“Good, because we don’t have much time
before Graduation and I need to make plans.”

“Whatever you need, I’m there for you,”
Mason said solemnly.

“That’s great to hear, because no one
knows this forest like you and that is crucial to my plan.”

The two males walked back to Alec’s
house and talked well into the night before Mason left and Alec finally went to
bed. He was preparing for anything that might happen and Mason was crucial to
his plans if things should go wrong. He was the only one who knew the forest
like the back of his hand and the only one who could get Mercy out of there if
the council decided to go through with the challenge and he should lose.

Chapter Eight

Alec was leaning against Mercy’s locker
the next morning wearing the stupid mask she had insisted he put on for the
masquerade-themed day, when he felt the first stirrings of an unfamiliar
presence in the hall. Immediately his body was on full alert, and his eyes
scanned the area for anyone that was not what they seemed. His gaze fell upon a
small, dark-haired girl who walked next to a tall muscularly built male who
eyed every girl he passed as if he were in a candy shop. He quickly noted
Rich’s body tense across the hall as he watched the female approach and looked
to Mason who was also staring at the newcomers with interest. The girl looked
his way and smiled. her pale complexion making her appear innocent and doll-like.
He frowned, moving protectively in front of Mercy as she approached them.

“Alec, right?” the female asked, looking
past him to Mercy who, sensing his unrest, had turned to stare at the newcomer.

Although taken back by the female’s
forwardness Alec wasn’t fooled. She was one of the Elders’ puppets and he
wasn’t in the mood to play her games. “Is it not bad enough you’ve surrounded
her house, now you’re going to plague her at school too?” he growled.

Jaden frowned. She had hoped for a
better reception, but given the fact they were working for the people trying to
take his mate away she understood his anger. “Wren and I were sent to ensure
Mercy’s safety until graduation. I can assure you we are no threat to her.”

“You work for the Elders, so right now
you are the biggest threat to her.” Alec clenched his fists at his sides
angrily as he stared down at her with contempt.

Jaden was getting nowhere with the
overly protective male and decided to try a different tactic. She looked past
his shoulder to his mate instead. “Mercy, right?” 

Mercy nodded, placing her hand on Alec’s
back to calm him. “Alec, this is not the place for this, let’s just get to
class before we are late”

Alec turned and looked down on Mercy
feeling her calming influence wash over him. He grabbed her hand bringing it to
his mouth and kissing the back of it before reaching behind her and slamming
her locker closed, then turned back to the female and her escort. “Back off,
she has until graduation to enjoy her freedom and I intend to see she does,” he
growled, placing his arm around Mercy’s back and escorting her down the hall.

“That was smooth,” Wren said behind
Jaden.

Jaden watched Alec pull Mercy close to
his side; then he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her head before looking
back at her with a snarl. “It went better than I expected, I thought for sure
he would kick your butt.” He looked stunned and she smiled, patting his cheek,
then walked off down the hall following the path Alec had taken, leaving Wren
to catch up.

*****

Alec’s body stiffened, as the Elders’
female guard walked into class handing the teacher a paper before taking a seat
across the room where she had a perfect view of them. He rose to his feet ready
to confront her, but Mercy placed a staying hand on his arm and shook her head.

“Alec don’t, it won’t change anything. She
is just following the Elders’ orders and if it wasn’t her, there would be
someone else.”

Alec sat back down, but glared daggers at
the petite female across the room.

Gina came rushing in and took the seat
next to Mercy’s looking frazzled and out of sorts, earning her friend’s
immediate attention.  “What’s going on?” Mercy asked, unused to seeing Gina so
flustered.

“This jerk in the hall who thinks he’s God’s
gift to women stopped me and offered to make my day.” She rolled her eyes. “As
if I haven’t heard that a million times from the Neanderthals around here.”

Mercy watched her friend with a knowing
eye and smiled. Gina liked to have the upper hand and a male who was aggressive
tended to aggravate her.

The door to class opened and in walked
Wren who had been with the little dark-haired female in the hall. He looked to
Gina with a devastating smile, and she clenched the desk on either side,
glaring back at him.

Mercy noted the male who ogled Gina, but
thankfully, Alec was still busy glaring at the female guard and had yet to
notice or he would have used it as an excuse to start a fight between them.

*****

“What did you do now?” Jaden asked Wren,
as Mercy’s friend glared at him repeatedly throughout the class.

Wren looked to the beauty who had caught
his eye and waved, earning a thunderous glare, and turned back to Jaden. “I
didn’t know she was friends with the Born Were, but she’s cute and I offered
her my services.”

Jaden glared him. “You idiot, stop
thinking about girls and start thinking about watching over the redhead, she’s
the one we are here for.”

He looked to where the stunning redhead
sat with her mate’s arm around her back as they studied together and shook his
head. “Do you really think anything is going to happen to her while he’s
around? Look at them. They are inseparable. I bet he would kill anyone who
dared to touch her.”

Jaden’s gaze moved to where Alec and
Mercy sat, she watched them interact with one another, anticipating each
other’s movements and adjusting themselves accordingly to the other’s needs. It
was sweet the way they were with one another and she felt sorry for them. The
council was using Mercy’s Born Were status for their own agenda and they would
not allow them to be together without Alec having to fight every male who
challenged him for the right to bond with Mercy. “He loves her, Wren, there is
nothing he wouldn’t do for her, including trying to run away and bond with her
before the Elders come,” she pointed out.

“Why do I get the feeling you don’t
really care for this assignment?” he asked suspiciously.

“Nonsense, what could be better than
tearing apart two of our kind destined for one another?” she sneered. “For once
I wish I were anyone but one of the Elders’ guard. This goes against everything
we are taught about Bond Mates.”

“You’re getting personally involved here,
Jaden, maybe you should back off this one,” he warned.

Jaden turned and looked at him, her blue
eyes piercing his. “Maybe you should keep your opinions to yourself and go and
chase your little girlfriend over there. She might be useful later on.”

Wren looked to where Gina sat and smiled
wickedly. “I don’t need to chase her.  All I have to do is wait for her to fall
all over me like all females do.”

“One of these days, Wren, a female is
going to prove you are not as immune to love as you think you are.” She stood
as the bell rang and grabbed her books, quickly following Alec and his mate
down the hall to Mercy’s locker where they stopped to speak with a few of their
friends. Their conversation was rather boring and she was growing tired of
their banter when a medium-built male with midnight black hair and a muscular
body that was molded into a pair of black jeans strode up to them gracing Mercy
with a devastating smile. The newcomer was gorgeous and if it wasn’t for the
fact her heart was already taken, she would have been interested, but as it was
he was just another Were she had to keep her on eye. She reached into her
locker for her books and when she turned back around, they were all gone.  

“Oh crap,” she murmured, slamming the
locker door and racing to Mercy’s next class, hoping Alec didn’t try and spirit
Mercy away. As she rushed into the room Wren watched her with a grin, sitting a
few seats behind Mercy and her friend, who was glaring at Jaden with
unconcealed dislike. Alec sat beside his mate, his arm draped around her back,
his body in full protective mode ready to pounce as she walked past. She had
never felt more like a pariah than she did in that moment and accidentally she
stumbled, dropping her books on the floor. Heat flamed her cheeks as she bent
to retrieve them, but found that Mercy had already turned despite the growl from
her mate and began to gather them up for her. 

“Here you go,” Mercy said with a friendly
smile, handing her the books.

“Thank you,” Jaden said softly, looking
up into the female’s sea-green eyes and finding herself smiling back.

“Instead of standing so far away in the
hall, you can join us, we don’t bite.” She looked to her mate, who was frowning,
and smiled. “Much, anyway,” she said caressing his cheek lovingly.

“I, ah…” Jaden didn’t know how to react.
She had not expected Mercy to be so nice, much less invite her to join their
group.

“Angel, I’m sure that might make her
uncomfortable, after all she is here to tear you away from me and hand you over
to the Elders,” Alec said, glaring at Jaden.

“Stop, I am sure…Ah.” Mercy looked to
the female for her name.

Jaden extended her hand, earning another
growl from Alec. “Jaden,” she said.

“Nice to meet you, Jaden,” Mercy said,
taking her hand in her own. For brief minute, she felt as if they had met
before and she stared trying to place the female before her, but nothing came to
mind. “If you’re going to be around for the next few weeks we might as well get
to know one another.” Jaden looked at her uncertainly, but Mercy just smiled. If
she intended to sway the Elders into seeing Alec as an Alpha who wanted to
maintain the old ways, she could use an ally, and someone like Jaden, who knew
them well, couldn’t hurt her cause.

Jaden wasn’t sure how to react. In all
her years with the Elders, no one had ever just accepted her into their lives.
Most of the time they cursed at her, or tried to kill her, but never had anyone
welcomed her and that threw her off. “Ah…yeah, I need to see my friend,” she
said looking to where Wren watched them with a puzzled expression.

“Okay then, see you around,” Mercy told
her, turning back to Alec who wrapped his arm tighter around her and continued
to glare at Jaden as she walked to where Wren waited.

“What was that?” Wren asked as she took
the seat next to him.

Jaden looked to Mercy, who was talking
heatedly with Alec, and shook her head. “I’m not sure.”

*****

“What the hell was that?” Alec demanded
after Jaden left them.

Mercy smiled and placed her hand on his
cheek, staring up at him calmly. “Being unkind is not going to make this easier.” 

Alec groaned, bringing the palm of her
hand to his lips and placing a kiss there. “I don’t want her, or that cocky
moron she’s with, anywhere around you.” The twinkling sound of her laughter
greeted his words and he growled again, earning the confused stares of those
around him.

Mercy leaned in closer so no one would
hear her. “Relax, you’re letting your beast get the upper hand.” She placed a
kiss on his neck. “Besides, one should always keep their friends close and
their enemies closer.”

That was the second time someone had
told him that within a week, but he was growing weary of all of the doubt
surrounding the people around them daily. He wanted nothing more than to take
her away, make her his, and forget about everything else.

“Just trust me, Alec,” she whispered,
taking his hand in her own and squeezing it tightly.

“Always,” he whispered, leaning towards
her for a kiss, forgetting where they were until a long ruler slammed down upon
his desk and he looked up into the eyes of their very angry  teacher.

“Alec, this is English class, not a
make-out joint,” the teacher said, her small bird like eyes piercing his.

“Sorry,” he said pulling his arm away
from Mercy and sitting back in his seat with a grin. “She’s just
irresistible.” 

The class broke out in laughter and the
teacher turned to glare around the room until everyone turned back to their
work. “Please try to control yourself until after class,” she warned, turning
away and walking back to the front of the room.