I walked towards the house and did my best to ignore Yuri’s and Scott’s yells behind me. “Reid, stop please! Don’t do this! It’s not worth it!”

I kept walking forward. Ryan was standing guard in front of the door. He was big, broad-shouldered with a good amount of muscle just as tall as me. He had rusty brown hair and blue eyes, I have never seen him do anything else than frown. With that typical scowl of his, he got in my way.

“What’s going on?” he asked. I just growled at him and tried to walk around but he stopped me with a hand on my chest. What a fucking idiot, he was playing his part perfectly without even knowing it. I grabbed his hand and twisted it the wrong way, then kicked him with my knee into his ribs, full force. He was so shocked he didn’t even try to block me, his ribs cracked under my strength. To be honest, I didn’t even feel bad about it, he belonged to team Diego and was anti-Reid down to his core. I threw his head back, making sure it hit the wall hard. Then I let him go. He slumped down the wall, obviously stunned. I went upstairs, passing by a very shocked-looking Holly. I packed my bag quickly – luckily I didn’t have much stuff and waited about three minutes, for the pack to gather downstairs, then ran down, my angry and stone-cold expression, hiding the happiness of my wolf for finally kicking someone’s ass.

“Reid. What is the meaning of all this ruckus?” Alistair said as I ran down the stairs. Almost everyone was here. Perfect.

“I’m done,” I said coldly, stopping on the bottom steps. “I tried, I really fucking tried, but no matter what I do, I will always be the outcast won’t I? I will always be the useless faggot son!” I used Diego’s phrase turning my rage-filled gaze on him. “Well, I’m done with your bullshit. Do you know what I think? This pack is a damn joke! You think yourself so high and mighty but what did you do when they killed Bran huh? When they almost killed Jack? Absolutely nothing!” Okay, I did feel a bit bad about that… The Bran part hurt I knew that, it even hurt me to say it. But Elliot had to believe I hated them all.

“You’re weak, every one of you and I want nothing to do with you anymore. I fucking hope the Mercenaries kill you all!” I roared at them and ran out while they were still in shock. I thanked all the Gods no one actually tried to attack me.

Well, that went pretty well, I told myself as I got into my car. Of course, I had to fuck it up. I looked back at the house and there I saw Lowell… tears ran down his cheeks, the look of hurt breaking my heart immediately. Sorry Lowell, but no one is doing anything, I have to find the Mercenaries before they hurt you or Ivan, or Yuri or Scott… I pushed the emotions away for now and drove into the city. Cast out of pack once again. My wolf couldn’t help but point out. The hunt is more important, I’ll beg for forgiveness when they’re safe.

I found one of many roadside motels and booked a room for the night. Hopefully, Elliot would come and meet me sooner than that. It wasn’t like I believed he had spies in our pack or anything, but just because we were two separate packs didn’t mean that members weren’t allowed to have friends in the other pack. And friends talked, they gossiped. I sat down on the bed and ate the junk food I bought on my way here. I hated motels. Somehow no matter how modern or clean they seemed they all smelled of bodily fluids.

I ate, took a shower then checked my phone. I had two texts. The first was from Scott. Okay, that was pretty dramatic, this just might work. And the second was from Matt. Hey, here’s a little something if you need a distraction again… And under that was a photo. For a second I couldn’t quite catch my breath. It was a photo of Matt, in the shower, naked, all there for me to see with a gorgeous blush on his face as he looked at the ground, not at the camera, like he couldn’t bear to look at himself doing something like that. Oh, what a beautiful shy little boy… I licked my lips, thinking of all the things I could be doing to him right now if I wasn’t sitting in a disgusting motel.

Before I could form my thoughts into a text a polite knock sounded at the door. Well, that was even faster than I thought it would be. I put the phone in my pocket, shooed away the goofy smile Matt’s photo put on my face.

Then I opened the door with an angry: “What?!” Like I expected someone else. Of course, it was Elliot. I actually thought he would send that Justin guy again, but it seemed he really wanted to get me on his side. A way to make me feel important... Weirdly enough it was somewhat working.

“Oh… Oh. Sorry, I thought… Never mind.” I sighed, exasperated. Damn, I should’ve been an actor. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I actually wanted to ask you the same question,” he said and gave the room behind my back a disgusted look. “What is a noble Ghealach wolf doing in a place like this?”

“Don’t call me that,” I growled at him, making my eyes flicker grey for bonus effect. “I’m done with them, I don’t want anything to do with them.”

“Oh, and why is that?” he asked, tilting his head to the side with curiosity.

But that would be too easy, I couldn’t just play along with him. “What are you doing here Elliot? I’m sure an Alpha like you has a lot more important things to do than this.”

“Really? I thought taking care of your wolves was the most important responsibility of an alpha,” he said, smiling at me sadly. “Guess Alistair has forgotten about that too.”

I closed my mouth, stunned, not sure what to say. It should scare me, how good of a liar I was… Oh well, I had to hide my feelings my whole life. I had practice.

“Come with me, Reid. This is no place for a wolf. Come home with me, eat, sleep, then you can decide what to do in the morning.” He sounded so reasonable, why wouldn’t I listen? I hesitated though. Of course, I would hesitate, I would be untrusting, careful. “It’s just one night Reid, no strings attached.”

“Oh if I had a dollar for every time I heard that,” I smirked, relaxing a bit, which judging by his smile was exactly his intention. Huh, growing up in a pack full of arrogant dominant wolves had its perks I guess… I sighed, shook my head, but in the end, gave in. “Alright, one night. But just because this place smells like cum and piss.” I wrinkled my nose and quickly grabbed my bag.