"What do you mean you don't know who they are?"

"I'm not a fighter, Francis! How am I supposed to know the different scents of all the other packs if I've never stepped foot outside our territory?"

My eyes groggily open to the sound of Fran and Amias bickering, it seemed to me that they did lots of arguing when I was unconscious. I sat up from my spot on the grass, rubbing my eyes tiredly as I forced myself to wake up.

I watched Fran pinch the bridge of her nose, "You've got to tell him."

Amias' eyes widened and he shook his head vehemently just as Matteo silently approached them from behind. "Tell me what?"

Amias jumped while Matteo circled around to face him, he looked like at any given moment Amias would instantaneously collapse. "I may or may not have accidentally crossed the border into another pack's territory." He squeaked out quickly, "I woke up early to gather some more supplies for the road and I found these amazing wild chanterelle mushrooms just on the other side of this stream so I shifted and then as soon as I crossed these wolves surrounded me. I took off and I don't think they followed me but Fran still told me to tell you..."

With every word Matteo's mood visibly darkened, "That is Jack's territory." He growled out, "Noble Pack land, they don't just let people go."

I stood up and made my way over to them, "Who is Jack?" All three suddenly turned towards me, noticing my presence for the first time.

"Jack is the alpha of the Noble Pack." Matteo rather offhandedly explained to me.

I rolled my eyes, well no sh:t.

Fran snorted softly, "More like Alpha Jackass if you ask me." Just as the words left Fran's mouth, two wolves leaped through the foliage and into our clearing. She immediately sucked in a breath as the pair shifted back into their human form, clearly having heard Fran's quip based off of the less than amused expressions they sported.

Even I could determine that the first, larger wolf was obviously Alpha Jack. He had insanely blonde hair and blue eyes, it was almost irritating in a way how perfect his features were. The other was a simple wolf but he still radiated a great deal of presence and authority, maybe the beta?

"Can't say I haven't heard that one before."

Was every alpha wolf obscenely sarcastic? Were they all are this irritating?

Fran instantaneously paled and looked to the floor, while Matteo shot her a quick glare before turning his attention back to the other alpha. "We were just passing through, don't get your panties into a twist."

Jack's blue eyes narrowed ever so slightly, "Trespassing is the word I think you are looking for."

Matteo rolled his eyes and gave a mocking nod, sarcastically agreeing with the Noble Pack's alpha. "I really don't give a sh:t about what you want to call it, I just know that you don't want to have a problem with me right now. Being a dick about letting us through? That classifies as having a problem with me right now."

I couldn't imagine talking to an alpha the way Matteo was speaking with Jack. Well, I could considering how I argued with Matteo all of the time but he didn't really count because I didn't respect him in the slightest. But, Alpha Lorcan? He was someone I would have p:ssed myself on the spot, right in front of him if I ever spoke that way to him.

It wasn't a huge shock that Jack wasn't a fan of Matteo's endless taunting and demeaning, not many people were I imagined. He balled his hands into fists at his sides while Matteo casually leaned against a tree.

"Think carefully, Jackass. The wrong choice just might end up with your head on a plate and Malice burning your pack to the ground." Matteo said sweetly, further agitating and propagating the situation.

This was the first time I was witnessing Matteo in action, being able to see the true power he and all of his infamy welded over the rest of the packs. It was terrifying but also, strangely enough...it was exhilarating?

I frowned, disgusted at myself for admiring the control Matteo possessed. He was definitely not an alpha I should look up to.

"Six hours." Jack finally managed through his clenched teeth.

"Make it twelve and we'll even cover our tracks." Matteo picked at his fingernail, he was so arrogant it literally pained me to watch Jack have to interact with him.

Matteo pretended to think on the proposal, the very one he had just created, simply to irritate and undermine Jack further. Finally, Matteo nodded resolutely. He coyly pushed off of the tree with a hand extended to shake, a hand that Jack rightfully ignored.

"Twelve and then I want you out of my territory for good." He called over his shoulder, shifting back into his wolf and darting away from the scene of his humiliation with his comrade in tow.

Matteo dropped his hand with a laugh, he'd never intended to show any genuine sign of good will to the other alpha, it was all this sick little game to him. That's how everything was for him, just a way to assert his dominance over people by any means necessary and to have fun doing it.

He finally quieted down and turned back to face the three of us. He pointed directly at Amias and advanced towards him, his mood had suddenly shifted from jubilation to irritation.

"You," He prodded Amias' chest with a single finger, "You, are lucky that I owed your mate a favor because otherwise you would not be traveling with us. Don't make me resent Felix for your shortcomings by making another mistake like this again."

Matteo pivoted and directed his accusatory finger at Fran, turning his attention to his next victim. He chose to ignore the heartbroken expression painting Amias' face, "Grow up."

Finally, his gaze came to rest upon me. Considering how I did absolutely nothing to contribute to this entire situation, I was certain there was nothing Matteo could manage to scold me about. He stood in front of me silent for a half second, clearly realizing that he was without anything real to say to me.

I cleared my throat and Matteo snapped out of his stupor, he dropped his hand and tore his eyes off of me, "We need to leave the forest and get into town, we'll travel through the human streets until we get out of claimed territory and into Freeman's Land."

Freeman's Land was this mysterious place of just a bunch of unclaimed land that no one patrols or regulates. No one goes to Freeman's Land unless they absolutely have to, it's a haven for trouble not somewhere for the light of heart.

Matteo picked his backpack from the floor and swung it on over his shoulders immediately setting a new course for the town. And we marched.

And marched.

And marched some more.

I can't imagine what it would have been like if we were only given three hours to leave, I'm sure the other three would be fine since they could shift into their wolves and go at a much faster pace but I would have been stuck slowing them down either way even if they'd managed to carry me.

After hours of trekking through Noble Pack woods, finally, we stopped at the outskirts of a quaint little human town. Matteo led us further inward, navigating the town as if it was the back of his hand. He guided us right to a motel where he purchased two rooms from the old woman at the front desk.

Girls in one room and boys in another, that was the obvious, logical choice. But as Matteo tossed Amias and Fran their keys and he took hold of my arm I knew things were not going to be going the logical way after all. By then the vast majority of the day was already gone, it was remarkable how fast time flew when you were forced to silently march on an impossible mission to find a man who didn't need finding.

I tried to take my arm from Matteo, "I can walk on my own, thank you." He wasn't having any of it, Matteo tugged me alone like a child all the way into the dingy little motel room.

My eyes immediately widened as I came to realize that the room only had a single bed. There was no way in hell that I would sleep albeit platonically, with Matteo in that bed. It was if he read my thoughts as he set his pack onto the foot of the small futon couch, "Relax, take the bed. I can still keep a perfectly good watch on you from over here."

I was stunned, that was the first inkling of warmth I had felt from Matteo. Warmth might be pushing it but it was certainly the first time I saw him being remotely considerate. I set my bag down beside the bed and wandered into the small en suite bathroom that came with the room. I was closing the door when Matteo's hand blocked it from shutting all of the way.

"This stays unlocked, I don't trust you enough yet to know if you're going to do something drastic or stupid in there." He stood in the frame of the door, his muscled body taking up practically the entire space.

"What about something stupidly drastic?" I taunted back, Matteo didn't bother answering me as he stepped out of the frame and allowed me to close the door but I swear I saw a hint of a smile cross his features.

I peeled off the dirty clothes and tossed them onto the floor. The water in the shower took ages to warm up so the relaxing time I had been hoping for turned out to be quite a bust. Stepping out of the lukewarm shower, I wrapped a rather skimpy little towel around my body to dry off.

Bending down, I inspected my clothes to see if I could maybe put them back on but they were pretty gnarly. Scent wise and visually. I silently groaned as I paced the length of the tiny bathroom a few times, I hated the idea of having to go out in my towel in front of him or any guy for the matter.

I looked into the foggy mirror for affirmation, I gave myself a quick thumbs up before I pushed open the door and stepped out of the bathroom.

"I was beginning to get excited that you'd drowned in there--" Matteo's words were quickly cut off as soon as he turned around to face me.

His eyes went wide, my appearance taking him by surprise obviously. I could feel my face heating up, I'm sure I looked like a prune-y tomato as I skirted by him and to the other side of my bed. Holding the towel in one hand, I fished out some clothes to slip on, a rather precarious task while balancing the towel all the while I felt Matteo's gaze burning into my back.

When I finally turned back around, Matteo's eyes were dark as he continued to stare at me. I inhaled sharply as he took a step towards me but something stopped him from continuing his advance. Matteo blinked a few times and his eyes returned to normal, "We missed your training today so you need to get some rest because we'll be working doubly hard tomorrow."

He turned away from me looking frustrated and situated his large frame on the small futon, it was hilarious to watch really but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to laugh. I crawled into the bed and settled under the covers, I fell asleep almost instantaneously.

That was, until a meaty hand rudely woke me up when it clamped itself roughly over my mouth.