~Mason~
Riley set up a room for us. That meant kicking out two of his friends to live somewhere else and us taking their yellow mattresses for the night. The window hung on its side, so there was basically a hole through the wall in the room. The mattresses on the floor were pushed up against the walls on each side of the room, and a closet without doors filled with plastic bags, old food, and pipes stood in the corner.
“I hope this will do for the night, boys,” Riley said and smiled giddily. To him, this was probably a palace; it was his house, his rooms, and something told me it didn’t get any better than this in this place.
“It’ll do fine,” I said and dropped my bag on the floor.
“I’ll let you settle in. I have to check to make sure everything is ready for tonight, and you probably need an hour or two of rest, but when you’re ready, come and find me,” Riley said before walking off.
“There’s no chance in hell that we’re staying in this rotten hole. We’ll catch a disease just by sitting down!” Graham said and threw his bag against the wall.
“Calm your shit, we’ll be fine. All we do is play along tonight, make sure that Sebastian doesn’t take anything else, and in the morning, we take him and Dimitri and leave,” I said. I closed the door to the room, but I saw through the crack and through the door to the house Riley talking to Dimitri. His eyes cast in on the closed room door, and he nodded before leaving.
Those two were up to something. If Dimitri and Riley were in cahoots, it would have meant more obstacles than we had considered, but that could be easily handled if need be.
Graham and I unpacked our bags. We pulled out every single piece of clothing and laid them out on the mattresses, but even after that, we were both weary of sitting down, Graham a little more than me.
“I cannot believe this,” he said and leaned back. He closed his eyes and rested his arms on his chest.
“Stop whining,” I said and closed my eyes as well. The only plan for tonight was to keep Sebastian as far away from the drugs as possible and maybe chat Dimitri up a bit, see what he’d been up to lately and what backward working plan he had for his best friend’s son.
The hours passed painfully slow. However, after sitting in the room and not talking for two hours straight, we decided to head out of the room and start off the night.
“Wait.” Graham pulled my arm back and held me back from opening the door.
“What?” I asked.
“Our job was to come here to get Sebastian and Dimitri back to the pack, not to get high and sleep our way through the members here.” I smirked and nodded.
“Don’t worry, we’ll stick to the plan,” I said and slapped his shoulder. He needed to relax; my sister had him wrapped around her finger, and on a normal day, they were joined at the hip. For a few hours, I had my old friend back. I needed to show him a good time before we returned home, and he fell on his knees in front of her again.
We walked out of the house. The fires were in full swing, with thick smoke reaching the sky. Chairs were placed around the fire pits, and tables were set up for the food. I saw from over the hill how a group walked down, chanting and whistling as they carried the latest hunt.
Everyone started clapping. They were salivating as they watched their friends carry the fresh meat, and another group was preparing the vegetables, herbs, and other sides.
They tossed the animals down, and three women immediately began cutting into them.
“It’s lovely, isn’t it?”
I looked to my side to see that same blonde girl I’d seen earlier. She was wearing a low-cut top, no bra, and skimpy shorts. Around her neck hung a leather strap tied into a bow, and her fingers were gracing my hand. They entwined with my own, and she gave them a light squeeze. She slid her tongue over her lips and batted her eyelashes. Her breast pressed against my arm, and I drew a deep breath to try and control myself.
“It is,” I said.
She giggled; the sound was soft and delicate, but I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was anything but.
“Mason!” Riley yelled. The girl slowly pulled her hands away and took a step back.
“Riley, where are my old friends?” I asked him.
He chuckled and looked around until his eyes landed on Dimitri in the midst of everyone starting the celebration. He had his arm around the last woman, I thought, but I shouldn’t be too surprised. Sebastian’s mom was laughing at his jokes, dragging her hand up and down his arm, and doing everything a devoted girlfriend would.
It was sickening, to say the least. His best friend was murdered, so he moved in on his wife. However, one thing did make sense from this—her belief that Sebastian would take back the title had to stem from Dimitri’s encouragement. What are you up to, you two-faced little devil?
I walked past the group of people that were forming. They were clinking their flasks and laughing over some story about getting high before taking another puff of a bong. The pills were being passed around, and though most of the people here had enough drugs in them to take down a mammoth, they still stood steadily on their feet. I walked up to Dimitri and watched as his eyes narrowed the closer I got. Sebastian’s mother slid from his grip and walked over to her kids sitting around a barrel with the others.
“Mason Stark,” Dimitri said and flicked his tongue over his teeth. He turned around and grabbed two beers, popping the cap and handing one over.
“Dimitri,” I said and grabbed the beer.
He grabbed another one with the cap already gone and handed it to Graham. I reached out and grabbed the bottle before it reached him.
“He doesn’t drink,” I said and handed it to another pack member.
Dimitri smoldered, his eyes narrowed to slits and his wolf desperate for revenge on the people who killed his best friend.
“I see you found yourself a new companion after the death of your friend,” I said and looked at Sebastian’s mom.
“Aldo was like a brother to me, and I promised I would take care of his family if anything ever happened to him,”
“Oh, and I’m sure he meant for you to fuck his wife,” I said and brought the bottle to my lips. I took a sip of the warm beer and held it out in front of me, scanning the label and trying to swallow it.
My muscles tensed, and I grimaced as I put the beer down.
“Watch how you speak. This is not your territory, and your brother isn’t here to protect you right now,” he said and stepped closer. Dimitri drank what was left in his beer before dropping the bottle on the ground.
“I don’t need my brother, Dimitri. You should know that by now. We’re not the strongest because of our Alpha. It’s because we’re all just a little too fucked in the head, to begin with.” I grinned.
