Despicable by Rory Miles

DAX

Casting a sidelong glance at Trix as we head toward the docks, I study her. She’s grinning, totally lost in thought. I had a notion Creed might be bi, but she confirmed it today, and I’m relieved. I’ve been able to maintain the aura of a friend for a while, but my thoughts have been less than friendly about him as of late. The other night didn’t help things either. I’m usually better about hiding my desires, but I slipped up.

I’ve had my equal share of men and women as partners, but coming to the island put me on guard. I definitely didn’t want to screw anything up by attempting a connection with Creed when he didn’t want it.

Trix had better know what she’s doing because this could all go to hell if we’re not careful. For some reason though, I find not only myself, but my friends trusting her.

Must be the magic vagina. I scoff and shake my head, biting back a smile at my own joke.

“You have something to say, Old Man?” Turning and giving me a raised eyebrow, she sizes me up.

“Creed and Ronan are like family to me,” I say, suddenly needing her to know how much power she’s holding.

She stops walking and grabs my arm, halting my steps. “I know.” She closes the distance between us, peering up at me. “I’m not trying to destroy what you have. It’s okay if you don’t want this.”

I shake my head. “That’s not what I meant. I needed to be sure you knew what was at stake.”

“I get it.” She puts her hand on my chest. “I’m all in.”

Gripping her chin with my thumb, I pull her lips to mine. “Good, because I’m afraid you’ve gone too far. There will be no escaping us now.”

The smile she cracks at my crazy comment reassures me she really does fit with us, and I kiss her again before dropping my hold on her. “The boat is almost here.”

* * *

BELLATRIX

The guards who arrive don’t speak to us. Two of them set crates full of supplies on the dock while the other one watches us with squinted eyes, like he expects us to attack or go rabid at any moment. I move to flip him off, but Dax grabs my arm and pushes it down.

“Don’t give them a reason to hurt you,” he whispers.

With a huff, I curl my middle finger back to join my others in a fist, hating that they have any power over us at all, but this is the life we’re stuck in now. When they finish setting out the supplies, Dax clears his throat.

“No eggs?”

One guard with bushy eyebrows shakes his head. “Maybe next time.”

Before Dax can say anything else, the one who’d been watching us starts the boat, drowning us in the sound of the engine as they take off at top speed.

“Assholes!” I scream, even though they probably can’t hear me over the roar of the engine and slapping of water.

“It’s not worth getting mad about,” Dax says, squatting down to grab a few crates.

I grab two, scowling at him. “Everything about this situation is worth getting upset about.”

Lifting a shoulder, he shrugs. “If you want to stay angry, that’s fine by me, but I can tell you it’s not a great life. The island is no vacation, but there are worse ones to be on.” He glances over his shoulder at the water. “There are some islands out here that are filled with legitimate psychopaths. They’d make our murderer look like a princess.”

“We should write a letter to the elders, make them try to see that we don’t belong here. I’m not crazy, well, not in the rejected mate sense. I won’t go feral and reveal myself to the humans. I don’t think you guys would either.”

Sighing as we walk toward the shops, he shakes his head. “It’s not that simple. You have to file a formal petition, go through official review and psychoanalysis, and then get High Pack approval. On top of that, you need an alpha to accept you into their pack. Do you know any alphas willing to do that?”

I grimace, because the only alphas I know are assholes. Well, aside from Dax. He’s nice. All the rest are jerks who did nothing to stop the shitty treatment my dad got.

“It’s not fair,” I whisper.

“No. It’s not.” Dax sets his crates on the ground. We’re at the back entrance to the stores where there’s a small loading door. He takes a set of keys out of his pocket and opens the door, holding it with his foot and bending to grab his crates. “You can set them on the right.”

I do as he says then head off to go get more. In total there are around twenty-four crates. Taking the time to myself, I jog toward the shore, leaving Dax behind. He seems to understand my desire for space, because he keeps his casual pace, letting me pull ahead. Grabbing the next couple of crates, I start the trek back, this time walking.

“Show-off,” Dax says when I pass him on the road, grinning at me.

“Can’t let you get too cocky,” I quip, smiling until he can’t see my face, then I let it drop, letting the displeased frown take hold.

I set the load down, wipe my forehead with my arm, and glare at the supplies. I’m sure with time I’ll come to feel the same as Dax does, but right now, the entire concept is so fresh it stings. Turning with a huff, I start back for the next load.

“I’ll make you dinner.” Dax gives me a hopeful look. “Anything to make it better.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Food will always make me happy.”

Smirking, he nods. “It’s a date then.” He continues on in the opposite direction, and I watch him for a second, gaze slipping down to his perky ass.

I guess the island isn’t all that bad.

A twig snaps just as I enter the thick of the trees on my way to the dock. I stop, probably the stupidest thing to do when hearing that sort of sound, and look around. Birds are tweeting, a butterfly flutters past, and a small grouping of gnats swarms off to the side.

Nothing seems amiss.

I’m sure that’s what the shifters who died thought too.

Great, now I’m being paranoid.

Trying to shake off my unease, I begin to walk, but something crashes into my side. I scream, but a hard hand clamps down over my lips, silencing all but a sharp squeak. A muscled arm bands around my waist in a vice grip, dragging me into the trees.

I bite the hand, satisfied when a pained grunt comes from the man holding me. He doesn’t move his palm though, if anything he shoves it against my skin harder, making it impossible to hold the bite. I relent my grip and opt for slamming my head back, only he dodges the hit.

“Calm the fuck down, mate.”

Oh. Hell. No.

I know this fucker did not call me his mate. Seething and raging, I rant against his skin, but none of my cursed words come out coherent, and he merely scoffs and picks me up, finally removing his hand from my mouth to spin me around and backhand me. My head whips to the side, and I swallow a cry because I refuse to give him the satisfaction.

“Good. About time you shut the fuck up.”

“Let me go.” I keep my voice low and calm, but I want nothing more than to scream.

“No. You’re mine, or did you forget that already?”

I thrash in his arms. “I’m not yours! I rejected you, you dick.”

His laugh makes the hair on my arms rise. “You didn’t reject shit, princess. I rejected you.”

Only because of a technicality, but I don’t bother arguing with him. He stops and spins me around, holding my shoulders so hard I feel my bones grind together. If he’s not careful, he’ll break something.

“I need you to be mine so I can go home.”

Dropping my head back, I let out a loud laugh. “Oh, that’s rich. All of a sudden you need a mate?”

“Stop laughing,” he snarls with enough violence I close my mouth and peer at him.

His eyes are wild, jumping from my face to the surrounding forest so quickly he looks like he’s tweaking out. Is this what they mean when wolves go feral after being rejected?

“Let me go, Chad.”

Digging his fingers into my skin, he shakes his head. “Shut up.”

“Please—” His lips pull back, revealing sharp teeth. He’s partially shifted, and his gaze is trained on my neck. Oh fuck. He’s going to try and mark me. I can’t let him do that.

“Stop. Chad, don’t.” I sound pathetic and whiny, but this situation is getting dangerous.

I don’t know if the mark will make the bond reinitiate, but I don’t intend to find out. He growls and dives for my neck. I try to shove him back, but I can’t. He’s too strong. His sharp teeth press into my skin.

“Trix!” Dax’s voice carries through the trees, making Chad stop.

The sharpened point of his teeth clamp around my pulse point, hard enough to hurt but not to actually bite me. He growls again then rips his face away from my neck, scowling toward the dock.

“Trix, where the hell are you?”

I open my mouth to answer Dax, but Chad picks me up and throws me over his shoulder, and all of my air whooshes out in a hard wheeze. I manage to knee him in the chest, but it does nothing to deter him. When I finally suck in enough air to speak, I slam my fists into his back.

“Let me down, you piece of shit!”

“I said we needed to talk—” His words are cut off when a deep growl sounds from behind him, which is where my head dangles.

I lift my eyes, meeting the angry yellow gaze of a giant gray and white wolf. I don’t know who it is, but without a doubt, I know it is one of my guys. No other wolf on this island would look as murderous.

“You done fucked up now, Chad.” With renewed confidence, I rear back and slam my elbow into the side of his neck. He stumbles slightly, and his grip on my hips loosens enough that I wiggle out of his hold, landing on the ground with an unladylike grunt.

“Douche,” I wheeze, staying on my back for a second before hopping to my feet.

Chad is storming toward me. The wolf is at my side in an instant, snapping razor sharp teeth and growling so deep a shiver skates down my spine. My wolf howls in encouragement inside my head. We hate our mate. He tried to force us into the bond after rejecting us.

He’s an asshole, and I bet he has a tiny penis.

Speaking of dick, I glance to the side as Chad nears, holding my hand up to steady the wolf. Yellow eyes flick to mine, and I count down in my head, waiting for Chad to get just close enough before using my enhanced speed to slam my foot into his precious jewels, crushing them with my new Vans. The impact of my kick reverberates up my leg, but I grind my teeth and kick again. Chad curls forward, clutching his groin and crying out in pain.

“Trix!” Dax shouts again from off in the distance.

“I’m here!”

I glance at the wolf. “Thanks for coming to the rescue.”

With a yip, the animal darts off into the trees. I frown after him, wondering why Ronan or Creed would choose to run. They helped me after all. Or maybe they’re embarrassed I took Chad down when they felt it was their responsibility?

“Motherfucker.” Dax skids to a stop next to me, eyes flashing over me before they jump to Chad, who is still writhing on the ground. “I warned you once,” he says, then he launches himself on top of Chad.

The downed man barely dodges the first fist, but the second one connects. Then the third and fourth. Somewhere around the tenth, when I hear bones crunch, I grimace and race forward, grabbing Dax’s shoulder and yanking him back.

He snarls at me, but I pinch his side. “No. He’s had enough. Haven’t you, Chad?” The name leaves an acidic taste in my mouth, and he winces when I cut a glacial gaze in his direction.

“I wanted to talk to you,” he stammers, as if that explains why he tried to kidnap and force me into the bond. His left eye is nearly swollen shut, and the rest of his face is one big, purple bruise. Blood is leaking from his split lip, and I can’t help but think red is a good color for him.

Shoving in front of Dax, I squat so Chad and I are eye to eye. “I don’t know how to make it any clearer for you. I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to breathe the same air as you. I don’t want to see you. You’re pathetic, and you were never even close to worthy enough for me to call you mate. You are dead to me, do you understand?”

His eyes find the ground, and his jaw twitches in anger, but he nods sharply.

“Good. Now get out of here before I let Dax finish what he started.” I rise, moving back to Dax’s side.

His arm comes around my waist, dragging me against his side and holding me there. Dax touches my neck, as if he can sense what almost happened. His fingers shake against my skin, so I wrap my hands around him to keep him from going for the douche again.

“I’m okay.”

Dax grinds his teeth together, eyes glowing bright yellow. “You need to go. Now.” Dax’s command rips through the air as he swings his gaze to meet Chad’s.

He glances at us, face pinching in frustration, but he’s wise enough to listen to the warning tone in Dax’s voice. Dax is only a few seconds away from ending Chad entirely. His wolf is too close to the surface, and if he shifts, Chad is fucked.

Dax and I watch him leave; his arm flexes against my stomach as he tries to pull me closer.

“I’m okay,” I tell him, craning my neck to look in his eyes. “Thank you for coming to help.”

“I should have been here sooner.”

I shrug. “Creed or Ronan showed up to scare him off.”

“Really?” He glances around.

“The wolf ran.”

“What color was it?”

“Gray and white.” I give up trying to push out of his hold and decide to lean in, resting my body completely against his. The remaining tension bleeds from my body the longer I stay in his arms, and I let out a soft sigh.

His chest rumbles in approval. “Creed’s wolf is brown and Ronan’s is black.”

“Then who saved me?” Frowning, I chew on my cheek. I was sure it was one of the guys.

“Harlow.”

Oh.

I scan the forest, hoping to catch a glimpse of her wolf again, but she’s long gone. I make a mental note to go find her later to tell her thanks.

“Should we finish?” I ask, lightly pushing on Dax’s chest with my palm.

Finally, he lets go of me.

“There’s only one load left to carry. Are you up for helping me organize?” He gives me a careful once-over, and I imagine he’s waiting for me to break down.

“Of course,” I say, propping my hands on my hips. “It’ll take more than a crazy ex-fated to break this woman.”

His lips twitch. “Good to hear. Come on, little savage.”

My heart flutters at the nickname, and a cheesy grin splits my lips. “I knew you liked me, Old Man.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t let it go to your head.” He turns and walks off with a shake of his head, like he’s done with my antics.

“Too late,” I singsong to his back, practically skipping to catch up to him. I don’t complain about how fast he’s walking because he did say he liked to be chased.

And damn if I’m not ready to give chase.