Page 15 of Meeting Her Mate
“I would tarnish your character if you had any,” Will said. “But you lack conviction, moral fiber, and any ability to lead these men. We are not going to flee. I did not lay the foundations of the Grimm Abode with my bare hands so that one day we would run away from a scuffle with, what, vampires?”
I had to say or do something. The pack was indecisive as to who to turn to for leadership, and time was already running out. The vampires must have covered a lot of distance by now.
“Listen to him. We have to fight,” I said.
Before anyone could pay attention to me, Maurice took a cheap shot at Will, punching him sternly in the face. But this did not sway Will or even draw blood. But something happened to me as Maurice recoiled his fist and prepared to attack a surprised Will again.
A strong force propelled me to defend my…my mate. Every part of my being became infused with an energy that I could only perceive as the bond that tied me to Will. I rushed forward and shoved Maurice away from Will.
“Don’t you attack him,” I said as I pushed Maurice away. Maurice staggered and struggled to keep his balance.
“Listen to me, child!” Will grabbed me by the shoulders, tight enough to hurt. “I do not need your help. I am capable of doing this on my own!”
I did not have the time to register that he was being impatient with me. There was no time to worry about mannerisms and formalities. The time would come for that later. If Will did not require my help, so be it.
I stepped back and turned my attention to the women and children instead. They were all huddled in a corner, looking utterly scared and perplexed.
“Follow me. We can head over to the south of the commune,” I said, waving to the women and the children to listen to me. “The vampires can’t get to us there. Come. I’ll help you.”
As the women and children began jogging after me, I turned to see what Will and Maurice were doing. They were still engaged in a verbal spat, loudly shouting at each other. Fred, along with the other older members of the pack, sat by the bonfire, looking sullen and confused. And the men—they just stood there in silence, not doing anything.
“Run into the barn and lock the doors behind you,” I said to the women and children and went back to where the men were standing.
“Wouldn’t you rather do something than stand here as the two of them duke it out? Protect the commune! The vampires are coming. There’s no time to stand here idly,” I shouted.
“She’s right,” Vincent said as he emerged from the crowd of men. “We have to barricade the commune.”
The crowd of men thinned as they headed out of the Grimm Abode and began barricading the commune for the fight that was to come.
I’d barely stopped for a second, thinking about my next recourse, when a heavy plank hit me on the back of the head, knocking the wind out of me, making me lose my balance and fall face-first on the ground. Blood came from my nose as my face collided with the hard floor. I rolled around in time to see who had attacked me.
It was Maurice, holding one of the spare pieces of wood we kept for kindling the bonfire. The diplomatic look that he bore at most times, the sly political face that he used when addressing the people of Fiddler’s Green as their mayor, was completely gone. In its place was ravaged madness etched across his face. His eyes were lit and wide with frenzy.
“What gives you the right to command my men and women like that, huh?” He screamed at me and swung the plank again.
I braced my face in anticipation of the brutal strike.
Chapter 6: Will
It had only taken me mere minutes to gather that the pack’s designated alpha, Maurice, was just as Alexis had described him to me in the forest. He possessed no backbone nor any integrity. When he spoke, it was with the tongue of a politician. Every expression that was cast across his face was a carefully calculated one. Every move that he made oozed diplomacy.
When I woke up from my troubled sleep, Fred took me to meet the members of the pack at the bonfire. I could feel the warmth of emotions and happiness coming from the members of my pack. I could sense it in their embraces, their shaking of my hand, and their revering glances. But when Maurice addressed me, it was with a mirthless tone. His very words felt like the contractual language of a business negotiation.
And now, here he was when his authority was being questioned in the wake of his stupid decision to flee instead of fight, swinging a plank at a defenseless girl. I could not deny that there was something stronger and deeper at work that tugged at my heart to worry for Alexis. It was surely the bond that existed between us, as much as I tried to deny its existence.
Maurice behaved like a cheating rodent. He had struck me when my attention was occupied elsewhere. And just now, he had struck Alexis when her back was turned to him.
I could not allow him to strike her again. My reluctant mate or not, savior or not, this woman was a member of my pack, and I was not going to simply let someone abuse her like this.
I caught the plank on the upswing and threw it away. This caused Maurice to turn back and come face-to-face with me. He was seething with rage, but too bad for him, the fire of wrath that burned within me was far hotter.
“What kind of foul creature are you to strike a woman?” I roared as I grabbed Maurice by the neck and threw him into the stack of firewood. I felt like it was well-deserved.
Maurice appeared from behind the stack of firewood, not as his human self but as a wolf. He howled at me from atop the wood and jumped on me with his fangs bared and his claws extended.
I did not need to shift to take him down. I had known men like this back in Germany. They were fickle cowards, hiding behind their uniforms, toting the orders of their fascist leader as a symbol of false strength, never playing fair, and never fighting with honor.
I grabbed one of the pieces of firewood and swung it at an airborne Maurice, catching him in the midriff. He emitted a high-pitched yelp and crashed into one of the cottages. I ran after him, wood in hand. He clawed at me and tried to slash at my torso, but I gave him no quarter. I thrashed him to within an inch of his life with the thick piece of wood until it finally gave in and broke on his back.