he’d taught me how to dance the waltz and how to mingle with the echelon of British social elite. He had even taught me the other languages he knew like French and Italian. I’d taught him how to fight and how to hunt, and the nights where we’d fucked had been quite fulfilling to us both. To have him turn on me, even after I’d given him everything he’d wanted… it hurt. I didn’t have many friends. Winston never really allowed me to leave his presence growing up. Elias, though he was my mission at one time, I felt was my friend.
“Who told you such things?” I asked, wanting to know who’d turned Elias’ love for me against me. Although we hadn’t seen each other in two years, our last encounter had been a pleasant one. This felt like such a betrayal.
“Does it matter if it’s true?” he asked.
“I was sent to befriend you, yes. Our alpha wanted someone of your stature in our pack. But I never lied to you about what I was and what the pack was,” I said. “And even though I was sent to befriend you, it was still a real friendship to me, Elias.”
He snorted. “No, you just lied about ever being my real friend. You used me, Deacon. You hated Winston and clung to me to avoid having to stay with him. I bet you were happy those hunters killed him, if that was even how the attack truly transpired. One can never know what’s real and what’s false where you’re concerned. So, congratulations to your promotion within the pack. I hope it was worth it.”
“That’s not fair, Elias. You act like you didn’t use me when it suited you,” I said, alluding to how he believed he was manipulating me to kill his father.
His smile was cruel and he nodded. “As if that didn’t benefit you as well. At least, I won’t have to call you ‘Sir’ as I am a Beta Capo, outranking you, because I’m worth more to our Alpha. Take care, Deacon.”
With those last words, he walked away from me to return to the group he’d been conversing with before I’d interrupted. Among the group was one wolf of note to me. Angus, the wolf who’d been raping my mother the night my family had been taken from me. Four wolves entered my home that night and their names were forever engrained in my mind. Winston, Angus, Bernard, and Graham. I had already indulged in my revenge against Winston. No matter how long it would take me, I would also have my revenge regardless of the cost on the remaining three.
Angus had not only soiled my mother’s body with his putrid seed, I could only imagine what she’d suffered at their hands. My father helpless to defend her as he’d been severed into two pieces, and her son… too much of a coward then and too weak to protect her. I’d rather they had dispatched her as quickly as they had my father than put her through the torture they did. As if that atrocity to me wasn’t enough, he had now poisoned the mind of my friend. He would pay for it all!
I could feel my anger rising within me like a volcano ready to erupt when the crowd broke into cheers. It jarred me out of my rage and I turned to see Connor come out of his home with his wife, Patricia, beside him. Royce’s mom looked like she was the same age as her son. I hoped that one day, he would find his mate, because that would make us a more powerful pack. He walked into the middle of the crowd that had gathered and all eyes were on him. There was a fire going, and inside the fire was an iron brand I knew I would have to accept. The crest of our pack. For so long, I had dreamed of proudly baring that lone wolf howling on a mountain top on my flesh. Finally, the day had come.
Royce came up beside me. “I heard that conversation, don’t let it get to you, Deacon. You earned your promotion. Some wolves are just jealous.”
I was still staring at the offending wolves, feeling my anger boiling. “Doesn’t matter, I will never lower myself in order to be accepted by those lesser than me, regardless of rank. Let them be jealous, as unremarkable people usually are when faced with greatness,” I said.
Royce laughed. “Well, here I