“No.” She shakes her head vigorously, causing her black hair to fall into her face.
“Yes. It wouldn’t matter who his mate is, you’d still hate her because you want him for yourself,” I press, refusing to let up. She had used her words to cut me deep about Addison, and now it was my turn to retaliate.
“That’s not true.” Her hands are balled into fists at her sides, but I can see they’re also shaking with rage.
“Yes, it is. I’m sorry, Avery, but one day I’m going to be able to shift, and when that happens, I’m going to mate with Ryker because he’s mine. And if you think I’m going to walk away from him because of how you feel for him, then you’re insane.” The vibrating in my chest intensifies, and the power floating around us is almost suffocating at this point. “If I thought he felt the same way about you, I would let him go. I even told him so. But let’s be honest for a second.” I lean forward a little bit. “He doesn’t.”
With a battle cry like shriek, Avery leaps at me. I knew that was going to happen, and I had planned for it. I’m standing with my back to the pool, and with one simple move to my left, I’m out of her reach. Her body flies past me, followed by a large splash.
The water from the pool soaks my shoes, but I don’t care. It’s all worth it to see Avery surface sputtering and coughing up water. I stand at the edge of the pool, glaring down at her.
“Are you cooled off now?” I ask her, my voice calm.
“Go to hell.” She bares her teeth at me.
“You’re important to Ryker and Sawyer for reasons I’ll never understand, so I’m going to walk into the house like nothing happened. I suggest you do the same for Ryker’s sake.” I give her one more pointed look before spinning on my heels and making my way up the stairs up to the house.
“You should ask Ryker about that time we fucked!” she shouts after me.
I falter in my steps, the toe of my shoe catching on the stone step. But I quickly recover and straighten my shoulders. I don’t look back at her because I don’t want her to see the look on my face. I don’t need to give her the satisfaction of seeing the hurt that now sits there.
“Go get dried off, Avery,” I call over my shoulder.
17
Pruitt
I march into Remi’s room, slamming the door behind me. A splintering sound follows along with the sound of metal hitting the floor. I look down at my feet and find the door handle sitting there. “Fuck!”
“So, we’re going around breaking shit now?” Remington raises a perfectly arched brow at me from where she sits on her bed. “I mean, that’s cool…you do you, girl. I just need a heads up, so I can start hiding the expensive stuff.”
I raise my head and look at her, rolling my eyes as I do. “No, obviously I didn’t do that on purpose.”
“Yeah, okay. Sure,” she drawls, a weird look on her face. “So I have just like, one small question.” She climbs off her bed and makes her way toward me. “Are you aware your eyes are glowing?”
“Wh–what?” I stammer.
“Your. Eyes. Are. Glowing,” she repeats one word at a time.
“I heard you the first time. You saying it slower doesn’t help.” I move to the mirror and gasp when I see my reflection. “Holy shit, my eyes are glowing!”
“Really? I didn’t notice,” she nonchalantly replies with a shrug.
“Remington!” I spin around, my chest filling with panic. “You’re not helping. How do I make it go away?”
“Well, obviously something’s got you and your wolf upset, try to calm down,” she suggests.
“I can’t calm down because Avery is a horrible person, and I can’t make her go away because Ryker cares about her. But I really, really don’t like her. She’s mean. Well, I wasn’t very nice either, but she started it,” I ramble as I pace in front of the bed. “And now I sound like a two-year-old, but she said that thing about Addison, and it pissed me off. And then she said she knows Ryker better than me and oh God, Remi—” I stop pacing and look at my friend. “She does know him better. She really does, and I don’t know how to handle that. Well, I don’t know how to handle any of this, but that’s another issue entirely.”
“Dude—” Remi begins, but I cut her off before she can say more.
“Oh, and then she tried to hit me. Again, I wasn’t very nice either, so I guess it should have been expected, but it’s not fair because she has fucking claws. And then I realized something. She’s in love with Ryker. And I mean, why wouldn’t she be? He’s amazing and drop-dead gorgeous—”
“And, that’s my brother you’re talking about.” Remi dramatically pretends to gag.
“—And then she tells me I’m a danger to him and the pack. And that made me really mad because the last thing I want to do is hurt Ryker or you guys. I got even more upset. So then I told her she could never have him, and then she fell into the pool.”
I suck in a deep breath and face the vanity mirror again. “And now my eyes look like green glow sticks, and they won’t go away!” I slam my hand into the mirror, and it shatters into a million pieces. The loud crashing sound of glass hitting the floor hurts my ears.
“Oh, come on, really?” Remi jumps back. “I just got that.”
“I’m sorry.” I hold my now bleeding hand against my chest. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”
“Well, I believe the term you’re looking for is jealousy,” Remington grumbles as she carefully steps over the glass. “And as they say, it’s a
