I went inside after him, kicking my shoes off at the door. Blaine was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.
"What's wrong?" I asked and took a seat beside him.
"Honestly?" He lifted his head up, staring at me.
"Of course."
He nodded, rubbing a hand over his stubble. "You're always letting your family disrespect you. It pisses me off. Don't you have any respect for yourself as an Alpha?"
I flinched. His words hurt me, and I couldn't believe that came out of his mouth.
"They are always demanding something of you. The only two in your family who don't are Riley and your father. You keep letting them get away with sly comments and jaded insults. Sure, you correct them verbally, but we are wolves. We are violent creatures. We have to be put in our place to learn our place."
"That's not how I was raised, Blaine. I haven't been taught to... abuse members of my pack for my own gain."
He shook his head. "Abuse and dominance are two different things. This pack is a lot more lenient than most and that's because the way you run your pack doesn't work. It leads to members like Nolan and Ivy."
I ran my hands over my face before leaning back on the couch. "I just accepted the Alpha title from my dad two months ago. I'm still learning. Give me time. I put Nolan in the cellars, didn't I? I broke Ivy's wrist tonight. I put them in their place."
"Finally, you did. I had to tell you to put Nolan in the cellars and the only reason you broke her wrist was because if you hadn't, you knew I would've done much worse to her," he said.
I pushed off the couch and stood in front of him with my arms crossed. Every word that came out of his mouth was like a dagger to my heart. "Is there anything else you have a problem with, Alpha Blaine?"
He swallowed hard. "I love you. I'm just looking out for you. I hate how they treat you, and how you let them."
"I don't let them do anything." I said with a defeated sigh.
He stood up, and his nose grazed mine. "I'm sorry. I don't understand the family dynamic you have."
I nodded. "You don't have to understand it."
"Really, Sophia. I just... want more for you."
"I've been thinking." I reached up and rubbed my thumb against his cheek. "About your pack and mine."
"And?"
"I like the idea of your pack and a new start. Does that make me a bad Alpha?"
He shook his head. "No, not at all."
I smiled. I knew he was concerned about my family, and to be honest, so was I. The rejection put an invisible wall between me and my pack. That's something an Alpha should never feel, and it worried me. We would figure it out, and be good Alphas, no matter which pack we led.
The pungent aroma of blood and flesh surrounded us as Blaine and I approached the limp body of a werewolf near the East perimeter. As we drew closer, I recognized their scent.
My claws dug into the ground and my heart dropped. 'It's Gretta. She's an Elder.'
'She reeks of rogues,' he said.
I growled. He was right. This wasn't Lockhart directly, but he was the cause. I shifted back into my human form and took a step forward. Blood had descended into the surrounding ground, coating my foot as I got closer.
Gretta's gray hair was stained crimson, her brown eyes were frozen open, her flesh had gaping holes and her tendons were ripped. It looked like they killed her right after shifting from wolf form. Her wolf snout was present in her human features, her fingertips had claws, her arms were contorted from being mid-shift, one leg was bent into a hind leg, and fur sprouted from her epidermis in patches. I bent down and shut her eyes before I murmured a quick prayer.
I stood up and walked toward Blaine who had also shifted into his human form as I mind-linked Riley and Xavier. 'East perimeter, again. Bring our parents. It's Gretta.'
'Gretta? Damn it. On our way,' Riley said.
I ran my hands through my hair as I inspected the area around her. Blood soaked the forest ground, the scents of rogues were prominent, and the soil had claw marks. I squeezed my eyes shut and breathed through my nose.
Those rogues were on our land. We could've prevented this.
"We will kill who did this," Blaine said.
I shook my head. "The reason this has happened is that they believe we killed one of theirs. If we retaliate, it'll become a constant killing spree."
His brows furrowed into a frown. "Sophia, you have to avenge her death. She wasn't just a pack member. She was an elder."
I whipped my head toward him. "Don't you think I know that? This is my pack."
"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" He let out a low growl, his veins throbbing in his neck.
I crossed my arms. "Don't growl at me."
The muscles in his face tightened. "We're mates. This is my pack too. You think I'd not let you have a say in my pack?"
I shook my head and released a shaky breath. "I'm sorry. It's not that I don't want you to have a say. I just don't want this to end in a bloodbath."
His body stiffened before he threw his fist into a nearby tree, the wood splitting. "You're an Alpha! You won't be able to keep peace every time. You need to show other packs you're not to be messed with or it will come back and bite you in the ass."
I inhaled a sharp breath as my temper sparked. "I can try! My father always tried to keep peace with the rogues. I can't fuck that up!"
"You're already fucking up, especially if you don't want to avenge the elder killed on your land." He stormed over, looking down at me.
I glared up at him. "It's not always about
