Wolf Bait (Perry and Jonas)

"Are we alone because of what I said to James the other day?" I ask Dr. Salazar.

"No, this part of your treatment is personal. Group therapy doesn't go as deep as one-on-one sessions,"

"Oh," I nod. "What do you want to talk about?"

"All right," he smiles. "I'd like to ask how you're feeling. We've been working together for a bit now. How do you think things are going?"

"It's been twenty-six days," I say.

"It has," he nods.

"I feel well rested. My mind is a little clearer,"

"Good," he writes it down. "Now that you've had some time to think. What is it that you want to achieve in your time here?"

"I want to get better,"

"You've said that, but what does that mean to you? When you say I want to get better. Better at what?"

"In general. I guess,"

Explain," he encourages. I don't know what to say. I end up just staring back at him and shrug. "All right. W somewhere small? Was it something someone said or did that made you realize that who you are now is wrong:

"I guess it started when I was sold to the King," I shrug.

"Okay, tell me about that day,"

"I had just gotten released from the precinct I worked at,"

"Were you there working?"

"No, I had gotten arrested for telling the Alpha and Luna off the night before. I had been really drunk,"

"Continue,"

t we start

"Jake, my father-in-law, drove us home. Beta Tyler was waiting for us when we arrived. He asked me to get presentable because he was escorting me to the pack house,"

"Were you

and Tyler close?"

"Yes, and no. He was friends with my mate. We all went to the academy together for beta training. I know his mate and his family, but close isn't something anyone was to me in that pack "Then what happened?"

"I showered, brushed teeth, andProperty of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

my

dressed to go to the pack house. I got in the truck with him and four others. He told got -me I fucked up and that the Alpha was no longer going to tolerate my disrespect. Upon arrival, I was dragged into the pack house where I was informed that I was being sold to the Lycan King,"

"Did you struggle?"

"I tried to, but I hadn't slept in a while and I was probably still drunk. I was also aware of Jake's presence, I didn't want them

to hurt him,"

"You said you told your alpha and Luna off. Why?"

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"The entire acting Redwood staff was invited to the pack house to celebrate the announcement of the Luna's pregnancy,"

"A momentous event in a pack's history. What about that bothered you?"

"All of it. The celebration. The announcement. The Luna. The Alpha. All of it bothered me,"

"Why?"

I stare at him for a while. Many answers swim in my head, but choosing the right one is a challenge.

"Why did their joy bother you, Perry?" he asks.

"Because they didn't deserve it," spills from my mouth, and as soon as it's out there, a flood of guilt just washes over me. The part of me that loved Morgan wants to take it back and I have to fight the tears that threaten to slip. "Why didn't they deserve it?"

I don't have an actual answer. I remember the way Morgan was treated in the years after Darren's death. The changes to her person Calvin made. The modifications she went through. The fake tits, the long hair, the makeup, and the pathetic princess dresses she'd never be caught dead in.

She dropped out of the hunting program despite being top of her class. She stopped going into the city to visit her parents.

her family. ike Darren who took his family out of the shit hole we lived in, Calvin never even considered helpin

Their restaurant closed because neither Morgan nor myself was helping them get by. Her siblings were rejected from the academy and forced to go public. I see now that the hell she chose to live in was just as fucked as mine because Calvin bought her the same way the King had bought me.

The difference was that Calvin was her actual mate. Had he looked past the superficial he would have known that Morgan had been born to lead. Before him, she had been kind, loving, giving, and fierce.

I admit that I was often jealous of her. Yes, we both lived in poverty but she had this special aura that drew people in while I pushed them away. It was why I'd do anything for her. Maybe my instinct as a beta always knew she had to be more.

Calvin fucking Redwood ruined us both. She didn't deserve what he did to her. She didn't deserve what I did to her. Hot tears stream down my face. Dr. Salazar offers me a tissue and I sigh when I reach for the box to see it's fucking Lightning McQueen themed. "Why didn't they deserve it, Perry?" he asks again. More gently this time.

"He didn't deserve it. I guess I wasn't thinking about her. Not in a general sense. I only saw the betrayal I felt. I still feel it. Every time I think of her. Every time I think of how I lost everything. She's included in that,"

"Your Luna. You were close to her?"

"She was like my sister. My best friend. We'd been through everything together. She lived on the floor above the apartment my mom and I stayed in after my dad died. She and her siblings helped us move everything out of our moving truck the day we arrived. That's how we met,"

"I see. Let's talk about her. What was she like?"

"She was the sweetest person I'd ever met. A lot like Oz. She was always looking out for people. Me in particular. I've kind of always been an asshole. I was smaller than her. Younger by two years. She was always smiling and going out of her way to help anyone who needed it,"

"And you liked this about her?"

"I loved that about her. I was never the kind of person who needed help, but she was always there to pick up the pieces I left behind. When my mom would disappear and I had no money for food or hygienic stuff. She'd take my clothes in her backpack and wash them with hers. I'd wake up with a freshly folded pile of clean laundry and a leftover tupperware. "When I learned to hack the ATMs, she was the one that kept me from emptying them. At first, she was pissed but after sleeping on it she knew that there was no other way. I was eleven and no one was going to give me a job because of who my parents were. She was my lookout. Literally, anything that's redeemable about me can be traced back to a scolding from her,"

"Were there changes in her attitude leading up to your mate's death?"

"No," I shake my head. "We were really excited the night before. She had a date and I had just given her what I thought was the best fucking news there could ever be," "What was the news?" he smiles.

"I had gone on a mission a couple of weeks before. I felt a little sick just before leaving. I was home alone so I took the opportunity to go to the doctor since Darren always made a huge deal out of everything. I had just found out I was five weeks pregnant and she was the first person I told. The following week she went with me to get an ultrasound and I asked her to keep it to herself until I got back. She said that everything was going to be perfect.

"When I returned I told my mate. I was a little scared because we were nineteen and barely on track to where we wanted to be but I was scared for nothing. He was so happy. So, I called her and told her. We were both delighted and she told me she was going out with a visiting Beta from Gorgon. We promised we'd meet up after her date,"

lidn't happen,"

"No, I went to class that morning and on my way back home the sirens for a rogue attack blared. I backtracked and headed towards the pack house where Darren was stationed. I was two minutes away when he was killed.

"When our connection shattered, I swerved into oncoming traffic. A pickup truck slammed right into my car and my wolf put us into hibernation to try and protect our baby. I was in a coma for six months.

"Morgan was there when I opened my eyes. She told me what had happened and then she told me that we couldn't be friends anymore. She said that I would have to go through her to get to Calvin and that she would never allow me to kill him,"

"What did you say to her?"

"My wolf had just started to go feral and if I hadn't been cuffed to the bed I was in. I probably would have killed her then and there. I promised her that without me all she'll ever know was pain. I told her he would never love her and I hoped he ruined her just like he ruined everything else,"

"Do you regret saying that to her?" he asks as I wipe my tears again.

"I regret not killing her then and there. I think it would have saved us both a lot of pain,"

"You think death is a better option than dealing with what's in front of you," he states.

"It has to be,"

"Death is the end, Perry. To everyone else, there is no more Perry the same way that there is no more Darren to you,"

"There was no one who would care if I lived or died," I shrug. "Even if there was, what did it matter? There was no other way, Ed. No moving forward. I was going feral. That means that at some point I was going to shift into my wolf and then stop existing leaving behind the animalistic part of me to kill anything that moved. It was the end the slowest most painful way a wolf can die in,"

"Yet, here you are, Your Majesty. Alive and well. Well rested even You survived that. All of it. You couldn't stop your

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inevitable demise into the darkness that is your feral wolf spirit. You've evolved. The same way you did when you were sixteen and shifted for the first time. This is how things work. All you can do is accept that this happened and move on.

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"You can't change what you said to Morgan the same way you can't change that she chose to be with her mate. She chose this path and things have come full circle. They're dead and you got what you wanted. To be the one to come out on top. There is nothing wrong with being the last one standing. That is your natural instinct as a wolf and now a Lycan. Embrace that as a positive thing,"

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