ECHO

Those cold blue eyes held me in place and I was trapped, entranced. There was no emotion, but there was a story behind their coldness. I found myself inching closer wanting to know all about him.

Something inside of me stirred; something I thought had died. But I suddenly felt everything. The thing inside of me was trying to claw its way to the surface. Its presence felt different from all those other times.

I cocked my head a little to the side to get a better look and those eyes darkened – like the color blue of the old world.

Unfortunately, I was snapped back to reality and was furious at the person who touched me.

A bulky dude, probably a werewolf, had both his hands on my hips. He began to grind against me from behind and when I tried to push him off, his hold only got stronger.

"Get off me, you perv!"

"Oh, c'mon, hottie. Don't be a teas-"

Everything happened so fast and before he could complete the sentence, his body was roughly pulled back as if he weighed nothing. And with that everything came to a halt.

The music stopped playing, the people stopped dance, and nobody moved an inch. Pin drop silence took over the room with tension so thick; you could cut it with a knife.

In an instant, I felt Arlo rush to my side and I thought he asked if I was okay, but the mysterious man with those cold blue eyes had my attention.

Dominance and danger oozed from every pore of his. To others, he might be terrifying, but to me, he wasn't.

His chiseled face was cold and hard and his entire body shook with anger. His left hand was wrapped around the pervert's neck while the other balled into a fist.

All this while, he never once looked away from me.

Everyone at the club had their heads bowed as a sign of respect and that's when it struck me.

He was the Alpha.

I gasped.

He wasted no time in punching the guy who had his hands on me.

"How dare you?" The Alpha spoke in a low menacing tone.

I stiffened at the sound of his voice. It was more than a warning to the guy he punched because he paled as if he were given a death sentence.

"I am so sorry, Alpha," he pleaded over and over again, but the Alpha didn't budge.

He threw couple more punches before Stone stormed through the crowd and tried to save the poor guy who now had a busted lip that was bleeding and probably a broken nose.

It was awful even though what he did was wrong.

A moment later, Gems and Molly finally graced us with their presence. But I didn't dare to move.

I was horrified at the scene in front of me. To make things worse, nobody and I mean not a single soul from the crowd came forward to help.

From the corner of my eye I could see that Gemma was furious while Molly looked as if someone killed her bird.

Tonight was getting stranger with every passing second and I didn't think it would be stopping any time soon.

I had so many questions that I wanted to ask, but I was too afraid.

The Alpha, whose name I still didn't know, was holding the guy with a tight grip, but when Stone whispered something in his ear, he let him go.

All of a sudden, everyone started to clear out. There was no music and no partying. Werewolves and humans both gave us dirty and curious glances on their way out.

In a matter of minutes the entire club was empty leaving The Alpha, his beta and the four of us on the dance floor.

The tension was still present, only now it was between us.

Arlo stepped in front of me shielding me from the two most ruthless and powerful wolves in the room.

Molly and Gems joined Arlo, but even together, they were no match against someone who had a pack.

The pack was what strengthened your powers. As a rogue, you were considerably weak because you had no family, no support system. Hence, rogues were frowned upon.

"We mean no trouble, Alpha," Arlo pointed out while bowing his head slightly.

I peeked over his shoulder to look at him, but frowned when I noticed that he was seething with anger and it was directed at Arlo who had done nothing, but showed respected.

"Move," he said before taking a threatening step forward.

His bloody hands clenched into fists and his perfect jaw tightened.

"If you don't want us to stay, we'll leave," Arlo continued, "We haven't caused any harm."

"I will rip you to shreds if you don't step away from her," he growled completely ignoring what Arlo had to say.

In the moment, I knew I should've kept my mouth shut, but I just couldn't. Stepping away from my friends, I put on a brave face. Arlo tried to grab my hand, for my protection, but that earned him another loud growl from the Alpha.

"It's okay," I assured him, giving a small smile.

I turned my gaze towards the Alpha and took a deep breath before speaking.

"As Arlo mentioned, we truly mean no harm. If you allow us to stay in your territory, you'll only find werewolves who respect you and will not interfere with your pack."

Suddenly, his facial expression softened a bit, but only a little and I was taken aback. I didn't know my words would have any effect, but it was worth a try.

"But you aren't a werewolf," interjected Stone.

"I think we already established that earlier when you met me by the bar."

"YOU WHAT?"

Both Alpha and Gemma raised their voices and glared at Stone as if he failed to mention crucial information. I frowned.

I was known to be daft most of the times, but the way Gems turned her gaze to me and shot daggers, I finally knew why. It all started to make sense.

My eyes widened at the realization and I was at a loss of words. I opened and closed my mouth several times, but didn't have the right words to say except for, "He's your mate."

It was only a whisper, but they all heard it clearly.

Stone pursed his lips and gave a curt nod.

That changed everything. Tonight was going to be a turning point in all our lives and it had me scared - for Gemma especially.

I had no idea what was going to happen – whether she was going stay or reject her mate. Being rejected was as worse as being the one to do it.

"We should talk," Stone gestured Gems to follow him, but she looked at us first, as if asking for permission.

We were wary of her being alone with Stone, but she would be crazy to think that we would stop her. Finding a mate was a blessing. The love that they shared would be till their last breath and we weren't going to deny her of that.

"I'll see you back at the house?" Gems asked and we nodded feeling happy for her.

We would support her, no matter what the outcome of their conversation was. For the first time, in a long time, I prayed to the Moon Goddess to guide them in making the right decision. She deserved every bit of happiness that came her way as did Molly and Arlo.

Once they left through the back door and awkward silence fell upon the rest of us.

I could feel him staring at me and even though I tried to ignore it, it did something to my insides. I couldn't put a finger on it, but it was as if something came alive and it felt good, but it also bothered me.

"Could you stop doing that?!" I snapped.

"Doing what?"

I scoffed at him.

"Didn't someone ever tell you that staring was rude?"

"I can do whatever the hell I want," he smirked darkly.

His statement ticked me off, but I tried to keep my agitation in check for the sake of us all.

I turned towards my friends and motioned my head towards the door. It was time for us to leave too.

It was Molly who thanked the Alpha for inviting us tonight while at the same time, Arlo wrapped his arm around my shoulder and that's when all hell broke loose.

The Alpha lunged at Arlo, but before he could lay his hands on him, Arlo shifted.

Oh, fuck.

A big brown wolf landed on all fours and growled at the Alpha. That was a sign of disrespect and Arlo, who was usually the level-headed one had lost it tonight. I wasn't sure if it was the myth that got to him or the Alpha himself.

Molly quickly came to my side and we just stared at the wolves having a standoff in front of us – one in human form, while the other in his wolf.

"Please, stop."

I begged.

There was enough bloodshed tonight and I didn't want anybody else hurt on my account. I hated when my friends had to fight my fight just because I decided to give up that side of me.

"I. Will. Not."

"Why?" I questioned him.

"Because. You. Are. Mine."

-

A/N:

Whoop! Another chapter!

Please excuse any errors you see because again, this is just the first draft.

Did you guess what was going to happen?

Do you know what Echo is going to do?

Let me know in the comments and don't forget to follow, vote, add this book to your library!

Love,
Grace Clarke xo