Jason's POV

　　"Baby?" Kayla's voice prompted, her tone laced with an uneasiness that made Archer wine to go and comfort her fears. Something about how she said ''baby' always made me feel like the most important male in the world!

　　"Because we are!" Archer grinned goofily. Ignoring him, I answered Kayla, not wanting her to fret, sensing the chaos that was our mood as it flicked between wanting to kill Tommy and fuck her! I was already picking up on her fears that Archer was seriously contemplating ripping one of her brother's limbs off!  

　　"How about an ear? Not like he bloody uses them and listens to me anyway!" I countered playfully. "How is he not the size of a fucking bear with the amount of shit he eats!" I added, watching my best friend guzzle down his treats. 

　　"An ear sounds good; we can say he lost it in a battle... It will make him look formidable and dangerous!" She laughed, feeling an overwhelming sense of passion pass through the mate bond. Archer howled at her needily, acknowledging his mate's demanding appetite! 

　　"Don't be too long, baby; I will meet you in OUR room." She coaxed before cutting the link off. I knew it was meant to be seen as seductive, she wanted to entice me to leave Tommy and his school ground crap, but I suddenly found myself overwhelmed by the night's events!

　　"Our room? This makes it real! Are we ready for that?"

　　"I mean, come on, it's not like she hasn't spent pretty much every night in our room for years anyway!" Archer reminded me horsley, his arousal evident in the scent he was giving off. Hearing Tommy's voice cut through my thoughts of Kayla and the latest developments there, I turned my dark eyes on him, half listening to his rambles, half wondering how offended Kayla would be if I asked her to sleep in her own room! 

　　"Very!" Archer snapped; all arousal turned to dust as his mood yoyo'ed back to irritation!

　　"I swear to the moon goddess, your mood swings give me whiplash!" I hissed at my wolf in frustration. Picking up on Tommy's lecture, my wolf and I paused in sync, his words registering with us: He was still talking about Abigail.

　　"I mean, since she's come into town, we've had hell fire, demonic threats, and some freaky otherworldly shit attack our pack that, by the way, killed 8 of our pack members! You get that, right? She is bad news! I know you like her, I understand why..." his voice trailed off as he obviously got lost in his thought, his face changing, somehow it seemed softer, intrigued even. 

　　"Thoughts of Abigail!" Archer declared, his mind already made up. "He wants her for himself!" He growled inwardly, making me take notice of the change in my best friend; Archer was seeing something I was not! Studying Tommy, I noticed how he fiddled with the wrapper of his chocolate, the same way he did when he was younger! He was anxious; I knew that much as he avoided eye contact and rattled on.

　　"She's pretty, well she's gorgeous, actually. If you like the innocent doe eyed look! AND Ab's is charming." He continued using her name this time round; his eyes darted to me apprehensively before they dropped back to the multi-coloured wrapper in his hands.

　　"Well, I know first-hand how selfless she is, she brought me back from god knows where, and I still don't know what price she had to pay for that! Not many people would do that for their best friend, let alone a stranger!" Sighing slowly, his feet dangled off the tabletop; his eyes fixated on the floor.

　　"She is trusting and kind, but she is trouble, and I need you to see that!” He must have picked up on the rising fury in Archer because he rushed out the rest of his sentence and held his breath dramatically.”You have a mate now; you don't need her!"

　　"He has tasted her power! He wants her for himself! Maybe he wants to manipulate her and use that power against us!" Archer snapped, riled up after listening to Tommy's devotion to Abigail.

　　"He has made it clear; he doesn't think we are putting the pack first! Maybe he wants Abbi's power and her at his side to take the pack from us. He wants to be Alpha!" Archer snarled viciously at me. 

　　 "And as the packs beta..." Even I could taste the hatred coming off Archer in waves; it was enough to stop Tommy mid-sentence. 

　　"ENOUGH!" I roared, finally understanding why my wolf was so unwilling to share any information with Tommy about Abigail and I.

　　He didn't trust him! 

　　Archer had never been wrong before. He had never betrayed me and always obeyed even when we disagreed! So if my wolf no longer trusted Tommy, I had to be cautious and listen.

　　Slamming my fists down on the wooden arms of my chair, it creaked harshly under the assault; jumping to my feet quickly, I squared up to my best friend, Archer's wrath swirling in my eyes. 

　　"I am not alpha yet, which means you are not beta..." I barked, poking him roughly in the chest! 

　　"You are just a pack member, like all the others! So what I DO or DON'T do with my cock is none of your business!" I boomed, livid at his assumptions and the audacity to try and take what was mine! 

　　"Kayla is my sister."

　　"Her too! BOTH MINE!" Archer added, excitedly awaiting the chance to pound Tommy's interfering face into the ground.

　　"She's MY mate! She is NO longer your sister, or your father's daughter. She is MINE! And as such, I will do as I fucking like with her! If I want to keep her tied up and fuck my pups into her while I fuck my way through the pack, I WILL! If I want to pursue Abigail, I WILL!" I roared, hitting my chest with each 'I WILL' To drive my point home.

　　"That is my RIGHT! And you... YOU will allow it because THAT'S HOW THIS SHIT WORKS!" I finished stepping away from my once best friend, shaking my head in disgust at him.

　　"I have a right to protect her, Jason! From you, from Abigail and her drama!" 

　　"You won't be able to protect her.. if you're dead! Remember that!" I warned, turning on my heels and stalking back to MY room. 

　　"I guess you are no different to your father!" He spat, hearing the table creak; I knew he had gotten off it, undoubtedly coming after me, using my biggest fear to get me to see reason..

　　"I guess not!" I whispered, hurt by his words!

　　"Pack your shit, Thomas; I want you gone! You're no longer welcome here!" With the footsteps stopping, I knew I had hurt him as he had hurt me; I didn't mean it, and regretted it as soon as I had said it! But it was said... There was no going back now, not without making myself look weak!

　　"We are not weak!" Archer demanded, pushing my legs forward and forcing me to move, knowing I would apologise if I stayed here a second longer. 

　　And that was not an option!