You Wouldn't Dare (Khaos Trilogy Book 1), стр. 45

“Are you kidding? Sit, sit!” Jasmine ushered the women down to make room for me and gave me a hesitant smile. “Are you okay? Khaos can be--”

“Khaos?” I interrupted, earning myself a few laughs from the other women.

“Yeah, Khaos…” Jasmine let out a heavy breath, “it’s not you, you know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I know. This is a lot for him to take.”

“It’s a lot for you too!” A raven-haired wolf spoke up. “Don’t make this any more difficult for yourself by trying to go easy on him. He’s my Alpha and I love him fiercely for what he does for this pack, but I know I’m not alone when I say he was an arsehole for the way he took you.” The other women nodded along with her as she spoke passionately. “We try to stay away from him when he’s with his bandit brigade. Those wolves are borderline feral. We knew it would not go well when we found out he was taking them to retrieve you.”

“I suppose he thought they were the best option – no one was hurt though. Well, as far as I know…”

“There you go again! Honestly, Luna, you’re allowed to be annoyed. All Khaos had to do was come back to the pack and let us know that he had found his mate and we would have helped – I know I speak for every woman at this table when I say that we would have gone along with him. He didn’t need to take those fucking savages with him.” Every wolf at the table nodded their agreement. “Your pack might even have been happier if they could see the women that would be joining you at your new home. Goddess knows what they’re thinking after they saw those idiots.”

“Honestly, I can’t say I blame him. I’m not making excuses for him,” I hastened to add when she opened her mouth to interrupt me. “My parents would not have let me go without a fight- especially not to a wolf like Khaos. My mother is a socialite, she lives her life in a very superficial world. All she cares about is looking young forever, she barely even wants to change into her wolf, so she doesn’t stretch her skin too much. It’s a game between herself and her friends, to remain forever beautiful and wanted, the ultimate trophy wife. She had plans for me to follow in her footsteps.”

“You don’t fit in there?” Jasmine asked quietly.

“Honestly? I’ve never really fit in anywhere. I went along with it. There was nothing else I could do. My mother had been conditioning me from the moment I was born, and by the time I realised there was another way to live and figured out my own wants and needs, it was too late to stop her. She would easily dismiss my remarks as teenage rebellion and hormones that held no truth. She would brush me off saying I would regret what I was saying in a few years, that mothers know best.”

“So where do you see yourself in this pack?” The raven-haired beauty spoke up once more.

“I don’t know. Khaos said I could do whatever I wanted, but I really don’t have any hobbies or interests. I would like to train a little, to build up my skills to help defend should we need it, but other than that, I really wouldn’t know where to start.”

She nodded at me and dropped the conversation, leaving me with no idea whether or not my honesty had been the right course of action to take. I was slightly saddened by how much I wanted their approval.

“Well, I think it’s a fab idea if you want to train! You can join me if you like? I train twice a week with the warriors!” My gut twisted in horror. There was no way I would be joining anything that the warriors had the slightest part in. Especially not after the warning Khaos had given me. He would be livid if he found out I was alone with them, even if Jasmine were there. I already knew he wouldn’t see that as adequate supervision. “Hey, don’t look at me like that! My brother watches me the entire time.”

“Khaos wouldn’t like it, he’s already warned me I can’t be near those guys…”

“We’ve all received similar warnings. My dad nearly threw a fit when he found out, but we’ve all worked together to find a happy medium. We never train in the warrior grounds, but in a training arena that Khaos built for us when he found out what we wanted. We always have a chaperone and there’s a safety alarm that will make the Alpha drop everything and come running to us. Besides, the warriors really are the best of the best. I’ll be the first to admit, we can rely on the men quite a lot, so this is a great compromise and allows us to feel as though we’re helping in some way. We’re not huge in numbers, but we are deadly fierce - or should I say they are deadly fierce. We have no worries; the men will always protect us. Goddess, that sounds pathetic, doesn’t it?” I gave her a grim smile.

“I had hoped this pack would be different- is it not against all rules of feminism to rely on a male for your protection?”

“Sure, in an ideal world. We don’t live in an ideal world; we live amongst wolves. Wolves who won’t hesitate to attack a lone female in groups of five, or maybe even more. There are women here that could hold their own against one or two, but males are naturally bigger and stronger than most of us. They can easily overpower us. Its why we were so insistent on training so we could learn the basics, but deep down we can admit that we need the warriors.