#8 The Archer and her Wolf

Thea

I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep until a knock on my door snapped me awake. I sat up, on high alert, grabbing the knife from my bedside table in one, single motion. I glared at the door, the knife raised defensively, until I figured out where I was. I was back at the compound and I was safe. I sighed and dropped the knife, jumping out of bed and opening the door.

“Dude, you look like shit.” A short blonde woman was standing on the other side of my door.

“Hello to you too, Dinah.” I grumbled, walking back to my bed. Dinah walked in without an invitation and shut the door behind her. She sat next to me on the bed.

“What’s up with you?” She asked.

“I just got back from a mission, I’m tired.” I lied.

“You’re never tired.” She said, narrowing her eyes on me.

Dinah was a few years younger than me and joined the Archer’s when she was 19. Her mate was the Alpha of her pack and she was just an omega. He rejected her for a mate that was chosen for him, the daughter of another pack’s Alpha, in order to merge their two packs. He chose power over his mate. So, she chose strength over breaking down. She trained her ass off and then found her way to the Archer’s. I was 21 and her mentor when she joined. We’ve been friends ever since.

“Alright, fine, I have to tell you something and you have to keep it to yourself.” I gave her a stern look so she knew how serious I was.

“Pinky swear.” Dinah held out her pink and I rolled my eyes.

She was a killer, one of the best, I made sure of that. But, she retained her childlike personality. She turned it into a strength, making herself appear more innocent than she was to make her enemies drop their guard.

“I hate when you make me do this.” I grumbled, wrapping my pinky around hers.

“But, you love me.” She giggled.

“Obviously.” I released her pinky and dropped back on the bed.

“I met this Alpha, his name’s Xaiver of Valor Moon. I saved his son from rogues, twice.” I dove into the backstory.

“I heard about the two you sent to the dungeon ahead of your mark.” Dinah nodded.

“Yeah, well, now I can’t stop seeing his eyes everywhere. When I think about his name it makes me feel weird, just like I felt when I was around him.” I was disgusted with myself as I admitted these feelings. Dinah was silent for so long that I lifted myself up on my elbows to look at her.

She was grinning at me from ear to ear, suppressing a laugh, I could tell.

“What?” I glared at her.

“Oh, girl, you’ve got it bad.” She smirked.

“What!” I yelled at her again.

“He’s your mate, idiot.” She slapped my leg and I felt my face drain of color.

“What?” My voice was more defeated this time.

“He makes you feel weird, you can’t stop thinking about him, you see his eyes everywhere. You’re being drawn back to him. You’re half wolf, so your wolf can’t talk to you and tell you what she knows, but she can send you messages. He’s your mate, for sure.” Dinah explained herself. I groaned and dropped back down on the bed.

“That can’t be true.” I mumbled, but I knew Dinah was hardly ever wrong.

“What did he say?” She asked me.

“He kept asking me to stay. He wanted me to stay and heal. He was rather persistent. I just thought it was from an obligation to his duty towards Royal Archers.” I said.

“More like his obligation to you and the matebond.” Dinah snorted.

“He’s an Alpha, Dinah, what makes you think he’ll want anything to do with me?” I looked up again and raised an eyebrow at her. She frowned profusely,

“Low blow, Thea.” I instantly felt bad for poking fun at her rejection.

“Sorry, Di, I shouldn’t have said that.” I sat up and laid my head on her chest.

Even amongst Archers, we kept our names a secret. Dinah and Effie were the only two people here who knew my real name, the same went for Dinah. To everyone else, she was the Green Archer, Greenie to her friends. In private, we used each other’s names to remind ourselves that behind the bow and arrows, there was still a person.

“It’s alright, I know what you meant. There’s only one way to find out.” She cleared her face of emotion.

“You think I should go back there?” I asked her.

“Either way, you need to. Even if it’s just for an official rejection. Trust me, things will only get worse if you leave the matebond unsevered.” Dinah took my hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Fine, I’ll think about it.” I said, squeezing her hand back before jumping up, “I’m starving, let’s go to the kitchen.” I changed the tone of the conversation before exiting my room. I heard Dinah sigh and follow me.

Together we walked back down to the main floor and into the kitchen. There were a couple of Archers and other members of the organization sitting around.

“What’s up, Crim? Haven’t seen you in a while.” the Sapphire Archer, a female vampire with short, chestnut brown hair and wicked red eyes, grinned at me.

“Been out for a while on mission.” I said. The Black Archer, a buff werewolf with hair as dark as his soul, offered me his fist and I bumped it with mine.

“Did you kick ass?” Black asked me.

“Don’t I always?” I smirked at him and he returned the grin.

“Want some leftover pizza?” Austin, a werewolf guard on the compound, asked.

“Yeah, sure.” He threw two pieces of cheese on a plate and slid it across the galvanized countertop. I snatched the plate and went to sit in the dining room. Dinah decided to heat up some leftover mac n cheese before joining me.

“What’s next for you, Cap?” Black asked, sitting down across from me.

“Some personal time. I’ve had back to back missions for about a year now.” I shrugged, stuffing the cold pizza into my mouth.

“I didn’t know Cap took personal time?” Lucas, an interrogator, laughed at me.

“Once a year.” I shrugged with a smirk. Lucas was new, he only joined us about 8 months ago, and he was still young at just barely 19 years old.

“Greenie!” Effie’s right hand man, known only as Boss, shouted across the room. He was in charge of setting up our missions, coordinating our marks, and briefing us on our assignments. He was also our point of contact if anything went wrong in the field.

“Yeah, Boss?” Dinah turned around to look at him.

“You’re up.” We all knew what that meant. Dinah had caught a mission. She flashed her signature smile to the table and enjoyed a round of fist bumps.

“Remember what we talked about.” She whispered to me before kissing my cheek. I shoved her away and wiped my face just as the table erupted into kissy noises.

“Kick ass.” I told her before she followed Boss out of the dining room.

I finished my pizza and held some more conversations with my teammates, before leaving to find Effie. I had to inform her of my personal time.

“Sure, Thea, you earned it. Tell your parents I said hi.” Effie smiled at me from where we sat inside her office.

“I will, thanks Effie.” I jumped up and left the office, heading for my room to pack a bag. What I didn’t tell her was that my first stop was Valor Moon’s packhouse.