Inez felt her body jerk forward and slam on the ground. Because she had been unprepared for this sudden attack, she didn't even have the time to stop herself from hitting the gravel. Her chin smashed on the hard ground and Inez tasted blood.
How delightful. This was just the thing she needed. She turned around and looked at the woman who had pushed her and frowned when she found it was none other than Helen. Though the woman was a powerful enforcer under Luca, she was also a skilled stalker.
There was this incident where Inez had caught this woman staring at Luca in the middle of the night with infrared goggles. But why was she—
Oh.
Inez gritted her teeth when she realised how perfectly she had been schemed against.
Luca must have known that Helen was watching them, and he must also know about her feelings, which was why he used Helen against Inez.
She marvelled over how that man could make Helen do his dirty work without even saying a single word. No wonder it took so long for Inez to find out that the man was behind the bullying as well.
She masked her pain and tried to get up from the ground; the pain due to her bad fall made Inez wince but what made her wince harder was Helen catching hold of her hair and pulling her hard.
"Was it fun? Did you think it was funny? I told you about my feelings, Inez!" Helen screamed so hard that her voice cracked and Inez had to close her eyes to stop herself from physically flinching.
She looked at her as if Inez had betrayed their friendship but honestly, they had no such relationship. At most—
This woman had indeed told her about the feelings that she had for Luca and had once asked Inez to help her deliver a love letter to Luca when they were fourteen. She had done that but Inez didn't know whether Luca had bothered to write a reply or not.
Not that it had deterred Helen.
"It is not what you think," Inez gasped as she tried to pry Helen's fingers off her hair.
"Bullshit," the woman snapped as she pulled Inez along with her and slammed her head on the hood of the car harshly. "I saw it with my own eyes; you kissed him."
"Then you need to get your eyes checked!" Inez screamed back. "It was him who leaned closer; how can I be the one to kiss him? Not that it happened."
"Then it must be you who seduced him inside the car," Helen countered. Luca had been a god-like figure in her eyes and she could never believe that he would pay attention to a woman. Especially someone like Inez. "It must be you. You must have done something."
She kept repeating the same thing as if she had lost her mind.
Inez cursed Luca as she kicked the woman on the shin with the back of her boots. Helen must have thought that she would not fight back, which was why she let out a yelp and released her hold on Inez's hair.
Taking advantage of her momentary distraction, Inez turned around and ran towards the exit of the parking lot where her truck was parked. But before her fingers could touch the handle of the door, Helen tackled her down and rolled to the right such that she was straddling Inez.
"No wonder, Alpha Dom would rather refuse you than claim you as his mate. Betrayal is in your blood, Inez!" Helen raised her fist and brought it down heavily on Inez's face.
Inez felt pain explode over her eye and her vision turned blurred. She tried to shake off Helen but the woman was like a mad dog. She didn't leave Inez alone even though she was scratched and bitten.
The two women tussled for a long time but with Helen being a dominant female shifter, it didn't take long for her to suppress Inez.
"This is not over!" Helen pushed herself off Inez when she felt a bit calm. She raised her foot and kicked Inez on the side, making her groan in pain.
Once the woman had walked away, Inez pushed herself off the ground and spat a mouthful of blood onto the gravel-covered floor. She could feel her entire body aching. Her head was throbbing as if someone had used it like a drum and her chin felt like it had been torn and strapped back in place.
"Was it enough to convince you? Or do you need more?"
Inez snapped her head and looked at Luca. Her heart, which should have already turned into ashes, started to hurt once again when she saw the man step out of the corner.
So he was here. He was watching her get beaten up and he never stepped out.
She blinked her eyes and willed her tears away. It wasn't worth it, she told herself. She wiped the blood from the corner of the mouth before standing up and picking up the papers and her bag that had been tossed on the ground when Helen tackled her.
Luca stared at her. He frowned lightly and asked, "Do you have nothing to say to me?"
"I do," Inez raised her body after she picked up another paper and looked him dead in the eye. She, of course, caught the triumphant glint in those stormy blues before stating, "You are a shitty head enforcer."
"What did you say?"
"I said you are a shitty head enforcer and an even shittier person," Inez snapped. She finished picking up the papers from the floor and looked at Luca, something she was having trouble with as one of her eyes was swollen so badly that she couldn't focus on the man. "You are supposed to protect your packmates; no matter what grudge you have against me, you shouldn't be ignoring your job and responsibility but it seems like I was the one who expected too much from a person like you."
Head enforcers were protectors by instinct; they would do anything to keep their packmates safe. They just couldn't ignore this primal drive of theirs.
But maybe Luca and the rest didn't even consider her as a packmate. Maybe that was why it was so easy.
Luca assessed her and sneered, "Is that a new tantrum?"
"You can think whatever you want," Inez sighed as she limped over to her truck; however, just as she went to open the door, Luca caught her wrist and pulled her back.
"You have no other options other than agreeing, Inez!"
"Oh but I do," Inez calmly stared at the man with her one eye that was functioning right.
"What?"
"Leaving the pack."
**
Please do show some love by golden tickets or powerstones!