I felt lighter. I couldn't believe Willow liked me too. Smiling to myself, I wandered toward my room to take a nap. I spotted Saigon sitting on the side of his bed, hunched over.

"Hey." I tapped my knuckles on the rock wall.

Saigon glanced at me.

"What are you moping around about?" I went over and sat beside him.

"Nothing," he muttered.

"Did things not go well with your parents?"

"Nope, it was good."

I glanced at his hand. "You're bleeding."

"Oh." He covered it with his other hand.

"What did you do?" I grabbed his wrist. "Why are you still bleeding?" I pried it away from him. "Knock it off. Something is wrong if you're still bleeding."

"I'm fine. Stop."

Locking eyes with him, I sat up straight. "Quit acting like a pup and sit still." I frowned about the amount of blood coating his fur. "What the hell did you do?"

"It's nothing." He tried to take his hand away.

"Cut it out!" I jerked him to me. "It looks like you have a piece of glass in your hand."

I scanned the room and noticed the mirror was missing in the dresser. Small pieces were stuck along the edges. I glanced between him and it, but Saigon wouldn't look at me. I let go of his hand as my instincts picked up the tension in his body.

"What happened?"

Saigon shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

Nodding, I swallowed hard. "I'll be right back." I stood and hurried off to my room. Pulling out a box from under my bed, I grabbed a small first aid bag my dad had made for me. I opened it up and took out the tweezers. Returning to Saigon's room, I sat down beside him.

"Let me see."

"I said it was fine."

"Either you let me take it out with these"—I showed him—"or I can use my claws. One is going to hurt a hell of a lot worse."

Grumbling, Saigon held out his hand.

It was hard to see through the short fur that was matted in blood.

"Shift."

Still muttering to himself, Saigon did so. I tossed a pillow onto his crotch.

"What a mess." There were a couple wounds that weren't healing properly. "Why didn't you get these out?" I pressed on a couple lumps of skin that had healed over.

"Aw!"

"It's your fault." I used my claw to reopen the skin.

"Archer! That hurts."

"Good."

I removed the small piece of glass and the other shards. I placed them onto a crumpled up piece of paper nearby. Saigon squired and whined throughout the whole process.

"There you go, you giant pup. Don't be stupid next time."

Saigon rubbed his knuckles. "You injected me with toxins."

"You're higher ranks. You can handle it." I rose to my feet and went to throw the piece of paper away.

"It still hurt."

"Tell that to a lower rank." I stood over him. "Did it heal, or did I miss some?"

He rubbed the back of his hand. "It's fine."

I flopped into his bed. "What's wrong?" I propped my head up.

"Nothing."

"Goddamn it, Saigon, and you say my communication skills suck."

"Bad day"—he let out a deep breath—"that's all." He peeked over at me. "Where did you go with Willow?"

I grinned at him. "Nowhere special."

Saigon shifted back to werewolf and tossed the pillow across the room. He slumped into the bed. "There are better girls you could go after."

"What's wrong with Willow?"

"Ask any dominant around here and they'll tell you." He stared at the wall.

I sat up. He wasn't going to ruin my day. I knew Willow's reputation wasn't the best, but that didn't matter to me. I liked her, and she liked me back.

"The alpha will never let you be with her."

My muzzle fell open. "What the hell? Have you said something to him?"

"Nope." He picked at the cracks between the rock slabs on the floor. "Even if you get Darius to go along with it, Rupert will say no."

"So, what? My father isn't in charge of my life. Why are you acting like this? You sound like you have a thing for Willow when you just announced to the pack you prefer cock."

His eyes shot to me. "I have hunting party tonight. I want to take a nap."

"Fuck you," I muttered under my breath. "If you want me to leave, just say it."

I stood and marched into the hallway. Saigon was not going to ruin this for me.

***

(Saigon)

My aunt and uncle's cave was down the hall. I hadn't decided what I was going to tell Darius, but Willow's free ride was going to end or she could be demoted to omega. A white werewolf stepped into the hallways.

"Saigon," Raven smiled, "how was Bloodhound?"

"Fine. Same as always."

"That's good. My dad is in there with Jagger." He pointed over his shoulder.

"Great, they are the two werewolves I wanted to talk to."

"Have fun." The sub continued on down the hall.

Clearing my throat, I stepped into the doorway. "Hi, Darius, can I talk with you?"

"Saigon," the alpha nodded. "Come on in. Is it alright if Jagger's here?"

I nodded and sat on the end of the circle. "Yeah, he might be able to help." I shifted in my seat.

"So, what do you need?" He straightened out some paper. "Aden isn't still trying to get you to move to Bloodhound?"

"No, he knows that's a losing battle. I need to be here." I took a deep breath. "I'm concerned about Archer."

Jagger and Darius perked up.

"Is he hurt?" asked the alpha. "We might be running him too much." He glanced at Jagger.

"No, he's fine," I clarified. "It's more of his choice in friends."

Darius let out a sigh as he sunk into the furs. "Willow's group?"

I nodded.

"You're not the only one who's complained about them." The alpha shook his head. "Deadweight, every last one of them."

"That's why Archer is making me nervous. I don't want him getting in trouble."

"I've tried about everything with Willow," said Jagger. "Every job I give her, she refuses to do or will stand there why everyone else works."

"Demoting doesn't work either," breathed Darius. "She doesn't care."

"If nothing works on her, maybe giving more work to her friends?" I offered.

The alpha and Jagger looked at each other.

"Give the others more work so they have less time to mess around with Willow—" Darius hummed to himself. "That might work."

"Archer can't be given any more work, he's—" said Jagger.

"Just the others," I quickly added. "I know Archer is doing his fair share. I'm not concerned about that."

Standing, Jagger gave me a nod. "I'll handle it."

Darius gave him an approving smile. "Go help that mate of yours dejunk. You don't have much time left before you leave for college."

Jagger groaned. "His parents spoiled him too much."

"That's Storm doing." The alpha lifted a finger. "Raven is the only one of us that would go shopping with her."

"Sure." Jagger waved. "I'll see you later."

I listened to his footsteps fade away. "I guess I'll be going to."

"Saigon, don't worry about Archer," said Darius. "I'll let it slip he's been hanging out with Willow to Rupert, and that'll end very quickly." He laughed.

"Just don't let it slip that I brought it up. I'll never hear the end of it if Archer finds out I talked to you about Willow."

"I'll leave out that little detail." Darius gave me a smirk. "I know better than to reveal my sources."