13. Perspective

It's funny how perspective changed things. How just looking at the situation through the other person's eyes shed a different light on details that would otherwise go unnoticed. A new angle, yes, but also one that couldn't understand what the person outside was experiencing. How deep the cuts went, even when they'd supposedly healed on the surface.
So after I heard the front door close behind Kane, I put on a pair of imaginary goggles and studied myself through his perspective.
If Kane really meant what he'd said then he probably saw the situation this way: my mate is a poor little omega. Pathetically weak and unable to protect herself if I let everyone know she's mine. But I can't waste my time looking after her around the clock- oh I know, I'll make sure no one even suspects she's tied to me in any way. That way they'll leave her alone and hey, I'll let my friends make fun of her to further isolate her from the pack as well. Just in case she gets any ideas about falling for someone other than me. She tries to rebel? I'll growl and intimidate her so she stays compliant. New development, now I'm alpha and I can protect her. I'll explain what my true intentions were only in her best interest (without apologizing because I don't know what that even is) and she'll have no other choice but to run straight into my arms.
Like hell, I cursed, throwing away the goggles.
That was probably what it seemed like to him. But it was way more than that for me. Those few shoves, stray feet thrown out of my unsuspecting path had instilled a constant paranoia in me. I was on constant alert whenever I went out, wherever I was. Kane didn't know what it was like to glance at a crowd and think 'yup it's me against all of you'. He didn't have all those insults, mockery and whispers- from people who were supposed to be pack- follow him around constantly.
No matter how much I loathed to admit it, his 'small' bullying had drilled holes in my already non-existent confidence, turning it into dust over the years. His hatred for me had been coated pretty well on that drill too.
Which made it even harder to even imagine him changing his mind. His words, both in the library and my room, felt more like they'd happened in a dream. Conjured up. Kane Wilder couldn't have said he wanted me, and if he really did, he didn't mean it.
This is all a hoax, my conscious told me. A power play. He took over his father's position and is playing the moon struck hero, accepting the pack's omega to win over most of the pack's loyalty.
That was the truth, I realized, pulling on grey tights and stepping into my ankle length boots. I slipped my knife in the right shoe, feeling like things made more sense. He was using me like a chess piece, feeding me lies coated in sugar. But I wasn't going to swallow any of it. In fact, I wasn't going to be anywhere near him either.
I searched around my drawer, found my glasses and put them on. I patted down my hair, grabbed my keys and left the apartment.
"I told you she would never take a swing at him! Admit it, fae, I was right and you were wrong."
Aster sneered at a smirking Darius, hand on the sword at her side. The sneer turned to disapproval as she turned to me.
"Ember is as lenient as always, unfortunately," she said. "Wilder deserved more than a thousand needles shoved through him."
"Oh, please," Darius snorted. "Ember must be overjoyed right now. The love of her life doesn't really hate her, Helen's out of the way and now she's got his guilt ridden attention all to herself."
Startled, I paused my descent of the stairs.
Aster who shoved Darius. "Filthy rodent, retract that statement," she hissed.
Darius only smiled goadingly. I had a second to think well, that's the end of him, but then a giant stepped between them.
"We're not here to fight among ourselves," Jett said. "We have orders to carry out."
Aster's glare was cold enough to wither a whole field of flowers, but she backed away. Jett moved aside.
I jumped the last two steps to the sidewalk. "What orders?" I asked.
Darius rocked back on his feet, hands in his leather jack pockets. "Only to keep our lovely alpha female out of harm whenever the alpha is out threatening Seattle's supernatural community."
"Threatening?" I echoed.
Not searching for Helen?
"A new alpha needs to establish dominance, not only on his pack but on the other creatures in his territory," Aster explained. "He's left you in our care."
Our care.
Everything suddenly clicked into place. Aster showing up at the bridge, her being in the library during the pack meeting- which was restricted to pack members only unless the alpha invited an outsider- and her holding her arrow steady. Shouting at Kane to let her end my strangler's life.
I raised a hand to my chest as if it would cover my heart from the stab of betrayal. "You're working for Kane?"
She tilted her head. "If you call being bound by magic to do his bidding, then yes."
I bit my lip. "Were you ever really my friend then?"
She shook her head, her wavy hair drifting with the breeze. "I am your friend. But that is not all our relationship is restricted to, Ember Yale. I am also your eyes and unyielding arrow, yours to wield as you see fit."
Before I could demand what the hell that meant, Jett stepped forward. "And I will be your fists, your shield. Yours to use as you like."
Wide eyed, I looked to Darius, almost expecting some form of declaration from him as well.
He shrugged at me. "I'm here to watch you suffer."
I rubbed the side of my face tiredly. "That's it, I'm leaving. I need to-"
"Visit your friend in the hospital," Jett completed. He pointed at a black Ford behind him. "I'm going to take you there."
I shook my head. "I don't want your protection or whatever Kane is offering."
Aster frowned. "Whether you've accepted him or not, you've been claimed by an alpha. Anyone who wants to get to him will be after you. If you deny our protection-"
"We'll have to call Kane over," Darius finished smugly, ignoring the death glare from Aster. I joined her this time.
"Think about this as well, you could be leading an enemy over to the hospital with you. You're not the only one at risk," Darius smiled. "He might just get killed this time."
I bared my teeth at him, snarled.
A mistake, he was more dominant than me. But instead of putting me in my place, he laughed.
"Cute," he said.
Fighting the urge to show him how cute my claws would look tearing through his arrogant face, I turned to Jett. "I'll go willingly with you, but only you. Those two don't come with us."
***
I chose Jett because I quite frankly couldn't stand to be around Aster, and driving with Darius never even occurred to me as an option. I like assholes to be a good five miles away from me at all times. I also wanted to think in silence, driving with someone who didn't appear chatty was the ideal choice.
He didn't disappoint.
The entire fifteen minute drive to the hospital was done without a single word. Splendid silence.
Jett parked in the parking lot and I reached for the passenger door- but it was already open. He held out his hand and I gave him a disbelieving look but he didn't seem to be taunting me. I placed my palm in his, feeling greatly inadequate for such a gallant gesture. Me in my oversized shirt and old boots, one of which had a hidden knife in it. Of course, he didn't exactly look the part of the chivalrous looking man he apparently was either.
I stepped out and thanked him, but it was low and he'd slammed the door shut at the same time so I doubt he'd heard me.
Of course he did, hybrid, duh Ember. Super hearing.
I stared at the strange man, wondering where he came from. Definitely not pack, there was a faint connection between pack members that was absent with him. Yet he was working for Kane, and was part werewolf. What was he gaining from that alliance?
"I'll take you to where your friend is," Jett said, pulling me out of my curiosity and motioning for me to follow.
"Is his mom there?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
He nodded once. "She's been waiting for you."
I swallowed hard. Oh boy.