Chapter 20: Rumors

The feast had started and I sat with Zander. This caused other members to get up and leave. These members didn’t even excuse themselves. They scoffed and gave disgusted looks at Zander.

I shook my head at their cruel treatment. Why couldn’t these stubborn people forgive and forget the past? It was years ago. They should just move on.

I thought they were just being petty. It wasn’t like Zander had killed someone in their pack. I shook my head and stabbed my lamb chop with my steak knife. People like that made me mad.

Zander looked over at me knowingly and said, “Cleo, don’t worry about them. I don’t care that they hate me. Besides I belong to your pack.” He added, “They mean nothing to me.”

How could he just be calm about those jerks? I wanted to tell all of them off for their immaturity.

“So, it doesn’t bother you at all being back?”

Zander ran his hand through his hair and sighed, “It does a little. But we won’t be here longer than necessary.”
He pushed his plate of food to the side and looked around. Was he looking for Maurice? I hadn’t seen him since we arrived.

I kept eating my meal of lamb chops and lemon garlic butter roasted potatoes with a fresh garden salad. The food was even better than the party where Ash proposed to me.

Zander got quiet for the rest of the meal and changed into a grumpy expression. He kept a scowl on his face while I ate. I couldn’t look at him without feeling affected. I didn’t want to be in a bad mood too. Maybe as mates, I got an empathy effect from him.

After my plate was collected, I left Zander. He was just too grumpy to be around any longer. Plus, I needed to have some distance from him. We were getting closer and closer while spending a lot of time together.

I also didn’t want to piss him off further. I hoped he wouldn’t stay in such a foul mood while we were here. I understood he had disappointment in this pack, but he didn’t need to be in such a sour mood around me.

Maybe I needed to take my mind off of things for a bit. I changed into training clothes and walked towards the gym. Zander was nowhere to be found. I had briefly scanned the area for him. Part of me wished I had stayed with him. He was probably still angry after those rude members talked to him.

I felt like I needed to work out again after sitting around for too long. No way would I let myself lose my physique quickly.

For some reason, I thought about Zander and what he was up to. I hoped he was doing okay in his old pack and not getting into fights.

Zander had to stop invading my thoughts. I got on an exercise bike and started pedaling. I pedaled hard and acted like I could move the bike from its place in the ground.

Sweat dripped from my forehead, and I wiped it with the back of my hand. I really needed this workout. I hoped it would prepare me for any possible danger. Zander said there’d be danger. So far, I hadn’t seen any sign of trouble.

I noticed I wasn’t the only one in the gym. There were a few other young women in there. They were all in a row at the treadmills. One girl was really running hard.

These women were a few feet away from where I was. They talked about pack drama and who was dating who. I didn’t care to listen in. But of course, my hearing helped me hear everything. I even overheard one girl talk about sleeping with a guy in detail.

That would be hard to forget. I shook my head and kept pedaling on the bike a little longer before walking to the open treadmill. It was one away from the last girl running hard on the treadmill.

I listened in when I heard Zander come up in their conversation. My blood boiled as I heard what they were saying.

“I heard Zander Underwood is back. He’s gotten quite good looking since we last saw him,” a platinum blonde said.

Her saying that made my nostrils flare. I didn’t like another girl talking about him like that.

“If he had stayed, Ash would’ve had a rival in looks. I mean, Zander has that whole fit and attractive bad boy type thing going on,” a brunette added.

The mention of Ash reminded me that I still hadn’t talked to him. But he wasn’t the number one concern on my mind. I had other important things to deal with at the moment.

I needed to hear everything they said about Zander. It wasn’t right to talk about someone behind their back. I wanted to personally tell them off but held back. I needed to hear everything they said and maybe share some of it with Zander.

He had a right to know. They were talking about him and his past.

A girl with red hair joined in, “Yes, he’s very hot but has a bad reputation.” The girl paused and added, “My parents still talk about how Zander accused Maurice of negligence after his parents were killed by that Rogue.”

It was nice finally knowing how he was kicked out. I hadn’t ever heard it before. I never asked Zander, since I knew it could’ve made him upset at me.

Another Asian girl stated, “But wait, didn’t Zander get kicked out of the pack because of that? I never heard the whole story.”

The blonde looked annoyed as I watched them from my viewpoint. She said, “Maurice had no choice but to kick him out. Zander was only twelve too.” She added, “It’s a darn shame. I was going to ask him out one day.”

He was only twelve when he got kicked out. That was so sad and heartbreaking. He was an orphan and had no one to look after him. How could Maurice do that?

I saw the red-haired girl shake her head in disgust. I stopped listening and took in what they said. Had Maurice really been so cruel to a young boy? It made me wonder if anything I had seen of Maurice had been the real him. A sense of dread came over me at the realization of what Maurice’s true nature was.