Chapter 9.|No Regrets|

j.u.s.t.i.n.’.s....p.o.v.

“He’s such an asshole! I can’t believe he treats her that way!”

“What did Toby do this time?” My Beta, or second in command, Jeremy asked, listening to my ongoing rant. Currently, we were sitting in the meeting room of the pack house. While this time was supposed to be focused on signing papers, we decided to have a talk.

“He accused Harper of cheating on him just because she was looking at me today. He wasn’t even here!”

“Harper wasn’t actually cheating, was she?”

“We barely even talked to each other - how could she have?! He was just too quick to assume what was happening in the situation and therefore jumped to conclusions. Honestly, I don’t know what she sees in him.” Really, I have no clue. I mean, I’m her mate, after all. I’m meant to be with her, absolutely perfect for her. Why can’t she see that when she is with that jerkface?

“Well, man, I get you’re upset, but you need to focus on your mate. I know Harp is important to you, but we really got to get the Luna acquainted with this place.”

“Jeremy,” my voice was strained. I hadn’t told anyone who my mate was, but I figured this was the only way for him to take it seriously. ”Harp is my mate.”

A look of shock enveloped his features before a big smile lit up on his face and he patted me on the back. “Congrats, man! So, how’d she take it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, finding out you are a wolf and she is your mate - and all that stuff?”

“I-I haven’t told her yet.”

He paused, his eyebrows creasing in confusion. “And why not?”

Taking a deep breath, I spoke, trying not to punch the wall. “She is dating Toby, alright?! She is dating him... and I-I can’t do anything about it!”

“Can’t you just tell Toby?”

I shook my head. “I don’t trust him enough to not use it against me. Moon Goddess knows how much he’d love to run this pack.”

“Then why don’t you break them up?”

“‘Break them up’? That isn’t as easy as it sounds.”

“Well, from what you’ve been telling me, there are quite a few flaws in their relationship. All you have to do is give them a little nudge and the entire thing will collapse.”

“But how?”

“You could get Toby fired up about what happened, make him spit a few nasty things out about Harper, and then show it to her.”

“Hmmm... that wouldn’t be big enough. They would shake but I don’t think they’d fall. Maybe we could get a picture of him and some girl making out, or a video clip. We’ll just mute it and make it look like he wants to kiss the girl.”

“Who could we get to do that?”

“Ask your cousin Natalie if she’d mind doing us a favor.”

“No way!” He became defensive. “I am not going to bring my family into this. I’ll help you out myself, but that’s about it.”

“Fine, we’ll find some crazed girl that would do anything and ask her to participate, happy?”

“Sure. So when does the plan go in motion, exactly?”

“Tomorrow. We show the video to her at lunch.”

“Justin, I know you want to break them apart, but what if Harp finds out? What if she hates you?”

I was afraid he’d ask that. Honestly, it was a possibility that was constantly sitting on the back of my mind 24/7, but I tried to ignore it. That was only if worst came to worst, which I prayed would not happen. I don’t think I could deal with my mate upset again, especially with me.

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“Well, then,” Jeremy said, putting his hands on his knees before standing up, “in that case, let’s go get this plan in motion.”

Seth growled internally as I forced myself to knock on Toby’s door. I was going to get it out of him now so that tomorrow, all we’d have left would be to get a picture or quick video clip of him making out with someone.

It opened to reveal Toby, whose appearance hadn’t appeared to change much since this afternoon when I last saw him yelling at Harper from across the parking lot.

“I don’t want to see you,” he spat. “You are trying to take my Harp from me!”

I flashed my canines at him, to show him who he was talking to. I was going to be Alpha in less than a month after all, and I didn’t take disrespect too easily. “I’m not here to argue. I just wanted to ask you what you think about Harper being a cheater.” It stung my heart to say those words, but when Jeremy clicked on the camera and Toby got distracted in ranting about his messed up relationship, I couldn’t help but remember it was for the better.

I had no regrets.