I Would Have Tossed You Out

Dormant Volcano Calhein, the Slopes of Northern Summit

Mission: Nyter flower

Day 2

“Are you attracted to me, Alpha Ryder?” Lyle asked the sun-tanned werewolf who was climbing the rope up the rocky cliff, which had almost fifty degrees incline. He was just below her in the group. She was sweating profusely. It was mid-afternoon. The sun was cruel, making the air hot and sultry. There were thorny bushes and few trees with gnarled roots dotting its surface, hardly giving them any relief.

They had to find the cave that led to the bed of the volcano where Nyter grew. Since the day they had gathered for the mission, she could feel his eyes boring into her. 

“Stop thinking so highly of yourself, pup,” he scoffed and pulled himself up the rope. “I am a hunter and you are not my prey.” His voice was so rough and dangerous that it was almost… sexy. 

Lyle stopped and released one hand from the hand ascender on the rope, placed her foot on a ledge and hung freely with one hand. She looked down at him masking her admiring gaze under a scornful one. As if to tease him, she pulled out the bottle from her belt and took a swig, deliberately dropping some drops on him. 

Ryder shook his hair with annoyance and she saw him doing that. She gasped. The werewolf was extremely good looking for the world. Heartbreakingly beautiful and sensuous… and she wanted to smack herself for thinking in those directions… again. She closed her eyes only to steal a glance back.

He had pale blonde hair with few streaks of black on the inside. The sides were cropped short but the hair at the top had thick volume to it and they parted to the side. Strong brows shaded his eyes. His jaw line was so sharp that it could cut a glass. It was covered by at least a two-days old stubble. With everything around him, it was his warm hazel eyes that set him apart. His body, which she couldn’t help noticing for the last two-days, was… gorgeous. Standing tall at over six feet, he had broad shoulders and looked… rough, lethal. She found him looking sublime even though his expressions were somewhere between irritation and sinister. 

Not again Lyle, she chided herself on the inside for the hundredth time. She was getting vexed with the way her wolf Grisha drooled over his wolf. 

“Have you seen yourself?” he asked in a sarcastic voice. He knew of the effect he had on women around him, but the girl above him… not his type. “You are too… skinny!”

Lyle pursed her lips. “I am not!” she muttered. She was not skinny. Not wanting to talk to a rough, impolite, perilous and a rude werewolf, she held the hand ascender tightly and pulled herself further up. Moreover, Lyle didn’t want to waste her time on anyone especially if she had to get Nyter. She had to save her parents for she knew that if she didn’t get Nyter, Drake wouldn’t spare them. 

It was a steep climb. As they climbed further up, the air began to get colder. Why did she feel that his gaze was on her hips? 

Last evening Alpha Arya and Alpha Nolan had gone up the cliff to plant the camalots in the rocky surface for others to climb the next day. Arya was leading the team and over the past day she had become friendly with Lyle.

With a shrug she followed Dominique who was just above her. They had to find the cave soon. This was the second day of climbing. There was unease amongst all—if they didn’t pluck Nyter in the next twenty-four hours, it would wither and die. Yesterday they had scanned the opposite end of the cliff but there were no signs of the cave. Today they grew desperate.

Almost two hours later, an excited whoop from Arya signaled that they had found the cave. Once they reached the cave, they were on their own. 

After climbing inside, Lyle scanned the cave’s landing. She removed her gears and stacked them. After heaping them in a corner, she looked at the several caverns that led to the bed of the volcano. Surprised that all others in the group had so quickly disappeared for the task, she became nervous. She took in a deep breath and started walking to the farthest cavern. Had it not been his heavy footfalls, she would have thought he wasn't there. 

“Still after me?” she asked, teasingly. He didn’t answer and the silence between them was… tense. 

After what seemed like eternity, he asked, “Who fixed the rope for climbing yesterday?” 

“Alpha Arya and Alpha Nolan.” The two were fierce, powerful and had a strange chemistry between them—one she had seen and felt before when she was in love with Blake. She hoped that it was just a fling. Well, that was what Arya told her every time she disappeared with Nolan in the deep forests at night. Lyle had cautioned her to not get in love with him, citing her own plight. It had been a week and she was still trying to get over it. She really wanted to move on. 

Silence followed again. 

Lyle flashed her torch in the dark cavern. She looked at the hard, damp red rocks that had weathered with time. Water was dripping from the top and the air was heavy with a musty smell. Stones and twigs crunched under her boots. Small animals scurried around at the intrusion in their dwelling. 

“How could they allow you to join the mission and come with us?” he asked sardonically. 

“And what else would they have done, Alpha Ryder?” she stopped and asked him, turning her head over her shoulder. Even though there was one prize, they all acted as healthy contestants. Everyone had bonded well… except him. 

He stopped too. Flashing his torch on her face, he said in a menacing tone, “I know what I would have done. I would have tossed you out!” 

She rolled her eyes and turned to walk ahead. Soon they were in a tunnel where they could barely squeeze themselves in. Lyle had practiced well during the training sessions of her pack, and nothing that came in front of her scared her, except… snakes and when faced with being alone. Blake knew about her fear of snakes, but only her parents knew about her autophobia. Obviously, she knew that if she told them about it in this group, others would make sure that she was left alone only to eliminate her from the competition. 

Mila had cautioned her about how ruthless the competition could become. It could be a race to death. But did Lyle have a choice? For her it was do or die. How could she let her parents be at Drake’s mercy? They had cared for her, loved her unconditionally and supported her even though she was not their child. ‘The participants are ferocious,’ Mila had said. Lyle couldn’t agree less. 

She retorted, “Don’t take me for a chump, Alpha Ryder! I managed to severely injure our Alpha’s son. He is still unconscious!” 

Ryder closed in on her in that confined space, his height looming over her, his closeness attacking her personal space. The man stood almost a foot taller than her. Her pulse raced. He growled, “Are you threatening me, pup? You are too young and naïve for that. And remember that you don’t threaten people like me.”

Lyle stopped and—