by J. L. Wilder
“That’s it?” I laughed, my voice sounding strangled in my ears. “What if a better buyer comes along, someone with more to offer? She could roll over flat on her back in a minute. I may be weak, Tristan, but I’m not naïve.”
He rubbed his stubble with the flat of his hand. “We can’t argue about this. I need to know where Brock is, to keep you safe. It’s the only option.”
“No, it’s just the easiest one, but not necessarily the best one—”
“Enough,” he interrupted, the alpha springing into his voice. “It’s a gamble, a sacrifice. I’m aware. But you hired us to protect you, and that’s what we’re trying to do. Do you understand?”
I absolutely one hundred percent did not understand. Why was he, the cold, calculating, military man, being so reckless? There was nothing I could do about it now, though, I saw that much. So, I crossed my arms over my chest, and replied, “Fine.”
Tristan’s nostrils flared, and he looked like he was about to fire something back, but instead, he turned away from me and moved back toward Pelt.
“We’re in a den up off the 47,” he told her.
“Not far from here,” she commented. I could almost see the gears in her head turning. “Well, I’ll keep an ear to the ground. He’s out lookin’ for y’all, but so far, he hasn’t come anywhere near these parts. You should be safe for at least a couple more weeks.”
“Thank you,” Tristan replied. “I appreciate the information. We’ll be in touch.”
“Adios,” she smirked.
She remained stuck to the ground as Tristan climbed back on the bike, then glanced at me and nodded his head toward the seat behind him. The message was clear: get on, now. I wanted to find my own way back, out of sheer petulance, but I hadn’t studied the path through the woods clearly.
With a dramatic sigh, I got behind Tristan once more.
“That was stupid,” I informed him. “Very stupid.”
“If you can’t trust your own people,” Tristan retorted, “who can you trust?”
“No one.” And that was the truth—there’s nobody in the world you can trust except for yourself.
He shook his head. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
Without another word, he put the helmet back on his head, and we sped off into the forest.
Chapter 10
We rode back in silence, and I wondered if Tristan could feel the hot rage radiating off my body.
After descending the rickety slope once more, and pulling to a stop in the garage, I quickly flung my thigh over the bike and dismounted, tossing my helmet aside into a heap.
“Put your helmet back on the shelf,” Tristan instructed. “Just because you’re throwing a temper tantrum doesn’t mean—”
“I am not throwing a tantrum!” I shrieked, in a voice that didn’t exactly do wonders for the sentiment. I lowered my decibel and pitch, and tried again. “It’s out of concern. For myself, and for you guys.”
“Don’t worry about us,” he replied, the muscles in his square jaw popping out. “We can handle ourselves.”
“Whatever,” I returned, over the conversation. “I’m going inside.”
Tristan, still seated on the bike, said nothing. He watched in silence as I pushed through the door, and back into the den. He didn’t try to follow me.
Inside, I saw Caine hovering around the kitchen counter, headphones in his ears, bopping about to music.
“Hey, Caine,” I sighed. He didn’t turn around, just kept swaying back and forth. “Caine!”
Nothing.
I rolled my eyes. This was gonna require more than just a shout. I walked to the beta, crossing the living room and into the kitchen, where I slipped a hand up through his tawny hair and yanked an ear bud out of his ear.
“Whoa!” he cried, startled, before swiveling around. His face shifted from alarmed to delighted. “Oh, hey, Emma. What’s up?”
I noticed that his right hand was clutching a knife. “Uh, can you put the knife down?”
He glanced at the steel in his hand, and reddened. “Sorry about that,” he grumbled. “Instincts, etc. How was your run to see Pelt? Any news?”
“So, you guys all know about this, huh?” I commented, shaking my head in amazement. “How the hell do you trust that woman? She lives alone in the woods. Not exactly a sterling reputation.”
He shrugged. The gesture would’ve read as casual, if I hadn’t seen him glance toward the garage door, as though to check if Tristan was coming.
Sure enough, Caine dropped his voice lower, and replied, “I don’t know if we all necessarily ‘trust’ her. It’s more of Tristan’s idea.”
“And because he’s the alpha, anything he says goes?”
Caine bit his lip. “Yeah, kinda.”
“What if she turns out to be bad news?” I retorted. “What then?”
“Then we’ll protect you,” he murmured, taking a step closer to me. “I hope that’s not what it comes to, but if it does … Emma, we’re ready. I’m ready.”
His large form towered over mine, and his normally playful blue eyes had grown serious. Caine placed a hand on my upper arm, squeezing gently.
“I’d do anything for you,” he continued. “Anything at all.”
To be honest, I’m not sure why I did what I did next, because it was a decision that came out of nothing and everything. It was from anger at Tristan, attraction to Caine, fear, desire, and all these other feelings I’d been bundling up for a week, which felt more like a lifetime. I choose to believe that the Wolf took over and demanded a release.
Which is all to say: I kissed him.
I felt the surprised tension in his lips dissolve within moments, his mouth becoming pliable beneath my own, his arms moving to ensnare me. For the first time in a long time, I was doing exactly what I wanted, and God, did it feel good.
His hands wrapped around my thighs, and without warning, he hefted me onto the counter, wrapping my legs around his waist as he pulled me in closer. He was a creature of physicality, of movement, and I was drinking it all in. I pressed my body into his, hoping that, if I could just live in these few stolen seconds, everything would be all right.
Caine responded to my neediness, slipping his hands up from my legs to beneath my shirt, splaying his fingers across my back. We shouldn’t be doing this. That much I knew. But I didn’t care. We’d already begun—if I was going to be bad, I was going to be very bad. Maybe the boys really had brought out the Wolf in me.
His hands moved off my back and up the front of my shirt. He squeezed my breasts, and unable to stop myself, I moaned. His fingers dove inside my bra, and he pinched my nipples. My head dropped onto his shoulder as I let pleasure drive me.
I’d just begun to take my hand from off the counter and move it towards Caine’s deliciously tempting zipper when a door slammed open, and a voice said, “Oh.”
I tore free of the kiss, pulling Caine’s hands out from beneath my shirt, and looked up to see Daniel, cloaked in his traditional black, staring at us, his mouth just slightly agape. He hovered in the threshold of his door, as if he didn’t know where to go, or what turpentine to use to scrub this image from his mind’s eye.
“My apologies,” he said, his voice dry and lethal, before turning around and slamming the door behind him.
“Shit,” I muttered, leaning my head back against the cabinet, legs still entwined around Caine.
I thought Caine would at least have the good grace to be abashed, but instead, I saw a distinctly self-satisfied smile dance across his face.
“What are you so pleased about?” I asked. “Daniel, your pack mate, just caught us kissing, a thing which we so totally weren’t supposed to do.”
“I’m smiling,” he explained, his fingers squeezing my thigh, “because I got to kiss you. What’s not to smile about?”
His baby blues twinkled with mirth and desire, and though I was far from satiated, I knew I had to break this off. I veered to his left, pushing out of his embrace and jumping dow
n from the counter.
“That was a mistake,” I lied. Because, though it’d been a mistake in regard to pack unity, it had felt so, so right, as good as I’d dreamed it would feel. His lips tasted like sweet milk, and I wanted more.
“You know that’s not true.”
Why was everybody so adept at seeing right through me? I wished I wasn’t such a wide-open book.
“It hurt your friend,” I told Tristan, not turning around. At least that wasn’t a lie.
“He’ll be fine,” Caine said, and I could hear the grin in his voice. Couldn’t he at least have the decency to acknowledge his friend was upset? Or was I projecting? Maybe Daniel wasn’t upset at all. Maybe I just wanted him to be upset. Oh man, that wasn’t a great moral victory on my end. Why couldn’t I be satisfied with one Wolf, why did I need the whole pack?
Because you’re an omega, the Wolf in my head reminded me. Your desires are great, and your thirst can’t be slaked by just one.
I strode toward Daniel’s door, a woman with a purpose (if not a plan).
“Emma, come on,” Caine began, “don’t be like that.”
But I ignored his pleas, and with a loose fist, rapped on Daniel’s door.
“Daniel? Daniel, it’s me. Can we talk?”
No answer.
“What’d I tell you?” Caine said, his tone becoming edgier. “He’s not a big talking type, ‘case you haven’t noticed.”
I didn’t reply; instead, I banged on the door again.
“Come on, Daniel,” I pleaded. “Just let me in.”
No response.
All right then—two could play like that. With a reluctant sigh, I turned the knob of Daniel’s door, and opened it, just wide enough to poke my head through.
“Daniel?”
I peeked inside. So, I wasn’t imagining it, I thought with a mix of relief and concern as I spotted the whip mounted to his wall. On the bright side, I wasn’t going crazy. On the slightly dimmer side, Daniel might be.
Speaking of, the man of the hour, or the minute anyway, was sprawled on his stomach, black hair pooling across his shoulders. Daniel was drawing madly, pen scratching across paper as if he intended to tear it asunder.
“Go away, Emma,” he growled.
“I’m not gonna do that.” Where had this confidence come from? Maybe it was because of the kiss. Or maybe, now free from Brock’s control, I was finding my way back to the woman I’d been before. I shut the door behind me; Caine didn’t need to hear this conversation.
Daniel sat up with a start, whirling to face me. I gasped. He’d always, in my estimation, skulked around the house, his movements sharp but languid. This speed, this urgency … it took me aback.
“What do you want?” he demanded.
‘I—” I broke off, then found my voice again. “I’m sorry you saw that.”
“Why? It was obviously something I was meant to see. Caine claimed you.”
I balked. “He did no such thing.”
“He kissed you.”
“Um, I kissed him,” I corrected.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “So, you did the one thing I advised you not to do? You joined yourself, romantically, with a member of the pack?”
“No!” I cried, growing angrier by the minute. “I just … I kissed him. I’m not sure it meant anything at all. I just knew I wanted to, so I did. God, why does everything have to be so complicated?”
He rose to his feet, quick as a bolt of lightning, and flew across the tiny expanse of the room, backing me up against the door. His face was inches from mine, and I gulped, hoping my expression didn’t betray my desire for him.
“It’s complicated,” Daniel hissed, “because you’re a beautiful woman, and an omega, and you know that. And I would mate with you, if I could, but I can’t. Because this is the first pack I’ve fallen in with that I care about, and I’m not going to ruin that. Emma, I’m asking you to preserve my family.”
“Caine kissed me back,” I mumbled, trying to avoid Daniel’s piercing eyes and failing. “It’s not my fault.”
“I agree,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
He was so close. All I’d have to do was reach out, and touch him—
Enough, my brain snarled. Just because you’re an omega doesn’t mean you can kiss two pack mates within two minutes.
Daniel’s breath was surprisingly cool on my face, a total contrast to the hot, thick air Caine emitted. They were two sides of a coin. Or rather, two sides of a triangle. Where did Tristan fit in, in all of this?
Just as soon as he’d pounced on me, Daniel backed off, lunging to the opposite side of the room, putting as much distance between us as the space would allow.
“What are you doing?” I asked, confused by this departure.
He shook his head. “Caine may have let the Wolf get the best of him, but I won’t. I can’t. I have too much to lose.” He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “So, regardless of what I may want, and I think you know just how badly I want it, I won’t allow myself to have it. Is that clear?”
His words were vague, but in my ears, they couldn’t have been clearer: Daniel wanted to kiss me, as much as I wanted to kiss him. But he wouldn’t. God, I wished I had his strength and willpower. At the same time, I wished he would say to hell with that willpower and give in to our base desires.
Oh, how could I be of such opposing minds? I felt that I would soon be torn in half, just like the paper Daniel was so desperately carving at.
My eyes cast toward the drawing, the one he’d been working on with such fury. I inhaled a little as I realized it was a picture of me, made in the blackest of ink. I was half Wolf, half woman, my head arched toward the moon.
“That’s a lovely drawing,” I commented, unable to help myself. “I’m very … flattered.”
He shut his lips, and I suspected I’d gotten all the words out of Daniel I could expect to get. He walked slowly back to his bed, ripped the page out of the sketchbook, and mutely passed it to me.
“Is this for me?” I asked.
But he’d already flopped back onto the bed, facing away from me. Evidently, the conversation was over. Wonder why I’d even expected an answer.
“Okay, if you wanna be like that, I’ll go.”
Again, I’d hoped for a reply, and again, was met with silence. You’ve got to stop waiting for the unlikely to happen, I thought miserably.
Not wanting to embarrass myself any further, I exited Daniel’s room, shutting the door softly behind me, in the hopes that I’d avoid Caine’s attention.
No such luck. He was standing where I’d left him; at the kitchen counter, grinning amicably.
“What’d he say?” Caine asked. “Some equivalent of ‘piss off’?”
I let out air I didn’t know I’d been holding in. “Try not to sound so thrilled.”
“Why not? I am thrilled.” Caine’s eyes found the piece of paper in my hand. “What are you holding?”
“None of your business,” I mumbled, before turning a sharp left and going to my own room, slamming the door shut.
Why was I so reckless? That wasn’t like me at all. Normally, I kept to myself, stayed out of trouble, didn’t attract attention. Around Brock, I’d taught myself to be invisible, to escape his eyes, and his hands. Here, I had become too visible, too fast. And Daniel was right−Caine shouldn’t have kissed me, but hell, I’d initiated it. I’d asked this pack to take care of me, and now I was throwing it right back in their faces. I was the world’s most ungrateful guest.
“I don’t deserve to be here,” I whispered to myself, setting Daniel’s magnificent sketch of me on the bed and sitting down beside it. I was a threat; I destroyed the good, and harvested the bad. My omega nature was too powerful, and I didn’t understand its scope.
And then, in the same thought, I had a realization: “I have to get out of here,” I said aloud. “I have to go.”
Yes, yes, finally, that was it, that was the answer. This pack
, these men, they didn’t want me; I was a nuisance, at best. They’d been living in perfect harmony before I’d come along. If I left, they’d go back to normal. Maybe I wouldn’t survive long in the great wide world, but it’d be better than feeling like I was destroying other people’s lives. I knew what it felt like to have your life destroyed by a force you couldn’t control, and they didn’t deserve that pain and helplessness.
I had to pack.
I scanned the room, looking for anything I needed to bring with me. Not sure what I had expected to find; I had nothing more than what I’d arrived with, save for some fresh-ish clothes. And Daniel’s drawing, I reminded myself. No weapons, no food. Hopefully, the week of skill training would pay off. Because, once again, it was time to fly the coop.
Without a backward glance, I exited my room, heading for the door to the garage. I wasn’t sure what the other doors would lead to, but I’d watched Tristan unlatch the ramp carefully enough that I could replicate it.
Mercifully, Caine had left the kitchen, perhaps thinking I was in bed for the night. If only.
I skittered through the door to the garage, where I found all the motorcycles neatly lined up. Tristan’s handiwork, I thought. I debated taking one of the bikes, but then decided it would be more danger than it was worth. They could have tracking devices, for one. And, for another, I didn’t have the first clue as to how a motorcycle worked.
No, the only sound choice was to become the Wolf, and to run until my hindquarters gave out.
I unlocked the exit to the ramp, and in a flash, shifted into my Wolf form. Oh shit. I guess that was the end of those clothes. Great planning, I thought to myself. Really, stellar work.
But it was too late to turn back. I bounded up the ramp, emerging into the brisk night air, sniffing at it with my snout. Smelled like rain was coming.
I took off running for the tree line. I’d go inside, cover as much distance as I could, then shift back to human form to rest for the night. Build a shelter, cook some food, go to bed. It’d be fine, right?
