Even through the haze, my heart sank. Why…? He let go of my wrist and lowered my legs. I stayed limp as he pulled me to him then lay on the floor, sprawling me over him. I let him manhandle me into a comfy position, then listened to the beat of his heart under my ear. His hand ran down my spine. As I came back down to earth, I realized his fingers were stroking the scars that crisscrossed over my back. I didn’t care. His touch was soothing.
His cum cooled on my skin, making my heart ache. After our first time, he never finished inside me again. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask why, but a part of me was afraid of the answer.
“You were mad,” I said instead.
His hand moved down my skin to my ass. He squeezed it in his large palm. “Ya bet your fucking arse I was. Something could have happened to ya.”
My heart warmed at the heat in his voice as his fingers flexed on me.
“You can’t just fly out to a crime scene in the middle of the day.” My voice was still a husky rasp. “We’re still hiding us, remember?”
“Yeah, I know.” He growled deep in his chest. “That doesn’t mean I have to fucking like it.”
“Ran…” I ran my fingers over his chest. “They’ll exile me, if not kill me.”
“I know.” He held my hand to his sweaty skin. “And the gargoyles…well.”
I didn’t want to think about what could happen to Ranulf. Every time I did, it became hard to breathe.
“You know, demons can’t go out during the day…” I looked up at him. “So, I could—”
“No.” His hard face told me he wasn’t going to change his mind.
I sighed. “We have to get back to the church.”
“I might not be able to sneak into your room tonight,” he warned, his face softening.
I smiled. “That’s okay, I’ll sneak into yours.”
He chuckled as I climbed off of him, got to my feet, and picked up my ruined clothes. “Could you pick up a bit while I pack?”
“Aye, goddess.” He rolled over, giving me a wonderful view of his muscular ass before he pushed himself up and got to his feet.
I went to the bathroom to clean up, then packed a duffel bag full of clothes for me and a few for Evie. When she woke up, she’d need something to wear. I looked over the railing to my living room and smiled. Frames were broken, a lamp smashed, the sofa tilting to the side, and the coffee table destroyed. Ranulf was sweeping up the glass while the rest of the room lay in ruin. If he was that mad just for leaving…what else could I do to piss him off? Heat curled through me at the thought.
When we were ready, I opened the front door to leave and froze. David was standing in the hallway with his hand raised to knock.
“Good, you’re home.” His eyes darted over me to Ranulf. “What is he doing here?”
I bit back a growl. “What do you want, David?”
His eyes came back to mine. “I wanted to continue our discussion from last night.”
No. No. Oh shit. “Now’s not a good time. Someone broke in and trashed my place. So, I’m leaving for a few days.” I shook the strap of the bag to draw his attention.
“This won’t take long—”
“Now, is not a good time, David,” I bit out through my clenched teeth. If Ranulf knew that David was trying to marry me off to another pack, he’d kill him in a heartbeat.
“I’ve negotiated your terms,” David stated. “Their alpha has agreed that marriage isn’t required for you to be Thunder Bay’s alpha female. However, he doesn’t want to take it off the table.”
My heart stopped as Ranulf grew still near me. Oh fuck. “I’m not talking about this now!”
“Yes, we will!” David ordered before looking up at Ranulf. “Get lost, gargoyle. This doesn’t concern you.”
I went still, certain that Ranulf was going to announce himself as my mate. My heart pounded in my ears. Don’t…please…
Instead, Ranulf met David’s gaze and slowly lumbered out of the apartment and down the stairs. When he disappeared, I turned on David. “I never said I would take the position.”
David’s eyes narrowed on mine. “Why wouldn’t you?”
I stepped closer and got into his face. “Just because you’ve got a new mate and a new life without me doesn’t mean I am going to disappear. This is my home too, and I love it here.”
“You need to move on.” His face was cold as I looked up at him. “You haven’t even given anyone a chance since…”
“Since you dumped me the day before our wedding—by text,” I finished for him. “Five years, David, and you didn’t even have the balls to tell me to my face.”
“That’s not what this is about!” he snapped. “This would be good for our pack and you.”
“You don’t get to decide these things for me,” I growled. “This is my life.”
His eyes narrowed as they ran over me. “Why wouldn’t you go?”
“My bar is here—”
“No.” He shook his head. “You know you can start another bar in Thunder Bay. You’d even have pack funding to get it started.” He eyed me again. “There’s something else…”
My wolf bared our teeth. “Whatever reason I have, it’s mine.”
I shoved past David and started down the hall.
“Astrid.” The wolf in his voice stopped me dead. “You will consider this.”
I turned around and shot him a look. “Or what?”
He took a deep breath, straightened his shoulders, and turned to me. “Or you’ll be exiled.”
My heart dropped. He wouldn’t…
“I’m not ordering you to say yes.” He stepped closer, trying to tower over me. “But at the end of this year, you won’t be a part of this pack one way or another.”
My wolf growled deep in our chest, her energy running just below our skin. “You can’t do that.”
“I can.” He moved even closer. “If you say no, you will be putting yourself before the pack, and that is a large enough offense.”
“That’s not what it means, and you know it.”
“You will leave this pack,” he stated. “How is up to you. Rogue or alpha.”
“I’ll call for a public trial,” I countered. “And you’ll have to explain to the pack what offense I’ve committed.” And it wouldn’t go well for him. Free will existed within the pack. We controlled our own lives and made damn sure we kept it that way.
“I don’t want it to go that far, Astrid,” he stated. “But I will get this alliance.” He walked past me and was on the stairwell when he paused. “Did you change your perfume?”
My heart sank as a cold shiver ran down my spine. He smirked over his shoulder at me before heading down the stairs. I leaned against the wall, cursing myself. Of course; he could smell Ranulf on me. It was so stupid to think he wouldn’t notice. I banged my head back against the wall and sighed. Rogue or alpha. I was going to lose my bar and my pack no matter what. And Ranulf… He was going to be furious.
It wasn’t long before footsteps came back up the stairs. I pushed away from the wall and walked back into my apartment. I really needed a drink for this. He walked in while I was in the middle of pouring a tumbler of scotch.
“Start talking.”
I emptied the tumbler in one go before refilling it and turning to him. “The alpha from Thunder Bay is looking for an alpha female to set the foundation for his pack.”
“Aye, I got that.” He stalked towards me. “Now, what aboot the part that it’s ya!”
“I only heard about the offer last night.” I looked up at him. “I was never going to say yes.”
“Why didn’t ya fucking tell me?”
My wolf paced inside me as she came closer to the surface. “Because it wasn’t that serious.”
“Not that serious?” he bellowed. “It was a bloody fucking marriage proposal!”
“And I said no.” I took a drink. “That should have been the end of it. But now he’s threatening to exile me.”
Ranulf was in front of m
e in a heartbeat, furious. “What was that, lass?”
I lifted my head. “He said, whether I take the position or not, I won’t be part of this pack anymore.”
His eyes narrowed on mine. “Can he do that?”
I took a deep drink. “He can if he loads my trial with his strongest supporters.”
“How important is the pack to ya?” he asked.
I shot him a look as my wolf growled in my chest. “How important are the other gargoyles to you?”
“They’re my family,” he admitted.
“Well, then you have a clue how important my pack is to me!” I slammed the tumbler onto the table.
He shook his head. “I’m gonna to kill him.” He turned and headed for the door.
I ran around him and blocked the door. “No, you won’t!”
His hands went to my arms. “Move, goddess. I’ll make it look like an accident.”
I grabbed onto his arms as he forced me to move out of the way. “If you do that, you might as well exile me yourself!”
He froze and met my gaze.
“If you go after him, he’ll know something is going on. He’ll figure it out. And I’ll be tried for treason.” He couldn’t; not if I was going to keep my pack.
“You have nae control over who yer mate is!” He clenched his hands into fists.
“I know!” I yelled back. “And that will save me from punishment. But that won’t keep me in the pack!”
“What the hell do you get from the pack?” His eyes blazed with blue fire. “Every day, one of ’em have pissed ya off and you’ve talked about leaving!”
“The run! That’s what I get. I can shift and run with someone since I sure as hell can’t run with you!” The words were out of my mouth before I even knew it.
Silence fell like a cloak. Heavy and full of unspoken things. He dropped his hands from me. “And ya can’t fly beside me.” Pain filled his eyes. “I thought it dinnae matter.”
“A werewolf has to run,” I whispered as pain racked my chest.
He scowled. “You’re considering it.”
“I could do it without marrying him,” I pointed out. “Be an alpha and keep our secret.”
His jaw clenched and unclenched. “We need to be heading back.” He picked up my duffel and headed out the door. I locked my loft door and followed, heartsick.
I cursed under my breath as I walked into my bar. Ranulf was on the roof; he refused to let me go to work alone. Which wasn’t really surprising. But at least he agreed that he could leave me with the pack if he had to. That had been a fun argument.
The bar was packed. Usually, it made me happy, but after today, it just made my heart ache. I moved through the crowd and behind the bar with a fake smile.
“Hey, Astrid.” Advar sat down at the bar. “How’s your night?”
I got his usual and set it down in front of him. “Fine. How about yours?”
Advar frowned at me. “What’s wrong?”
I shrugged and turned away to pour myself a tumbler of scotch.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Advar demanded as I turned back around.
“Nothing, just a long day.” I took a drink and gave him a fake smile.
“Did that guy dump you or something?” He took a drink. “Give me a name and he’ll be limping.”
I smiled a real smile. “We had a fight.”
“About what?”
Normally, I’d talk to Evie about this, but…I took a deep drink before asking, “Could you ever give up running with the pack?”
Advar’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. “What?”
My heart dropped. “Nothing, never mind.” I started to walk away.
He grabbed my arm. “Are you thinking about…?”
“I don’t know what I’m thinking about,” I admitted before taking another drink and pulling away to refill my glass.
“Whatever you are or aren’t thinking about,” Advar said, “you can’t pretend to be something you’re not.”
I sighed as I finished refilling my glass. “That’s not the problem.”
“You didn’t tell him…”
I turned back to him. His mouth was gaping, his eyes wide. Then it hit me what he was thinking. “Advar, you’re so far out in left field it’s not even funny anymore.”
“Good, you don’t need word to get to any hunters.” His shoulders relaxed. “Now, what’s going on?”
I shrugged with a fake smile. “Just one of those days today.”
“Excuse me!” a deep voice called from the bar.
I looked down the bar and found the cutie from yesterday trying to get my attention. “What do you want to drink?”
“Nothing.” He grinned. “I actually was hoping to speak to you.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not looking, hot stuff. But check out our brunette server, she’s single.”
A wave of heat rolled off him as he called his wolf to the surface. Like wind off the desert sand it hit every wolf around him. They were backing away when the energy rolled over me, hot, dry, abrasive. There was nothing there that I or my wolf liked. Without thinking, my wolf came to the surface and smacked him with our own energy. His head snapped around as if he’d been hit, which my wolf had basically done. His light eyes met mine as a growl trickled out from between my lips. He was an alpha, no doubt about it. And I could guess who he was. “I don’t care if you’re Thunder Bay’s alpha. Keep your wolf reined in.”
He bowed from the neck, acknowledging he was wrong. “Sorry, it was a reflex.”
I scoffed as the crowd went back to their usual noisiness.
The alpha held my gaze as he walked down the bar to me. “You have a strong bond with your wolf. It’s impressive.”
“Thanks.” I made a point to stay polite. “What will you have to drink?”
“A beer would be great.” He sat down beside Advar.
I got his beer and set it down in front of him. “Now, what do you want?”
“I wanted to introduce myself to the female that might become my alpha partner,” he said. “I’m Liam.”
Advar’s eyebrows disappeared for the second time that night. He sent me a “we’re going to talk later” look.
“Astrid,” I muttered.
“I know.” He grinned. “David has spoken highly of you for the last few weeks.”
“Weeks?” I asked, my nails digging into the bar as my wolf prowled just under our skin.
“Yes.” His eyes narrowed. “He did talk to you about it beforehand, yes?”
“No,” I growled. “I only learned about everything last night.”
His eyes filled with understanding. “Then the sudden addendum makes sense now.”
“Look,” I sighed. “I’m not giving you an answer right now. There’s a lot to consider.” I gestured around the bar. “My business is here, my friends, my home.”
He nodded. “I understand that. And I’m not looking for an answer. I was only hoping to get to know you before the run tomorrow night.”
I started tapping my nail against the bar as my gut knotted. It wouldn’t hurt to learn about him, right? Figure out what I’d be getting into if…
Before I could decide, the phone for the bar rang.
“Moonlight Bar.” I stepped back from the bar and leaned against the counter behind me.
“Where is Evelyn?” A sickly-sweet voice with a fake southern accent shot through my ear.
“Lemora. Vamp Queen of the city. Nice to hear from you. She’s unconscious at the moment.” I was starting to feel like I was stuck on repeat. “What do you need, your Majesty?”
She huffed, “Well, one of my vampires is dead in a warehouse and from the looks of things, it was done by the witches.”
I straightened. “You don’t know that, Lemora. You’ll need to wait for Evelyn.”
“And when will she be waking up?” she asked in a clipped voice. “Evidence is degrading as we speak.”
I sighed. “I don’t know, but I can come out there
and process the scene while we wait for Evelyn to wake up.”
She snorted in my ear. “As if I’d trust a wolf to collect evidence.”
Calm, Astrid…calm. “My degree is in forensic science, Lemora.”
“It’s not your qualifications that worry me, Astrid,” she countered. “It’s your loyalty to your species.”
I rolled my eyes. “You just said that you thought it was the witches.”
“I need Evelyn.”
“I can give you the number of one of the other gargoyles; they could fill in for Evelyn.” I gave it a shot. “It’s that or you wait until she wakes up. You know that.”
Lemora muttered in French. “All right, I’ll take the substitute.”
I gave her the number to the church before I hung up. When I turned around, Liam was watching me carefully. “What?”
He smirked. “Why is the Vampire Queen of Chicago calling you?”
“I’m the backup in case Evelyn can’t be contacted.” I poured myself another tumbler of scotch.
“That’s quite a system,” Liam said as I turned back to him. “I’d love for Thunder Bay to have a system like this. It’d keep misunderstandings to a minimum.”
“It’s worked well enough for us.” I tapped my fingers on the bar, took a deep breath, and finally asked, “So, what’s Thunder Bay, Ontario, like?”
His smile was warm as he answered, “It’s beautiful. But like all large cities, it has its problems.”
“What about the area?”
His smile grew. “Most of us actually live out near Sleeping Giant Park. It gives us easy access to the woods and it keeps us close to each other.”
“So, your pack is close-knit?” I asked before I took a sip.
“A pack is supposed to be family,” he reminded me. “And we take that to heart. We take care of each other, support each other. The way a pack should.”
It sounded nice. For the last year it seemed like this pack had forgotten that. I eyed him. Was I really considering this?
Run (Books Of Stone Book 2) Page 7
