“Right, we’re leaving now,” the larger, more imposing man grunted from the driver seat as he threw the vehicle into drive and pulled away from the curb before Erik had pulled the door closed.
“Dmitri, she hasn’t snapped out of it yet,” the darker man beside me growled.
“All the more reason to get her the hell out of here!” the driver snarled back, increasing his speed.
There was an almost oppressive silence in the car as we zoomed through the city streets. I couldn’t see much in the dark, but Erik looked relieved, the man on the other side of me looked
I was glad to see Sophie behaving more like herself. But I still took my time to work across the room towards her mate, my cousin. Sophie on the other hand backed away slowly; eyes wide like a scared rabbit. “Sophie,” I studied her face, “You don’t have to stay over there. I’m not going to hurt her and I know that you wouldn’t hurt me either.” Her voice was almost too quiet to understand, “What if she doesn’t want me?” “What are you talking about,” I frowned. Even Candice hadn’t been able to resist when her mate bond with Nathan
As our bond strengthened, it was getting easier to just know where Dmitri was in proximity to me, but the stinging pain still caught me off guard as his hand landed a sound smack on my ass. “What was that for,” I frowned up at him, rubbing the sore flesh as he spun me around to face him. He had a predatory grin plastered on his face, “You tricked Nathan into directly disobeying me, and since you won’t let me punish him for anything, you’ll have to settle his debts.” A warning tingle shivered down my spine as he eyed the assets on display as I stood there in just my underwear. I had to swallow hard before I could form words, “Would you have rather I let him fol
Blake was waiting with Nathan when we finally found the resolve to climb out of bed and get on with our regularly scheduled day. I only found it mildly difficult to walk, but I healed so fast now that the discomfort was almost gone. But it didn’t keep me from arching a quizzical eye at the pair waiting for us. “Nathan said that Sophie was held up on an errand for you, so I thought I could fill in as your shadow this morning,” he flashed me a bright cheeky grin that made his dimples pop. “Shouldn’t you accompany Kelly to breakfast?” His grin didn’t falter, “S
It didn’t feel quite right, walking out to the construction site without Sophie. But I couldn’t let on that anything was amiss. Otherwise, I’d have to explain my cousin’s presence here. At least I still had Blake’s familiar presence. “Do you really walk all the way out here every day,” Jeanette had been surprised that I chose to walk instead of having someone drive me out there and that I only took Blake with me. I shrugged and gave her another polite smile, “Most days, yes. I prefer to walk most places when I can and time allows for it. It feels less disruptive to the pack as a whole, rather than zipping in with a massive caravan to carry a full guard.
Jeanette’s company wasn’t as unpleasant as I thought it would’ve been. Yes, she seemed a little anxious to be around so many people with only her Delta to guard her. And yes, she stood mostly apart from everyone and looking a little out of place. But she stood her ground when someone approached her, and she had a polite word for everyone that talked to her. Walking back to the main house, she was especially quiet. But she was also uncharacteristically fidgety, fussing with her clothes and hair way more than was necessary. It wasn’t as though the wind was blowing her carefully coifed hair out of place. “Is there something on your mind?” I hoped that it didn’t s
Kelly and Delphi wanted another chance to get a read on Jeanette before offering any suggestions for her wolf. It was important to secure Jeanette’s loyalty, but it was also important that I figure out how to deal with my family, and prepare to be put on display until I could kill Candice. At least I was able to talk Kelly into spending some time outside her apartment before Blake returned from guiding Jeanette to the greenhouse. I could go see what Dmitri and Caleb had accomplished, but that usually ended with me separating the two Alphas. Caleb had to stay where he was so Jeanette could learn to exercise a little independence. She was never going to learn to trust herself if she didn’t believe that someone could be completely loyal to her.&
One of the benefits of training and sparring with Nathan was that he knew just how much training Candice had had before she left the pack. I doubted very much that my uncle had spent the time or resources to bolster her skills before dumping her back in our laps. I had the advantage of increased speed and strength that most shifters gained, despite my lack of a wolf spirit. Not to mention the abilities I’d acquired through the unique circumstances of my birth. I had no doubt that I could beat Candice in a fight. But, it wasn’t enough just to beat her. I had to stomp out any doubt everyone else had. I used Dmitri’s private changing room to take a quick shower and change back into my regular clothes when Nathan, Blake and I called it quits. If it hadn’t been for the fact that I had to train in secret now, I wouldn’t have felt so annoyed by the time constraints. Having more Alphas around would only make it more difficult. Na
We’d had this argument so many times that I didn’t know what else I could say to make her understand. Bringing up Candice hadn’t done me any favors and I knew it the moment the words came out of my mouth. Selene closed her eyes and took a deep breath, smoothing her face into a blank expression while dampening our bond so I couldn’t reel her emotions as easily. “It’s not the same thing, Dmitri,” even her tone had gone deadly calm. “I’ve never fucked Nathan or reciprocated his feelings in any way. I’ve never used him to fill in for you.” How did she know about his feelings? I thought I had specifically ordered him to keep his feelings to himself and forbade him from acting on them. She couldn’t have overridden my orders if she didn’t know about them. Her mask slipped for a moment when she tilted her head to study me. “Maybe it’s me that you don’t really trust,” her voice and face were devoid of any emotion, but her words st