My shoulders fell. I wasn’t sure how to approach the topic. This promise had been made on Maddox’s behalf. He wasn’t going to be happy with me. I could already tell. This meant that he was safe from the Lakesedge Pack, though.
I hoped he understood.
“I told Ryder that you would pledge to the Pack tomorrow.” Once it was out, I turned and sprinted out of the room.
Maddox called out after me, but I didn’t stop until I was upstairs. I threw myself into bed and tugged the blankets over my head like a child afraid of the monster in the dark. Only, the monster here was Maddox’s disappointment.
I heard the creak of the bedroom door opening. At first, I thought it was Maddox. Then a small weight landed on the bed near my pillow. Potato patted at the blanket over my head. I yelped when Maddox’s weight hit the bed near my feet.
He grabbed the blankets and yanked. I screeched at the rush of cold air. Maddox stood at the end of the bed with a sharp glare directed at me. I gave him an uneasy smile in return. He sighed.
“What do you meanpledge?” he asked.
I was oddly aware of how this position had me laid out before him like a virgin ready to be ravaged. I was also aware of how my mind had made that comparison without anything to spur it.
“Adeline,” Maddox said, drawing out my name.
He climbed onto the end of the bed and crawled towards me. That dark glare still filled his eyes, and it made my heart hammer wildly. I couldn’t tear my eyes off him while he prowled my way.
Only once he was completely above me, pinning me to the bed, did he stop. His head hung over mine. The smell of barbeque and pizza couldn’t cover his masculine scent. My head spun with him this close to me.
This was the same man that threw himself through portals in the afterlife to rescue me. He’d sacrificed his human life to keep me safe. Even now, as a shifter, he did everything in his power to protect me, including put himself between me and an angry goddess.
“What doespledgemean?” His growl rumbled through my core.
I grimaced. “You have to become a member of Ryder’s Pack.”
Maddox threw himself off me. He stalked across the room, his hand in his hair.
I bolted upright. “It was the only thing that kept him from hunting you down today! I’m trying to keep you safe. If you would work with your wolf, then I wouldn’t need to make promises without your permission!”
I expected him to fight me. Instead, his shoulders slumped in defeat. My breath escaped me at the sight of his resignation.
“You promise me that Bastien really was dead when he fell?”
Maddox’s question took me by surprise. My mind reeled for a moment before I was able to respond.
“Yes.” I bit my lower lip.
And I was going to follow suit, soon. I really hoped that fate didn’t put me with Hel, because I would lose my marbles if I had to deal with her every day for the rest of my afterlife.
“Fine. I’ll join the Pack.” Maddox turned to face me again.
Several heartbeats passed in silence. Maddox studied me, making every inch of my skin tingle as if he were running his hands over my body. I damn near moaned in joy.
How long had it been since I’d been touched? Intimacy wasn’t easy when your boyfriend’s grandma was lurking in the kitchen, or when my arcana wanted to reanimate his dead dog on the living room mantle.
Maddox closed the distance between us. He leaned in close and gently cupped my cheek.
“Then you have a promise you have to make me, too.” His dark eyes swirled with the happy light of his beast, so at odds with the ominous words.
I nodded, nervous.
His brows flattened. His touch turned cold. “Stop making decisions for me.”
He released me before I could even speak. I expected him to turn and stalk out of the room, but he claimed the other side of the bed like he couldn’t bear to leave my side even if he was annoyed with me.
They said to never go to bed angry with your lover, but I wasn’t sure what to call this relationship. The sexual tension seemed to be off the charts. Sometimes, though, I thought I was the only one who could feel it.