What the hell was she doing out?
No. What was she doing out with her ass hanging out of that stupid shirt?
The training fields were close to the infirmary for obvious reasons, but I’d really tried to ignore the fact I’d chosen the field closest to her over and over the last few days. If we weren’t out hunting these damn rogues, we were training. We had to remain strong and ready for anything. Especially tonight.
Another warrior came at me, and I ducked. Why was she on his back?
I needed to be focused. We were opening up our lands to the pack that had direct interactions into the mate trade; I was certain of that. From everything Kiara had said they had to be a direct link, or at least a stepping stone. Even if they weren’t directly the source, and knowing their struggles I assumed that was the case. They’d hounded us for an alliance for years. I knew they were dirty, and yet they’d sunk their teeth into us one way or another.
Another of my men came at me, I ducked and caught him from behind.
“Surrender?” I didn’t wait for a response. I couldn’t stop watching him with her. He was touching her. It was fine. Just innocent.
The idea that she’d been alive this whole time pissed me off. Had they known she was mine? Had anyone fucking cared? And now I was intertwined in the nasty web of lies. No amount of aid had changed these packs' ways, they were still closed minded asshats, and I was supposed to give up the one decision that was mine.
Over my dead fucking body was all my wolf could scream into my head. The moment his hand gripped her ass there was no stopping me.
“What the hell is going on here?” It was all I could get out. My mind was irrational and not able to focus. She was mine, I just had to figure out logistics. Why was Colt making a move? Was he making a move?
I grabbed her up and now I was the one holding her, pulling her close into my body. Big mistake. How was I supposed to resist her?
I leaned into her hair, trying to pretend like this was nothing. But, I needed my fix. From the moment she was in my arms my wolf begged to take her right here and now and mark her.
There was a raging war inside me. No one can have her, but I wouldn’t either. I wanted to scream into the daylight that no one’s hands should have been on her. But fuck. Colton? He knew that she was something to me even if I’d yet come out and scream the truth to him. He knew she was the girl back then, and I would have started a war for her then. Now though I understood what was at stake.
My wolf pressed against my soul trying to force me to let him take over. I quickened my pace.
“Colton was just being nice,” she said.
His name coming from her mouth sparked a frustration in me that was irrational for a man that wasn’t allowing his wolf to just take over and take her. I needed to be smart about all of this. Mental checklist. Interrogate the Cripple Creek pack, then make sure they understand a mating isn’t possible. After that? Well, assuming no wars started I should have the options to do what I wanted.
My father’s voice tried to overpower that of my wolf and that of my own reasoning. He’d beat it into me, duty to the pack will always matter more and mating a female from some small nothing pack with nothing to offer? My wolf practically crawled out of my skin. He didn’t give a damn about politics or guilt. My wolf reminded me, none of this was a problem when we’d first met her.
I sighed. We needed to run it off. Thinking was overrated and with her in my arms?
The closer I got to her the more her scent called to me like a goddamn blanket of serenity and then? I sniffed the air again, listening to the rapid beat of her heart. The air mixed with the perfume of something sweet and it went straight to my cock. She wanted me, or was it him? I wanted to sink my teeth into her and the only thing holding me back was the question, was it for Colton?
Where the hell was her wolf? She needed to solidify this. Her wolf would fight any other attraction, but even weak there was no way her body would react to another, not like that. Not like she would for her fated mate? Right? I was walking around like a giant fucking hard-on and she was wanting another male?
There was no talking sense into me. Instinct and my wolf had tunnel vision only for her and only for our one true purpose. I would fight logic after she wasn’t anywhere near him.
I was nearly running now, anything to get her alone. Frustration was building inside me. Fuck was she talking?
“Devon? Why are you running? I can walk, it would be slow, but if I’m too heavy?”
Too heavy?
“Too heavy? Who do you think you are talking to? I am simply trying to get distance from Colton.”
I pulled her in closer and hated to admit that in order to sate my needs I would need her naked and my cock buried deep inside her.
I let myself enjoy the feel of her body as I held her. She was soft in all the right places. A few days of proper care and she already looked healthier. But dammit I wanted to know what it felt like to touch all her curves and every inch of her perfect body. I wanted to taste her. But this was the best I could do right now.
“I don’t get why? He was being super nice. You’re making this weird, you get that right? It’s you?”
I slowed and clenched my teeth as I looked down at her. The stairs of the pack house changed the cadence of my stomping.
“He went against my orders to leave you be. Let you alone. It is not me. It’s my pack not listening.”