Page 5 of Possessive Mate

His wolf was clawing at his insides, just as desperate as he was to find her. Maybe a shift was exactly what he needed to forget about her. Maybe if he just let off a little steam his damn mind would quit making him think.

With that hope at the forefront of his mind, he headed out of his room and down the hall.

Yet he had barely reached the top of the stairs when the front door below in the foyer creaked open.

The scents that hit him stopped him dead in his tracks—or, rather, one in particular.

The first was Eddie's. He smelled it so often it was as familiar as his own. But the second made his heart rush in a way that almost swept him right off his feet, taking his breath away.

“Jack should be in his office by now,” Eddie said quietly, as if he didn't wish to disturb anyone who might still be sleeping. Not that many did in the manor. With so many military men under one roof, it was an early rising house. In fact, Hanson suspected he was the last one up.

Maybe Eddie was trying not to alert the rest of the pack to his sister’s presence until he had spoken to Jack.

Hanson wasn't sure how he would manage that when she smelled so goddamn good.

She smelled so good, in fact, that he had to clutch hold of the stair rail to stop from going to her immediately.

Closing his eyes, he remembered how she had looked at him on the porch, how she had seemed as if she wanted go attack him for getting in her way.

And though she had looked seriously dangerous, like she could definitely hold her own, all Hanson could imagine was what might happen if she did attack him and he overcame her.

How he would have loved to pin her to the nearest wall or the wooden pillar of the porch and hold her there until she submitted to him. He growled low in his throat just imagining his body pressed hard against her own, and he was sure he could smell arousal all over again.

But when he opened his eyes again, she was nowhere to be seen. He heard both her and Eddie's footsteps headed down the hall below in the direction of Jack's office.

Hanson knew he shouldn't do what his gut and his wolf were telling him to, but he couldn't stop himself.

Stalking down the stairs, he kept a steady distance behind the siblings, careful not to be seen until he was certain he heard them entering Jack's office.

He paused at the corner of the hall and glanced around it in time to see the door closing behind them. One glimpse of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Elena was enough to set his heart racing again, and his feet had a mind of their own as he crept closer.

Why he was doing so, he didn't really know. All he had was a sensation in his gut that told him he had to be sure she was okay.

Jack would never treat anyone unfairly. He had even given Karl and his men the chance to leave rather than take their lives, only doing so when he had been forced into it. And yet, Hanson struggled to stop from bursting in to demand Jack hear her out and let her stay.

Her being here is a threat to the pack, he thought. He didn't know this woman. So what if she was Eddie's sister? Sure, he and his new packmates had been getting on better of late, but still, that didn't mean he could entirely trust a sibling just on his packmate's word. And besides, they were in the middle of a growing war between their pack and another. With things so uncertain right now, bringing a lone she-wolf into the pack was dangerous. I have to put pack first, whatever this is.

The aching in his chest was trying to tell him differently, but he forced the feeling away. His pack was everything to him. It always had been. Even in the days of Karl Ryker, he had secretly done all he could for his packmates' comfort and safety whenever the ex-alpha wasn't looking.

“Elena!” Jack's surprise was clearly cheerful, and Hanson heard the alpha jumping up from his chair. “What are you doing all the way up here?”

The clearing of a throat seemed to come from Eddie before he said, “She has something to ask you, boss.”

“Eddie, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?” Jack growled low in his throat, and Hanson imagined him glowering hard at his packmate. He had seen that look often passed between Jack and one of his original packmates when they called him that.

Often, Hanson found it amusing, but not today. Today all he could think about was Elena and why she was here. Was the beautiful woman in trouble?

“Sorry, but for once, it felt necessary,” Eddie said. “Given why Elena's here.”

Silence fell for several moments, and Hanson could feel the tension in the room even through the door.

Though he had no need to do so, he leaned closer to be sure he wasn't missing anything. Guilt gnawed at his insides. He shouldn't be eavesdropping on his packmates, let alone his alpha. But this felt too important to miss.

“Well then, is someone going to tell me what this is about?” Jack asked, breaking the silence, and the tension only seemed to grow. “Elena, are you alright?”

Hanson heard her deep inhale and imagined the look of the beautiful woman trying to prepare herself. It caused him to quiver all over again.

He should leave now. He shouldn't get any more involved than he already had. It would be best off if he got far, far away from her and kept it that way, but his feet were firmly planted on the rug outside Jack's office.

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