Page 12 of Bullied By the Alpha Wolf

I clenched my jaw, trying to ignore the fact that Kit’s nipples were hard beneath the thin fabric of her t-shirt.

“You can sit.” I gestured to the bed behind her, and my wolf growled happily in my head, wanting her there so fucking badly. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

Kit just stared at me, her arms folded beneath her large breasts. The attitude was not helping me to focus. My dumb wolf just wanted to teach her a lesson, teach her how to…obey.

“Kit, please. You can’t just stand there and glare at me. Just…sit.”

“I am not a wolf, Alpha.” Her hands went to her hips, and Kit cocked her head. “So you can try your bark on me all you want, but it won’t do you any good. If you have something to say, just say it.”

Frustration boiled in my blood. It swelled and swirled together with the innate claim I had wanted over Kit since the moment I’d seen her. I didn’t know what it was then, and I’d pushed myself away from those strong emotions—from her.

With a sigh, I blinked slowly, working my jaw like I was trying to chew glass. “You’ll be staying here, Kit. For a long while, so you may want to be just a tiny bit more cordial with me. You’ve been with the Williams. You have to know what they’ve been doing to my pack.”

Kit rolled her eyes. “I assure you I don’t. Not a lot of packs appreciate a human in their midst. I’d think you would have remembered that.”

The words hit me like a gut punch, and I couldn’t stop myself from actually reeling a little. Kit’s personality was as warm as it ever was, and it was still so damn hard not to like her. She just had something in there that made you feel like you were standing in the sun.

But the harshness, the way she appeared to mistrust everything, was new, and I didn’t like it.

My brow furrowed as I studied her, and as she glared back at me, I could feel my wolf chomping at the bit to break free. He believed with overwhelming certainty that he could make Kit submit to him. I was forced to hold back a partial shift, the edges of my vision going black and white as I stared at her.

“My pack has been suffering a great deal thanks to the drugs the Williamses are making.”

Kit mirrored my expression, her brows knitting together. “Drugs? What are you talking about? Like...pot?”

A bark of laughter struck out from me like lightning. I didn’t mean to, but the question was just so ridiculous, so naïve.

“Hardly. It’s a wolf-specific concoction. It’s…” I remembered the young wolf I’d found in the tall underbrush near the edge of the tree line, frozen and motionless in a half-shifted state. “It’s hurting them.”

A glint touched Kit’s eyes, and I could practically see the cogs working in her head. “I thought wolves had a strong constitution. They can take more.”

“They usually can.” I nodded, but it ended in another long exhale. “This is different. I haven’t seen it in action. Just rumors. Word is that it gives you a jump-start, makes you stronger. But it’s killing people. I’ve found too many dead young wolves just out of their first shift turning to fertilizer.”

Kit’s eyes widened, her mouth falling open slightly. As the silence stretched between us, me letting it so that we could both fucking think for a moment, she took a few steps backward, plopping down on my bed.

Fucking hell, this was so fucking bad.

I wanted to deny my desire to protect Kit from the Williamses, from everything that might go wrong. I wanted to believe that she was just another enemy, a human that knew too much about this world and was better off staying far, far away from it.

But I couldn’t.

It wasn’t exactly straightforward either, though. Trusting Kit could very well be an invitation for betrayal and pain. She was officially a member of the Williams pack now, and we were far from allies. Worse, Kit had been with them for twelve years. It was impossible not to believe that being with a group of assholes for that long wouldn’t have changed her.

Eli had been resistant to every move to unite the packs that Jet made. He was absent at the last meeting with the others, and from all accounts that we had, several delivered by Cade—who was the least likely to exaggerate—Eli was up to some shady business.

He didn’t speak with other packs, sure, but Eli also didn’t parlay, ever, even during times of emergencies, and he was rumored to be demanding and cruel. I could hardly imagine what living with him had done to Kit.

“It’s…killing them? God.” Kit’s brows were still pinched together in concern, and she absently reached up for the ends of her hair, comforting herself by playing with them.

“Yeah. So excuse me if I’m a little surprised that you just randomly showed up on my territory when we were just in the process of gathering information about Eli and his pack.”

“I was running away, Kaiden. I…I wasn’t exactly treated the best there, and I’d finally reached my last straw.”

Her voice was tight, and I could smell the slight astringent burn to her lilac scent. Kit was agitated, but I couldn’t tell what the cause was. Getting information from a wolf’s scent was so much easier. Their emotions played out like a picture book in their smell, but with humans…dammit.

I cocked a brow, taking a step forward and folding my arms over my chest. “Running? Can you elaborate?”

“I’m a human, Kaiden. Is there really more to say? You weren’t exactly kind and welcoming when I was living in Jet’s pack.”

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