Page 14 of True Wolf

He paused and for a flicker of a second, I thought I saw a glimpse of the man I had grown to admire over the past three months, the Alpha who protected his pack fiercely, who cared for his family. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by the raw edge of suspicion. “You’re hiding something and I don’t know you well enough to trust your word. I’m not Jo, she has a soft spot for wolves like you. I don’t.”

I closed my eyes, feeling the weight of the world pressing down on me. “I’m not hiding anything, Alpha, nor am I a threat. But if you keep me here you’ll be a threat to your brother. Just let me go, look at me. What could I possibly do to either of you or anyone in this pack?”

His eyes narrowed, the tension between us was thick and suffocating. “You’re staying.”

I shivered as he turned away, just before he left the room, the lights were flicked off and the shadows swallowed him whole, leaving me alone in the darkness.

I should have left months ago and now it’s too late…

CHAPTER SEVEN

ZION

Iwas anxious, couldn’t focus. Something in me felt unbalanced. She was part of the reason. The way she kept stealing glances at me. Mina wasn’t interested or intrigued, she was nervous and it had nothing to do with my ambush earlier. It took me a minute to remember who she was. She had only been with our pack for a little over a year and never once had been a problem until now. She was hiding something.

“This is good.” I frowned at the sound of my brother’s voice when he approached and his smile expanded seconds before he pulled me into a tight hug.

“Good for you or me?” I responded, assuming he was referencing that I was finally home.

“Both of us…” He turned to find the woman I had been watching then back to me. “You’re interested in someone else which means you’re no longer on this mission to complicate my life.”

I snorted and glanced around the rooftop which was already filled with pack members.

“I’m not interested in her and sorry to disappoint,Alpha,but as long as there is air in my lungs, I will continue to complicate your life.”

He grunted then smiled. “You’re not sorry but youareinterested. You’ve been watching her for the past ten minutes. Go talk to her. She might agree to be your welcome home present.”

Annoyed by his persistence, I turned toward the perimeter of the rooftop and lowered my forearms to the glass railing that encased the area. “I said I’m not interested, leave it alone.”

My gaze traveled over the city below us. Lazar got the picture and moved on. “I’m glad you’re home.”

“Are you?” I delivered a speculative stare and he exhaled a sigh.

“Yeah, Zi, I am. I never wanted you chasing that bullshit in the first place but there wasn’t much I could do to stop you…”

I glared and he added, “And before you get all defensive and shit, the only reason I wasn’t onboard with you leaving is because I knew. Nothing about the two of you felt right.”

“She felt right to me…” I defended.

“Until it didn’t and I don’t know why this is but we’ll figure it out, these things…”

“Are bullshit. Let it go, I don’t need to figure out a damn thing and I don’t want to keep talking about it. I’m home. You got what you wanted.”

With frustrated movements, I pushed my body from the railing and walked away but Lazar caught my arm. His brows shifted in and his jaw tensed. “I wanted you home but I don’t want you unhappy. If she was truly your mate, I would have accepted the bond. We all would have but she wasn’t.”

“Yeah…”

I jerked away from my brother and headed to the bar station on the other side of the rooftop.

“Two shots of Cognac,” I murmured to Alec who was assigned the duty of bartender. No doubt because Jo demanded his time. Alec’s pack duty was Beta, however, he owned a mobilebartending service which kept him so busy that he hired a few pack members to help keep up with the demand.

“He was worried. We all were.” Alec pushed two shots across the bar and also placed the bottle beside them.

“Why the fuck is everyone worried? I’m capable of handling my own.” The first shot flowed down my throat with a slight twinge which I smoothed over by quickly following it with the second.

“You’re very capable,Alpha.” When my narrowed stare met his smug expression, I grunted. My brothers and I were all Alphas. However, running the pack was Lazar’s duty. Xander was the oldest and had no interest in being pack leader because his focus was on being the head of our family in our father’s absence and I wasn’t old enough when our father passed.

The pack would occasionally give Xander and I shit about our rightful claim as Alphas but neither myself nor Xander gave a damn about their occasional taunts. We were well aware of our capabilities and rights. “But, no wolf is safe alone in unwelcome territories. That was your brother’s biggest issue. The same concern you had when Xan got a wild hair up his ass and disappeared.”

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