Page 42 of Malcolm

Malcolm couldn’t hate that she was getting close to the women of his Pack. He didn’t care what she did as long as she was happy. “I’ll need your help at the place the teens were taken from. I want to know if you can pinpoint where they were transported to.”

“Sure,” she added, her expression serious. “I can’t be a hundred percent right with my casting, but I can at least try.”

“I’ll change back into normal clothes, and then we can go.”

“Okay.” She smiled. “But are you sure you want to change? I was kind of digging the whole John Snow look.”

Smirking, he leaned down, letting his lips settle near her ear. “I know, you don’t mean to, but if you don’t stop looking at me that way, I will pick you up and run with you back to the cabin. And prove I am better than this John whoever you're talking about.” When he drew back, her cheeks were flushed, and her gaze was averted.

His cocky smirk widened into a full-on grin.

Eliza, flustered, quickly retreated.

He watched her go,his eyes zeroing in on the sway of her hips.

“When will you claim her? Before or after you win the title of Alpha?”

Roberts words pulled his attention away from Eliza to him, releasing a sigh Malcolm answered, “I can’t say, she’s much more complicated than she looks.”

“What? Don’t most witches know about mating?” Robert asked.

“No, it's not her being a witch that’s the problem; it's her past,” he said, losing his humor. He lay awake at night, imagining the face of the enemy who’d taken Eliza, and harmed her till she was afraid to sleep without the lights on. “I have not shown her my true face for this reason.”

“Your true face?” his uncle repeated blankly.

Malcolm turned around, facing Robert. “I am being the man she wants—no,needsnow. Her mental state is fragile, and I know this well. I will remain her friend till she sees me as a man. Till then, I won’t show her the face of the man who’s done everything he could to survive this long.”

Roberts eyes dug into him, before he gave a short nod. “I understand.”

His point made, Malcolm decided to leave, no longer interested in the mines. Malcolm’s first instinct with much of his life had been to dominate and destroy everything that was an obstacle in his way. He’d learned this way of living from the best. He to admit it, but Madame La had taught him the importance of words and having more than one face.

So far, nothing had pushed the beast that stirred under his skin up. Learning the truth about his mother and father's relationship had stirred some of his anger, but not too much.

The bone-deep hunger in him for violence had been held down since he’d found Eliza. Even now he could feel it stir up when she wasn’t in the vicinity, her comforting scent kept his irritation at bay. And after just seeing her, he was itching to find her again.

The darkness inside of him still hovered in the air; he knew he would have to expose it to her at some point, but he wanted to hold back as long as possible.

Monsters had broken his mate, and he feared more than anything she’d run at the mere hint of his own.

He paused at the door to his cabin, lifted his hand, and watched as his claws slowly extended, the yellowish claws curved. Evaluating his hand, after a minute he let the claws retract and walked into the cabin. Pulling the cloak off and tossing it on the bed, he’d become the laird, but he feared most the feeling of rightness that invaded the longer he stayed.

The mention of the challenge had made his blood rush. He was eager to prove his strength. Did he, or didn’t he, wish to take the role of Alpha?

He didn’t.

He didn’t deserve it.

After so many years of playing the role of cruel enforcer, he only understood violence and death. His prowess at dispatching the enemy had made him a Jackal. He only hid it better than the others.

Rober had stood aside as he was banished to protect him. But if he learned about Malcolm's true nature, would he not banish him to protect his people?

Sighing, Malcolm met his dark gaze in the mirror and watched the skin of his chin move and shift.

Lifting a hand, he placed a hand against his cheek. “You’ll do your duty, and that’s all,” he said aloud to himself before turning away from himself and entering the bathroom.

Unforgiven

Eliza

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