Page 19 of Beyond the Grasslands

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

“Who would be Alpha of this pack if you weren’t?”

“My cousin, Vik.” Her brows raised momentarily, but my heart ticked up a few beats per minute. “Viktor,” I said again as puzzle pieces started to click into place. “He has been behaving strangely and spending a lot of time away from the pack. He refused to come to Mirage Island to look for his mate.” I glanced out the window and then met Nika’s gaze. “I believe he might be Janella’s mate, but something is keeping him from claiming her.”

Nika nodded and her eyes cast downward. “She hasn’t said it, but I believe you might be right. I also think there is another woman involved in the scenario somewhere.” My mate held her hand up over her chest as if her heart hurt and she tried to soothe the ache. “I can’t imagine what it will do to her if she faces another rejection in this life. She has already missed out on her family, having a life, and growing up in a pack.” Nika looked up at me with pleading eyes, as if there was some magical way I could make things different. “Janella is still learning the basics about life because she never had the chance to have even the silliest experiences.”

“We’ll get to the bottom of that situation too, Nika. I promise you, even if Viktor is part of the problem, we will find Janella a second chance mate who will treat her as though she were a moon-blessed.”

For the first time, since before she was taken, my mate offered me a genuine smile. “I know we have a lot to sift through, but thank you for making Janella a priority amongst it all. She deserves to have someone firmly in her corner.”

“I agree, especially since she is your strongest supporter.” I would have said second strongest, but the bond between Nika and me was too fragile to give it top billing. That was a spot Janella earned and held proudly whereas my actions left a bit to be desired.

It killed me that Nika wouldn’t be completely mine in the next two weeks, as I’d hoped. There was no way I would refuse my mate the few months she needed to be comfortable with my pack and with the idea of having me as a mate for life. She earned it.

Chapter 9

Business as Usual

NIKA

I didn’t expectThorin to agree to wait.

In all honesty, I didn’t expect to continue with what I thought he would think of as a farce to bide my time until a plan to escape could be put together. Not that I planned to escape, but if I were in his shoes, that would be my first thought if he asked me to wait for months. Thorin surprised me, though. He showed up the day after our first post-kidnapping conversation and what he did then made me question everything.

“Can you say that again?” I asked as I stared into Thorin’s dark eyes that seemed to twinkle with amusement.

“I asked if you would join me on a date this evening.”

I glanced around as if someone might pop out and laugh about the joke being on me. “I’m sorry,” I muttered quietly. “I thought we were headed to work in your office?”

“We are, but that’s work. I don’t want us to build a working relationship only. That is not the kind of mating bond I hoped for. If it is all you can give me after everything, then I will learn to live with it. I thought-” Before he could tick off a list of reasons for going on a date, I cut him off.

“I would like to go on a date with you this evening, Thorin. Maybe we can discuss the details during our lunch break.” Hegrinned and moved to my side, so that we could walk together to his office. We didn’t have far to go as it was within the pack house too. Luckily, he made sure his office was on the opposite side of the pack house from his suite of rooms - where I stayed. Thorin had explained to me before that he set it up that way after his father passed because he wanted people to understand he needed private downtime the same way they all did.

It made my heart warm a little more toward him to know that he was somewhat nervous about having a date, or if I would agree to one.

“Your wolf didn’t come to me last night.” The words were little more than a whisper, but I knew he heard me.

“I was called to the border of our lands to check on some things last night. Our scheduled patrol didn’t show up.”

“Is everyone accounted for and okay?”

Thorin nodded. “They are. The patrol was meant to be Viktor’s. I’ve already summoned him this morning. I hope he has a damn good reason for missing his scheduled shift, but I’m honestly tempted to throw him into one of our cells because something isn’t right with him and hasn’t been in many months.”

“Have you spoken to him about Janella?”

“No, I’ll do that later, if he shows up. If he doesn’t, then I will have him hunted and brought in against his will. In that case, he will be questioned in the cells below.”

An involuntary shutter zipped through me. Thorin winced as he noticed, but there was nothing I could do about that. Mention of prison cells was still a little too fresh in my mind for comfort. “I’m sorry. That must be a hard decision to make for any pack mate, but especially your cousin.”

Thorin nodded. “As hard as this is to ask of you, especially after seeing your reaction to the mere mention of the cells, I want you there for all of it. It’s time for you to know the wholepack. That means good, bad, and everything in between. When I introduced you before, it was with rose colored blinders on.”

“I knew what I was getting into.”

“I didn’t.” Thorin’s admission threw me for a loop. “I never would have thought my pack was capable of trying to run off my moon-blessed mate, let alone conspiring to harm her. Everyone knows what happens to an Alpha without a mate. I don’t understand how they could think that would be a better fate for all of us.”

“If it helps, there was only a small group, centralized around Miriam and her family, who treated me poorly. Everyone else in the pack treated me well.”

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