Page 40 of Wolf Tamer

But what the hell is she doing? Where is she going, and why would she feel the need to run in the first place?

She knows better than to try and run away. Especially now. She’s practically a dead woman walking if either of our two sets of enemies finds her before I do.

Julius tries to get my attention as I bolt out the back door, but I wave him off, fury driving each step. A quick pause to scent the air shows me exactly where she’s gone—and she’s wearing the clothes I shucked off earlier.

Sneaky woman.

Heading in that direction, I keep my head low and my strides long. My wolf fights me for supremacy like he’ll somehow be able to get to her faster than I will.

Tasha isn’tprey. She’s our mate, and I won’t lope after her on all fours.

Not yet, anyway.

Grinding my teeth, I catch up to her at the forest line, her hands deep in the pockets of the pair of sweatpants she snagged from me. She’s not even running. She’s walking at a pretty sedate pace, and I pull up short beside her.

Grabbing her by the elbow, I whip her around, headless of my strength.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I grind out.

She sniffs and tugs out of my hold to keep walking. Once again, she’s doing her best to look everywhere but at me, and I’ve got to wonder if I’m that hard to be around or if she’s being unreasonable.

“I wanted to clear my head,” she says.

“So you scaled the back of the house like a spider? Shit, Tasha!” I rake my hand through my hair with too much force and scratch the top of my head with barely human nails. “Use the damn door next time. If you’d told me you wanted a walk, I wouldn’t have stopped you.”

“I didn’t want you to see me like that,” she says, tossing her pink hair over her shoulder. “Okay?”

There I go, staring at her with my eyes bulging out of my skull in surprise. “Likewhat?”

“About to lose my shit. I’m sorry, Reid, but all this talk is really getting to me, and I needed to do something with myself. I’m plenty safe as long as I stay within the lines of the territory. It’s magically protected, after all.”

Her words are dry enough for me to choke on.

“You don’t know where the territory lines end,” I try to tell her.

Tasha shrugs, completely unbothered by her little stint as Spiderman. “I’ll be able to figure it out, Reid. I’ve been an assassin for more years than you’ve been alpha. I’m not helpless. I can sense magic.”

“I know you’re not helpless.”

Although she looks pissed at me for agreeing with her, she doesn’t stop me from walking with her. We fall into step together in an easy, if tense, silence as we wind deeper into the woods. Towering oaks and pines give shade in the summertime. Now, those trunks sway slightly with limbs clicking together and filling my ears with a sweet melody.

Better than me tuning into the frantic pace of Tasha’s heartbeat. She might look composed and distant on the outside, but inside—

I see what she means about skirting the edge of losing it. I’m closer than I thought as well.

“Did you hear anything I said to you before?” I ask, a little salty.

“No,” she replies. “I was out the window before you knew I was gone.”

“Clearly, but I was still talking to you.”

“Your wards are strong. And I’m sure you weren’t saying anything we haven’t both thought of before, Reid.” Her shoulders hunch forward. “We’re both trapped here in this creepy-ass house with your people around us and a magical border you think you can protect, but I’m not sure. Your people betrayed you, right under your nose, and someone leaked what happened to the witches. We’re both in the middle of a war we never asked for, and I’m honestly exhausted with all of it.”

Yeah, she pretty much nailed the gist of the conversation. I try not to let it rattle me and simply enjoy being with a version of Tasha who isn’t trying to kill me.

“I just want to find my sister and get the fuck out of here,” Tasha finishes. “That is my main goal.”

“I told you that I’d help you find her, didn’t I?” I retort.

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