Page 19 of Pack Captive

It pained me to do it, but it was better than having her disappear. She mightappearto do what was best for her pack, but I wasn't willing to risk our chances of getting her home.

Even if it meant tying her up and carrying her myself, slung over my shoulders the entire way.

I couldn't stop myself from rubbing her arms and fingers, trying to erase the red marks and get the blood flowing back into her hands. Her lips parted slightly, and she watched my hands as they dwarfed hers.

Her hands weren’t soft and pampered. Old scars covered her knuckles in thin white streaks.

I traced a particularly long one that wound towards her wrist, wondering what had made it.

Then she seemed to come back to herself and pulled them out of my grip. “I can do it myself.”

I had a feeling she was going to be telling me that she could do a lot of things by herself in the near future. Anything to avoid feeling like she'd accepted something from me.

That was fine. I'd waited over thirty years to find my mate, and now that I had her in my grasp, I had the patience to bring her over to my way of seeing things.

To help her understand the sacrifices that an Alpha had to make to ensure his pack’s future, and how badly I needed a strong female to be the one at my side.

A Caller like Tyra, who’d been convinced she was the Moon’s gift to wolfkind, would’ve been a disastrous mate. I needed someone like Ayla.

Someone who would do whatever was necessary for her pack’s survival.

So I let her pull away from me.

“Get washed up, but remember what I said.” I jerked my chin towards the basin. “You won't be escaping this tent, or this pack. I’ll have a Guardian bring some ointment for your wounds.”

She took the hesitant step towards it, then gave me a sidelong look. I realized she was waiting for me to get out.

“Unless you’d like me to tend to them myself,” I offered, unable to keep the growl out of my voice. I’d tried hard not to think of her naked, to keep my raging lust for her under control.

She opened her mouth, for once not wearing an expression that suggested she’d prefer me dead.

Then her gaze dropped, and her cheeks reddened.

So maybe I’d failed at keeping myself under control. Knowing she was my future mate had sent my body into overdrive, and even now, with her gaze on me, my cock was hardening even more.

I couldn't help myself. Maybe it was the jolt of power that she'd given me running through my veins, making me feel almost drunk on it, or maybe it was just her scent filling the small, enclosed space around us, but I needed to touch her one more time before I left.

I took her shoulders, bent down and brushed a kiss over her lips.

For a moment, she seemed to lean into me, her body bending towards mine like she'd been born to fit against it. Her soft lips opened for me.

I wrapped my arms around her, my cock aching as it pushed against her.

Then she stiffened, pressing her hands flat against my chest, and she shoved herself away.

Ayla turned her head aside, refusing to look at me. “You can go now.”

I turned towards the tent door, my veins humming. “I've changed my mind,” I said.

“About what?” She gave me a suspicious look, but I didn't miss the fact that she quickly took her hand away from where she'd been touching her lips.

So shehadenjoyed kissing me.

I grinned at her. “When we get to Lykos, you'll be living in the Alpha Quarters with me.”

6

Ayla

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