Page 104 of Pack Captive

His spirit was either gone, or I was too shaken to summon him.

Calian kissed me on the sky bridge. “I’m going with the Alpha tonight,” he told me. “We need to shore up our defenses and create new scout plans. Too many have wound up dead now.”

I smoothed the line between his brows as he scowled. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

Over his shoulder, I saw Ryden watching us, his expression torn between jealousy and desire.

I was going to need to figure that out soon.

Half-formed plans swirled in my head all the way back to my room; I couldn’t be the wedge that was responsible for driving the Alpha and his Second apart, but I couldn’t lie to myself, either.

I wanted both of them. They were both my pillars of strength, each in their own way.

Maybe it was selfish of me, but my inner wolf was clear on that.

I was still torn when I pushed my door open, closing it and locking it without thinking.

Then I turned around. Bright green eyes flashed at me from across the room.

Merikh the Bloodfang was stretched across the bed, lounging on my pillows. He gave me a wide, lazy grin, stretching and showing off a mouthwatering physique when his shirt rode up.

“Hi,” he said. “Nice place you’ve got. Hope you don’t mind that I dropped in.”

32

Merikh

Ayla stoppeddead in front of the door.

She only looked shocked to see me for about two seconds. Then her lovely face morphed into a scowl.

“Did you do it?” she demanded, striding over with her fists clenched at her sides.

“Do what?” Her bed was extremely comfortable after months spent sleeping on a threadbare cot. I didn’t want to sit up, but I did, hanging my legs over the side of the bed as she drew closer. “Sneak in? Yeah. I needed to see you again.”

A series of expressions flitted across her face, and I couldn’t tell what was going on in that pretty head of hers.

“No,” she gritted out, her eyes narrowed. “Did you kill them? Darius and Gavril?”

I looked up at her, drinking her in.

Since my escape from the cell, she’d been on my mind more than she should’ve been.

She made me feel like myself. And whenever I felt that burning inside my skull, the real Merikh slipping away, I couldn’t stop myself from coming back.

The runes were beginning to burn again.

Kill her, eat her, a voice whispered.Hunt him down, tear him apart...

I needed to touch her, drive it out.

“I have no idea who they are,” I said honestly. I’d never heard those names in my life.

Ayla bared her teeth at me, her canines sharpening. “I don’t believe you. Ever since you escaped, our people have been turning up dead.”

“I haven’t been killing anyone.” I resisted the urge to sigh.

All I wanted to do was touch her, maybe kiss her, maybe more, and she just wanted to accuse me of murder.

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