Page 48 of A Wolf's Heart

The last time I had felt fear was when Weylin reached out to me from the orphanage. Since then, I had learned to control it, creating it in others, rather than allowing it to take its hold on me.

Imagine my distaste as I stood in the office, Weylin and Rainor having it out with the council, due to Ophidian Pack’s lack of cooperation in the homicide case, when fear trickled into my heart.

“What is this?” Weylin asked, rubbing his sternum, “It’s not the link, it’s not one of us.”

“No. It’s the bond.” Rainor was fighting with himself, Lila’s fear was awakening the beast.

I grabbed the phone and hung up on the council.

It was ridiculous, the fear was miniscule, small, and yet it had every hair on my body standing on end, each muscle twitching with the need to act.

I turned to Weylin, speaking through clenched teeth. “Where is she?”

“Tablet,” Rainor said before gripping his hair with both hands. Then, to himself, he said, “Get. Back. In.” The words were rough, coming from the back of his throat. The beast wanting to see his mate, while Rainor attempted to tamper the bond.

Weylin grabbed the tablet while I rushed out to the waiting room. Nothing. Empty. I stalked back to my office, ready to tear the door off. “She’s fine. She’s safe,” Weylin said as he handed the tablet to Rainor. “Take a look. She and Emma are at Howlers.”

Rainor touched the tablet screen, and I nearly threw the thing out the window. The glass window that couldn’t open. “This is ridiculous. You”—I jabbed a finger at Weylin—“take him for a run, or a hunt, I don’t fucking care. Let the beast rain blood, as long as it satisfies him.”

“She settles him,” Rainor said.

“Settle yourself!” I snapped. “Where has your mind been these last few days? Not here. Let the beast get whatever he needs out of his system and get back to work.”

I walked over to my desk, pulling my keys from the top drawer.

“Where are you going?” Rainor asked, his voice raw.

“I’m taking her home.”

They argued with me, but it meant nothing. Weylin made me swear not to touch a hair on her head. He had nothing to worry about, though. I wouldn’t be touching the female. Her scent was intoxicating enough; I refused to allow myself to indulge in her heat.

I left them to deal with the mess they found themselves in. The mess they’d created for themselves by allowing themselves to get so close to her. Distance was key, distance would make rejection easier, and the more we let her know she was about to be rejected, the easier it would be for her to get over it.

I skipped taking the stairs, knowing I should get to Lila as quickly as possible, so I could take her home. The sooner she was out of my city, the sooner I could focus on real-world problems. It was difficult enough focusing on sleeping or eating when Rainor put those damn cameras around her house. One click of a button, and I could see her.

No. Having her in the building certainly worse. Scenting her from twenty-four floors above ground, demanding Rainor video her for me during the debriefing, since we didn’t have security cameras in those rooms, having her a breath away…I could do it no longer.

Now that the debriefing was done, I could take Ms. Evans home, drop her off, and remind her of the damage she’d done. The damage she continued to dole out with every interaction she allowed between her and my two betas.

Before I knew it, I was standing outside Howlers, on the sidewalk, looking into the window. I could see her from here, head bent and leaning into whatever Emma was saying. Emma laughed, touching Lila’s hand, and my teeth snapped shut.

My wolf stirred, and I had to fight the posessive urge within me. It had to be because Lila was touching the luna. Surely, that was it. Now she was corrupting Emma.

I walked through the door, a few shifters here and there stopping what they were doing to bow to me. I paid them no attention as I was nearly knocked to my knees by the most delicious scent. Of all the scents in this overcrowded pub, it was hers that filled my lungs. The creamy lemon with an undertone of sugar. She was both parts sweet and sour, and ithad me drooling to taste her. My wolf pushed, even his usually composed self shaken.

Emma was talking, telling Lila what it was like to be rejected, but I couldn’t hear most of it because there was that feeling again in my heart. The icy pain that came through the incomplete bond with Lila. Fear gripped me because Lila was emotionally hurt.

It broke me, it turned my wolf savage, and at this point, if I didn’t tread carefully, I would be no different than Rainor.

I couldn’t allow that.

Lila had to be dealt with now.

“Because I’m his—”

“She’s my luna,” I said.

Lila looked up at me, the shock in her blue eyes, mixed with the intensifying pain in my heart, letting me know I had delivered a blow directly to her wolf. The wolf in me wasn’t too pleased, but he knew the end game. The pack always comes first. If I could harm her wolf enough, perhaps the bond would be broken.

---