Page 114 of Never Submit

All of it shutters down in a flash.

Where’s Noble?His presence could hopefully diffuse a bit of the tension I can also smell in the air.

I’m not sure,Mathis answers.He’s close, though. Somewhere in camp. Waiting for us to return.

“What are you doing out here, anyway?” Dax gripes. He’s still got one hand on his erection and he’s glaring at Torin, furious at having his shift interrupted.

“When the Grey Valley alpha decides to take off, it’s my business to find him. We have to talk.” Torin jerks his head back the way he came.

“You couldn’t have sent one of your very eager underlings to come find me?” Mathis asks. “Seems like you went to a lot of trouble to track us down in the woods. Not really your scene, Steel.”

“You disappeared with my beta’s mate,” Torin says. His hands slide casually into his pockets. “I’d say that’s my business, since she’s a part of my pack.”

Mathis steps forward, resting a massive hand on the top of my head. “She’s part of mine, too. Use your goddamn head, Torin, and see what you’re refusing to see. Or are you blocking off those senses now?”

The two of them engage in a staring contest. My wolf senses are at attention. There’s an unspoken language here, something only alphas understand.

“You…have a mate bond too. You and Ms. Wexler.”

The sound of my name has the human in the wolf’s body ready to change back for the sole purpose of telling him off. He’s seriously still calling me by my last name? After all of this?

What a dickhead.

“Yes. She’s mine, too. Which means I’ll attend whatever meeting you want to have for the sole purpose of reconsidering the boundaries between us. Things are a little more complicated now than when we first started.”

“It doesn’t matter to me what you choose to do. I’m done wasting time tracking you down,” Torin replies with a sneer. He turns on his heel toward camp.

A low whine vibrates in the back of my throat.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, it’s nothing,” Mathis assures me.

His touch is a lodestone for me and I watch Torin until his shadow disappears through the trees.

Dax grunts out something unintelligible, and when my head swivels to him, he’s back on all fours. Magic pulses, filling the small clearing with electricity through his change. He shakes his head, snarling at the open air, his gaze focused on something neither of us can see.

Like there are invisible insects swarming him, he snaps again before his shoulders hunch, and he swipes his muzzle across the ground, huffing.

Is Dax okay?

Mathis takes a beat, and then,He was so happy to see you it took him a moment to realize the bond. Don’t worry. He’ll come around. He’s not as unstable as people think he is.

Mathis shifts as well and falls into step beside me, nudging me along to get me moving.

I don’t want to hurt anyone, I insist.

A mate bond is a beautiful thing. They’re just surprised. You’re not hurting anyone.

Yet guilt trails me on my way back to camp. Mathis refuses to leave my side until he’s deposited me on the sagging front porch of the cabin I share with Noble. I know better than to ask what will happen now.

The moon rides high in the sky and it’s time for Mathis the alpha to take the lead. Mathis nips at my neck before he takes off in the opposite direction with a howl. Throughout the camp, his people answer him, a chorus of mournful bays lifting to the night sky.

Chapter 26

Torin

“Jealousy is a great look on you,” Mathis taunts. “Truly.”

The sound of his voice is like a cheese grater against my nerves.

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