Page 49 of To Challenge a Wolf

“Two?” Rhett laughed. “Hope April isn’t waiting up for you. I’m a handful when it comes to yielding a point.”

Malachi’s mouth curved. “She’s aware. And she might be asleep by now, but given what she’s been through tonight, I’d like to get home to my mate.”

“Noted.”

“First, when you changed form. After you pinned Dyer, did you feel any sort of bloodlust toward him or the remaining trespassers? Did you have to work for control the way we do under the full moon?”Rhett hadn’t realized he knew the answer to this question until Malachi asked, but he did. “No. It didn’tfeel like the full moon at all. You know that restless, twitching feeling before the change, and then…then that uncaged feeling…like you’ve just got to run down some game, stretch your legs and go, flat-out along the ground with your pack… You know?”

Malachi nodded.

“It didn’t feel that way. I wasn’t restless or antsy. I was focused. I had a purpose. And when the fight ended, I was satisfied. Ready to change back, so I could rejoin the pack in human form, use my words again.”

Another nod. The alpha gave a low, quiet growl of contemplation. After a minute he said, “That’s been my experience as well, every time I change at will. The level of aggression is lower, easily manageable.”

“Yeah, that’s it. Manageable. I didn’t have to fight for it this time.”

“The full moon still drives me. I’d thought I might be free of it altogether, but however hard I try, when the moon rises, my wolf form takes over.”

Rhett shrugged. “Nothing wrong with that. We’re wolves.”

But of course, Malachi had hoped for evenmorecontrol than he’d already gained. Rhett had never met a wolf so strict with himself.

“I won’t test this with the younger wolves, at least not right away. They have a hard time with control right now, especially Corbin. But given how you experienced it, I believe I’ll indulge Trevor’s enthusiasm.”

“I’d like to see that,” Rhett said. “In daylight he’ll be frisking all over like a newly changed pup.”

Together they laughed at the picture. Then Malachi said, “And now about Vivian.”

Hairs stood up on the back of Rhett’s neck. His body surged to attention as though the very topic of Vivian were somehow athreat. But he grasped onto the advantage of knowing Malachi couldn’t smell the shift in his mood.

“What about her?” Rhett said.

“To begin with, you described your past relationship as platonic.”

And then he’d kissed her with obvious blazing need, here in his house with the pack a room away. Vivian’s attraction had smelled floral and unmistakable, and afterward Rhett had gone with her for a reprise out of the wolves’ sensory range. Some of them might even believe more had happened than a make-out session. Not that he cared.

Well, he did care what one wolf thought. This wolf in front of him.

“I didn’t lie to you,” he said.

Malachi nodded him on.

“In our teens, we were friends. I never even kissed her, not once. But now she’s here, a woman, beautiful, and she doesn’t care that we’re not mates. She wants us to try being together. I didn’t tell her no.”

A low rumble of approval came from the alpha’s chest.

Rhett shook his head. “What’s that for?”

Malachi was silent for so long, Rhett began to fidget in his chair. The amber eyes were studying him; Malachi made no attempt to screen the fact. He simply looked at Rhett for what seemed like a week. Then he said, “Rhett, that womanisyour mate.”

Rhett rocketed out of the chair and sprang across the room to widen the distance between himself and the alpha. He couldn’t comprehend why he’d just responded as though Malachi were a striking venomous snake rather than the most trusted person in his life. He only knew he had to stay on his feet. On guard. Against the words Malachi had just spoken.

“No,” he said.

“I’m not sure how you haven’t recognized her, but it’s not healthy for a wolf to resist his own instincts the way you’re doing right now.”

“No.”

“I wouldn’t push you if I weren’t sure. And I wouldn’t push you if I thought you’d get there on your own. Aaron took time to recognize Ember, but you… You seem to be actively shutting down, beating your own self down. I can’t watch you do that and say nothing.”

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