Page 21 of Kidnapped By the Wolf

CASSIE

“I wantyou to stay here . . . with my pack. You will remain unharmed as long as your father’s bears leave Gold Creek for good.”

I cross my arms over my chest. Even if I had that sort of power, it doesn’t sound as though I’d get anything out of it — except that Adrian won’t un-alive me. “What’s in it for me?”

Adrian nods, his eyebrows knitting together. “One of my pack brothers owns a small house. He’s been renting it out the last few years, but it’s vacant right now. The house would be yours, free and clear, as long as you stay in Gold Creek.”

My heart does a funny little skip. Adrian’s offering me a place to stay?

“You want me to stayhere?” I say slowly. “As what? A permanent hostage?”

He shakes his head. “Not as a hostage. As part of my pack. You’d need to pay your father a visit once or twice a year as proof that we were holding up our end of the bargain.”

Right . . . the part where he agrees not to un-alive me.

“And, of course, it’s imperative that you not reveal the terms of our deal — to your father or anyone else.”

I shake my head. “I don’t understand.” It sounds as though Adrian is offering me a solution to all of my problems — both a way out of my father’s pack and a permanent home.

“To your father, it will appear that you are our prisoner, but you’d be free to do as you please.” He shrugs. “There are plenty of pack-owned businesses in town that would hire you. Or, if you’d rather sell your jewelry . . .”

“H-how do you know about that?” I stammer.

Adrian’s lip curls.Sebastian.

My heart beats faster as I replay the offer in my head. He can’tseriouslyintend to let me stay here rent free and just . . . live my life. It sounds too good to be true.

“Why would you do that?” I ask, glaring at him suspiciously.

Only an idiot would look a gift horse in the mouth like this, but I don’t understand why the alpha of the Gold Creek pack would offer me a fresh start.

He shrugs and leans back in his chair. “It’s not as if I can just let you go. The second I did, your father would be back to his old tricks. This is the only way to ensure his bears stay out of our territory for good.”

“But I’d be your prisoner. Technically.”

He shakes his head. “You’d be a member of my pack.”

Right. I just wouldn’t be allowed to leave.

Adrian’s insistence that I’d be “one of them” is hardly reassuring. I’ve been part of Pack McGregor my entire life — ignored at best, but more often despised. All because I’m human.

I’d just be trading one savage band of shifters for another. Only this time, I’d be branded as the enemy’s daughter.

The last few months in my father’s pack might have been rough, but at least I’d been allowed to come and go as I pleased. I was no one’s prisoner.

“And . . . what if I say no?”

Adrian shrugs. “Then I’ll just have to find another way to make your father’s bears behave.”

“I-I’m not sure it would even work,” I stammer, staring down at my plate. “He doesn’t care about me.”

“No bear shifter wants his only daughter living with a pack of wolves.”

I take a moment to consider that statement, chewing on my bottom lip. While my father has never been the paternal sort, bears are prideful creatures.

It would kill him to know I was with the Gold Creek pack — even against my will. But I’m not certain that my being here would do anything to curb the pack’s behavior. If anything, the insult might just stoke my father’s ire and lead to evenmoreviolence.

If things went south for Adrian’s wolves, I can’t imagine his pack would lift a finger to protect me. There’d be nothing to stop my father’s bears from dragging me back to McGregor lands and forcing me to mate with Dane.

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