Page 67 of Taken By the Alpha Priest

“Don’t care,” Grant says. “What a way to prove your sexual prowess to the pack, dude.”

“Can’t say I appreciate that, or that I take it as a compliment,” I glare.

“Just saying, even if they hadn’t talked to Tilda yet, everyone here knows what her voice says like now,” Grant grins. “Am I right?”

He extends his hand for a fist bump and I just glare at his knuckles.

Will rolls his eyes. “Have you spoken to anyone else yet?”

“Just you two,” I admit. “I was hoping to get some advice from my most trusted friends. Should I make an announcement to the pack, or talk to people one by one?”

Grant grins, already leaning forward. “Oh, make an announcement. Bake a damn cake. Scream it from the rooftops.”

“Don’t do that,” Will says, shooting Grant a look like he’s lost his mind. “For the love of God, don’t do that. Talk to a few people first—Mateo, Suyin… and especially Frankie.”

I groan, running a hand through my hair. “She’s angry, isn’t she?”

“I haven’t seen her since last night,” Grant says. “She ducked out after the wedding, maybe to go hunting.”

“Do you think she’s planning something?” Will asks.

Grant snorts. “Like what? She’s just cranky, and the pack is all she has. Where would she even go?”

“I’m less concerned about where she would go than what she might do to Tilda,” I murmur.

“I get the feeling Tilda can look after herself,” Will says. “And remember—Frankie has been through things we don’t know or understand. Chances are she’ll come around. She didn’t even speak the first three months she was here.”

I nod. “I’ll track her down and talk to her first. Then the rest of the pack…?”

“I can’t think of anyone else who has a problem with her,” Will shrugs.

“Kinda weird how she just…fits in, actually,” Grant says. “You think we can like, smell personalities or something?”

Will rolls his eyes, but I can’t help but laugh…because I don’t think Grant is that far off.

* * *

I findFrankie about an hour later, returning from the woods. She’s got blood on her hands, but I scent it immediately as animal and not human—from what I understand about her history, she survived on her own after making a dangerous crossing from Europe during the New Crusade. Sometimes, she disappears for days into the woods, so the fact that she’s come back is already a good sign.

She grimaces when she sees me walking across the prairie as she hops over the perimeter wall, nodding her head at the alpha keeping watch. There’s blood on her hands and mouth, the white top and shorts she’s wearing stained with it. Frankie scowls and crosses her arms over her chest, lifting her chin to meet my gaze.

She’s smaller than me, but not so small as not to be a threat. And I’ve seen her fight—she’s tough.

“You already know what I want to talk with you about, don’t you?” I ask.

She narrows her eyes. “You’re taking in the Crusader.”

“Not taking in,” I say. “She’s joining our pack. She has a lot to contribute.”

“You don’t think she’ll just immediately run off and tell her people how to hurt us?” Frankie says. “I know people like this. They can’t be trusted.”

“And I know her,” I say. “Trust me—the New Crusades did horrible damage to my family. The Heavenly Host’s armies killed most of them, and separated me from my niece. But Frankie…I can’t deny the will of the mating bond. You should know that.”

“I don’t believe in forgiveness for something like that,” Frankie snarls.

“Maybe you’ll understand one day when you find your own mate,” I say.

“If I find my own mate.”

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