Page 16 of The Wolf She Shouldn't Desire

“Have you ever had to temporarily take up the leader role though completely when your father has been away or possibly incapacitated?”

“No, I haven’t.”

He looks at me with a raised eyebrow as if to ask if I see where he is going with this line of questioning.

The corner of my mouth quirks. “I get what you are saying. Until you’re really in the role, you haven’t fully proven yourself to those you’ll lead.”

He nods in agreement. “What coven are you a part of?” he then asks. I wondered when he would start asking such questions. It was only fair after the ones I had been asking about him.

“The Cruor coven,” I answer.

“Ah, so the most powerful coven in the city. Not surprising. What is your role in the coven, then?”

“Like I mentioned before, right-hand man to my father, the coven leader, meaning I’m the heir once he dies. Some would also call me an assassin or enforcer for the coven.”

He just stares at me silently. Is he trying to determine if I am a threat? Or work out if anything I have said is a surprise based on the interactions we have had, particularly tonight? The longer he says nothing, the twitchier I feel but force myself to sit still and not look away. I won’t be ashamed of who I am or what I’ve done. I haven’t always been ordered to do things I agree with, but I try my damndest to do it in a fair manner and in ways that align with my values and such as much as possible. There are times though where that just isn’t possible and orders have to be followed or I suffer the consequences. I’ve learned over the years how to balance it more and more, but it still isn’t easy. In the not so easy instances, I tend to go away by myself for a few days to recenter myself.I’ve dealt with the cards life has dealt me, and there is no room for regret.

“Something you want to say?” I finally ask out of impatience.

“Just wondering howyouview yourself. The assassin or the enforcer?”

That’s what he’s wondering? “Both are accurate depending on the situation,” I respond.

“Yes, but is that whatyouwant to be viewed as?” he whispers.

I can hear what he is really asking in that question. Looking into his eyes, I can see he genuinely wants an honest answer from me too. It feels like he wants me to reveal a part of my soul. No one has ever asked me what I want to be viewed as. I don’t really have a choice since being born to the coven leader basically boxes you in to a certain life and how others view you. No one has ever cared to askmeeither. Danny knows I don’t like it, but he has never asked. Jordan, though, does ask and an ache in my chest forms at his question and what my answer is.

“Protector,” I whisper.

A small smile softens his mouth briefly and is reflected in his gaze that he keeps directed at me. “I like that one a lot better, darling,” he whispers back.

The tingle down my spine that was present the first time he called me darling is accompanied this time with a heat that flows through me and settles between my legs. This time I allow myself to fidget, and the corner of Jordan’s mouth twitches slightly. Even though we are outside, the air between us seems to thicken and become warmer. Jordan turns his body to face me directly and places one arm across the back of the bench. He lifts the opposite arm and pinches a loose strand of my hair between two fingers before he traces his fingers from my temple to my ear as he tucks the stray piece of hair behind my ear. Where his fingers make contact with my skin, a pleasant electrical sensation follows and elicits a shiver in me. With that one touch, I want his hands to touch me elsewhere, and the urge to touch him in return overcomes me. I imagine his strong hands gripping my waist as my own trace the defined muscles of his chest and then down over his sculpted abdomen. To feelsuch rock-hard muscles taut with power and tension as he holds himself still during my exploration would be like receiving the most delicious treat ever made—sweet, exciting, and so blissful that it fills you with wonder and a need for more.

“Talia,” Jordan whispers with a slight undertone of longing. He slowly leans towards me with his eyes focused on my lips and then back to my eyes. His eyes are warm and I swear alive like flames in a raging fire even though they remain the cool, icy blue they always are. There’s a magnetic pull between us that confuses me, and yet, I can’t fight it. We shouldn’t be this close to each other, let alone on the verge of kissing, but the temptation is too much, making me forget why we shouldn’t kiss, making me forget who I am and—

Talia, your father is requesting you back home.

Danny’s intrusion into my mind in this particular moment is like a bucket of ice being dumped over my head.I jerk back from Jordan and close my eyes.

“I have to go,” I say.

When I reopen my eyes, Jordan sits frozen, looking at me with slight confusion. No doubt wondering at the sudden change in the situation. The warmth in his eyes that I had seen a second ago has cooled. Before he says anything, I jump up from the bench and make a mad dash out of the garden. I hear Jordan behind me stand from the bench, but he doesn’t call after me or follow me.

Chapter 9

Jordan

What the hell was that?

I stand there staring at the bushes and trees Talia just disappeared through with a slight feeling of shock and confusion. Sitting so close to her, breathing in her tantalizing scent of orange and cloves that reminds me of autumn and staring into those gorgeous green eyes, I was helpless in being drawn towards her. I was helpless in fighting the need to taste her lips too that my mind went blank with only the thought of kissing her taking up my full focus.

I sit back down on the bench and let my head fall back as my eyes fall close. The feeling of confusion and mild frustration grows. My fists clench on my thighs, and I suck in a deep breath in an attempt to clear my head.

She’s a vampire. I can’t kiss her. The fact that she had the foresight and willpower to break away and stop anything from happening should fill me with relief rather than this…sadness and the urge to run after her, pull her to me, and kiss her. When I’m around her though, I forget that she’s a vampire or that she is supposed to be my enemy as my brethren insist they are. But I’ve never been one to blindly go with what others dictate should be the norm. I’ve never jumped on the bandwagon of being disgusted and prejudiced towards vampires. Now, if they insist on being that way towards me or other werewolves witha penchant for violence, then yeah, I’ll have something to say about that, but I would with anyone, no matter the species, that wants to be a prick and throw hate at others. I’ve never understood people like that. Why waste the time and energy? Why hurt someone, verbally or physically, if they haven’t done anything to you? I’ve met a few rare vampires I’ve become friendly with or at least amicable with but never tried to kiss.

Talia is a different story though and someone I’ve thought about doing more than kissing with. She hasn’t left my mind for more than a few hours since I first saw her in that shipping yard of steel containers, and god did that end with me being pissed with her. She has a smart mouth and was clever as hell in the way she acted that night to where she was able to get away with the wolfsbane that we were there to prevent from being delivered to the vampires in the first place. That reminds me that I had intended to ask her about the wolfsbane the next time I saw her, but the incident in the alley where she castrated a man and saved a wolf against her own kind followed by our talk here distracted me. Next time then.

I lift my head and glare towards the waterfall. Next time? Why the hell am I already thinking of seeing her again?

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