Page 10 of The Alpha's Warlock
“Look. I know he's trying, and I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say you're trying too —”
“Fuck you, Nate.”
“Yeah, whatever, been there done that got the t-shirt.” I glared at him, and he glared back, but there was an odd look on his face I couldn't quite parse. “Can I make my point, please?”
Ian waved a hand as if to say, get on with it. “I'm not the one coming up with insulting digressions.”
“You know that word?” And then it was my turn to look away and turn red, because yeah, proving his point.
His smug smile showed he knew it, too. “Do you have a point, Nate?” he asked, in a gently coaxing tone, with a little dollop of sarcasm and condescension on top.
Another deep breath. “How far from the boundary was I when your patrol found me?”
A long pause followed. “Half a mile,” he said grudgingly.
“Right. And if I'd been using magic to disguise my scent or keep quiet? Or actively trying to avoid a patrol? Or, I don't know, doing anything more threatening than literally crawling on the ground trying to attract someone's attention before I passed out and died?”
And now that I thought about it, of course they didn't have wards. Wards would have let them know I was there long before they found me on their own. I pointed that out too, and then I sat back on the couch, letting Ian stew a little in the dose of fucking obvious reality I'd just given him.
“You're right that we ought to have wards,” he said finally, once he'd stewed. Which he did pointedly, with a lot of frowning. “But you're not going to work on them.”
“But who else —”
“Someone who isn't you!” he shouted, turning to face me. He stared me down, looming over me where I leaned back against the couch. “I was trying not to say this, because I don't want to be an asshole.” He stopped for a second. “What, not going to tell me how it doesn't show, or something?”
I smirked at him. “Why, when you can do it for me?”
He rubbed at his temples and mumbled something that sounded a lot like a prayer for help. “Okay. Bluntly? I don't trust you. Matt doesn't trust you. All we have is your word about what happened last night. For all we know, maybe this was the plan all along, for you to show up with some crazy kidnapping story, get Matt’s sympathy, and get you set up inside the pack in a position where you can spy on us and sabotage us the best because we feel sorry for you. Your father was a grade-A dick, and he made deals with everyone and then broke half of them, and you lived in his pocket for twenty-two years. I don't know, and until I know, you're going to stay here, and you're not going to do any magic. And you know I'll know if you do, through the bond. So don't fuck with me.”
I'd never heard Ian say so many words in a row before, and it was amazing how much each of them hurt, like he'd punched me with every single one.
“I thought Matthew liked me,” I whispered, and then I dropped my head in my hands. I hadn't meant to say that out loud. I was just so tired. So very, very fucking tired.
Ian made a weird, strangled sound and shifted on the couch suddenly. Was he going to actually punch me? Did I care?
“Why did you mate with me, then? If you thought it was a trap? If I'm — just like him?”
I took my hands off my face and looked up at him, and was shocked to see how pale he was, and how stricken. He turned away and got up off the couch. Maybe I'd imagined it. Maybe he was so angry he'd gone white.
“If you're telling the truth, you deserved our help for getting pulled into our fight. And if not, you're here where we can keep an eye on you. Win-win.” He spoke without any inflection at all, and he didn't turn around after, just went to the little kitchen area to put the dishes in the sink, his back still turned. “You should get ready for bed.”
I stared at his broad back for a minute, at the tense, bunched muscles in his shoulders and the rigidity of his posture. I wasn't going to get anywhere with Ian tonight, and the argument had taken the last drop of energy out of me.
I stumbled into the bathroom, brushed my teeth with my finger, since surprise surprise, there weren't any new toothbrushes in the bathroom cabinet, washed up, and headed back out into the main room. Ian had put everything away and was lurking, waiting for his turn. We brushed past each other awkwardly and I crawled into bed.
A few minutes later Ian flopped down beside me, making the mattress dip at an alarming angle.
I pressed up against the wall so that no part of me was touching him. Exhausted and drained as I was, I stared at the ceiling until dawn started to wash it pale gray and a few cranky birds started their morning right outside the window.
I couldn't tell if Ian was asleep or not, or if he laid there staring at the ceiling too. Neither of us moved a muscle.
It was a long night.
Chapter 8
Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death
Waking up alone in a strange room that smelled like dust and werewolf was starting to be a pattern — one I didn't like much.
