Page 2 of Huntress and the Splintered Court
I don’t know what happened. One moment I was standing feet away from her, the next Carla was on the ground with my knee digging into her chest and my hand wrapped around her throat as I snarled in her face.
The crazy wolf laughed. The emotion startled me that my hostility ebbed and I released her. “That is the reaction of a mate protecting what is hers,” she said as she climbed to her feet.
“Were you testing me?”
She shrugged. “I meant what I said.Whenyou leave, I will remain. I found my way into his bed and I will again when you’re gone, mate or not.”
“Why would you want to if he’s selfish with you?” I asked as she walked to the door.
“It’s my duty,” she stated with a knitted brow like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
2
Opening the door to Gideon’s office without knocking was the first sign to alert him that I was pissed. His eyes swept over me. After the quick assessment, he turned back to the group before him. Judging by the weapons strapped to them, I presumed they were guards.
“We’ll continue this later. Leave us.” He stood and headed behind his desk. Lifting his phone, he clicked away like he was answering an email.
I expected confused glances among the wolves, but there wasn’t one. They all accepted that they’d been dismissed for a human that had barged in tactlessly. I was stunned that Gideon hadn’t gone all Alpha wolf on me over the intrusion. Perhaps that was why he was clearing out the office?
The door closed but Gideon continued sorting through items on his desk, making me wait.
“You’re upset,” he stated evenly.
“Wow. You’re a smart one. You should be in charge.”
That got his attention as he leered at me. “What’s the problem, Isabel?”
“You moved my stuff.”
“I did. It made no sense to leave it downstairs.” When I continued to stare at him, he added, “You’re welcome.”
“I know you’re not that dense not to realize why I’m upset.”
“I just saved you the effort of moving it yourself.”
“Who said I was going to move it?” I yelled.
“You’re my mate, Isabel.”
I groaned running my fingers through my hair in an effort not to lash out. “You can’t keep throwing those words around like they’re a cure-all.”
“We discussed it.”
“No, you stated what you wanted and when I didn’t comply you just did it anyways.”
Bowing his head Gideon took a deep breath. Gripping his desk, he tried to rein in his annoyance with me. I wasn’t easy to deal with, especially for a man who was used to getting what he wanted.
“Do you want me to have it moved back?” he spoke to his desk in a calm, but tiresome voice.
My anger faded away leaving me cold. Seeing him defeated I realized I didn’t know why I was fighting. I’d been in his bed the past several nights and when I thought about the ones to come, I saw myself there too. He’d seen me struggle these past few days. Either I brought clothes with me or dressed in my day old clothes to head back to my room to change because we’d gotten carried away before I’d been able to bring up a new set.
I strolled across the floor until I stood beside him. Gideon kept his pose even as I turned, leaning my ass against the edge of his desk so I could see him better. “I wanted to be consulted,” I said placidly.
“You’d have dragged your feet until the end of time and I wanted you there completely.”
I sighed, because he wasn’t wrong. I still struggled to fight against the hunters’ rules they’d imbedded into my brain. I shouldn’t want Gideon. He was a werewolf, a being I was sworn to hunt. That meant that it was like pulling teeth to get me to go against what had been drilled into me. Gideon hadn’t done anything that I didn’t want, just something I hadn’t admitted I wanted.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered tugging at his arm until it was placed on the other side of my hip so I was nestled between his strong arms with his face hovering just about mine. “Let me make it up to you.”
