Page 39 of Wolf's Reckoning
“Youshould’ve left,” I snapped, refusing to turn around and meet that mocking glare. I knew he was behind me, not close enough to touch, never stupid enough to try.
“Why?” he asked with a light chuckle. “You’re like a court jester, but instead of juggling balls, you’re juggling potential husbands. It’s entertaining.”
I turned slowly, every inch of me strung too tight. “This is all a game to you, isn’t it?”
“To them, yes.”
“Not to you?” I challenged him.
His gaze was steady. Hard. “To me? I’ve no skin in the game you’re playing.”
“I’m not playinggames.”
“Really?” he challenged me. “Looks to me like you’re pretending to be fragile, and I’ve never known you to be…breakable.”
My jaw clenched against the honesty of his scorn, but I’d be damned if I showed him that. “You think you can come back here after all these years and pretend to understand me?”
Wolfe’s gaze ran the length of me. “I never stopped understanding you.”
I laughed—low, sharp,furious. “Do you forget thatyouleft this pack?”
“Do you forget thatyoumade damn sure that I did?” He was so blunt in the way he said it. No malice. No vulnerability. Just facts. Harsh truths, it was one of his more annoying qualities. We stared at each other across the breadth ofspace, too close to breathe easily, too far apart to pretend it didn’t matter.
Wolfe grinned suddenly, and I hated that I knew it was fake; his eyes were still cold and hostile. “You should get back in there. I can’t wait for the conclusion to the little contest you’re hosting.” He looked like he was fighting back laughter. “Who will you choose, the idiot blond who checks out every female’s ass when he thinks you’re not looking? Or the one who’s putting all his effort into pretending he’s laid back and ready to followyou, when in reality, he’s checked every sentry post at least twice since he’s been here. Why would afollowerneed to know how strong your pack’s defenses are?”
A rustle in the trees made me break my stare from the male in front of me, only to see his companion lingering.
“Wolfe, are you ready?”
Wolfe nodded, his eyes on me for a moment more. “Enjoy your game,princess.”
Princess, it used to be his pet name for me, but now he said it with scorn instead. He had once looked at me with something far from scorn, but those days were long behind us now.
“I hate you,” I whispered as he walked away.
“I know.” His voice carried back as low as mine had been. “You made it very clear what you thought of me.”
I knew what he meant. Years ago, we’d been in… Love? Was it love? We’d been young, but I’d never been accused of being foolish. Wolfe was no fool either. I’d been more concerned with what was important, like the pack. Not justusin a pack, but the pack dynamics as a whole. Even so, I think he loved me then. Loved me the day hetold me of his plan to go to my father and declare his intention that, one day, he would be my husband. Loved me when he told me we could go explore the world as husband and wife. Together. Loved me even when I’d laughed in his face and told him that, while I cared for him deeply, I didn’t love him. That I would marry who my father picked for me, for the advantages a good match would bring for the pack. Which benefited my station as the alpha’s daughter.
My station.
I told him then that I would marry for the benefit of my pack, not myself. I liked to think I’d grown up since then. I’d had no choice. And look where my haughtiness had gotten me. A dating game with two males who were trying to convince me they’d give me what I wanted, when in reality, they were gaining an entire pack ready to roll over and be delivered to them on a plate.
Much like I was being offered on a platter, like a freshly roasted pig ready to be devoured by the hungry mob.
Maybe I was more of a fool than I realized.
“Well, your flair for the dramatic hasn’t gotten better with age,” I muttered to myself as I walked back to the hall, knowing that I still had to get through dinner before I could hide in my rooms.
Had I done the right thing all those years ago, rejecting Wolfe? Would I be a happily married woman now? The constant weight of doing what was best for my pack no longer dragging me down?
I’d never expected that he wouldleave. I thought my words would wound, but not so much that he would leave me. I knew not long after he was gone that I’d made amistake. His leaving had left me empty inside. No one had ever made me feel filled like he had.
I may not have been foolish, but I had learned humility from the arrogance of my youth, a painful lesson indeed.
He had done well for himself; the new alpha of the Stonefang Pack had sent him as an emissary, meaning Wolfe must be a beta to the alpha, which made sense. He was obviously strong; he’d filled out well over the years. Gone was the skinny, lanky boy I once knew. Goddess, if I were honest, everything about him was changed. His looks had only grown more striking, his shoulders broader, his confidence evident in the swagger of his walk. He wasn’t the same Wolfe I once knew…except…except that mocking smirk and those thundery blue eyes that saw too much.
Seeing him now, I think I was right to reject him back then. Look at what he’d made for himself. A home somewhere else and a pack he was quick to call his own. Leaving here, leavingme, was the best thing for him. I was sure of it.
