Page 6 of Alpha's Baby Girl
By the time I looked back at Fenrys, he had been found.
Chapter 4 - Fenrys
There was a firecracker of a wolf charging through the woods. Six others had fanned out to cover more woodland. I could scent them all, but Thalia stood out to me most. Rejecting her had caused my bond with her to fray. I wasn’t sure if I had believed her at the time, but I knew it had simply been immature bravado. She had been right when she protested; I could sense it back then. I had; I had lied to protect myself as if it made the rejection any easier. I could still seek that spark I had, tying me to her. In my wolf form, I had my links with my pack, and could sense everything was good with them, so I tried to mask my own feelings about the Games so they wouldn’t catch me out if they searched the link to me.
I heard the snap of a branch across the lake next to me. On a grassy overhang jutting out over the water, Thalia watched me. I was captivated for a minute by the colors of her fur, the way shimmers of gold caught the dappled sunlight across her coat. She was white, her fur silky looking, as if she took care of herself, from her human form to her wolf form. For a moment, all that mattered was her being there, her turning upfirst. I couldn’t look away from her as she panted, looking down at me after running through the woods. In her mouth, she held a length of fabric, reeking of her scent: vanilla and apples. The alpha wolf in me reared its head, wanting her, wantingallof her.
Her head whipped around to look at something behind her; the spell was broken, and I shook myself off.
Suddenly, another wolf tackled me to the ground, and I growled, immediately giving into the instinct to lash off and buck the wolf off. Then I realized: Thalia had been the first to arrive, but someone else had found me from another direction. The distraction had been a clever, sly trick to claim me first.
The gray she-wolf in front of me gave a playful purr as she got to her feet, unphased by my instinct to attack her. I knew from her scent that it was Shiba, who nudged her head into mine as if to be playful, but all I could do was look back at Thalia, who watched us.
Shiba dropped her trinket for me—an earring from her human collection of jewelry—and snapped her tail. I shifted back to my human form and took off one of the leather bands around my neck, presenting it to Shiba. She had won the trial. Thalia found me first, but Shiba had proved herself courageous enough to cross the distance first.
“Well done,” I muttered to Shiba, slipping the leather cord over the she-wolf’s head. “Please return to the head councilor to announce your victory.”
She gave a quiet, wounded whine, as if she thought I was going to go back with her. She gave a snarl in Thalia’s direction before leaving.
“Shift,” I asked Thalia, shouting across the lake. “I want to talk to you.”
Still in wolf form, Thalia took a step back, away from me, as if she considered leaving. I held out a hand to her. The wordpleasemade its way past gritted teeth.
Thalia let seconds pass by before she shifted. Her body was lithe and naked, as we all were after shifting. She tightened her arms to cover her chest, placing her palms to conceal between her legs. A growl started in my throat at her lack of confidence to bare herself to me. I wanted tosee her. She’d toned up since college, muscles now a faint line down her torso, and I couldn’t help wanting to keep looking at her. She was beautiful, and my body was reacting immediately. I was enamored by her; everything about her drew me in. I couldn’t deny the attraction building in me.
“Will you join me over here?”
“How about you meet me halfway?” she asked, her voice ringing out clear across the lake. Then she climbed down, wading in, so she was submerged up to her waist. Finally, her arms relaxed, and I tried not to gaze at her as I walked into the lake. I needed to apologize to her; I needed her to know I wanted to make things right, even if it had to be through these damn Games.
“There,” I murmured, my eyes taking in her golden ones. “Now I’ve met you halfway.”
Her face was a riot of conflicting emotions. Longing, anger, confusion, and a sense of pride flickering there, too. Thalia no longer trusted me; I knew that. I didn’t deserve her trust, but she needed my apology.
“Thalia, I’m—”
I broke off when she stepped back, the water moving with a sudden jerk away from me. Her eyes were wide, her lips parted.
“No,” she said, quietly. Fear and worry danced in those golden eyes. “No, I—I can’t.”
And yet, desire for me burned in her eyes, even as the other two emotions waged. She warred with herself—with me. I felt like I had been punched, as I gazed back at her, waiting. By the time I realized she’d rejected me, Thalia had stepped out of the lake and shifted back to her wolf form, staring down at me one last time, before disappearing into the thicket of forest behind her.
I was left alone in the lake. Frustrated, I walked back to the tree and shifted, trying to dampen my emotions before my pack could pick up on them. I wish Thalia had found me first. I was a damn fool. Shiba wouldn’t have tackled me first if she hadn't been distracted. I could have claimed Thalia as my victor and spent the night with her, as I was obligated to do with the winner of each trial.
But while she hadn’t kissed me back, I’d seen, even for a few moments, a hungry desire still existed for me. My fight for her was far from done.
Chapter 5 - Thalia
It was hours later that all the contestants were instructed to head down to the banquet hall, and I was still reeling from Fenrys trying to kiss me. Shifting back to my human form after leaving him behind, all I could do was press a hand to my mouth, thinking about the time when that kiss would have been all I wanted.
Now, I was full of so many feelings about it, all of them tangled up.
Kato had messaged me during the day, a simple:How is it going, little wolf?
Rereading the message now reminded me. I was not here to let myself want Fenrys again. I was right to have stopped him from kissing me. At least not so soon. I couldn’t let myself be that weak. The longer I held out the less chance I had to test my own limits. Would I still be able to go through with this if I stopped rejecting his advances?
I text Kato back.Good.
That was all I had to report. I wanted to say more but I didn’t know what to say to Kato. He needed to know I was up to the job. After that, I text Sasha with a small confession, that doing this would be harder than I thought.
