Page 58 of The Alpha Dire Wolf
“Not as close as I might have liked,” she said. “We didn’t visit much after we left. I think she was pretty upset with my dad for leaving.”
“Any ideas why?” I asked. This was a crucial question. What did she know about her grandmother? Had any of it been revealed to her?
I knew that I was pushing it, but I had to know more. I was walking an incredibly fine line with my pack and my personal desires, trying to balance them against one another. If I could prove she wasn’t who they thought she was, then maybe …
“None that I was ever aware of, other than moving away,” Sylvie said with a shrug.
It sounded truthful.
“Did your parents have any remorse about leaving?”
Sylvie shook her head. “I don’t think so. If they did, they never confided it in me before they were killed.”
I nodded in understanding. “Hit and run, right?”
“How did you know?” she asked sharply.
“Small town,” I said, looking around apologetically. “Word travels fast.”
Sylvie just nodded, accepting it as truth. She was entirely oblivious to the fact that we had been watching her and her entire family, unaware of the paranormal world her grandmother had belonged to. Or so it seemed.
How could the elders be so certain about her when everything seemed to point to the exact opposite? Unless I was the problem. If I was tainted by the Chained, somehow blinded to the truth by its power, that would explain it all. Wouldn’t the elders have detected that?
It was all too confusing.
“I hope you’re hungry,” Sylvie said as we set to plating the table with taco fixings, from fresh grated cheese and salsa, to sour cream and diced tomatoes and lettuce. Topping it off was a giant bowl of steaming ground beef that was making my stomach growl.
“Because this is enough to feed me for a week.”
“Starved, don’t worry,” I said with a smile and a wink.
Sylvie blushed, her cheeks pinking in the most delightful way.
Damn. I really hope she’s not twisted by the Chained. She’s just perfect.
If she was, I wasn’t sure what I would do.
The dinner itself went smoothly. No serious topics came up, and the food went down deliciously. All of it, to Sylvie’s surprise. After doing the dishes, she surprised me by popping a bottle of wine and pouring us both a glass, suggesting we retire to the back porch and watch the sun set over the forest.
Now we sat on the bench, separated by inches of air and a wall of my willpower that was wrought through with cracks. Being this close to Sylvie for this long was taking a toll on me. The fires burning inside me could not be quenched, and it was growingincreasingly hard to keep my composure when she wasso closeto me.
I should pull back. I knew that. The vortex around which we spun with one another had only one inevitable conclusion. I was strong, but I was not certain I had the strength to deny her much longer. Not when she wasn’t fully resisting anymore either.
“Thank you for this evening,” she said as the bottom lip of the sun dipped below the trees. “I have to admit, it was unexpected.”
“Was it?”
The challenge was out before I could stop myself.
“W-what?” Sylvie met my eyes, and neither of us looked away, locking us in place.
“Can you honestly tell me, Sylvie, that this was a total surprise? That you haven’t felt anything before now. That there’s no pull between us? That you don’t feel it … here.”
I reached over with my non-wine hand and pressed one finger over her heart, just above her breast. Then I leaned in closer, my mouth nearer to her ear. “Or perhaps …elsewhere.”
My eyes traveled her body as I spoke, making it very clear what I was saying as my internal strength failed me. Sylvie squirmed in place at the attention, in just the way I wanted her body to move when I finally did touch that “elsewhere.”
“Ummm,” she stammered.
