Page 66 of Wolf Desired
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying you don’t have to do anything according to convention. We’re shifters. We have our norms just like humans have theirs. That doesn’t make one set right or wrong, just different.”
“I can’t be with both.”
“I hate to break it to you, but I think you already are. And more than physically. I think your soul is leaning toward both. If it’s one thing I’ve learned since I lost Isabella, is that you need to do what makes you happy. I think you need them. Rafe and Tiernan.”
She looked into those deep black pools and wondered why he was saying all of this. She’d been flirting with him as much as the others. More, even, and yet he seemed to be pushing her toward Rafe and Tiernan.
Or was that his way of pushing her away from him? That would be so like Maddox. Using something else to divert attention. Well, she wasn’t going to let go of him so easily.
What on Earth was she thinking? She already had a complicated enough situation with two shifters. She certainly didn’t need to jump into bed with a third.
But even now, she couldn’t simply walk away from Maddox. Between those dark eyes that held so much warmth and the broad body that made her want to sink against him and feel him wrap his arms around her and never let go, she wanted him in her life.
“I think for now, I just need a friend,” she said. “Someone to talk to who won’t judge me.”
“I wouldn’t judge you.”
“Thanks,” she said, throwing him a smile. Suddenly, a part of her calmed so completely she knew she couldn’t lose him. Any of them. Rafe, Tiernan, and Maddox were becoming integral to her in more ways than she cared to admit.
That terrified her. This wasn’t some make-believe fantasy of hooking up with three gorgeous guys at once. It was real life and if she weren’t careful, someone could get hurt.
If she were truly smart, she’d walk away from her three shifters and focus solely on her mission. Though getting to know three shifters, even getting involved with two of them, wasn’t truly an obstacle. Not like Graves. The agent in charge was becoming a real problem. She had let him bully her long enough.
Alyssa glanced toward the dining hall. “Would you do me a favor, Maddox?”
“Anything,” he said with a deep sultry voice that made her realize he meant it. Imagining what he would do to anyone he felt was a threat should have made her shudder, as she suspected he had a fierceness to him she hadn’t fully seen yet. But Maddox and his serious expression didn’t scare her. Not like her past did.
“Just tell Rafe I’ll be a few minutes late. It will be sundown soon and I want to change into something warmer, okay?”
He sank his fingers into her hair, holding her by the back of her neck, possessive, dominant, and very sexy. Heat shot through her. “Whatever happened to just being friends?” she asked.
“That was your idea, not mine.”
He leaned in and brushed his lips over hers, making her insides flutter. She kept her mouth shut, even as he prodded with his tongue. When she didn’t open, he pulled back. “Just Rafe and Tiernan for you, I guess.”
“Just?” She laughed. “This isn’t easy. I want. . .”
“What do you want, angel?”
“I want all of you,” she whispered, before leaning her head against his chest. His scent wrapped around her like a warm blanket, making her feel all cozy while his arms circled her like some shield that she knew would protect her against everything. She needed both of those feelings. . . She needed Maddox in her life. “I need to change,” she said reluctantly as she pulled away.
That’s how she found herself walking across the field, toward the dorm, Maddox’s eyes on her for a long time until she entered the building.
Once inside, she leaned against the steel door and counted to sixty while she calmed down. Everything was happening too fast, but she had a problem to take care of, one that wouldn’t go away on its own. Alyssa quietly opened the door and peered outside. Maddox was no longer out there, watching. He’d gone to deliver her message to Rafe.
Only because she’d lied. If he knew what she planned, he’d stop her.
As she approached the admin building, thoughts of Maddox continued swirling in her head. That kiss, thatstartof a kiss, deserved a proper ending. Later, after she dealt with Graves.
“We need to talk, Agent,” she said as she entered his office.
“Just the person I wanted to see.”
Graves’s cocky smile unnerved her. She’d been ready to take charge of this conversation, but now she had an eerie feeling she was in deep shit. Alyssa shut his door behind her so no one would hear them.
Graves closed a file on his desk. She glanced down and spotted her code name on the folder.
