Page 18 of Wolf Claimed
“Because you got to me in a way I didn’t expect. I thought we could be allies, teammates even, but there’s a connection between us. Or do you want to tell me you don’t feel it?”
She felt it. She felt it with Tiernan, Rafe,andMaddox.
“I’m—” She clenched her fists. “Damn it, Maddox, I’m so confused. I don’t know what’s going on around here half the time, except you and Rafe seemed to be pushing me toward Tiernan. And now that I’ve slept with him, you’re both mad at me. And then Tiernan springs some blood-bond crap on me, telling me it’s forever when I barely know the guy. You three are the only shifters I know because the others avoid me like the plague, except that ass Kingsley. And the humans are no better.”
“The blood-bond and what Tiernan told you is very real.”
“You heard us?”
“I was nearby.”
“Oh.” Then he heard more than their discussion. Her cheeks heated.
“He’ll go feral without you.”
“Stop pressuring me! All of you need to juststop.”
“Why?” he asked, pressing his body against hers. “Because you know in your heart you’re meant to be with someone other than Tiernan?”
These guys were so damn direct it was frightening, but they knew who they were and what they wanted. Unlike her.
She was attracted to Tiernan, Rafe,andMaddox, which was crazy.
With a slight tilt of his hips, Maddox’s hardness pressed against her. Damn, but the thought of being with him aroused her. She had to get away from the dominant, sexy shifters.
She put her hand on his chest and pushed. He took the hint and stepped back, a very distinct frown overtaking his rugged face.
“I’m not choosing anyone. I need to pass this program, fulfill my three required ops, and then return to my job at the Secret Service. That’s all.”
“Then we have nothing more to say to one another.” He turned to walk away.
“Can’t we still be friends, Maddox?”
“Still? We were never friends, Artemis. We’re acquaintances, teammates, but not friends. I don’t have friends, especially not females.”
She sucked in air, unprepared for the harshness of his words and the emptiness in his voice. Being honest with him had only made things worse. She shouldn’t give a damn about him. But she did.
Alyssa straightened her spine, lifted her chin, and marched past him into the lecture hall. It was time to forget about Maddox, Tiernan, and Rafe, and do what she came to the DSA training program to do.
The new DSA agent in charge, a man with wavy red hair, glared at Alyssa as she entered the room that mimicked any college lecture hall, only much smaller. Three tiers of continuous desks and swivel chairs laid out in a semicircle loomed above her. All the shifters and humans stared at her as she approached the podium and the DSA agent who stood there drumming his fingers.
“I’m guessing you’re Artemis,” the agent said.
“I am,” she said, halting by the agent as Maddox walked past her and headed up the center aisle to find a seat.
The agent cleared his throat. “I don’t tolerate tardiness.”
“It won’t happen again,” she said, aware that he hadn’t scolded Maddox, just her.
After he narrowed his eyes, he turned his attention to the room, and she hurried up the center aisle. “Now that everyone is here, we’ll get started,” the agent announced.
The only empty seats were in the second row with her team, and one by Kingsley in the third row. While she would have preferred avoiding her team right now, she refused to sit next to Kingsley.
She squeezed past Tiernan and Rafe’s chairs and slid into the empty seat between Rafe and Maddox, catching a low growl from Tiernan. She couldn’t worry about him being possessive. She wasn’t his, and even if she gave him what he needed, she wouldn’t allow him or anyone to control her life. That was the biggest reason against blood-bonding him. She needed her freedom.
Maddox leaned away from her while returning a growl of his own in Tiernan’s direction.
“Quit it, both of you,” she scolded in as low a voice as possible.
