Page 88 of Wolf Claimed
“You shouldn’t have uncuffed him.”
“He wasn’t going anywhere, Gallagher. No window, no other way out,” Rafe defended her actions.
Gallagher cuffed Maddox again and shoved him toward the door.
As Maddox passed Alyssa, dark eyes stared at her with a defiance that lifted her up even as he said, “I’m far from beaten.”
“That’s what you think,” Gallagher said. “You killed an agent.” He shoved Maddox out of the room.
“Angel, ask Tiernan to tell you about the White Wolves near Devil’s Peak,” he called from down the hall.
A minute later, Maddox was gone. Alyssa wanted to sink to her knees and cry, but she felt a new strength moving through her, one she hadn’t felt minutes before, and it felt like Maddox. She looked to Tiernan, knowing what she felt was the blood-bond with Maddox, the blood-bond that had never fully formed with Tiernan.
“What about the White Wolves?” she asked, not sure if she should tell Tiernan she felt the bond to Maddox.
Tiernan was staring out the door. He cleared his throat. “Later. I have something to do first.” He left without another word.
Rafe moved beside her. “Come on, Artemis, it’s time we find a secure place while we figure out this mess.”
“Maddox is never coming back, is he?”
Rafe’s arm circled her waist as he kissed the top of her head. “You’re not giving up, are you, precious?”
“Just answer the damn question.”
“If it’s up to Gallagher, we won’t see Maddox again. But don’t forget, Maddox is a guard. Guards fight until the end. And this isn’t the end. Even though Maddox will deny it, he’s part of our pack now, and pack always fights for pack.”
“I love him,” she said, leaning her head against Rafe.
He held her a few minutes longer in silence before nudging her. “We have to go. I promised to keep you safe and I always keep my promises.”
“You promised we’d all be together.”
Rafe’s lips brushed her ear. “When I said pack fights for pack, I wasn’t just talking about Maddox fighting for you.”
“We’ll get him back?” she asked, knowing Rafe wouldn’t lie to her.
He kissed her full on the lips. “That, my sweet Artemis, is my promise to you.”
Deep down, she knew there was a reason for everything that was happening, first with her bond to Tiernan and now Maddox being taken from her, she just didn’t know what it was. Maybe, just maybe, it was destiny’s way of ensuring the four of them stayed together, as a pack, though she wasn’t sure how giving her a weaker bond with Tiernan or taking Maddox from her accomplished that. Only that it felt right being with the three of them, like nothing could tear them apart.
Except the DSA had. They’d taken Maddox.
But Tiernan remained with her, no matter how much he did or didn’t feel the bond. As well as Rafe, with whom she didn’t have a bond. She glanced at Rafe. He’d never even try to blood-bond her because of the risks and his obligation to his pack.
Maybe she’d been thinking about this all wrong. Being together was much more than any damn blood-bond. They all had what they needed connecting them. Respect, loyalty, and love. That’s what was needed to bind a pack, not a bond that only worked between two people, to the exclusion of everyone else.
Epilogue
ALYSSA
Alyssa paced the sleazy hotel room. She hated splitting up. They had no plan, no intel, no safe house. Nothing. They were essentially on the run from a bunch of shifters who wanted her, and they were the lesser of two evils. By now, her father knew where she was, or where she had been before Rafe hustled her away from the DSA training facility three days ago.
“Where is he?” she asked.
“Tiernan will find us,” Rafe said, trying to reassure her.
“How? You rushed me out of there. We’re ten miles from the training facility, by car. How the hell could we leave a scent trail while in thecar, Rafe?”
