Page 9 of Wolf Claimed
“I went from feeling like I was on top of the world to feeling like I betrayed both of you. It’s not a good feeling.”
“You’re with me now.”
“You can’t decide that for me.”
Tiernan put a finger below her chin and tilted her head up so she’d look at him. “I want you, Alyssa. Not just one night. After what we just did, I thought you’d feel something for me.”
“I do, very much, but it’s complicated, Tiernan. There’s so much you don’t know about me.”
“I know who you are, on the inside. The rest will come in time, and I’ll accept you for who you are, good and bad.”
“That’s sweet, but it doesn’t change my situation.”
“If you’re worried about Rafe, he’s an alpha. He’ll have no trouble finding his own mate in time.”
“It’s more than Rafe. I’m worried about everything. Especially this damn program. I can’t screw this up. I need to be here, and being with you. . . That was unprofessional of me. Swear to me you won’t tell anyone.”
“You’re mine, Alyssa, and I want to shout it to the world.”
Despite the pull to fall into his arms and feel him hold her, she backed up, putting distance between them. “I’m not yours. I can’t belong to anyone.”
His face twisted. “I’m not wrong about you and me. I saw it when I was making love to you.”
Making love. She smiled at how he’d phrased it. It was more than just sex to him, but that didn’t mean she was ready for any type of commitment. She wanted to help him calm his wolf, but beyond that. . . It was too soon to say what she wanted, especially when her past weighed on her.
“Let’s talk tomorrow, after training, okay?” she suggested, trying not to hurt him. She really did care about him, but she had to be realistic. Tiernan didn’t see all the complications. Perhaps that was for the best.
He leaned in for a kiss and she stood still, letting him kiss her cheek. How could being with Tiernan feel so awkward here when in the boathouse everything had been perfect? Was Rafe’s presence the difference? No, it couldn’t be. She’d felt so completely in tune with Tiernan before Rafe had arrived.
It was this building, this facility. Her job and all the damn secrets of her past. She couldn’t let him or anyone get pulled into her mess.
The moment he left through the fire door, she felt the loss. It was easy to miss Tiernan, the way he cared about her, the way he made her feel safe. And loved. That’s when she realized he’d left too easily. Without a protest.
Alyssa opened the fire door to the stairwell. Sure enough, there sat Tiernan on the steps leading up to his floor. Her own personal guard.
“If you stay here all night, people will talk.”
“Let them talk. I have nothing to hide.”
Perhaps he didn’t, but she sure did. “Please, Tiernan. I don’t want anyone knowing. It will risk my position here.”
He moved his hand up and down her arm. “I won’t say anything. I promise.”
“Thank you.” She smiled, both in relief and because the shifter seemed to need something to hang on to. “Let’s just take this one day at a time. There’s no rush, right? We have plenty of time to figure out the future.”
He opened his mouth to say something, then quickly shut it and nodded. “Good night, Artemis,” he said, as he walked up the stairs. She appreciated that he was being careful not to use her real name when nearby shifters would hear.
“Good night,” she said softly, sure that he would hear her. A moment later, the door to the floor above clicked closed. Tiernan was gone.
After a quick shower, Alyssa laid down on her mattress and tucked her gun under her pillow. She never noticed how quiet the floor was until now. She missed Tiernan.
You’re mine.His words repeated over and over in her head. In some ways, she felt like she was Tiernan’s, but she couldn’t get the look in Rafe’s eyes out of her mind. The one that said she was his, too.
Chapter Three
MADDOX
“Any idea who the humans suspect killed Graves? And why?” Maddox asked from the corner table in the mess hall. The humans had clumped together at two tables on one side of the room and the shifters occupied the other tables, as far from the humans as they could get. The DSA program could force them together to work on teams, but not to socialize on their own time.
