Page 11 of Wolf Claimed
“Artemis!” Maddox called as he and Tiernan raced after her.
It hurt, knowing Tiernan had broken his promise to keep their affair quiet.
“Leave me alone,” she said as both shifters ran in front of her, causing her to stop short as she turned the corner on the path and ended up behind the gymnasium. She didn’t know why she’d chosen this direction other than she wanted to be alone and none of the shifters ever used the gym. Their conditioning consisted of miles and miles of running in the woods.
“I’ll explain everything. I promise,” Tiernan said.
“Your promises mean nothing. You told them about us! Do you know what that will do to me? First the whispers, then the comments and rude gestures. Then the propositioning. And that’s before it gets bad and they stopasking, if you know what I mean.”
Tiernan and Maddox both looked confused. Was it different for shifters? Maybe, but they were among humans now.
“I told no one,” Tiernan said. “Other shifters can smell your scent on me. And that will be permanent once we blood-bond.”
“They can smell me on you?”
“Yes,” Maddox confirmed.
“I wish you would have told me that before we—”
“It didn’t occur to me that it would be a problem for you. It’s just the way things are with us, and I keep forgetting you’re human,” Tiernan said with an innocence she couldn’t ignore. The shifter never meant to hurt her.
Alyssa blew out a breath, trying to calm down. The entire situation was her fault; she never should have gotten involved with a shifter without truly understanding them.
“I guess it’s no one’s fault. Maybe mine for not being more careful. I know how easily this can get out of hand. When I was training to be an agent, a guy spread a rumor that I’d slept with him. It nearly got me kicked out of the program with all the trouble it caused. I’m twenty-nine now and supposedly wiser. I never should have gotten involved with you, Tiernan.”
He grinned. “But you did, because you like me, Artemis.”
“If anything, she feels sorry for you,” Maddox said, his dark eyes glaring at Tiernan.
“See, this is part of it. Already, I’ve come between you.”
Tiernan’s grin disappeared. “You talk as if Maddox and I are friends.”
“You are, even if you refuse to acknowledge it. I’ve seen him watching you, heard Rafe order him to back you up, to make sure you didn’t do anything crazy. I still don’t fully understand this whole wolf-going-feral thing, but Maddox and Rafe have been watching over you, Tiernan.”
“It’s part of a being shifter. I’d do the same for him if the roles were reversed. I don’t want to rush you, Artemis, but I still need you. My wolf is getting harder and harder to control.”
Maddox scrubbed his face. “Put her needs first, scout. Explain the blood-bond to her. Tell her everything. She deserves to know.” Then Maddox shifted to a gorgeous white wolf without taking the time to strip as he’d done before. Shredded clothing hung from his wolf, falling to the ground as he bounded into the woods and out of sight.
“Maddox,” she called after him, hoping he’d return. “I hurt him somehow, didn’t I?”
“He wants you.”
“But you don’t. Not really,” she added. It hurt that Tiernan could say Maddox wanted her, but that Tiernan couldn’t say those same words to her, that he wanted her.
“Of course I do. I need you, very much.”
“Need. You say it every time, Tiernan. Not want. I could be any woman. Put a bag over another woman’s head, fuck her in my place, and you wouldn’t notice the difference. I thought you cared about me, but I was wrong. I’m just a means to an end for you.”
Tiernan’s eyebrows pursed and his lips thinned. “That’s not fair. I want what’s best for you.”
“If that were true, then you would have told me about this blood-bond thing before we did anything.”
“I didn’t want to scare you.”
“By not telling me everything, you deceived me,” she said, though she felt like a heel accusing him of manipulating the truth. After all, that’s what she’d been doing, from the day she’d met him and the others.
“Not quite. I mean. . .” He scrubbed his hair again. “Fuck, Artemis, any time I’m with you, just hanging out talking, my wolf calms, but his strength is growing. I didn’t tell you about the blood-bond because I truly hoped I wouldn’t need it. I thought if we slept together, it would calm my wolf enough for me to take full control.” He exhaled a long breath. “And I didn’t think you’d sayyes.”
