Page 13 of Wolf Claimed
She looked up at him with wide, trusting eyes. He loved that look of hers, that it was directed at him. He needed to do better explaining things to her, to not mislead her, to take care of her, whether she agreed to blood-bond him or not.
“I really do like you. You’re sweet, smart, and so damn sexy, but I’m not exactly a ladies’ man. A human term, I know, but it fits. I’d been with a female, a shifter, back when I was nineteen, but there wasn’t anything to the relationship. Not even a friendship by the end. We experimented with one another, satisfied our drives, and that was it. I’ve had a few dates here and there since, but my wolf basically shut down with those females.
“The first time I noticed you, though, he became attentive and stopped trying to control me. The moment he caught your scent, I knew that you were what he needed, and I understand why. You’re special, like no other woman I’ve ever met. And last night had more meaning than I thought possible. It was more than sex. I care about you very much, my sweet Alyssa.”
Her eyes widened. “I don’t know what to say. I thought, well I thought last night was to help you keep from going feral.”
Shame swept through him. She thought she was saving him. “Maddox was right. I should have told you. Made sure you understood.”
She shrugged as her cheeks reddened. “I could have asked more too, but I didn’t. So we share the blame. Though blame isn’t the right word, is it? I mean, I enjoyed being with you, Tiernan. I like you. A lot. Last night happened because I wanted to feel good for a while. And I didn’t want anything to happen to you. It seemed like an easy thing to do, to save you from going feral.”
“You really don’t know much about shifters?”
“Humans, in general, don’t know much about shifters. It’s a flaw in our nature to ignore something we don’t want to think about until we have no choice. And to make matters worse, I was raised by a man who wasn’t exactly pro-shifter. He fed me so many lies, but like all good liars, he mixed some truth in there too, to give the lies credibility. It’s hard to know what is true and what isn’t.
“The DSA wasn’t much help either. In orientation, they didn’t tell us much beyond giving us some stats about your abilities. How far you can see and hear that type of thing. I’ve already seen proof that their information isn’t as accurate as they believe. I basically assume everything I’ve been taught to date is wrong. I’m trying to learn first-hand, from all of you.”
“That sounds like a good approach. It’s a shame the shifters here aren’t doing the same, learning more about humans.”
She chuckled. “I think shifters are more like humans than anyone wants to admit. Except for your abilities and this going feral business. Though there are humans that go crazy too, from various mental disorders. This blood-bonding thing. . . Have shifters blood-bonded humans before or are the effects all theoretical?”
“There have been a few shifters who blood-bonded humans. The humans have never been harmed,” he assured her. “Only the shifter is at risk. The blood-bond will weaken my abilities, but it will save me and my wolf.”
“Because I’m human?”
“Yes. With a shifter, there is a blending of abilities, but since a human has no shifter abilities, their blood weakens our abilities. But your bloodwillstabilize my wolf, Alyssa. I’ll be able to lead a full life, just as a weak shifter.”
“But you’ll live, right? I mean, not being to hear or see as far isn’t so bad.”
“There’s more,” he said, still wondering how to tell her. He released a deep breath. He just had to say it, get it over with. “There is a bond created between the male and female. In time, I’ll feel your feelings, know if you’re sad, happy, anxious. . . everything. And you’ll feel mine. It’s how the wolf is stabilized. He’s attached to the female, the calming presence.”
“For how long?” she asked.
“Once we blood-bond, there’s no going back. We will be bound together in every sense of the word. Permanently.”
Chapter Four
RAFE
Rafe exited the mess hall in search of his team, the team he’d lost control over,ifhe’d ever had it. He was starting to wonder if the real reason his alpha had sent him here was to test his abilities as the alpha heir, to see what he could accomplish. He had yet to get the other shifters in line. Kingsley and his team continued to be a problem, there’d been a murder of the lead DSA agent which endangered the program and the treaty, and now Rafe’s team was in total anarchy. He’d failed on all fronts.
And through it all, he remained hyper-focused on Artemis, a female he couldn’t have. A female Tiernan needed. A female Maddox desired. A female who knew practically nothing of shifters and their ways.
A female who washuman.
But a female that had everything he wanted in a mate. Courage, intelligence,heart. Even now, he instinctively scented the air outside, determining which direction she’d taken, as if she were his purpose in life. He pulled air into his lungs and luxuriated in the scent that caught his wolf’s attention. His wolf clawed him, eager to pursue her, find her, protect her, and make her his. She belonged to him. Except she didn’t. Tiernan’s scent clung to hers, the reminder of why Rafe needed to stay away from her.
Rafe still couldn’t believe he’d let Tiernan take her, that he’d pushed her toward him, all because the shifter was fighting to stay sane and Artemis was his only shot. Rafe’s pack never would have received the vaccine for the shifter elimination virus had it not been for Tiernan standing up to his alpha. That was the reason Rafe had denied what he wanted, to save the shifter who had saved his pack.
Tiernan had entered the DSA program, fully aware that his wolf was going feral. The only reason a shifter would leave his pack in that situation was to force shifters he didn’t know to put him down, sparing his family and friends from the trauma. It was the last honorable act of a shifter.
Tiernan had come here expecting to be put down, not to find a female that calmed his wolf, a female that affected so many of them.
Damn. Rafe wanted Artemis, probably more than Tiernan, but Tiernanneededher. Rafe couldn’t come between them.
And he couldn’t forget about her either.
The scent of an aroused female,hisfemale, hung thick in the air. A female aroused by another male.
