Page 19 of Wolf Claimed
“I’m Agent Gallagher, assigned to this program until another instructor can be found to replace Agent Graves. Just to reiterate, while his murder continues to be investigated, you will not leave the grounds. Graves’s office is off-limits, and you will make yourselves available to my agents anytime they have questions.”
As Gallagher droned on, Alyssa took a long, hard look at Maddox, whose attention remained on the DSA agent.
“You’re wrong, Maddox,” she whispered.
His jaw tightened. He was listening. Good.
“We’re friends, no matter how much of a jack-ass you’re going to be about it. No matter what happens between me and Tiernan, I choose who I’m with, who my friends are, not him, not anyone else. I don’t know a lot about shifter culture or rules, but I made up my mind a long time ago that I wasn’t going to let others control me.”
He turned to her finally, his face dark, as if he’d lost something precious. He was likely thinking of Isabella. “You still don’t understand the blood-bond. You won’t want to even look at another male once you’re bonded.”
“Even as a friend?”
His eyes closed, then slowly reopened as he drew a long breath. “I’m not sureIcan be friends with you, Artemis. Not when I want so much more with you.”
Chapter Five
MADDOX
Artemis’s scent was driving Maddox crazy, mostly because he smelled Tiernan all over her. The urge to take her, put his scent on her and mask Tiernan’s scent was overwhelming him. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could sit next to her in the lecture hall, especially now that his wolf had woken to her. The damn beast had begun pacing, impatient, ready to conquer, to take what wasn’t his.
“And once everyone’s alibi is corroborated,” DSA Agent Gallagher continued, “we’ll assess the footage from your ops earlier this week and see what your teams could have done differently. Then we’ll enter another round of ops, this time targeting anti-shifter print shops. I know that may seem like a step down from the ops you just completed, but this time we’ll switch up the team leaders as well, putting the humans in charge. I want to see how well you shifters can take orders from your human counterparts.”
Maddox tuned the agent out, wrestling against his wolf and his desire to touch Artemis, to ask her to abandon Tiernan for him. The whole situation was fucked up. He’d never considered taking another female after Isabella, to open himself up to that loss again. Fuck, he’d never expected to survive her death since the severing of the blood-bond usually killed the surviving shifter or left him in a semi-lucid state, only half-aware of his surroundings. Not Maddox, though. He’d lived to experience every fucking lonely day without her. And now he knew why.
Artemis.
The female who had invaded his dreams every night since he arrived. The female who even now distracted him so severely that he had no clue what the agent at the front of the room was talking about. Nor did he care. He only cared about the female.
The female who thought they could befriends.
He wanted so much more with her, but he might have to settle for friends as she suggested because the alternative, losing her completely, wasn’t an option. He couldn’t lose her, but he would if he tried to control the situation, to control her. She was not a female who would be controlled, not that he wanted to control her. He enjoyed her fierceness, her independence, her sense of right and wrong.
Even now, as she looked at him with hope, her face inviting, he wanted to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything would be fine. Instead, he had to keep his hands to himself. And leaning away from her was a joke. He could shift and run into the woods, put hundreds of miles between them, but his focus would remain on her.
“You still don’t understand. I’m not sure Icanbe friends with you, Artemis,” he whispered. “Not when I want so much more.”
She bit her lower lip, hazel eyes locked on the new agent in charge, as if she feared facing Maddox.
Fuck, he’d given her an ultimatum. White wolves weren’t known for their subtlety or for playing fair. He’d tried to do the honorable thing and leave her for Tiernan, but the female clearly didn’t want to blood-bond the male, which meant Maddox had every right to pursue her, and he fully intended to do so.
“Say something. Please,” he begged. When had he ever begged anyone? Not even Isabella. He’d proposed to her, and they’d blood-bonded three days later. All very easy and straightforward. They had both wanted a family. She’d been an agreeable female, not one to gossip or cause trouble. Always respectful, and she had a sweet smile. She’d been shy, never outgoing, but a loyal female, standing up for him when Drake had accused him of being lax on the border. She’d risked herself for him, and in the end, Maddox had. . . He shook his head, unwilling to remember the rest. She had been his to protect, and he had failed her.
“I want more too,” Artemis whispered, barely audible, even to him sitting next to her. He wondered if she even intended for him to hear her, or if she’d been speaking to herself.
Maddox placed his hand on her right leg, beneath the desktop, where no one would see. She tilted her head, her brows pinching together as if confused. And then he felt her hand on his. Warm and tender. When her fingers entwined with his, a whirlwind of emotions soared through him. There was no way he was giving her up. She was his.
Her finger started drawing lines against his thigh. Letters, he realized.
A–L–Y–S–S–A.
Her name! She trusted him enough to give him her name. In a room full of shifters and humans, Artemis—Alyssa—had shared her secret with him.
“Artemis!” Agent Gallagher’s voice boomed, causing her to jump in her seat. Her hand jerked from Maddox’s hold, leaving him feeling empty and alone again. Inside, his wolf growled at the male who’d scared her, who’d caused her to pull away.
“Yes, sir?” she replied, her back ramrod straight as she devoted her full attention to Gallagher.
Two additional agents entered the room. Men wearing dark suits, starched white shirts, and dark shoes. They flanked Gallagher.
