Page 28 of Wolf Claimed
“Have your fun with her, hand her over to the humans to finish their investigation even, but after that, she’s ours,” Kingsley said. “And you won’t be able to stop us. You’re outnumbered. Decide if she’s worth losing your life over.”
She was, but Rafe said nothing. He’d made his position clear.
“Let’s go,” Rafe said, wrapping his hand around Artemis’s upper arm, much as Gallagher had. Rafe didn’t mean to handle her so roughly, but letting Kingsley see that he cared for her could compromise any chance he had of getting her out of this situation alive. They knew she intended to blood-bond Tiernan and that he was alpha over Tiernan. That was enough for now.
When they exited the admin building, Alyssa yanked her arm free of his. “I don’t have to be dragged. I know if I try to run, you can shift, catch me, and tear me to shreds.”
He spun around and nearly laid into her, but his stomach lurched seeing how scared she looked. “I told you I wouldn’t hurt you.”
“You heard everything, didn’t you? My name. My father. . .”
“Yes.” Fuck, he wanted to comfort her, but he had too much anger moving through him. At the situation, Gallagher, Kingsley. . . even himself, for not doing enough to make her trust him, and for not doing as Maddox and Tiernan had wanted. If he’d stopped the interrogation before Gallagher had forced her to divulge her name and connection to a mass murderer, she wouldn’t be in this position now.
“Where to?” Tiernan asked. “They’ll be able to find us no matter where we go unless we leave the grounds.”
Tiernan hadn’t said anything to Alyssa yet. And Maddox. . . The shifter had stopped talking altogether. That couldn’t be good.
“We can’t leave. I’m still under orders not to risk this treaty. We’ll go along with the DSA’s process. To a point.”
“What point precisely?” Tiernan asked.
“I haven’t figured that out yet. For now, we return to the dorm.”
Tiernan stepped in front of him, bringing him to an abrupt stop. “The dorm’s the worst place to go.”
“Third floor, where Ms. Monroe set up. With only the one metal door at the stairwell, it’s defendable.”
“Unless they scale down from the windows above,” Tiernan replied.
“We’ll seal off the windows. There’s enough construction equipment there to fortify the floor.”
“How would you know?” she asked. “When were you down there?”
He’d been standing guard in the stairwell while she slept at night to ensure her safety ever since Kingsley attacked her. Rafe wasn’t taking any chances with her. Tiernan should have been guarding her, but he was younger and distracted by his wolf, not thinking clearly. Maddox had noticed, though. He’d come down that first night to guard her, too. Rafe had sent him back to watch over Tiernan. Rafe may not like the white wolf, but the shifter was reliable.
“I surveyed all floors of the dorm last week. I like to know my surroundings.” He hated lying, but he wasn’t sure she could handle the truth right now. He was still adjusting to it himself.
“We need to talk about this, about my father, don’t we?”
“You should have told us,” Rafe said as they reached the first floor of the dorm.
“If your father were a mass murderer, would you tell people?”
She had a point and yet it still spoke of the distance between them. “We’re not just anyone. We’re your pack now.”
“You meanteam. Not pack. A temporary team thrown together for training and possibly a few ops. Nothing more.”
She was so wrong. And yet he didn’t know how to tell her what she meant to him, that he wanted her for himself. That wasn’t going to happen; Tiernan needed to blood-bond her.
“How’s your wolf, Tiernan?” he asked, so he wouldn’t have to speak with Alyssa quite yet. Not until he figured out what the fuck to do about her, Tiernan, and especially Kingsley and Gallagher.
“Unsettled,” the blond shifter answered.
“How long?” Rafe asked.
“How long what?” Alyssa said, heading up the stairs in front of him. He loved walking behind her, watching her tight ass swaying from side to side. He ached to place his hands on that shapely backside just for a second, long enough for him to envision what it would be like to thrust into her from behind.
“He’s asking how long until I go feral.”
