Page 66 of Wolf Claimed
Tiernan focused, willing his body to shift. Muscles and bones started to move as easily and fast as ever, but Rafe put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. “That’s enough. Looks like you’re unaffected by the blood-bond. We have to get moving.”
Looks like you’re unaffected by the blood-bond. Tiernan shuddered. Those words scared the hell out of him because he couldn’t feel the bond beyond the benefit of having calmed his wolf. While he was grateful that Alyssa had saved him, he wanted more with her. He wanted to feel that connection to her, to be truly tied to her.
“You okay?” she asked.
He had to be patient. Give the bond a chance to strengthen and surface. Rafe had merely been talking about Tiernan’s abilities, not the bond itself.
Tiernan smiled as if nothing was wrong, and cupped the back of her head as he kissed her again. “Thank you, Alyssa. You took a big risk just to save me.”
“You’re worth it. And I feel perfectly fine. I don’t know why it scared me. Nothing’s changed.” Concern filled her eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay? You sound off.”
“I’m tired. Like I’ve been running non-stop.”
“You have been. But as Rafe said, we’ll fill you in later.” With a quick kiss on his cheek and a smile, she walked over to Rafe. “Thank you for helping me save him,” she said, with so much emotion in her voice that she swallowed hard. Then she slowly lifted up on her toes and kissed Rafe’s cheek.
Tiernan tensed, expecting the rage to overtake him so fast that he would attack Rafe for touching his female. But nothing happened. He felt nothing. Not even jealousy. Something wasn’t right. What if the blood-bond hadn’t fully taken, and he reverted to the feral wolf he’d been?
Rafe broke the kiss quickly and his eyes shot to Tiernan, who didn’t move, snarl, or even bare his teeth. The alpha lifted a questioning eyebrow and then turned back to Alyssa and plastered his mouth to hers. He was gambling that Tiernan wouldn’t attack him in a jealous rage.
His gamble paid off as Alyssa deepened the kiss while Tiernan stood by, watching them. Tiernan waited for the maelstrom of fury to rise within from his wolf. He felt nothing, not even the slightest attempt from his wolf to shift and tear Rafe away from Alyssa. Tiernan was in complete control of his wolf now, but he was losing his blood-bonded mate to another male.
* * *
ALYSSA
Relief flooded Alyssa.Tiernan was alive, and the blood-bond had had no adverse effects on her. Or Tiernan. He hadn’t even growled when she’d kissed Rafe, but she needed to start using her head. Kissing Rafe after blood-bonding Tiernan could have been disastrous if the blood-bond had behaved as Maddox had described it. Fortunately, it hadn’t. She remained free of being tied to Tiernan permanently, as everyone had warned would happen. And yet that knowledge saddened her. She really liked him.
And Rafe.
And Maddox.
It was just as well the bond didn’t have the same effect on her as it would have a full shifter. Now she could figure out what to do about her confused hormones when it came to these shifters.
Alyssa pulled the DSA driver clear of the car and hopped into the SUV. The keys were still in the ignition. “Where are we going?” she asked as Rafe climbed in the back seat with a still-unconscious Gallagher as Tiernan took the passenger seat up front.
“There’s a building about five miles south of here. An abandoned rock quarry.
“We need to get Maddox,” she pointed out.
“He’ll find us. We agreed on the quarry as a meeting place if we got separated.”
They reached the quarry in twenty minutes. The place looked as if it had been abandoned for decades. While Rafe carried Gallagher inside the dilapidated building, Tiernan remained outside, guarding her while she searched the SUV.
“What are you looking for?” Tiernan asked as he opened the opposite door and leaned in.
“The truth serum.” She stopped searching for a moment to take in Tiernan’s demeanor. With his eyes once again a soft blue-gray and his body no longer brimming with tension, he looked healthy. But he didn’t seem upset that the blood-bond hadn’t taken or that she’d kissed Rafe. That worried her. She wasn’t sure how to talk to Tiernan about the situation. Was he upset? Relieved?
“You’re rather quiet,” she said, finally.
“Thinking about the shifters I killed.”
During the drive to the quarry, she and Rafe had filled him in on everything. “You were justified. They held you hostage, and you did what was necessary to escape.”
“Do you regret it, Alyssa?” His blond hair easily stood out against the dark seats of the SUV’s middle row as he climbed in to help her search.
“I never like to see anyone get killed.”
“I mean blood-bonding me.”
