Page 33 of Wolf Unleashed
“Then how did she know what they were planning?”
Tiernan shrugged. “No clue.”
“My sister Freya takes chances she shouldn’t. I think it’s her way of trying to prove her worth to our father. He just sees her as another female, one he plans to marry off to a pack and form an alliance.”
“Could you imagine Alyssa agreeing to that?”
“I’d love to see anyone try to force her to do anything. Alyssa’s very much like Freya in that respect. Strong willed. Which is why you need to get your head out of your ass, Tiernan. I saw how Alyssa looked at you in those first days when she didn’t truly understand what you needed from her. She didn’t believe blood-bonding you would keep you from going feral, but she smiled every time she saw you. Her face lights for you in a way it doesn’t for me or Maddox.”
“You sound convinced she’ll ignore her blood-bond with Maddox.”
“Ignore it? No. She’ll find a way to use it. You were too far gone to remember at the time, but when she tricked you into blood-bonding, there was a desperation in her. She had to save you and it was more than the agent in her wanting to save a life. It was personal. I didn’t want her to blood-bond you. You were more feral wolf than sane shifter, but she forced me to perform the ceremony. She saved you, risked herself for you. I’m not sure she would have done the same for me. So don’t you dare give up on her.”
“Who’s giving up on me?” Alyssa said as she stepped through the trees. Alone.
Tiernan fought the need to run over to her and lift her up and never put her down again. He needed to know he wasn’t losing her. “I was worried you wouldn’t want to return to us because you share a blood-bond with Maddox.”
Anger swept over her face. Then Tiernan saw the devastation beneath the anger.
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and held her tight as he drew in her scent. She smelled of Maddox and sex, but nothing else had changed. She had returned, as Rafe had predicted. “I’m being selfish. This has to be hard for you, leaving Maddox behind.”
She buried her face against his chest and sobbed. A moment later, Rafe joined them, his hand moving in slow circles on her back.
“I told Tiernan not to give up on you, Artemis, but I think I should have been telling you not to give up on Maddox.”
“He refused to come with us.” She turned her head and stared out into the woods.
The wind changed direction, and Rafe caught Maddox’s scent. He’d walked her to the border and stayed nearby until he was sure she’d found Rafe and Tiernan. “Don’t give up on him just yet. That shifter loves you, and he’s not one to quit. He’ll find a way back to you. I’m sure of it.”
Chapter Nine
ALYSSA
Alyssa didn’t know where they were heading, and she was sure Rafe had told her at one point, but her ability to focus left her hours ago, when she’d left Maddox. She still couldn’t believe she’d left him behind.
He would have come if he could have.
He’s protecting you.
So many thoughts swirled together in her head, but none of them offered an answer.
Tiernan and Rafe tried to cheer her up, but everything they said seemed to send her deeper into a pit that was getting harder and harder to climb out of. It felt as if she were being dragged down. Like something had dug its teeth into her soul and was pulling her away from the surface, where the fresh air and sunshine waited for her.
Where Tiernan and Rafe waited for her.
Her two rocks.
One hard, and at times unmovable.
The other, full of fractures but still quite strong and loving.
“She’s sick,” Rafe’s voice said somewhere above her.
She didn’t remember lying down, but that explained the trees moving above her.
“Are you refusing us aid?” Rafe’s voice grew louder. Definitely filled with anger. She heard his wolf growl once or twice, too.
This was one weird dream. She didn’t even remember going to sleep. Just walking through the woods in silence for what seemed like hours.
