Page 38 of Married to the Wolf

Sebastian drew her around and tucked her against his chest. She tried to pull away, but when he winced in pain she had to give in or risk tearing his healing wounds. He stroked her head and whispered soothing words.

“If it makes you feel any better,” he said, “this situation isn’t typical. We haven’t been touched by hunters for more than a decade. I drove the hunters out from the east coast and pushed for my people to live quietly to stay beneath their radar. Our only threats in these last years were from other shifters not the humans.”

She shuddered. “Now this. There’s no way the media won’t get a hold of it.”

He shook his head. “All evidence of what happened last night will disappear. The hunters want it as well as we do. They violate their laws hunting us, so they don’t want to be discovered.”

She looked into Sebastian’s eyes and grasped his face between her hands. “Sebastian, they say you are so powerful the other alphas won’t even challenge you. You’re the strongest shifter on the east coast and maybe the south. For me, please, help her. If she didn’t feel hemmed in by your restrictions, she never would have done this.”

His expression softened. “You know I would move the world for you, Sophia. But you can’t ask me to do this. It’s impossible.”

“You said you knew when I looked at you last night across the dance floor. You knew she was being abused?”

His eyes widened. “I suspected he wasn’t as nice as he should have been. I don’t like to railroad over my people. I want them to come to me if they have a problem.”

“Then it’s your responsibility to appear more available.”

He grunted. “You’re not going to leave this alone?”

“No, your rules said she couldn’t go away and live on her own. She was forced to stay with the pack.”

“That’s not true.” Alex all but shouted, and the other wolves stirred. They stretched and looked around. One of them strode over to the door and scratched on it. Alex stormed over and opened it. The wolf padded out of the room, and Alex shut the door behind it. He spun back to Sophia. “To leave the pack is to leave yourself open to attack and to have no backup.”

“So you can’t choose that existence of your own accord?”

“It’s not that—”

“I might have been wrong in my approach.” Sebastian cut him off. Alex appeared scandalized that Sebastian would blame himself for any gaps in his policies. Sebastian continued on anyway. “When faced with our decreasing numbers, I put some rules in place. The best way to protect our people, I thought, was to hold them close. Perhaps I held them too close or some don’t understand my reasons. I’m hoping one of the things that comes from last night is everyone will see the purpose for keeping our existence secret. Mingling among humans is a mistake.”

Sophia didn’t pretend to know what he should do for everyone going forward. “And Belle?”

“Wife, you are very stubborn.”

“You knew that when you married me.”

A scratch sounded on the outside of the door, and Alex moved to open it. The wolf that left a few minutes ago was back, and it returned with a visitor. Sophia jumped to her feet. “Jack, you bastard! You dare show your face here?”

She ran over to him before he could speak and cracked him in the chin. Her knuckles flamed in pain, but it was worth it. When she hit him, his head jerked a little, but it didn’t go back. He didn’t even stumble. She wished she were stronger. She smacked him as hard as she could, and he raised a hand.

“Touch her, and your arm will be removed.” Sebastian spoke calmly, but his tone said he didn’t intend to repeat himself. Jack’s hand returned to his side. For good measure and because she knew she could get away with it, Sophia smacked him a few more times.

She whirled to face Sebastian. “Why haven’t you killed him? You know what he planned. He tried to get me to betray your people.”

“My love, I don’t kill my people. As I told you, Jack’s intensions weren’t to kill anyone.” He looked at his brother. “I have an assignment for you. Please me, and I will consider lifting your punishment.”

Sophia blinked. “What punishment?”

Jack’s eyes glittered with excitement. “You’re down for at least two more days. Do you need me to run the pack in your absence?”

Alex snorted. “Keep dreaming.”

Jack scowled at him.

“You will find Belle and bring her to me before the others find her,” Sebastian explained. Sophia’s heart soared. He must have called Jack to him somehow, and he had intended all along to help Belle. She should have known.

Jack appeared to be disappointed in the assignment, but he couldn’t refuse. “How many men do I get to take with me?”

“No men,” Sebastian said. “You’ll handle this alone. If you’re half the wolf you think you are, you can slip past the hunters she might be hiding among and past the other packs. Don’t fail me, Jack.”

---