Page 5 of Winning the Wolf

Blinking rapidly, he pushed away from me. The cool air enveloped me as he turned and started to undress. I’d caught the flash of agony that had crossed his eyes before he’d retreated. My heartbeat thumped loudly in my ears as his bare back was exposed. His tight muscular buttocks came into view and I swallowed as I glanced away.

“I’ll shift and go get help,” he said, his tone cold as he dropped to his knees and contorted into his wolf form.

I couldn’t reply, my throat too raw from unshed emotion. Instead, I tried to even my breathing as he launched at the mud wall, his long claws digging into the dirt. It scattered around him, crumbling and falling onto my head. He followed it down, a huff the only sign he was frustrated as he landed on his paws. How could wet earth hinder two experienced wolves?

About to offer my help, I bit my tongue when he tried again, his paws scrambling to get a grip. When he landed on his back, I stifled a hysterical laugh that wanted to escape. I did not need to piss of the alpha-heir any more than I already had.

Puffing through his nose, Killick spun and head butted the wall before shifting back into a human. He slowly straightened and calmly put his clothes back on, without once glancing in my direction.

“Guess we’re stuck until your henchmen come find you.”

“My henchmen?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at me.

Shrugging, I lowered myself to the ground and looked up at the stark darkness above. A slither of moonlight shone down, illuminating the cave-like pit. “Yeah. They dragged me to your father, remember?”

“Sometimes,” he said, digging his phone out of his pocket, “I wonder if you ever grew up. Those men are the future of our pack… as am I. As much as you hate that.”

“You make it hard to like you.” My scowl was wiped from my face when he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

“That’s not the vibe I was getting a moment ago.”

The temptation to stick my tongue out was strong. Alas, I had to disprove his accusation that I hadn’t grown up. He had no idea who I was now and what I’d endured.

We stared, daring one another to continue the conversation. I stayed silent, not wanting to validate his intuition. Yeah, we’d shared a split moment of heat but that didn’t mean I wanted to rip his clothes off and ride him on the dirty ground. The image made me shudder and look away. Traitorous fucking mind.

“No signal. We’ll have to get comfortable.” Settling opposite me, Killick crossed his legs and put his phone in front of him.

The tracker on it might have allowed the others to find where we were. It all depended on the 4G range. My own phone wasn’t anywhere near as snazzy and up to date as his. Not only that, it had been confiscated by Phineas. Just in case my sister tried to call.

Looking down at the muck in front of me, I thought of my sister and brother. A memory of when we’d been five flashed into my mind. We’d been digging in the garden, searching for dinosaur bones. Chris had been the head archaeologist, instructing us girls to dig deeper. We’d had a lot of fun, finally finding a small treasure that he’d buried for us to find. When our father had come home later that night, he’d tripped down the hole we’d left, hurting his foot. The story had been a favourite of ours, especially when our father laughed with us.

“What are you smiling at?” Killick asked gently.

My heart squeezed as my eyes filled with tears. Our childhood was fairly happy, complete with Chris looking out for us. Until he died.

“Just a memory of us playing archaeologist. I just can’t…” Running my hand over my face, I cringed at the drying mud. “Never mind.”

Ducking my head, I avoided Killick’s gaze. What was wrong with me? I had been about to confess how fucking painful it was that my sister had abandoned me, just like my brother. I couldn’t show weakness to the man who would rule us one day.

“Your sister…” Killick’s breath exhaled. “…hasn’t been the same since Chris’ suicide. Please, don’t blame her for this.”

My throat tried to close, but I fought it with everything. Hearing the statement about my brother made every inch of my body freeze over. And yet, his compassion for my sister came as a surprise. One that I clung to.

“Did you tell your father that?” My voice was shaky, uneven.

Just one wrong word and I would crumble. He was right, my sister hadn’t been herself since we’d lost my brother. I’d had to be the one to take control and keep her on track. Clearly I hadn’t done my job properly.

Killick’s gaze narrowed on me, but I couldn’t quite read what he was thinking. “Yes.”

He was protecting my sister, despite her betrayal of the pack. Why? He had hardly spoken to us since Chris had drowned, which confirmed our suspicion that he hadn’t helped our brother.

“I can see the judgement in your eyes,” he muttered. “The hatred and blame.”

Swallowing, I shook my head and blinked, glancing away. The air was thick with unexpressed emotions, bouncing around between the pair of us. My skin itched from it, aching to be scratched. Not by him, though. That was a no go zone, despite the heat that suddenly flooded my core at the thought of him touching me.

“There’s no point in talking about it now–”

“There’s every point in talking about it,” he interrupted bitingly, “you both made me an enemy, even though he was my best friend.”

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