Page 17 of The Sacred Wolf

“Oh, she knew you weren’t.” Sebastian pulled his fingers down his face until his chin rested on his clasped fist. “That’s why she hated you, of course. She has to dress like she just left her shift at a strip club to—”

“Don’t.” I held up a hand. “Don’t put her down to lift me up. She’s awful, but… it’s not easy being the spare.”

“She’s not the spare anymore.” Sebastian made a face about that word. He didn’t have any siblings due to complications from his own birth so it wasn’t a term he’d grown up hearing. “She’s a Beta. So, she couldn’t have claimed their throne even if I’d ripped Tony’s throat out.” He shook his head. “She shouldn’t have been there today. We all agreed to leave our Betas at home to be sure no one else was tampering with our brains, but those two are joined at the hip.” He wrinkled his nose. “It’s a bit unseemly, given that he’s been Alpha for three years and still no mate.”

“Well, I’m not touching that.” I let go of my strap to hold up both hands. “All I wanted to say is that you shouldn’t assume if two females don’t like each other. It’s about superficial jealousy. We have deeper feelings too, you know. And I would feel pretty pissed if I had to pup-sit Tony for the rest of my life. Evan is hard enough.”

“I know you have feelings,” Sebastian said quietly, and then his face hardened. “But Tony is the reason I was so insistent that you come with me, don’t you? I couldn’t leave you alone with a male who would speak about any female with such blatant disrespect, let alone you and my mother.”

“Oh.” I pressed my lips together and looked down. “I see.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate his chivalry, it was just… I guess I had convinced myself he believed he needed me for this mission. I couldn’t imagine why, but I thought that maybe he could. But that wasn’t it at all.

Sebastian sighed and a moment later, his cap fell on the floor. I looked up sharply, thinking he had thrown it in anger, but found him leaning back against the window with both hands buried in his mane. “Everything I say to you is wrong.”

“That’s not my fault,” I said.

“What was it this time?” He straightened abruptly and rolled his shoulders. “I thought you wanted me to be more protective after…” He swallowed hard.

“I do,” I said quickly, pushing back the subway memories. “I do want that in… any male I happen to be spending time with when danger arises. Not because I can’t do it for myself, but because—”

“I know you can do it for yourself,” Sebastian blurted. “I’ve seen you fight twice, and you would’ve wiped the floor with Tony if he pissed you off enough.”

“Well, I would’ve tried.” I laughed. “But I wasn’t properly trained. Only just enough to, I don’t know, protect all the pups I’m meant to pop out. Not for battle. No, Kiana got all of that. Everything. And then she didn’t even show up for the meeting.”

“You lack Kiana’s precision,” Sebastian conceded, “but you make up for it in passion, of which she has very little. Perhaps even none.”

“No passion?” I was really laughing now. “How can you say that? Have you met her?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” He grimaced. “But passion is not the same as ambition, of which she admittedly has plenty. Or so I thought.” He rubbed his chin. “Funny that while she was missing, a bunch of humans turned up dead in a park.”

My stomach twisted, and not just because the tram was experiencing a little turbulence as the wind picked up over the river. Grasping the overhead straps one by one like a pup crossing the monkey bars, I made my way over to the bench and slumped next to Sebastian, whose knees were spread so wide I could have easily dropped onto the triangle of bench visible between them and used the solid slab of his chest as a far more comfortable back rest. But this would have been a weird time.

“I’ve had that thought too,” I whispered. “But I really don’t think she’d stoop that low. I think it’s more likely she missed the meeting because she wanted to send a message that she doesn’t need anybody.”

Sebastian shifted toward me, knee knocking against mine. He didn’t wince, so I didn’t jerk away. “We have to consider the possibility that she’s still under Damian’s influence. Maybe mentally or maybe just emotionally, but dangerous either way. I truly cannot wrap my head around his intentions, but he seems to have convinced her she can only mate with me, and that might lead her to extremes.”

His eyes drifted toward the window, embarrassed I supposed by the mention of mating, but then his face flushed a greenish-gray, and he practically flung his gaze onto the cap lying at his feet. He snatched it up and began wringing it with both hands.

“Extremes like bribing you with your mother’s safe return?” I asked gently.

He nodded once, and a lock of black hair flopped over his closest eye. The desire to brush it back into place and let my hand land on his broad shoulder was almost insurmountable. Almost. But not quite. I folded my arms, tucking both fists safely into my pits where they couldn’t make this any harder for him.

“You would accept the offer,” I said with no need for a question mark since I already knew the answer. And hated it every bit as much as I loved him for it.

“Yes.”

The expected word fit like a key into the lock on the film canister containing the montage reel of what that would look like. Kiana in Sebastian’s arms. Kiana in Sebastian’s bed. Kiana in Sebastian’s whelping nest. My wolf bristled with rage, and my claw tips dug into the flesh of my palms. It wasn’t jealousy—okay, maybe a little—but the same righteous anger that had prompted me to deny her offer to run away unscathed and let her have him. He was a person. Not a prize stud.

“Is this why you’ve been avoiding me?” I asked. “Why you’ve kept me in the dark about all that’s been happening? You didn’t want me to know that you suspect my sister is still working with Damian to coerce you into mating?”

“Avoiding you?” Sebastian lifted his head, brown eyes brimming with confusion. “I’m trying to give you space. Remember? You said you needed time to find yourself?”

“Well, yes, but—”

“How could you do that if I were dumping all my Alpha concerns on you like some sort of…” He trailed off and shook his head. “I was only trying to protect your mental space as well, Elyse. You’ve got more than enough on your plate, and we can’t have you losing focus and letting Evan reveal himself.”

His eyes twitched at the mention of my friend’s name, and mine rolled almost to the back of my head. I considered explaining to him, once again, that in spite of Evan faux-claiming me—and Sebastian, for that matter—Evan was never going to turn straight, but decided against it. Sebastian would figure it out eventually. The important thing for now was that he hadn’t intentionally been snubbing me or treating me like a child, but had only been trying to honor my wishes.

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