AllFreeNovel
Share Us
NIGHT
According to Mom, Bryn had not only stopped trying to escape, but she’d also requested to work in the kitchens. I didn’t like it, but we would benefit from the extra pair of hands, so I couldn’t find a good reason to refuse her request. I had no choice but to allow it.
I’d wondered if this wasn’t all a ruse orchestrated by Bryn. If she could get me to drop my guard, she would have more opportunities to escape. That was the excuse I used as I watched her all through dinner. Though I finished two helpings of food, I couldn’t remember the taste or the texture of the meal—hell, I could hardly recall eating at all. I had hoped the time away from Bryn would give me the opportunity to regain control of myself, but the moment she was nearby, she was all I could focus on.
After lunch ended, I stormed back into my cabin, throwing open the door and slamming it shut behind me. I dropped down on my sofa, head in my hands, and when I closed my eyes, it was Bryn’s soft face, tight body, and those damnable steel-blue eyes that I saw in my mind.
She was everywhere. Ever since she left my cabin, I swore I could smell her at the most random times of the day, in places of the house she had never been to. I could hear her voice echoing in the halls, a ghost tormenting me with her closeness. I tried to stay far away from Mom’s cabin (and my own damn cabin with her aroma permeating every corner of it) during the day, but occasionally, I caught glimpses of her working in the gardens. Apparently, she was really talented; Mom couldn’t stop talking about how overjoyed she was to see the new growths and the quality of the vegetables.
I could make the rules even stricter and forbid her from leaving the cabin at all, but even I couldn’t be so cruel as deny her the small glimpses of freedom she had. And, if I’d confined Bryn to the cabin, she wouldn’t have appeared with Octavia for lunch, and I wouldn’t have seen the smile on Tavi’s face.
Thinking of Tavi made me lean against the backrest of my couch and stare up at the ceiling. Tavi had been through a lot, to put it lightly. Though she was young, she was one of the wolves who had suffered the most at the hands of the Kings not that long ago. Because of her hardships, I made sure to teach her how to fight, though I never expected her to be a hunter or a scout or a sentinel. Though Tavi had friends, it wasn’t uncommon to see her wandering the grounds by herself, her melancholy expression nothing like the light smile she normally wore.
But I hadn’t seen Tavi going off by herself at all these last few days. In fact, she had seemed even more lively than usual. She was so much like a little sister to me that it made me happy to see her smile—even if it meant she had befriended the girl I had taken prisoner.
Every time Bryn and I had spoken, it ended in an argument or a snark-off. How had she managed to make friends in the short time she’d been here? When all she had for me was sarcasm and callousness, how had she made such huge impressions not only on Dom and Mom but on Tavi, too?
And it wasn’t just those three—it seemed she was well on her way to charming the entire pack. The only interactions I’d witnessed between Bryn and my pack were born from curiosity, friendliness, or interest. The latter point always sent my stress level as high as it would be on an intense mission. I had fought to keep the jealousy off my face, but whenever I watched Bryn receiving attention from a male wolf during the meal, I couldn’t keep from breaking plates and bending utensils in my hands.
I told myself I was reacting so intensely because I wanted to make sure the interactions were safe ones, but the truth was that I could hardly stomach the sight of them drooling over her. It made my wolf growl and snap his fangs.
Dom, who never failed to capitalize on moments when I was off my game, had talked nonstop about Bryn through lunch. He went on and on about how much he liked her, how quickly the younger wolves had accepted her, and how interesting she was. It got to the point that I chastised him for caring so much about a human woman—though I couldn’t admit to feeling the same fascination about her.
As if thinking of my beta had summoned him, I heard a knock on the door. I knew it was Dom.
“Come in,” I said.
Dom entered, closing the door behind him. As he looked at me, he gave a low whistle. “Wow, you look as tired as you sound.” He plopped down on the sofa next to me. “I bet I have some news that’ll wake you up.”
I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. I was in no mood to rise to Dom’s teasing. “What is it?”
“We received a reply.”
Those four words had me sitting up again. I turned my full attention his way. “And?”
“He agreed to your terms, but he said that this can only go down on Kings’ territory.”
“Yes.” They would all be my lands anyway; it made sense that the battle should happen there.
“We need to prep the team—who should we bring with us?”
I had already considered this question. “The same group. Minus Jasper and the other juniors we brought with us before.”
Dom nodded. “Of course.”
This was good. Troy had agreed to the terms easily, and before long, word that I had challenged Troy would spread across the Idaho panhandle.
“Did Redwolf say anything else?” I asked.
“Yes. He talked about Bryn.” Dom’s eyes grew dark, and his placid expression turned into a grimace. “You were right—the fucker wants her back. Badly.”
My lips pulled away from my teeth as my wolf growled. “What did he say?”
“He said that if he found out anyone had touched her or mated her, he would kill her in front of her mother and place her body parts along the Kings’ compound lines. He wants her, but he wants her pure, otherwise the deal is off.”
I gripped the armrest of the couch unconsciously. My hand had shifted, and my claws drew lines through the upholstery as I clenched it into a fist. Bryn was human, so it shouldn’t matter to a wolf whether she was a virgin. He was probably saying that just to remind me of the way I’d found Bryn. It was a tactic to get inside my head—to intimidate, to make himself sound like the big, bad Alpha he wanted everyone to believe he was.
But all the idiot had done was piss me off.
