“Odd, how you didn’t saylove.”
“Love isn’t necessary for blood-bonding.”
“Don’t let Tess hear you say that. Or any of the women around here. They’ll hang you up by your paws.”
The image makes me laugh, but only for a moment. I can’t get those blue eyes out of my mind, or that pleading look on Angelina’s face. “We have to go back for Angelina.”
“I thought we were talking about your behavior.” He sighs. “Fine, let’s discuss the honey trap.”
I punch the wall to the right of the door, leaving a sizeable dent in the drywall. “She’s not a honey trap.”
He raises a brow, but says nothing.
“Fuck, Damien, I don’t know why she was there. Maybe it was to lure lone shifters like Carter, maybe there was another reason. We didn’t see any signs of humans or scent any nearby. But she was practically begging for us to leave. That’s not the action of a honey trap.”
“She wanted you gone because she was hiding something. Probably the humans. Hayden said she reeked of fear.”
I don’t think I’ll ever forget that bitterness that threatened to wash out her lilac scent. It had fouled the air soon after Hayden and the others appeared behind me.
“I think it was because we outnumbered her. Four males. One female.”
“Could be.”
“I want to go back.”
“You’re asking instead of demanding? That’s an improvement.”
“He can’t go back,” Hayden says as he enters.
“What the fuck do you have against me?”
“Nothing, normally. You’re the best retrieval expert we have. But you’re also not in the right mindset. It’s dangerous engaging with the enemy when you can’t think clearly. And you, Garrett, are not thinking clearly. If you were, you never would have swung at me.”
“I didn’t swing at you?” Did I? Fuck, maybe I did.
Hayden rubs his jaw. “You pack a powerful punch.”
I sink to the sofa, reaching down to my wolf, to see what he thinks. Silence greets me, as it usually does. He blames me for Marla’s death, even though I wasn’t there. I should have been there. Which is why I can’t ignore Angelina. I won’t let another female die because of me.
“You’re not his only victim today.” Damien says to Hayden, pointing to the hole I left in his wall. “By the way, you’re fixing that, Garrett.”
Fingers snap in front of me, yanking me out of that black hole that gets stronger every time I go near it. When my eyes finally focus, Hayden pulls his hands back. He and Damien trade glances.
“I’m not leaving her there.”
“You’re off the rescue detail.”
I bolt to my feet. “You can’t do that!”
“Last I checked, I’m alpha here.”
“And when you were going feral?—”
“What? You came racing down from the border to help me?”
“That’s not fair. I didn’t know what was going on. You pushed Jake and me away.”
“Where you’d be safe.” Ever since he mated and Tess settled his wolf, Damien’s been calmer, harder to rile. Which is why he thinks I need to find a female to blood-bond.
