“Telling them will accomplish nothing,” I said evenly. “Well, it might get me killed faster.”
The grin slid off Ryker’s face. “What are you talking about?”
“They already think I’m a traitor,” I said casually, like that accusation didn’t still sting. “If I were a spy, it would make sense to try to get close to one of you, and you’re the obvious choice. Warrick is a psychopath, Cade is too closed off, and Bastian . . .” I wrinkled my nose. “Bastian knows too well how that game works. He would be difficult to trick.”
“But I wouldn’t be?” A hint of the wolf flashed in his eyes.
“Out of all of them?” I arched an eyebrow. “You’re the lost boy rescued by the Alphas who grew up to be a killer.”
“Warrick is a killer, too,” he said flatly.
“Sure, but he is cold and efficient in his kills.” I shrugged. “I’ve heard the stories of your fights. You go into a frenzy and slaughter anything in your path. Like a . . .” I trailed off, not willing to say it, even if I knew why the rumors existed.
“Like a rabid wolf.” He prowled closer, and my heart raced. If I were sane, it would have been from fear, but I clearly wasn’t sane based on the aching need building between my thighs. Ryker stalked around me, and I turned to keep him in my sights. “One bad day away from losing myself to the call.”
There was a longing in his voice, and in that moment, I knew he did hear that call. A flicker of fear pierced my heart. Not of Ryker, but for him.
His lips brushed my shoulder. “Would you want me to chase you, Rynn?” I shivered as he kissed the crook of my neck. “To hunt you down?”
“Who says I wouldn’t be the one doing the hunting?” I breathed out.
Warm breath danced across my skin as Ryker chuckled. “We could plan a trip away this summer. Just you and me.”
Reality slammed back into me.
“You’ll have to find someone else to play with.” I put some distance between us before I turned to face him. “Rinse off before you leave.”
“And if I don’t?” he challenged. “What if I go home smelling of you and your sweet pu?—”
I punched him in the jaw, which only made Ryker laugh, so I aimed a kick at his balls next. He found that less amusing.
“Fuck,” he grunted after twisting his hip to take the hit on his side. I seized the opportunity and shoved him hard. If he hadn’t been off-balance, he would have recovered, but he had been worried about protecting his manhood, so he went flying straight into the water.
“This isn’t happening again,” I told him. “Go find someone else to hate fuck you. Shouldn’t be that hard.”
Then I hightailed it for the exit.
“We both know you won’t be able to stay away,” he called after me. “You could have chosen that pretty boy from the outpost, but you chose me instead.”
I halted midstep. He’d struck a chord, but not the way he’d intended. I hadn’t had a choice in my life since I’d been fifteen. Ryker hadn’t forced me to be with him, but it wasn’t like I had any other options if I wanted to get laid. My path had been decided for me long ago, and that had led to so many choices being stripped away.
The memory of the green-eyed boy fleeing from me flashed in my mind’s eye.
I turned enough so I could look Ryker in the eye, a cold fury burning in my soul. “I will never choose you.”
Chapter Four
Cade
“It’s almost dark.” I stared out into the forest from my study on the third floor. Most of the outer wall had been torn away, giving me a wide view of the cloudless winter sky and the rapidly vanishing sun. It didn’t take long for the monsters to come out once the sun slipped below the horizon, which was something Rynn had learned very quickly her first week here.
Since then, she’d never pushed it and had always made it back inside with plenty of time to spare, but then, aside from those first few days, she’d never been this angry at us before.
“If Ryker gets hurt trying to find her, Warrick will peel the flesh from her bones,” Bastian drawled from his perch. When we’d knocked the wall out, he’d made sure to leave some of the stones intact on the side to create a ledge for himself.
Bastian loved high places. It was a cat thing.
Just like being obstinate was a wolf thing.
