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I hadn’t seen him since the night he gathered the pack together to watch the challenge. Based on what Aleks told me, I know that was only the beginning. Walker will expect to parade his captured vampire out sooner than later, but he’s going to want to starve him a little first. Anything to make the show more entertaining, right?
Three days pass. I only run into Elizabeth one other time, and she finishes her meal quickly when she sees me heading her way. Before I reach her table, she’s already standing up from the table with an apologetic expression on her haunted face.
Something’s going on. My wolf is in total agreement with me, too. With Duke locked in the cage next to Trish’s, Aleks trapped behind silver bars, and Elizabeth obviously avoiding me, I feel more alone than ever—and considering I’ve been sick with missing Ryker since I left Mountainside, that’s saying something.
The distance is fucking awful. I purposely avoid reaching for the bond deep inside of me because it’s so painful; it feels like a tease to grab it, knowing that I’m stuck here while he’s back in Accalia. Still, I’m getting to the point where I’d do just about anything to see him again. I even think about demanding my phone back if only to hear his voice for a few minutes. Sure, I surrendered it as part of my agreement. Don’t care. My wolf is desperate for her mate, and so am I.
I busy myself in the solitude of the cabin. Elizabeth has a television, so at least I can make myself mindless binging a show. She also has a stacked bookshelf full of countless types of genres for when I need a little quiet. I curl up on the couch and keep myself content, ignoring the ever-changing rotation of wolves keeping watch over the cabin.
Walker’s agreement said I had to stay in the Wolf District for twenty-five days. It didn’t say I had to pretend like I actually planned on joining his pack.
Six days down. Nineteen to go.
I get away with hiding out for those three days before a gentle knock sounds at the front door of my borrowed cabin.
My wolf is already up, pacing around inside of me as her ears flick to and fro. Neither one of us needed the laughably gentle knock, either. The dark, oozing aura preceding this particular wolf slaps at us from more than fifty feet away. It’s almost stifling with him now that he’s so close.
I have no clue what Walker is doing out there. I’m guessing it has everything to do with me purposely staying out of his sight these last few days.
The bastard hunted me down.
Freaking wonderful.
I set my book down on the couch. Refusing to answer the door isn’t an option. With everything I know about Walker—everything I’ve learned since I’ve been here—the knock was just his way of giving the appearance of being polite. If I refuse to answer, he’ll kick in the door.
“Coming,” I call out. Then, steadying my nerves so that he can’t sense how much I loathe the idea of him entering my personal territory, I pull the door open.
He marches into the cabin like he has every right to. “Ah, there she is. My lovely, lovely daughter.”
Don’t puke, Gem, I tell myself again. It’s become a constant refrain around him.
It’s also a struggle. There’s something in the way he’s looking at me that makes my stomach turn. Before, when we met, there was always a dare written in the lines of his rugged face. Later, the hint of a challenge, almost like he’s daring me to defy him.
Now, though?
I’ve seen that look before, and it sure as hell doesn’t belong on any male who wants to tell his pack that he’s my father.
His gaze lingers on my face way longer than I’m comfortable with. When he finally glances away, looking around the empty room, I take the opportunity to put a couple feet between us.
“Elizabeth isn’t here.”
There’s a predatory look in his honey-gold eyes that I notice even as Walker smiles. He’s watching me closely again, waiting for my reaction as he says, “I know. I thought you might want some... privacy.”
That’s exactly what Elizabeth had said. As much as I didn’t like it, it does make some sense. Privacy is an Alpha’s privilege. Just like how the Alpha’s cabin in Mountainside is set apart from the rest of the pack, Walker made a show of respecting me being a female alpha by kicking Elizabeth out of her cabin so that I could be alone.
At least, that’s what I thought—until Walker slams the door behind him.
I gulp. The action is reflexive. The last thing I want to do is show this wolf any fear, but there’s something about the way his strong body looms over me that has my back up.
If I step away from him, it’ll be a retreat. An act of submission. If I don’t… yeah. There is no don’t.
I move out of his reach.
“Is there a reason you’re here?” Besides being a creepy, leering bastard?
“Of course.”
But he’s not going to just come out and tell me, is he?
