AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When tears began to roll down her face, he closed the gap between them and pulled her into his arms. “I know you’re used to being independent, but you are just a human and don’t have the strength, speed, or fierceness to face down a full-blooded male shifter. I’m sorry, but I can’t let you go to town without me.”
He felt her defiant anger shift to sorrow and resignation as her tears continued to soak into his shirt.
“So I’m a prisoner,” she whispered against his chest.
“No, dancer, you’re not a prisoner, you are the alpha queen of the Waverly pack. You need protection when you leave the pack grounds. I suppose I could send a couple of the men with you, but you’ll have to listen to them and allow them to protect you.”
Katee sighed and pulled from his embrace. She looked defeated as she turned to leave. “That’s okay. Maybe I’ll go see if Clarey needs any help.”
Toren remained standing in the middle of his study long after his mate had left. He was still standing there when Duckwalked in a few minutes later.
“What did you do?”
Toren shook himself and returned to his desk. “What do you mean?”
“Your mate looked like her dog died as she headed upstairs, and you’re in here looking like you just killed it,” Duck said as he went to the bar in the corner of the room and poured whiskey into two glasses.
After setting one in the center of Toren’s desk, he sat on the couch across the room and sipped at his own.
“Well?” he encouraged when Toren didn’t respond.
“I told Katee she couldn’t go into town alone. I think I went too far in explaining why, but she doesn’t realize who she is now.”
Duck nodded. “And I’m sure you were your tactless self in that explanation too.”
Toren frowned at his beta before throwing his drink back in one gulp. “What do you mean by that?”
Duck took another sip from his glass. “You are an alpha. You’ve spent a lifetime giving orders and having people jump to fulfill them. You’ve rarely dealt with humans, and never with a human woman. Katee has relied on no one but herself for years, and now you’re telling her she can’t do something as simple as going into town for the afternoon.”
“She can’t,” Toren said with a frown.
“Then you’d better prepare yourself for one sad little mate and one hell of a case of blue balls until you can come up with a way to compromise with her on this and other issues,” Duck said.
Toren slumped back in his chair, wishing for another shot of whiskey. As shifters, they never got drunk on the stuff, but the burn going down was rather pleasant. But he also liked super spicy chili and the bite of a red-hot pepper. Sex with Katee hadbeen as hot and spicy as a ghost pepper.
Would he be able to allow Katee to go to town without him by her side?
****
Katee was halfway to the kitchen when she changed her mind and stopped. She’d offered to help Clarey the day before and received a look of horror from the little housekeeper. Apparently, the alpha queen didn’t wash dishes or fold laundry or any of the other household chores she had been doing since she was ten and her mother put her to work.
Heading up the stairs to return to Toren’s suite, she passed Duck coming down the stairs.
“Hey, Duck,” she said, trying to keep the misery out of her voice.
“Hello, Katee. You okay?”
“Sure,” she said, forcing her lips to turn into a smile. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
She kept moving up the staircase, not wanting to have any more of a conversation than that. Otherwise, she would be crying and telling Toren’s right-hand shifter all her troubles, and that was the last thing they needed. It was enough that there were a dozen pairs of eyes watching their every move and judging her, she didn’t need them gossiping about her as well.
Duck didn’t say anything further as he passed her and continued down the stairs.
Once she reached the second floor, she sped up until she was running down the hall to the double doors at the end, which led to Toren’s suite. Only when she was behind closed and locked doors did she give in to the need to sob.
She wasn’t even sure exactly why she was crying, just that she had so hoped to leave this two-room prison and do a little exploring in town. She had only visited the grocery store on her first day and had not been back since. Today, she had hoped tovisit the interesting-looking little shops she’d seen lining Main Street, and maybe see if there was a job available in one of them for her. She could not simply stay in these rooms existing for the rest of her life. She needed to work, be productive, contribute in some way, shape, or form.
Curling up on the couch, she pulled the fuzzy blanket that lay across the back around her. She turned on the television and found a channel playing an old musical and settled in.
