AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He smirked, and my cheeks heated. I had to watch myself around him.
“You know, I never really thought about if I wanted to be alpha or not. My dad only had one kid, so it was just what was expected of me. There weren’t really any other options.”
“What happens if someone turns down the position?” I asked. “Now that I know the alpha powers aren’t transferred by a priest…”
“That’s a good question,” he said. “If you kill the alpha, the powers will transfer to you. But I’m not sure if someone walked away. Maybe they’d have to die to pass them on.”
“Makes it pretty impossible to turn down the job,” I said.
He nodded, and he suddenly looked like he was somewhere far away from this conversation. When he refocused, he planted a forced smile on his face. It startled me that I was able to tell the difference already. But it was even more alarming that I was concerned about him.
I had decided to make a go of being friends with my captors, but that didn’t mean I was ready to unpack the attraction I felt for Luke.
“We should start you with some basic training today if you’re feeling up for it,” he said.
“I’d like that. How much time do we have before we’ll do the whole thing where we put both our lives in danger for me to confront my dad?” I asked.
“We have a few weeks still. But you will be perfectly safe, I promise,” he said, but again, the expression looked forced, as if he didn’t believe his own words.
Or maybe I really didn’t know him well enough to make those kinds of assessments. “Well, if we only have a few weeks, we might as well get started.”
“Good.” He stood, then grabbed both our coffee mugs.
“Hey,” I protested. “I wasn’t finished with that.”
“We’ll stop by the cafe later. Their coffee is better than mine, anyway.”
He wasn’t lying. His was tolerable, but the cafe was dreamy. Especially that caramel latte he brought me yesterday. I was practically drooling thinking about it.
“We’ll start with some shifting drills and work our way up,” he said.
My eyes widened in panic. “Shifting? Already? Shouldn’t we start with like lifting weights or learning to throw a punch?”
He chuckled, the sound sending a ripple of pleasure down my spine.Dammit. Why did he make me feel like this?
“Your best defense and offense will be your wolf form. Besides, I need to see what I’m working with to know where to go from there,” he said.
I took a deep breath. I was the one who asked for this. I needed this. If I could defend myself, things might turn out okay for me. “Fine.”
* * *
My heart racedas we entered the tree line beyond the trimmed lawn surrounding Luke’s house. The scent of pine and dirt usually made me feel calm and relaxed. But under the cover of the trees, I no longer felt safe. It was as if I was waiting for someone to attack me all over again.
Something scuttled up a tree and I jumped, turning toward the noise, fists up in a pathetic attempt to defend myself.
“It’s a rabbit.” Luke’s voice was calm, without any signs of amusement. He closed the distance between us and grasped my upper arms firmly before slowly lowering them.
His fingers lingered on my arms, holding onto me with a comforting warmth. It took me a moment to realize that I wasn’t flinching away from his touch. I swallowed hard and licked my lips, suddenly overly aware of how close we were.
“You’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you, okay?” He released me.
I nodded. “Okay.”
“We can go somewhere else, if that helps. But this is going to be the most private. The patrols don’t come on my property.” His jaw tensed. “Though maybe they should start. Blake would have known that. He just had to wait until you were alone.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “Sometimes people are very good at hiding their true intentions.”
“Right. Okay, so we should move on,” he said quickly. “You want to shift for me so I can see where we’re starting from?”
