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I understood her trust issues, but I couldn’t accept her unwillingness to trust me when I’d done nothing to earn her distrust.
“Have I given you a single reason not to trust me?”
Tori folded her arms and stared at me. “Not yet, but you will.”
The way she frustrated me made my head pound. I took a bite of my chicken, my eyes slanted on her. This was a young woman on the run from hunters. There was a vulnerability in her eyes that forced me to stop strategizing how to make her see reason and remember what she had been through. I needed to be patient with her. I would accept this as a challenge and help her through it.
“I’m an open book,” I said. “Ask me anything. I’ll answer it all if it helps your trust issues.”
She uncrossed her arms and rested her hands in her lap. “I admit I have a hard time trusting people. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful that you’re helping me with a cover story and an alibi. What I don’t understand is why you’re doing any of this. What’s in it for you? What do you get out of having me pose as your fiancée?”
“You’re right. I do get something out of this,” I replied. “Firstly, you’ll help me better understand the hunters. I need to know what I can do to better protect Blackwood Creek’s shifters from them. I meant it when I said this place was to be a haven for all creatures. But I haven’t met anybody who’s been running from them the way you have. I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through or how you survived, but I’ve got a hunch it was rough. Secondly, it will give me a break from the families in town—especially the shifters in town who insist that I find a mate to continue the Blackwood family line.”
Tori picked up her fork and resumed eating, making me ease up. I wanted to make sure she ate enough. She was far too thin. How many times had she gone without food?
“That’s a very archaic way of thinking,” she answered. “You could pick any girl off the street to use as your fake fiancée and shield you from the hordes of women who probably drop at your feet every day. You didn’t need to swoop in and help me when I might actually be guilty.” She pointed her fork at me. “You might have a hero alpha-bossy-pants complex.”
Amusement flooded my system, as it often did around her. Tori made things more fun and exciting. “I’m almost positive you didn’t do it.”
“See?Almost. Not completely. When we were in the tavern, you implied we were together during the moonlight run. Please, tell me what happened when my monster got free.”
At the mention of her wolf, she cut into her chicken with such force, the knife clanged against the plate. It gutted me that she’d called her wolf a monster when she was anything but. She was beautiful and strong.
“If you weren’t struggling with the effects of being a lone wolf for so long, and if you weren’t constantly fighting your wolf, it’d be easier for you to shift,” I said. “As shifters, we have to maintain a balance with our inner animals. If you found harmony with your wolf, you’d be able to remember every moment of running, playing, and experiencing freedom in your other form. I’m sure you’d have loved every moment because I did. We had a fun night together. For a little while, at least.”
Her irritation slammed into me. The tension darkened the atmosphere around us and made the air in the room heavy.
“You can save the shifter sales pitch because I’m not interested. All I want to know is what the fuck happened.”
Images of running through the woods together in our wolf forms played in my head. Nipping playfully and chasing each other, then stopping to howl at the moon. The way we’d harmonized was beautiful, something I’d never forget.
From the start, I’d realized the little wolf was in complete control and was far more animalistic, violent, and feral than any other shifter I’d seen before. But those qualities didn’t detract from her beauty, her dark soulful eyes and multicolored brown fur. She was a sight to behold. I wished she could see herself the way I saw her.
Excitement mounted inside me. I wanted to experience that with her again. I had to figure out how to convince her to let her poor caged wolf out again, and next time, I wanted Tori to be present in her mind to enjoy it. Still, trying to convince her how good and beneficial shifting was could take a lot of time because she was clearly terrified of it.
“I was running with the other wolves when we heard your howl. I had Clawson keep an eye on the other wolves as I sought you out. I had to get to you. There was no way around it. Your howl called to me. When I caught up with you, we started running through the forest together. We had a lot of fun, played with each other. Your wolf was starved for it.”
I couldn’t interpret what Tori was thinking. She had one hell of a poker face.
“Your wolf started to get restless, and you started moving and venturing closer to town. You must’ve scented the humans and wanted to go hunting.”
The bland expression on her face vanished, and in a flash, she paled, her body tensing and her breathing coming out in short, rapid bursts.
“I herded you farther into the woods and distracted your wolf from going into town by hunting other animals. She was having fun and forgot about humans and the town. You were tenacious in the hunt and constantly played with my wolf.”
Even with the feral side in control, she’d acted like a pup. She’d thrown herself into everything as if she’d never done it before. Having heard how Tori spoke of her wolf, I truly believed that her wolf had never beenallowedto be a wolf. Tori was at war with herself, and that disconnect was slowly driving her mad.
“Then another wolf, Zander Elkins, sniffed us out.”
I lifted my brow to her in query, checking to see if the name rang any bells for her. She shook her head, then paused for a second. “Wait, Margo mentioned a Zander earlier.”
“You need to stay away from him.” Catching Tori’s amused and defiant look, I added, “He’s a shifter, but he’s a troublemaker. He’ll cause more grief than anything you need to be dealing with.” I realized this statement wouldn’t help her attitude toward shifters, but she needed to understand. “Please, Tori.”
Relief settled in my bones when Tori nodded. I was thrilled that she’d listened to me on the issue and trusted my opinion.
“Zander is the son of one of the town’s human residents, Elliot Elkins. He’s an old coot, but to answer your question, yes, Zander is also an alpha.”
“Two alphas in one area. Is that normal?”
