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Those words grated against my ears like nails on a chalkboard, but I couldn’t show it. Instead, I walked out, with Ayla close behind me.
I wanted to launch into conversation, but I had the good sense to wait until we were truly alone, walking along one of the faint paths in the wolf-run.
“So, what were you talking about before I arrived?” I said, cracking a jovial smile like I wasn’t fishing. But I was. I wanted to know everything about my mate’s day. What had upset her? What made her laugh?Everything.
“A lot,” Ayla said somewhat cagily, which certainly made me curious.
“Such as?”
“Well, your sister has a crush.”
A crush? What? Since when did my little sister even notice boys? She was a grown woman, but… but…
I really had missed out on so much.
“Is it a bad choice? Because you seemed upset.”
“Oh, uh, no, it’s just a harmless thing.”
“Are you certain? I was sensing a lot of vitriol through our bond.”
“Well, she finally told me why her parents treat her differently.” Ayla’s voice was quite tense, and my stomach sank.
“It’s a horrible situation, but I’m glad she felt safe trusting you.”
“Yeah, I was surprised. I may have told her I was a half-shifter.”
I hadn’t been expecting it, but I took it as a good sign. Two of the most important women in my life trusting each other with something so important about their identities was certainly a big deal.
“Is that all?”
She paused, which let me know thatwasn’tall that’d happened. I waited until she was ready to speak, which, luckily, didn’t take long.
“Your uncle let slip Felicity Rathson is coming to the palace.”
“How unfortunate,” I said, trying not to let my mood sink. It looked like even more palace drama was about to fall into my lap, and I wasnotlooking forward to that.
“Is this all you have to say about it?”
Something in her tone gave me pause. There was an undertone to her words I wasn’t used to—something biting and a touch insecure.
“Ayla Everton, are youjealous?”
“What? No. I amnot!” she blurted automatically before realizing just how she sounded. “…maybe?”
“You wonderful, silly woman,” I said, pulling her into a kiss. I’d meant to keep it short and sweet, just a happy little moment, but as soon as our lips touched, I realized just how much I’d missed her, and it quickly grew bruising.
She melted into my body, her smaller form relying on me to support her. That, along with her mild envy toward Felicity, certainly stoked my ego.
I pulled myself away, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to turn her around and take her against a tree, scraping us both raw with the bark so we’d heal later in a hot bath.
Oh, what a delicious thought, but one I couldn’t indulge considering we’d get spotted. I could claim to be out with one of my men in the wolf-run—after all, I’d already visited it with Mad Dog—but they’d probably catch on if they caught me rutting into her, her legs around my waist while I…
Right. Wasn’t supposed to be thinking about that.
“You have nothing to worry about with Felicity,” I said, running my thumb along the soft lift of Ayla’s jaw. God, how I wanted to mark it with my teeth, then smooth it over with kisses. Was my rut coming up? I was drawn to Ayla, yet my attraction to her felt so much more consuming than normal, like a raging inferno simmering just below the surface.
I hoped not. My ruts came pretty rarely, especially since I took the military-grade inhibitors. I didn’t really have time to go into a sex-filled, mindless reproduction bender more than once every other year or so with the war. It wasn’t like I could find a partner at the fort. With the power imbalance, it just wouldn’t be proper.
