Eight

"What are you doing here?" I ask, completely baffled.

"Come on, now, you haven't known me to be relentless, have you? I said I want you to come with me and nothing will stand in the way of that."

I shake my head, unable to comprehend this.

"Do you have any idea how crazy this is? My life is already in danger as it is, I don't appreciate you trying to worsen the odds of my survival..." I blurt out, regretting the words the moment they leave my mouth. I pray he doesn't read anything into it, but goddess, does he have a keen mind.

He does read into it.

He moves closer to me, a hint of worry in his face.

"What do you mean your life is in danger?"

"We are not here to party are we? we are preparing for battle, which puts my life in danger, I should think."

"I thought it would be clear by now that I don't want to hurt you. You are my mate, reason why I want you on my side before I attack. I can't attack with you here. You are delaying my progress."

"I came here to fight you, and I will. Despite you being my mate, I am loyal to my pack. It would be in our best interest if we rejected each other because..." I hesitate, finding it hard to say another word.

He takes a step closer, staring right into my eyes, his gaze intimidating.

"Because? Complete your sentence."

"Well, as far as I know, I am not..." I turn around to say the last word to the entrance of the tent. "Gay."

"Neither am I." He says, appearing thoughtful.

"Then that settles it. Stop trying to take me with you. We are going to fight you, and we are going to win, as usual. And we can forget we were ever fated mates."

"I know it doesn't make sense that I want to take you with me before I attack..."

"No, it doesn't. It is completely surprising, the same way it is surprising that you keep finding your way into our midst without being detected. The same way it is surprising that, despite you having this power to be here without being detected, you choose not to kill us all. Which leads me to believe that, for you, killing must be a sport and you must enjoy doing it, waiting for the right moment even when you can just do it right here."

Finally, his hand reaches to touch my shoulder. He's been making small movements towards this moment, I sensed it, and the most frustrating thing is that I anticipate his touch with everything in me.

"You are nervous. I can smell that. You need to calm down. I am going to answer your questions. But not right here, because one of your "roommates" might come in at any moment."

He is right. One of the guys might walk in at any moment, but it doesn't mean I am going anywhere with him. He is still the enemy despite us having had a few conversations. My loyalty to my pack is more important than whatever this is.

"I am not going anywhere with you. Just tell me right here, right now, why you don't kill your enemy when you can come right into our midst without us noticing anything."

"Fine." He lets go of my shoulders, and I release a tiny sigh of relief. I was afraid his hand was going to slide down and feel my breasts.

"Another thing I want to ask...did you kill another soldier for you to obtain that uniform?"

I slide a look down his body. The navy blue material fits snugly on his body, doing nothing to hide his muscled body. None of our soldiers look this good in the uniform and a stranger has no business looking so good in an outfit he stole.

"I am not that cowardly, to start killing my enemies when they don't see it coming. No, I only attack when my enemies are aware. And I will remind you that I killed that man because he was touching you. You seem to forget."

"Great," I walk over to a bench and sit down, crossing my legs.

"Now explain to me how you manage to get here without being detected."

"Simple. Because I am a Lycan. Has no one ever mentioned that to you? I am the last of the Lycans, which means that, even if I wanted to kill you all in this camp without engaging in battle, it would prove impossible. You are too many. So all I can do is use my powers to stalk my enemy, learn his weakness, and then attack."

"So the rumours are true. You were indeed a family of Lycans."

He nods. "That's right. And a Lycans' movements are as quiet as a shadow and he leaves no scent behind." Then his face suddenly turns serious.

"I am leaving now, and I am offering one more chance to take you with me," he glances at my face and rolls his eyes. "You thought I was going to take you by force? I told you I am not a monster."

"Well, that's not what I heard. But my answer is no. I am not going with you. See you in battle, Mr Santiago."

"You are going to regret this. You don't want to be on my opposing side..."

"Oh, but I do. It's why I came here, isn't it?"

Without another word, he pulls his cap a little lower over his face and vanishes through the entrance.

The way my life is going at the moment, like a very bad movie. It is making my head reel...

As though waiting for Santiago to come out of the tent, my two friends walk in, bearing some news to share. Their faces alight with excitement, they enter the tent one after the other.

"Have you heard? There's a girl in our camp, and the Alpha Prince is searching for her."

"Brave little thing."

"How interesting it is going to be when she is found! I mean, pretending to be a man just so she'd get a taste of what it's like to fight? Brave indeed. I would take such a woman as my chosen mate any day."