Dean didn’t knock on her bedroom door when he entered Kiera’s bedroom. He believed she’d have to get over him sharing her intimate spaces with him. Kiera looked up from the window seat where she sat and watched the late afternoon. “You’re back. Why? Are you bored already?” “Really? You’re going to be rude like that to your Alpha and mate?” He knew now from Ellie that Kiera’s healing ability still worked for her, and she would heal completely in a matter of days. But for now, there’d be no mating between them. Dean would need to satisfy himself with being close to her. “Really Dean? This is just plain weird even for your usual games. My mate? Really? Why would you choose that? So you can lead me along and, at the critical moment, reject me?” Dean knew she’d not be a pushover, but he’d not expected Kiera to be his hostile. What brought this on? Sure, some she-wolves fought the bond that started the mating, but this… “You think we’re
“That’s it. You shouldn’t be on your feet, let alone out of bed. Since you aren’t taking the healer’s orders seriously, then I, as your Alpha and mate, will take it on as my responsibility to make you adhere to her orders.” “Do you hear yourself, Dean? Ordering me around. Claiming I’m your mate and still part of your pack. It’s like you’re ignoring anything that contradicts your world view or some such thing.” “I don’t care whether it’s petty or rude. I will bend your will and prove to you that you are, in fact, mine in both aspects.” “Oh, you wouldn’t dare. If someone found out, you did that to have someone to have sex with you. You’d look like a weak fool.” “Look around Kiera. It’s your word against mine. Who do you think people will believe? Think hard and long. Now, are you getting back into bed or am I going to force you into bed? I have no problem tying you to the headboard to keep you there. You know. That may be a good idea. I belie
Kiera woke up in a dark room to the sound of someone’s soft snores. Wondering where she was and why she was so warm and felt like she had a weight on her. It didn’t take her long to trace the soft snores in her ear the few inches to Dean’s face. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” To her dismay, the jerk wad was fast asleep, and he was cuddling her. What was going on? She wouldn’t have taken him for a cuddler. Heck, she’d had to suffer listening to Judy Davis whine at lunch while she dated him. He’d kick her out of bed after sex because he wanted to sleep alone. She must be in an alternate reality. This was too weird. Kiera was annoyed with him. What right did he have to abuse his Alpha presence to make her sleep like that? She stifled a groan they’d been rubbing against each other like a couple of horny preteens. She was a grown ass woman. What was she doing? He’d mentioned he wanted to mate with her. Then he stops that by telling her she had to be fully healed
Dean left the bedroom with several emotions and things stuck in his head. Kiera, the strangers in his territory, his enforcer seeing them like that, and everything else that’s going on. “Now, details. Do we have eyes on these strangers or are they wandering aimlessly through our territory?” “I’m not sure Alpha Jonas. I was told to bring this news. The Beta sent me because he headed out as soon as the information arrived here. He was in the study doing something.” Dean rolled his eyes. They were playing telephone tag with the reports. “I believe this is where I ask you not to breathe a word of what you saw in there. I have enough damage control to do after the mess Elder Evans and his lies have done.” “Oh, I would never…” “I know how wolves talk. Please don’t promise what you can’t or won’t uphold. I just ask you to remember when you are creating the good and the bad within the story that you remember that Elder Evans’ punishment is permanent. Kie
Kiera disliked how Dean made her promise to stay here. There’s nothing for her to do. She’d missed several shifts at the Rocking Horse. Kiera wondered if she had a job to do. Then Dean avoided telling her anything about what Trisha got herself into when she went looking for her. All she could do was sit here and twiddle her thumbs. Kiera struggled not to think about how they’d ended up sleeping in the same bed. That was after she’d convinced herself that they’d not done anything more foolish than it looked like. It didn’t matter really what they did with each other when they were both wolves, but now… Now she had to remember she was a Lycan and that made a difference in everyone’s eyes. Eventually, Kiera heard a knock on her door. “Come in.” She frowned because the guards were supposedly there to keep everyone one out. The door popped open and Mary walked in. “No time for pleasantries. I got food, clothes, and keys. Get we’re getting out of here.” Behind her,
Trisha sat at the breakfast table with James, wondering exactly what happened to him. This wasn’t the guy she knew growing up. He’d already been dealing with pack issues this morning. Trisha remembered a guy who liked to party hard and have his own way in all things. He got what he wanted still. She definitely had the evidence of that. After all, she was his mate, and she didn’t remember daring to imagine this as a possibility. He’d not drunk or partied in any form. He was all business. James also had a possessive streak he’d demonstrated minutes ago. Trisha left his side to get a coffee before they sat down for breakfast and on her way there, a male wolf stopped her in an empty corridor to be a pain in the butt. He hadn’t bothered to tell her his name or even asked hers. The fool came on to her. It was his mistake; he stepped too close to her and caught James’ scent clinging to her too late for his safety. He made her feel scared, and that’s what James found
James returned to his office in the study. It was small and cramped, there wasn’t any privacy for him or Keith. So it didn’t take long for Keith to mention something. “So, having a bad day?” “You can say that.” “And it’s barely past breakfast time.” “You had to go there.” “You chose to mate with her. Want to talk about it? I heard something about you putting one of our new members in the healing centre. What happened?” Keith knew exactly what had happened soon after it had happened. He wanted James to vent on something other than himself because that’s when he did his best problem solving. “He got handsy with Trisha. How screwed up is that? He’s barely a member, and he put his paws on his Luna, my mate. I have to make sure everyone knows she’s mine, and she’s, their Luna. This is ridiculous and I feel we missed something in his background check.” “I’ll get someone on it. What are they looking for?” “I feel he’s done this before. He t
James listened to Trisha’s call to one of her friends. If what Kiera was saying and what he knew about what they found there. That body may have been a man who claimed to be a father to both himself and Dean. True or not, that complicates a lot of things. The girls discussed it so thoroughly that he and Keith only needed a look to be on the same page. The black market ring for shifter blood and now they assumed Lycan was in the wind. As was the local Lycan appeared to be. “I can’t sit on this, can’t I?” “Hey, you could have if you hadn’t mated with his sister. Now you can have her angry for listening in on her call, angry at you for not telling her what you found up there, and now you want to tell her brother where his potential mate has fled to. Honestly, you made your bed and now you have to sleep with the wrinkles.” “That’s the weirdest twisted screw up on a saying I have ever heard. But I get it. I’m stuck in a catch-22. If I don’t say anything an