Of Savage and Sin (Wolves of Ossary #2)

CHAPTER FOUR

–Bain–

I HAD NEVER wanted to tear someone apart like I did Niall when his hand tightened around Naya’s slender throat in warning. It spoke to how much my inner beast cared about her despite my human half trying to keep her at arm’s length. Now I knew how detrimental she was to my wolf, and while unsettling, I could do little about it.

Unfortunately, however, it might be too late for me and my inner beast.

Adlin told me outside and then told Naya that Niall wasn’t just her maker but her mate. Worse yet, her alpha because she had lain with him, tying her to him in a way even I didn’t realize possible, or I would have stolen her away to my castle sooner and ripped Niall’s throat out myself.

Why such an intense reaction outside the obvious? It turned out if Niall was killed, his death might very well end Naya, too. According to Adlin, that could happen if a wolf went Renegade and slept with her maker. It bonded them in an irreversible way that made her his. That meant she was beyond my clutches and gave Niall a great deal of power over anyone who cared about her.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

Naya frowned at Adlin while trying to squirm away from Niall, who had pulled her lower half against him to incite my beast, and it was working.

I had chosen to come into the house as a wolf to intimidate Niall but wondered now if I should shift. If my human half might be able to push past my fear for her life and slice his throat before he hurt her more than he already had.

“Do not shift, brother,”

Tréan warned into my mind, following my thoughts. “If you do, you will arouse her, and we don’t want Niall catching that scent right now. Not until we have him on our territory.”

Our territory? What was he talking about?

I would find out soon enough but not yet. For now, I resumed inwardly fuming as Adlin told Naya he was not kidding. When she’d lain with Niall, she had given him more power over her than she realized. Enough power that he could hear her thoughts when she hadn't thought he could. Not only that, but now her inner beast was beholden to him before all others.

And nothing enraged me more.

Based on everyone’s disgruntled expressions, they felt the same way. What would this mean going forward? I might not have liked it and still enjoyed other females on the side, but despite my prior denial, had Tréan asked me to mate with Naya for the sake of our pack in the upcoming war, I would have.

Anything for the Wolves of Ossary.

Regrettably, Niall made it clear nothing would go as planned because he was more ambitious and foolhardy than most.

“I’ve seen much in my mate’s mind.”

Niall wrapped his hand around the back of Naya’s neck roughly, stilling her as he inhaled deeply, pulling in her scent while eyeing me with a wicked gleam, undoubtedly hoping to incite me to shift. “Things I do and don’t like. Opportunities.”

Locking her firmly in place when she tried to shove him away, he licked her temple slowly, his gaze never leaving mine. “And all while deep inside her. All while she screamed in pleasure.”

“Don’t,”

Tréan warned, clearly using magic on me because my pent-up fury felt caged. Held back somehow because, based on the feelings of possessiveness and jealousy I was experiencing—emotions I’d never felt before, but here they were—I would never have been able to hold back of my own volition.

“Pleasure?”

Naya might be locked in Niall’s clutches and not nearly his size, but that didn’t stop her from rolling her eyes. “If you bought that, you’re an even bigger idiot than I thought.”

She smirked and made a lusty little groan that sounded so authentic my cock would have been rock hard had I been in human form. “Or I’m a better actor than I thought.”

She flinched but kept an amused rather than frightened expression when Niall's hand wrapped around her throat again and squeezed just enough to heighten everyone’s tension before a small, devious smile curled his mouth, and he loosened his grip.

“Anyway—”

Niall finally stepped away from her and looked at us— “I think, for now, it’s best to focus on what we might be able to do for each other.”

Confident when he should not be given what Tréan was capable of, he perked an eyebrow at my alpha. “Why don’t you have your bitch fix us a drink so we can talk business?”

Kaia clenched her fists as if ready to punch Niall but clearly got a hold of her emotions because her fists just as swiftly unclenched. While I felt Tréan’s intense rage, you would never know it by looking at him. His expression remained level, as if Niall’s words didn’t bother him, even though I knew they did a great deal.

“I will provide drinks.”

Adlin gestured into the living room. “Let’s sit and discuss how Niall wishes to move forward.”

I hated nothing more than the descendant of our mortal enemy, Tadc, being in charge of us. Having all the control. Yet as everyone sat, including me, close enough to Naya that I could protect her if Niall went one step too far, I knew Tréan had a plan. And I knew making sure she recognized Tréan as her alpha above alpha's would make a difference.

Although Naya rarely looked my way, I felt her awareness of me. Her inner beast was just as aware, and it affected my wolf more than I expected. We were feeling each other out in a way I hoped Niall didn’t sense. Recognizing one another, if I didn’t know better. Crossing the threshold of dreams into reality.

Did she remember seeing me as a child?

Remember turning away from me?

Or had it been one-sided? Was my anger and sense of betrayal something my mind manifested? A part of me hoped so, whereas another didn’t want our connection to have been a mere fantasy.

Tréan sat in a winged-back leather chair opposite Niall on the sofa, who, naturally, had Naya beside him, clearly using her as his bargaining chip.

“I want to travel back to your era,”

Niall divulged after Adlin, magically in tune with everyone’s preferences, handed him what smelled like whisky and Naya a glass of red wine. He gave Tréan ale and Kaia, bourbon. “If you bring me back and arrange a meeting with my ancestor Tadc, I will release Naya from our bond.”

Clearly, Tréan had seen this coming when he told me to wait until we were on our territory, and it gave me hope because Niall’s request was foolish.

“Not as foolish as you might think,”

Tréan said telepathically. “Not if Tadc sees the same opportunity in Niall that Niall sees in him.”

It didn’t take long to figure out what he meant. Niall wanted to combine forces across the centuries, offering sizeable expansion opportunities and considerable power. Something Tadc might very well agree to so long as he remained head alpha.

“What purpose would meeting Tadc serve?”

Tréan asked Niall, playing dumb. “You know nothing of our era or the wolf you wish to meet.”

His gaze flickered from Naya to Niall. “And how can I be assured you will keep your word and break your bond with Naya when we both know Tadc wants her?”

“My reasons for wanting to meet Tadc are not your concern.”

Niall downed half his whisky, wrapped his arm around Naya’s shoulders, and ran his fingers beneath the strap of her dress in a way that nearly made me growl. “As to Naya?”

He shrugged and eyed me with amusement. “In the end, she might find I’m worth keeping around.”

“Keep dreaming, asshole,”

she muttered, flinching when he squeezed her arm tightly enough that a low growl bubbled up from my chest I couldn't stop even if I wanted to, and Tréan again held me back via magic.

“Oh, I don’t know.”

Niall gave Naya a look. “You always were power-hungry, and I intend to have even more than I already do.”

“You understand my people and I,”

Tréan said before Naya could respond and instigate Niall further, “including my fellow kings and alphas, are at war with Tadc? That arranging such a meeting might be impossible?”

“Based on how your bitch is narrowing her eyes at me, I’d say anything is possible if it means keeping Naya safe.”

Niall narrowed his eyes at Kaia in return. “Isn’t that right?”

“’Tis,”

Tréan replied before Kaia acted on the seething words I sensed simmering in her mind. “Like me, my fated mate and queen will do whatever it takes to keep Naya safe.”

Tréan’s expression remained admirably level despite his rage at Niall’s continued disrespect of Naya and Kaia. Yet unbeknownst to Niall, Naya had already sworn her loyalty to Tréan in the foyer. That meant our pack had more to stand on now than we had before, and fortunately, thanks to Tréan’s immense power, Niall remained none the wiser.

“So, yes,”

Tréan went on, “we will see to it that you meet with Tadc, but I have conditions.”

Niall downed the rest of his whisky. “And those are?”

“You allow Naya to remain with Kaia until we arrange the meeting.”

My brother narrowed his eyes. “And you keep your hands off Naya unless she wants them there.”

“That’s a lot to ask,”

Niall murmured, pulling in the scent of her hair as if he couldn’t get enough, “when I hold all the power.”

“Even so—”

Tréan’s eyes turned hard and his voice unbending— “those are my conditions.”

His steady gaze never left Niall’s face, and he shrugged. “Otherwise, we have no deal.”

Niall’s gaze remained just as steady as he gauged how far Tréan was willing to go. If he would truly sacrifice Naya if he didn’t agree. We could only hope his greed outweighed all.

“What of him?”

Niall gestured dismissively at me. “Where will he be while Kaia is with Naya, and I’m keeping my hands off her?”

The corner of his mouth curled up in a smug look I wanted to rip off his face. “Assuming she’ll want me to keep doing that the longer we’re mated.”

What he wasn’t saying, but I could tell the more I was around Naya, was his ever-growing pull on her despite how much she fought it. A dangerous power Niall’s wolf was more than willing to take advantage of if it meant getting what he wanted, which I was by no means convinced omitted Naya. Not based on the possessive way he looked at her. He still wanted her despite her betrayal, so somehow, I doubted he would let her go when everything was said and done.

“Bain will be with the Wolves of Ossary,”

Tréan replied vaguely when he answered Niall’s question about me. “His pack.”

“And will his pack be with Naya?”

“That depends on you, and we both know it.”

Tréan shrugged. “We also both know it would behoove you to keep him close if you wish to bond her to you even more.”

When Naya’s eyes narrowed in confusion, Niall revealed what I had already begun feeling. Something that set me on edge even more.

“If the mutt that can’t keep his eyes off of you was there the night I bit you, then the best way to drive him away is to keep him close.”

He twirled a piece of her hair around his finger and eyed me triumphantly because he had the power to keep her from me. “Because that, in itself, will drive you straight into my arms, Naya.”

“Your Renegade is bonded with Niall now,”

Kaia said darkly, understanding what Naya obviously didn’t. “So if you keep another wolf around that yearns for you, it’ll instinctively drive your inner beast closer to Niall.”

Even still, getting her away from him meant we stood half a chance of harnessing a powerful fated mate connection and eliminating Niall and the threat he posed. It also meant something else. Something I realized the longer my inner beast felt out hers and understood the dynamics of Renegade wolves in her position. Our position.

We might be able to harness the power needed to ease the effects of the darkness or insanity coming for her and protect our pack from Niall and the newborn threat he represented, but it would come at a cost. When my gaze drifted to Adlin because he hadn’t revealed this in the woodland, I saw the truth in his eyes.

If I could achieve it, making Naya mine would mean my death.

While that should have made me want to flee back to medieval Ireland, I wasn’t that kind of wolf. I was the opposite, especially when protecting my pack or any female suffering. That it happened to be the female I’d visited for years in my dreams made it much more crucial. I wouldn’t leave Naya to this fate because it didn’t take me long to figure out Niall was as evil as Tadc.

“Very true,”

Niall murmured, agreeing that keeping me around after he traveled back to my era was a sound course of action because it would only drive Naya into his arms. He inhaled Naya’s scent again, and his lecherous gaze remained on my wolf. “I would enjoy that very much.”

He tilted his head at Tréan in acknowledgment of progress. “Until you’ve arranged my meeting with Tadc, I’ll meet your conditions, and then Naya’s all yours.”

He snorted in my direction as if I didn’t stand a chance. “Or yours if you think she’ll ever have you.”

I wasn’t sure if Naya was smart for not looking at me when he said that or if she knew he was right and didn’t bother looking at me because it was pointless. Either way, the fact I cared so much bothered me because it seemed too far out of my control. Too much left to chance.

Niall eyed me for several moments, clearly feeling me out the best he could in this form. Strangely, he didn’t ask me to shift so he could assess my human half, which was foolish because I would have demanded it had I been in his position. But then that spoke to his arrogance, didn’t it? And that would be his downfall. For now, however, I was grateful another piece of Tréan’s plan fell into place.

Get Niall on our territory before Naya could have any physical reaction to me.

Not to say she hadn’t already, because she had, but Niall didn’t know that. Or so I hoped as our inner beasts kept feeling each other out. It was both tentative and addictive. As if my wolf circled another in a dance there would be no breaking free from it, even if she were fated to another.

Even if it meant forfeiting my life.

“So we have a deal?”

Tréan prompted as he and Niall came to their terms.

Niall eyed me for another moment before finally looking at Tréan. “We have a deal.”

Now, I could only pray things went as Tréan planned or we stood to lose far more than my life.