Chapter 8
DOMINIK
Vessa’s slender fingers wrap around my arm. We turn away from Axe, who simmers with controlled rage as he watches us ascend. He doesn’t want her anywhere near me. Truthfully, I can’t say I blame him.
Down in his office this morning, he excused himself more than once. Each time, his chest heaved rapidly, wolf thrashing under the surface. I’ve never seen him so uncomposed. Even Jabir kept a safe distance.
“My smell . . . is it really that repulsive?” she asks, bracing for the next flight of steps.
“Gods, no,” I snort. It’s a contagion. “That entitled bitch is just jealous. Must be a new feeling for her.”
A small bead of sweat trickles down her brow. Along with it, a subtle shift in her pheromone aura. Anxiety. Interesting.
“If you’re asking me,” I drawl with a smirk, “you smell like you’ve got something to hide.”
Her jaw cracks open, taken aback. Quick to recover, she sneers at me. “Still, you found the ordeal highly entertaining.”
My expression softens. “I apologize. This time of the month, everyone around here is on edge.”
Fuck. What does Axe intend to do with her once the moon is full?
Does she even know what she’s in for? I, for one, plan on locking myself in the basement cellar of the club and throwing back tequila until I can no longer recall her name.
Even now, as she leans into me, I wish I had never learned it.
"I’m sure it must be hard to relate," I say softly. "Mates dictate everything for our kind, often making things . . . messy.”
Her eyes stay trained ahead, suppressing the emotions churning behind them. “Look, I’ve met enough of your kind to recognize when you are just pretending to care. Don’t act like Axe isn’t already trying to find a way out of this.”
The sharp words almost stop me in my tracks. Clearly, she doesn’t know anything about my brother, nor his intentions for scolding Shay back there. “For the record, I do care. And if Axe didn’t, I guarantee he never would’ve brought you here.”
When I reach her bedroom, she thanks me for escorting her. Sensing her discomfort, I ask if there’s anything I can get for her. If she’d like for me to send for Cora. Head hanging, she simply requests to be left alone for the remainder of the day.
I oblige, informing her that there is a phone in the next room over which she can contact me with if she needs anything.
Taking her hand, I press my business card into her palm.
My fingers tremble as my thumb rubs comforting strokes along her delicate knuckles.
The feel of her skin ignites a passionate growl of hunger from the beast inside.
I drop her hand, making a fist at my side. Slowly, she meets my gaze. Those eyes—they’re so stunning they almost rob me of my ability to speak. “Humans always have a choice. Remember that."
With a polite nod, she backs into the room. When the bedroom door shuts, I whirl around and clutch my chest. It’s agony, the wanting. Almost as if my lungs refuse to fill with air.
It’s usually something along these lines, waiting so long to shift that my muscles spasm and my blood temperature rises hot enough to boil myself alive.
Sometimes I can make it three months without letting the beast out of its pen.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been cautioned against it, how denying the wolf can only lead to misery. A one-way ticket to insanity.
“There’s no off switch,” Axe scolded me the morning after my first shift. “As much as you’d like there to be one, you must live with the fact that this is what you are.”
Spoken like someone whose wolf isn’t the bane of his existence.
Women have never held my brother’s interest for long. That might be the sole thing we have in common. But everything changes when you find your mate.
Not that I would know.
I can take the wolf’s writhing, the whining, the howling. With enough liquor in my system, I can usually drown out or completely subdue his pleading. Sex marathons and cigarettes help too, for the most part. But the aching in my chest, that’s new. I don’t know if there’s a solution for that.
Last night, I had absolutely no intention of sticking around my childhood home a single minute longer than necessary.
By the gods, I only meant to drop off Sonic Jungle’s tax forms and fuck off back to my loft.
But then I caught a whiff of her. And I had to find the source, even if it meant trashing my leather loafers in the snow.
It was worth it. Up until I inhaled her fully, and fiery claws clenched my beating heart, squeezing it like a sponge.
Goddess have mercy, that scent. So many layers—honey, rich berries, notes of exotic flowers.
Hardly a trace of the human aroma that typically permeates the towns I regularly frequent.
I picture her face, a portrait of dark perfection. Never in a million years would I picture my brother matched with someone like her. How could a human, nearly half his size, be his true equal?
Surely, she couldn’t be my . . . No. It isn’t possible. I’m not wired for monogamous romantic attachment. I’m far too selfish. My wolf made that clear many moons ago. But isn’t this what it’s supposed to feel like? An overbearing need to satiate? To protect?
A pounding starts to take over my body, snapping me back into the present, where I am leaning over the banister, clutching for dear life. Fuck. I never should have touched her.
The wolf’s commanding voice pierces my eardrums. You will either shift now, or I will break down that door and take a proper bite out of her.
I wheeze, stumbling to my knees. We have no right.
He jerks my head up, aiming for the doorknob. I beg to differ. She is not yet claimed.
I curse. Not a moment later, I yank open the nearest window and leap out. My trench coat peels off along with my other clothes. With a raw gasp, I throw my head back and let the grey beast come forth.
Lifting my head, I tune in to the familiar winter song of the forest. The approaching breeding season has many creatures fluttering around, desperate for companionship.
With the full moon only days away, some are more on edge than others.
Miles ahead, birds flutter from canopy to canopy, rabbits scavenge for fresh greens, well-endowed elk sharpen their antlers against tree bark.
So many things to chase. And yet, the sound of sniffling from inside the house almost has me turning back. Almost.
Vessa
An afternoon rain shower settles over the mountains, turning snow into slush. Given the unfavorable weather, I am content with remaining in my room with a few books to keep me occupied. So far, my request to be left alone has been heeded.
For the first hour of solitude, my mind raced endlessly, unsure of how to navigate this new impasse with Shay. Has she spread her distaste for me to the others? Her scorned words replay over and over, rattling my skull. “Do yourself a favor and leave. Those wolves will eat you alive.”
The first knock sounds sooner than I expected. I wrap my cardigan around my torso and quickly pad over to let Nell inside.
“I heard you had quite the introduction this morning,” she says, placing a tray with a notecard and refreshments on my desk.
I cross my arms in front of my chest, though it’s hardly intimidating given that she’s eight inches taller. “Is Shay a friend of yours, too?”
“Shay’s not exactly what you would call a girl’s girl. I’m honestly surprised that she stuck around here in the months after Axe broke things off.”
“It appears the wound is still fresh.”
“She knew what she was getting into. Axe has spent the last seven years rebuilding this community. Not to forget playing diplomat to the thirty other packs who would like nothing better than to kill each other and seize territory. He didn’t have the time for anything remotely serious.”
My mouth goes dry. I knew that Alphas faced a great deal of responsibility, but thirty-one packs?
Back when I first came to live with Maurleen and Wyatt, I was taught that the lycan domain is divided among five continental leaders who preside over the entire population within their province.
Alpha Commander and Luna Superior are their titles.
Unlike Wyatt’s pack leader, Alpha Commander has jurisdiction over all pack hierarchies.
He or she could replace a regional Alpha with the snap of their fingers, and no one would challenge them. At least no one with common sense.
Nell watches as I take a sip of chamomile tea and swallow hard. I’m fighting for my life to keep my pulse from skyrocketing. “Axe is Commander of the province, isn’t he?”
She smiles. “Indeed, he is. For the last ninety-eight years, Bleeding Sun has held the rank of Agathoran headquarters.”
Making him the most powerful male not just in Agathora, but the entire continent of Immaren. And I, his equal, should he choose to honor mating tradition.
I am so, so screwed. If Axe decides that my curse constitutes me as a threat . . . forget sheltering me from the vampires. Forget marking me as his mate. At best, I’ll become a prisoner. At worst, he’ll kill me the moment the secret slips out. How do I know it will ever be safe for me to tell him?
I need to find a way to get in touch with Maurleen.
My teeth clamp down on my inner cheek, hard enough to draw blood.
Silence stretches between us as I swallow the coppery taste, along with the shock of what I’ve just learned.
Rather than point out my sudden withdrawnness, Nell tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear, something my mother used to do to console me.
It’s disarming in a way that makes my chest throb.
She gestures to the unopened note addressed to me, but I make no attempt to reach for it.