Chapter Five
Caleb
My men were more than ready to exterminate her. They still are. They’re triggered, consumed by vengeance and fear every time we run into a rogue.
I know because I am, too.
Ever since their alpha was killed, whenever they see a rogue, all they can see is a threat. They’re valid in their hatred. She’s the biggest threat of them all.
Convincing them a quick death would be too merciful was easy. Other things are proving harder, starting with how she said my name. Her voice was like a siren call, and it had my wolf practically rolling over. Said innocently, just as sweetly as she smells.
But it’s nothing more than a front to disguise the stench of her sins.
I have to remind myself this bitch is smart and calculated. If I let my guard down, my life will follow. I can’t let the pull of the mate bond interfere with duty. So why is it working against me?
I’ve taken nurture’s side, but nature is putting up a good fight. I curse internally.
Why does she have to be naked?
She’s covered her breasts, which you’d think would help.
It doesn’t. If anything, it’s only pushed them together, accentuating her cleavage.
And because she’s covering her breasts, guess what isn’t covered?
Uh-huh.
Yeah, I’m screwed.
I could be a gentleman and look away, but there are two problems with that. One, fuck that. And two, I don’t want to. Even if I did, I can’t. And that’s nature winning in our ongoing battle, but I won’t let it win the war.
Someone’s smitten. You like her, my wolf taunts.
What are we, twelve? She’s an attractive female, and she’s naked. So are sirens, but I’m not foolish enough to get involved with them, either.
It’s three against one, and she’s surrounded.
Yet somehow, I’m the one feeling trapped.
What was she doing out this way, anyhow?
Sometimes someone from her rogue group will cross our paths, but her kind seems to avoid our borders.
Prior to her capture, when on patrol or a hunt, I led my pack away from where I thought she might be. I wanted to avoid this exact predicament, but here she is, wrecking both of our lives.
Again.
I loathe her for being who our Goddess decided she is to me.
When Tyler mentioned her and “execute” in the same sentence, my wolf was ready to tear him limb from limb.
Despite my better judgment, my wolf wouldn’t let me harm her in any way. At least not yet. The bond has grown increasingly irritating since I scented her in the infirmary.
Killing her would only make things worse for me. I’d get weaker. My pack has a luna whose strength is dwindling. They deserve better than a weak alpha. How would I explain that? I’d die of embarrassment if they knew the Moon Goddess selected a rogue as my mate.
They would probably take it as a sign that I’m cursed, and no one wants someone damned to lead them. They’d think me defective.
In nearly one year, I’ve given everyone a reason not to follow my family and me.
I received a public beating at the hands of my king after the Hunt, from which I returned mateless.
Being the primary food and hunting source for packs, clans and covens, my family assumed we were safe and didn’t train to fight.
This mistake cost many pack members their lives.
Now the supposed future-alpha’s mate is the rogue who killed their former alpha? I don’t want any hesitancy about my leadership or character to stand in the way of my birthright. I don’t need an uprising.
And I need a mate for me to rise. And fast.
King Dax was an exception to the rule that wolves must be mated before rising in leadership. Both his parents were dead, and my mother remains. Thank Goddess.
Unlike the king, they wouldn’t raise my status.
They’d just choose a new leader. Going over Mother’s head to ask the council would be a mistake.
It would draw attention to her absence and invite doubt about a smooth leadership transition.
And to ask the queen when I wasn’t there for her was out of the question.
Even if I had been there for her, it wouldn’t be right to take advantage of our friendship like that.
I couldn’t justify letting her go, either. Although most don’t, a few stragglers wander into our territory. Those who do, I hadn’t shown mercy to before. Surely, my pack would question why I would now. It took me a moment to find a solution, but find one, I did.
Who knew I’d find clarity while staring into my enemy’s eyes?
It’d be difficult, but I could pull it off . . . as long as my wolf doesn’t get in the way.
He growls.
I resent the Moon Goddess and mate. Now I have to protect everyone from their bad decisions.
There was no other choice. I didn’t know how else to get her out of this, let alone myself. Both of us could go down for this. It might look like betrayal during their anger-fueled grief, but letting emotion overrule logic would be worse.
My decision is made, and it’ll solve several of my problems. I’ll take her in, not as my mate but as my prisoner and convince my mother I need to take a mate.
Once I choose a new mate, I’ll no longer recognize this savage as mine, and any evidence of our bond would break.
Then nothing would stand in the way of me avenging my father.
This could work. But how do I convince her?
“Is anyone looking for you?” I ask her.
Her eyes focus on the ground. Sullen, she slowly shakes her head no.
My wolf urges me to ask her why that question bothered her, but I push him back.
This is nothing more than the look of defeat setting in. An animal, a criminal, who’s finally been caught.
No one is coming to save her.
“We’ll set up camp here,” I announce to my men. “If she’s lying, more will come after her. I’d rather they attack now when we’re ready than lead them closer to home.”
I think she believes her answer. She’s often alone, but my men don’t know that, and I need more time to think things through before I face my mother.
My mate looks as though she hasn’t had a proper meal in weeks. Come to think of it, I haven’t lately, either.
Great, on top of everything else, I’m going to have to keep this one alive.
Did you drink water today? And no, coffee does not count as food.
For someone who can’t seem to survive on their own, she’s got pretty big balls to become an entire pack’s enemy.
Even in her fragile state, she had me hard just looking at her, and I’m a sucker for light green eyes and raven black hair. It infuriated me that the woman who helped kill my father could still turn me on as she stood ready to kill me, or anyone who stepped to her.
My feelings toward her confuse me. I want to fuck and break her at the same time. Instead of moans, I want her screams. I want to do more than mark her. I want to brand her. I can’t kill her, but I could hurt her. I can’t love her—and I don’t want to—but I could at the very least, possess her.
I want to humiliate her the way she has my family.
For an alpha to die by a rogue is embarrassing, and it puts our pack in danger.
His death calls not only his, but now my credibility into question.
After the attack nearly five months ago, other packs questioned our strength, assuming we lacked protection and security.
Not only that, but their infiltration exposed our winter food stores so attacks on my pack increased.
My family’s ancestral power is now not just a blessing but a curse.
***
I ordered a few pack members to watch my mate while I went with Tyler to gather supplies and hunt for dinner.
My wolf whimpered when I left our mate alone with other men.
I return and drop the dead pheasant I caught in front of her abruptly.
She jumps, startled, then glances at it and up at me.
That’s when I fear my wolf was right to have been worried. I notice a red crescent-shaped mark around her eye. Something that wasn’t there when I left.
I snatch her chin and lift her face to get a closer look.
“Name,” I growl.
“Jay,” she says.
Jay. That isn’t the name I was referring to.
“Not yours. His.” Control over my wolf is wavering. He surfaces to get a closer look. That fierce glow of my wolf’s eyes reflect off her freckled face. “I want the name of the man who did this to you.”
She tries to jerk her chin out of my hand, but I tighten my hold.
I won’t let this go.
“I don’t know his name. But he’s, he’s over there,” she sighs and gestures toward Tyler, who looks up to me while also towering over me.
His height and strong build, mixed with the pale blue eyes and dark hair easily made him the most sought-after male.
I’ll never forget fooling around with Alaina before she was crowned queen of two kingdoms, when Tyler tried to persuade her to jump into his bed.
Afterward, she called it the weirdest encounter ever and grilled me about what we’d done sexually and how he could be better.
His behavior has become so predictable I’ve had to warn any other girl I got involved with to be careful of him.
Some of the women I had seen casually had fallen for Tyler’s agenda.
Sometimes, I’m sure it was in hopes it would make me jealous, but it had the opposite effect.
I wasn’t interested in anyone disloyal, who could jump ship.
I don’t like games, but Tyler does. If he could take them, he could have them.
Some days, I can’t stand him, but he comes in handy.
His family used to have the ancestral power of military strategy: a heightened natural understanding of battlefield logistics, strategies and operations.
Tyler doesn’t possess this strength, but his parents taught him a wealth of transferable skills and knowledge.
The power died with his older sister in the attack five months ago. She would’ve been my beta. I was close with his family given his late sister’s future role under my inherited leadership. Now that will be Tyler’s job.