Chapter Five #2
His charm, when properly directed, is helpful. Though, despite Tyler’s attempts, he never could persuade Alaina. A prize to anyone with eyes, she was her own hero and refused to be anyone’s victory. I liked that. She would rather die by suicide than allow someone to claim they killed her.
And judging by the red mark on her face, Jay wasn’t fazed by Tyler’s persuasion either.
His attempts at conquest never bothered me before. I saw it as pathetic. But this one, if he tried . . .
“Tyler.” My tone is stern enough to cause Jay to jump. “Get over here.”
Not a second later, Tyler is by my side.
I point to Jay’s eye. “What’s this?”
Tyler’s face contorts. “What do you mean? It’s a mark.” He shrugs.
My patience is thinning.
“I’m well aware what it is. Why does she have it?”
“We found her bag, and when I went to look through it, I found this”—he pulls the photo out of his back pocket and hands it to me—“and she went ballistic on me.”
I find proof of his statement in red tiger-like scratch marks across his arms and neck.
Yikes.
I look back at her, and she’s not ashamed in the least.
“I warned him not to touch my things,” she says to me.
“And I told you to shut it,” Tyler retorts.
The photo has seen better days. Crinkled and discolored, its edges are torn, and the corner is ripped. It shows a man and woman in a hospital bed smiling down at a baby swaddled in the mother’s arms.
Jay’s eyes are full of concern as she watches me handle it.
It must be important to her.
“Is this you?”
Jay nods.
I flip it over. On the back, it reads:
The day we became a family. Our daughter, Ja
April 2-
Her name and the year are cut off from the torn corner. Only a J and a lowercase a for the name. The date is more legible, but what’s written next to it is faded. April and the number two.
“How old are you?”
Her face falls and voice softens. Seemingly difficult to talk about, she shakes her head and shrugs. “How old do you tell people you are?”
“Twenty-one.”
Interesting. Twenty-one, yet she seems completely unfazed by the mate bond.
Probably because she wasn’t sent here by the Moon Goddess but from Satan himself, I ponder.
On a more likely note, it must be because she’s not actually twenty-one. Nineteen—twenty, maybe—but not twenty-one. Otherwise, she’d recognize me.
There can be early signs of attraction to your mate, but your wolf can’t fully recognize and verify it’s them until you reach your twenty-first birthday.
“It’s just a stupid picture. It doesn’t mean anything,” she lies.
With a raised eyebrow, I challenge, “Oh really? Then you won’t mind if I just—”
I’m getting ready to tear the picture.
“No, don’t!” Jay blurts.
I pause, waiting.
“Ugh, fine. It means something to me.”
“Something?”
“Okay, everything,” she huffs.
“Oh, so you can tell the truth?”
Jay opens her mouth but closes it.
She’s got a lot of attitude for someone at a disadvantage. I would’ve thought she’d be more compliant than this. I’d love to punish that smart mouth of hers and then fuck her into submission until she’s—
Tyler looks between Jay and me. He scratches his head.
I narrow my eyes at him. “Why do you look so confused?”
“Because I don’t understand what the problem is. She’s a rogue. She resisted when I was following protocol to pat her down. So, I hit her. What else should I have done?” he asks.
Crap, he’s right. It is protocol. She resisted, and it led to my beta getting scratched. He did everything I would expect him to do. My wolf just hated it being done to her.
I can’t let him, or anyone else think she’s an exception to the rule. People would question what she means to me, blowing my plan. Judging by Tyler’s confused state, I need to find a way to recover from this.
Think. Think.
She needs punishment.
Pop!
The crackling campfire my men built in my absence sparks idea pops in my head.
Bingo.
I rip up the photo and throw it in the fire.
“No!” Jay screams.
My men hold her back with ease.
She would add no strength to my future leadership, I tell my wolf.
There are more ways to fortify your strength than just physical. Mate’s stronger than you think, I can feel it, he responds.
My wolf whimpers as we watch our mate cry over her picture incinerating in the fire until there’s nothing left but ashes.
She stops resisting my men and sinks to her knees.
My men laugh at her despair.
What I had to do was cruel, but it beats what I could have done. And I had to do something. They don’t need to laugh at her.
Does she deserve it? Yeah.
Does it tie my stomach in knots seeing her be subjected to ridicule? Hell yeah. Nothing about this is funny.
“Alright, that’s enough. Show’s over. Everyone go eat.”
I plop next to Jay, who curls into a ball, resting her chin on her arms, staring at the ground in front of her. I wonder if she’s actually looking at anything or just trying to avoid me.
Probably me.
I follow her eyes to the pheasant I brought her. She must be hungry.
“I caught it for you. Eat,” I tell her.
She shakes her head no.
Does she think I poisoned it?
I reach over and snatch the pheasant, tearing into it with a huge bite, then raise my eyebrows.
See? Not poisonous.
I toss the perfectly good pheasant in front of her again.
She scrunches her nose and pushes it away, like a petulant child not wanting to eat her peas.
“Suit yourself,” I say, devouring the pheasant on my own.
Her stomach growls, and I want to spank and force feed her. She can’t take care of herself properly.
Goddess, help me.
This female is infuriating. Maybe even more stubborn than Alaina.
I roll out a blanket into a makeshift bed, my arm behind my head on one of the tree’s roots. I prop my knee up, while the other leg is extended straight out in front of me. I hold my arm out to her, gesturing she come lay down with me.
She turns her head away from me as she rests her head in her arms.
It seems someone is not being a very good listener. If she was, she would know this isn’t an invitation for her to decline.
She’s testing my patience. I’ve shown her enough mercy. She’d be smart not to push me further.
I shoot her the same look my mother used to give me when I acted out in public. After twenty-one years of it, I’ve perfected it. “Get the fuck over here,” I grit.
The skittish little thing jumps at my bark. Yet, she doesn’t follow orders.
I meet her gaze with raised eyebrows. I don’t like repeating myself. “I can tie you to the tree if you’d prefer.”
She swallows her fear, but I could’ve sworn I saw her pupils dilate. She crawls to me.
I still when she rests her head in the crook of my neck. The smell of honey infiltrates my senses and disrupts my nervous system. Thankfully, she had an extra pair of clothes in her bag. There’s no way I could do this with her naked.
Might as well say a prayer for myself. One of us isn’t going to make it out of this situation alive.
I just hope it isn’t me.
***
It’s an hour into our unspoken standoff.
She doesn’t trust me enough to fall asleep while I’m still awake. I guess I have the same concern. But I don’t need her slowing us down in the morning. I close my eyes, pretending to drift off, hoping she’ll eventually succumb to her exhaustion.
After several minutes, her head lifts from my chest. She probably thinks I wouldn’t notice she isn’t touching me anymore, but I do.
Is she trying to escape? The apex predator in me hopes she tries. I do love a good chase. I keep my eyes shut and listen to her movements. I pick up on the disturbance of the ground beneath us.
Yep. There she goes.
I knew I couldn’t trust her.
She thinks she’s so slick, but she isn’t as smart as she thinks she is. I had no plans on sleeping tonight. I wouldn’t want anyone to take my prey, my future kill, away from me.
That’s my job.
Detecting her movements, I know exactly where she is. Her footsteps are uneven and clumsy, which makes me think she’s walking backward. I keep my eyes closed as I know it’s likely she is still watching me.
There’s a subtle whooshing sound from her foot pivoting into the forest floor, and I hear her gently brush against leaves.
I open my eyes to the direction I heard her leave and catch the tail end of her sneaking through the trees to make her escape.
I let her, of course, for several reasons.
I’ve come to enjoy how she looks in her false sense of safety.
I enjoy the hunt, as I never knew where to expect to find her, as rogues often never stayed in one spot for too long.
The second reason is I want her to get her hopes up as high as they can be to make for a greater disappointment when I show her this plan of hers has failed.
I cover her footprints with mine. Honey permeates the air as her hair whips in the wind. Her backside consists of the most impressive hills you’ve ever seen. Everything about her makes her the most delectable prey.
A predator is only a breath behind her, and she doesn’t expect a thing.
Then she stops, about to turn.
Crap, I spoke too soon.
I leap for the branch above me and hoist myself up.
Jay thinks she’s caught me when she whips around, but I’ve vanished.
I love it when she’s scared.
I drop down behind her, as quiet as I went up.
I scan her body up and down—all of her voluptuous curves. The hairs on the back of her neck stand and goosebumps pepper her skin as she senses me watching her. When she registers someone is behind her, she spins around and gasps at the sight of me.
“Going somewhere?” I pounce on her, grabbing the back of her neck like the dog she is, I drag her with me back to camp.
Like a child, she goes deadweight on me, dragging her feet.
“You don’t want to walk? Fine.” I bend down, scoop her up and throw her over my shoulder.
“Put me down!”
“Keep it up. I like it when my prey screams.” I chuckle.
I thought my suggestive comment would deter her because her screams do, in fact, make me hard, but instead, she continues.
“If you do anything to me, I’ll make you regret it. If you so much as touch me, I’ll cut your dick off, I swear.”
“You know what? I’m glad you ran. Now I have a reason to tie you up. I bet you’re much more fun that way.”
Jay groans and squirms.
“It’s like you want me to punish you,” I strain. “You’re a little masochist, aren’t you? Why else would you challenge my men, starve yourself and risk your life to escape?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I enjoy my freedom. Now put me down!”
Not liking her tone, I smack her ass. “If it’s pain you’re seeking, I’ve got plenty to give .”
Several curse words later, we finally make it back to camp. I set her down, and she immediately tries to run from me again.
“Hey there,” I grab hold of her hips and jerk her back into me.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I sit, pulling her down with me, so she’s sitting in my lap.
Suddenly, I reach around, grabbing her neck just under her chin and pull her back against my chest and whisper in her ear, “The only way I’m ever letting you go is through your death. ”