Chapter Four
Marcus
My wolf snarled as I paced the length of my office.
Joanna wasn’t answering her phone. I tried not to let it bother me, but I couldn’t shake the fear nagging in the back of my mind.
Had I pushed her too far about her sister?
I thought I’d been considerate, that I’d given her plenty of time and room to grieve… but perhaps I’d overestimated her.
I groaned as I ran a hand down my face, in disbelief that those stupid fucking words ever crossed my mind.
Joanna was not defenseless. She was a warrior. Strong, and capable of taking care of herself. Of knowing her feelings and how to deal with them appropriately.
Well… so long as they weren’t her feelings for me.
When Joanna left the compound, the sun had been high in the sky. Now, shadows stretched across the room. Light slipped through the dusty windows, leaving everything bathed in an unsettling glow…
As if the Goddess was trying to tell me something.
“Alpha.”
I jumped, turning to see my gamma standing in the doorway. Maya’s eyes were wide, as if she was also surprised that I hadn’t sensed her arrival.
Her eyebrows drew together. “Why are you standing in the dark?” My warrior always read me like a book, and once I hesitated to respond, she rushed in. “What did she say?”
I sat on the couch in the middle of the office, my heavy sigh sounding more like a growl. “Wrong Sullivan,” I muttered, knowing Maya was referring to the morning’s interrogation.
Her expression tightened as she took a seat next to me. “Did something happen between you and Joanna?”
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, one hand clasped over a fist. “I offered her the Bite.”
It was the night of the battle with the rogues. None of us knew if we’d survive it. But when I saw Joanna standing tall, heard her commanding the werewolves of my pack, I realized that if we won—if the Goddess spared our lives—then I wanted to spend the rest of mine with her.
I needed to be hers. The man whose face flashed behind her lids when she touched herself. The only man she allowed between her legs. The man she’d forever call Alpha.
Maya’s eyes searched mine for a long moment before she finally spoke. “And what did she say?”
I let the claws of my fist grow, needing the pain as they bit into my palm. “She didn’t.”
Maya nodded slowly, tucking a strand of her brunette hair behind her ear as her gaze drifted away in thought. “Joanna’s still a hunter. Tragedy threw her into our world, and she’s navigating it the best way she can.”
“But is all of this a mistake?” I insisted.
My gamma swallowed, her eyes still pinned to the floor. “That depends on how long you plan to keep the truth from her, Alpha.” Maya shifted her weight. “She deserves to know if she’s your fated mate.”
Maya’s suspicions weren’t a surprise. I only wondered how long she’d harbored those fucked-up thoughts.
And what had I done to prompt them?
Was it the way my heart raced when Joanna looked at me? The way my tension melted when I walked into a room still clinging to her scent? Or maybe it was the fact that for the first time in years, rogues and all, I could actually sleep through the night.
I dug my heels into the floor, resisting the urge to pace again.
“I can’t tell her.” The words slipped out before I could stop them. My wolf barked, ashamed of the desperation in my tone.
Maya’s gaze flicked back to meet mine, my answer confirming her suspicions. The corners of her mouth rose, but the smile was gone as quickly as it came. “Willful omission of the truth is as harmful as a lie,” she said with narrowed eyes.
“I’m an alpha,” I snapped. Simply considering Joanna an ally had cost me several wolves. Thomas and his traitors had risked their lives trying to overthrow me. How many more would desert me once they learned just how important the hunter was? “…She’s a fucking human.”
“Then let her go, Marcus. And reject the bond.”
I sprung to my feet, heat flushing through my body. “There’s no telling what would happen to either of us. You know that.”
“And there’s no telling what will happen to you if you just ignore it.
” Maya’s expression softened, and she reached out to hold my hand.
“I’m saying this as the woman you chose to keep you and your pack safe.
” Her grasp tightened. “Joanna is human. And unless her hunter’s mark allows it, she will never feel the pull the way you do. ”
Offering Joanna the Bite when she was just the woman I couldn’t stop thinking about wasn’t easy, but it was bearable. Listening as she avoided giving me an actual answer was excruciating, but I could live with it.
But now… knowing that she was always meant to be mine, but that she didn’t want me as deeply as I wanted her, needed her… that’s what would be the death of me.
I pulled free from my gamma’s hold and strode to the bar cart set up in the corner of the office.
She continued with her warning as I poured myself a double shot of whisky. “This can drive you mad, Marcus.” She paused, no doubt noticing the dangerous amount of wolfsbane bitters I was adding to my glass. “You’ll be pacing your office in the dark before you know it.”
I chuckled at her attempt at humor before inhaling the drink in one breath. I slammed the empty glass down on the cart, wincing as the wolfsbane burned through me. “Would knowing she’s my mate help us?” I asked, my voice low. “Or would it push her further away?”
The couch groaned, and I turned, watching as Maya approached me.
She squared her shoulders. “Let me be frank, Alpha… I like Joanna, but… I don’t care what happens to her.
And not knowing what choice she’d make can literally kill you.
” She shook her head. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that.
She needs to know. She needs to choose. And if she’s foolish enough not to choose you…
” She gave me a comforting smile. “Your pack will be your strength. We’ll help you get through this. ”
I exhaled sharply, the gravity of her words pinning down the chaos in my mind.
“The Goddess has a piss-poor sense of humor,” I muttered, turning to pour myself another drink.
I knocked it back as quickly as the first and picked up the bottle of whiskey for a third glass when Maya snatched the wolfsbane bitters from off the cart.
“Alpha,” she warned, “if I wouldn’t let the absence of a choice kill you, what makes you think I’d let a poor one do it?”
I tilted my head, unable to hide the grin that spread across my face. “Well, damn,” I teased, eyebrow raised. “Maya Williams, you haven’t been that smart with me since we were kids.”
Maya’s eyes had widened as soon as her words left her mouth.
Her gaze, now pinned to the small bottle in her hands.
But she didn’t apologize. She knew I wouldn’t ask her to.
Because she was right about Joanna… and about the wolfsbane.
The toxins were already working to cloud my mind with a blissful, warm fog—even though the right amount of it could bring a shapeshifter to his knees.
I placed the whisky bottle back on the cart. “Does this mean you’re closer to accepting my offer?” I crossed my arms, awaiting Maya’s response.
She released a heavy sigh, playing with the bottle in her hand. “I…” She hesitated, the defined muscles in her arms tense. “I’m still trying to understand why you won’t let the pack vote—”
“Simple. I don’t want their opinion,” I answered, taking Maya by the shoulders. “There is no one I trust more than the woman standing in this room. And if anyone thinks there’s a wolf more deserving of being their beta than her, they’re fucking morons.”
Her eyes widened. “Alpha—”
“I told you I’d wait for you to accept, and that’s what I’m doing. So, if you’re about to say anything besides ‘of course, Marcus,’ don’t bother.”
Maya closed her mouth and didn’t protest when I grabbed the bottle of bitters from her hand.
“Now, what do you have for me?” I said smoothly.
As Maya briefed me on her visit to the neighboring Laughton Pack, the wolfsbane couldn’t work fast enough.
Garreth Laughton was fucking useless. Turns out my fellow alpha knew about the uprising long before I did and decided that this wasn’t his battle to fight.
Either the humans won and things remained the same, or the rogues won and werewolves lived like ‘royalty’.
Garreth had only seen opportunity and ignored that this war was a damn powder keg.
“Garreth noticed we lost a good bit of our pack and assumed it was because they joined the uprising,” Maya declared, taking a small sip from her glass.
“Torching the warehouse was a great idea. The less rogues have to tie the attack to wolves, the better. If they believe humans are their only threat, maybe they’ll grow careless. ”
I needed to tell Joanna what I’d learned… but I still hadn’t heard from her.
Half listening to my gamma, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone to text Joanna for the hundredth time.
Where the hell are you?
Maya shifted, causing my gaze to leave the phone screen.
“Marcus…” She paused, and that meant I should take another swig of my drink.
The damn thing was empty.
“Did the sister say anything this time?” she asked carefully.
Damn it.
I didn’t want to talk about Latoya. I didn’t want to think about her. If the Goddess saw fit to bond me to the hunter, why the hell would She make her sister smell so fucking good? Sweet, like a budding hyacinth. Earthy, like the ground after rain.
There was no mistaking that the two were closely related. And while she wasn’t as sexy as Joanna, the traitor’s defiant demeanor reminded me of my hunter every time she opened her mouth.
Then there was the way she liked to flip her locs over her shoulder—such a simple gesture, but it made me think about the night I fucked Joanna for the first time. The way Joanna had gathered her braids to the side so I could unclasp the necklace she’d worn to dampen her aura.
The way her power stole my breath and caused the blood to drain from my face and run straight down to my cock.
“Alpha.” The furrow on Maya’s brow deepened. “What did Latoya say?”
I forced myself not to pelt my empty glass across the room. “She won’t talk to me about the uprising.” But she sure loved offering a hole for me to fuck. “She refuses to say anything of value until Joanna agrees to speak to her.”
I snatched Maya’s glass from her hands and emptied it before she could protest. After a guttural belch escaped my lips, I leaned against the couch, letting my head drop back as I closed my eyes.
I didn’t want to think about Latoya’s tongue. I wanted her dead.
But the hunter would never forgive me.
“The rest of the rogues die tonight.” My voice was low, but my decision unyielding. Someone had to die. “Save the strongest one for me.”
I felt as Maya whirled to face me. “That doesn’t make sense,” she protested.
“Marcus.”
I peeped my eyes open and turned my head toward the male voice.
Jerome stood in the doorway with a curious expression on his face. “Why are you two in the dark?” he asked, flipping on the lights.
I squinted against the sudden brightness. “Damn it, J,” I snapped, instinctively shielding my eyes.
I didn’t need my vision to know how Maya reacted to the flood of lights. Relief emanated from her like a tidal wave. But out of curiosity, I eased open my eyes to steal a glance at the woman sitting beside me.
Her tight lips rose into a lazy smile as she watched Jerome approach us—a soft, quiet kind of yearning for the man whose head fell into a slight bow of respect.
Thanks to Joanna, I’d learned my gamma was in love with her strongest warrior. Now, I wondered how I’d ever missed it.
“Maya. Alpha,” Jerome greeted. “The scout returned with his tail between his legs. He left his post this morning and didn’t see where the hunter disappeared to, but she didn’t return from her jog.”
Maya’s gaze darted from Jerome’s face to mine.
I ignored her silent question, rubbing my temples to subdue my growing irritation. “Where’s the scout now?” My wolf growled as we waited for a reply.
Jerome cracked his knuckles and cleared his throat. “He’s doing fifty human laps around the forest’s edge.”
“Who’s watching him?” I demanded. The nagging feeling that something was wrong still lingered. And if I learned Joanna merely had to move a fallen branch herself because an incompetent piece of shit couldn’t do his job, I’d have to snap his neck. “Or are we going to let him disobey an order again?”
Jerome frowned, glancing at his gamma. “He’s being supervised, Alpha… Grace was leading the training sessions today, and I made sure she stayed behind with him once they were over.” He tilted his head to the side. “Is… everything okay?”
His eyes flicked to the empty glass in my hand and, moments later, a comprehending look replaced his furrowed brow.
Maya rose from her seat and took a deep breath. “Marcus,” she began, her voice steady, “I think having Joanna followed is a bad idea.”
I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “Which is why I didn’t bother telling you about it.”
Jerome’s dark cheeks reddened. “Shit,” he muttered. “Marcus, I didn’t realize—”
“It’s fine,” I snapped, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Maya hasn’t accepted her promotion yet. And even when she does, I still won’t be obligated to share every detail regarding the women I fuck.”
Jerome clenched his jaw.
Was I being an asshole? Maybe. But I was angry and fucking worried. Annoyed by that damn scout. Disappointed in Maya for insinuating I was overstepping… In myself for letting Joanna leave this morning.
She should’ve been by my side. It was the only way I could ensure her safety.
Maya remained silent, her face twisting as she peeled away the layers of my conduct. When she finally spoke, she did so with a shake of her head, repeating the only words she deemed worthy of clarification. “The… women…?”
Yes, my gamma was adept at reading me. And where others would’ve heard a slip-up, she discerned resolve…
The wolfsbane and I had made our decision.
The fucking bond could go straight to hell.