It’s those lingering memories that lightly tingle my skin even now that have me floating across the bedroom barefooted, hanging on his parting words before he left me here.
“I’ll be in my room if you need me.”
Right now, my wolf needs him even if I’m not in heat. My body’s memory moves my feet until I find myself outside his bedroom door, sheepishly staring at the wooden frame as I imagine what he might be doing inside there.
It’s late, and he must be asleep. But even with this knowledge, I end up lifting my hand as if I’m about to knock on his door.
No!
Wait…
This isn’t right.
Though the alpha assured me that if I needed anything, he’d be in his room, what I need isn’t something he can give me.
I quickly retract my hand, catching myself in this stupor of the late night that had me coming out here in the first place. Even if my inner wolf drew me here on impulse, I can’t be foolish enough to actually believe that the Alpha cares about me.
Beyond his words of reassurance, I saw the way he pulled away from me this morning. He doesn’t find me attractive at all and only acted upon his wolf’s desire when he found me on heat at the motel.
It meant nothing. Neither does him bringing me back to Girdwood and claiming to his subordinates and the Elders of the pack that I am his mate.
A premonition?
How ridiculous!
Scoffing under my breath, I turn my face to the side and let it fall with the shame that washes over me. How could I be so foolish as to think that the passion we shared at the motel meant anything?
For all I know, Elias has another trick up his sleeve; that’s why he brought me back and spared my life with the claim that I am his mate and I’ll carry his child. Though I want to dismiss the idea, my eyes flit to my round belly, and a hand comes up to cradle it.
A child?
I can’t even imagine what that would mean. It’s not possible—especially not after one night together.
That’s all it was, right?
A one-night stand with an alpha who probably goes through a throng of women in his bed behind that door. Besides, the only reason I’m caught in this web is because of the demon and the pack’s plan to offer me as a sacrifice. What Eliaswitnessed out in the valley must have given him some grand idea—like how to use the powers no one believed my grandmother had about to defeat the demon and keep his pack safe. He’s the only one who ever saw those powers in action, and I was able to injure the demon with them.
Not only did he use my body when his wolf sensed my heat, but he’s using me now to fulfill a prophecy that I’m not even sure is real. If the pack’s council cared enough to question me this morning, I wouldn’t have even been able to confirm what Elias told them.
I didn’t have a vision that foretold the demont’s defeat with a child conceived between Elias and me. And I especially do not accept his claim that I am his mate.
It’s not like I’ll ever be able to trust him after what he said to break my heart. I have to be firm in my resolve and maintain that now, all he’s doing is pretending so that he can get his way. He’s wearing a mask of kindness, and before long, it will slip to reveal his true intentions.
Until then, I am trapped, left to do a walk of shame of sorts back down the passage. Once inside the guest bedroom, I hear the echo of the hinges on his door crying out, but I remain locked in the bedroom, not wanting him to know that I’m affected by any of this. I have to remain strong, uptight, and unaffected until I know what he wants. If I’m to be trapped in this cage of being his mate, the least I can do is not let my heart get involved or let my guard down.
I’ve been forced to be wary all my life, cautious about my every move so that I wouldn’t get into any sort of trouble. The toughest blow I’d ever faced wasn’t the cruel words of the pack members, but Elias’s rejection during the most vulnerablemoment of my life. I muster every ounce of self-control to ignore the footsteps going down the passage.
It can only be Elias walking past, but I won’t allow myself to become stupefied by his mere existence.
It didn’t work out the first time around, and it won’t happen now. Not when I’ve only just discovered my latent mystical powers.
The demon dog was drawn to me for that reason—I’m sure of it.
But it’s also why Elias is keeping me alive, not wanting to sacrifice me to the ancient spirit that threatens his pack. He wants to use me, and I have to figure out why.
Slipping into bed, an unsettling restlessness weighs down on me as I stare at the ceiling. Perhaps it’s because I know that he’s awake and that I can hardly escape him when I sleep, dreaming him up in ways that make no sense.
Huffing a discontented sigh, I press my eyelids shut and cross my arms, too troubled by my situation to care about wasting energy on all this thinking. The only thing I can do is rely on my wavering faith and pray to the Moon Goddess to give me a sign or reveal Elias’s true intentions.
