“I’m Alpha. Alphas care for the pack, whether guest or resident. Given your proximity to Leah—who’s spent most of her life terrified of you guys—she’s gotten some of them warmed up to the idea of you.”
Her breath is warm on my chest, her hair silk against my shoulder as she tips her head to look at me, sending a wave of chilling possessiveness through me—only I should ever be able to feel her this way. “She’s been great. Claire is the sweetest. Also, does Leah realize Xander is utterly head over heels in love with her?”
My loud bark of laughter scatters a bird nearby. Xander’s always been so damn obvious, but he denies feeling anything other than friendship. “They’re the only ones who don’t recognize their feelings for one another. One day, I imagine he’ll realize he’s being an idiot and take her as his mate.”
“Will she have an option, or will it be forced?”
Fuck, is that what she thinks of us? I try to think of the past few days, of what could give her that idea.
“Of course.”
She exhales, and something about her worry for the others just gets me.
Thankfully, the entrance to the caves comes into view, and with a deep inhale of my witch, I show her what could be her home in the winter.
If life was different.
Twenty-Four
CARINA
When Ryder first mentioned caves,I envisioned a cavern in the side of a mountain, grey, and large enough to fit a group of people.
I was correct.
He leads me to a wide opening in the side of the rock face that reveals only darkness. His arm brushes mine as he enters, remaining close. The cave spans a couple feet above our heads and is narrow, but it soon stretches even wider into an entranceway that slopes downwards.
“The ramp helps keep pups inside during the colder days,” he comments, leading me deeper down. His arm juts to the side in an offering but the ground levels out before I can fall on my face.
A short hallway leads to a bigger opening, about half the size of the main part of their camp. A hole in the ground in the centre is filled with wood, more piles resting beside it, suggesting a fire pit.
Ryder then shows me a second room off to the side, where some of the crates and materials have been stacked, explaining the materials slowly getting carried here over the week. He walks down the connected pathway, which breaks off into two. Thentwo into four, four into eight, and onwards. He doesn’t take me down every branch off the main corridor, explaining that they’re rooms for each pack member or family.
He starts naming off a few, of people I know. Points to where Miriam and her mate and pup will stay, and then the one beside it for Leah and Claire, and beside it, Xander’s.
“The pack’s beta will always stay to the right of the Alpha’s cave. Which ensured Leah got this one because Xander doesn’t do well not having her nearby.”
It’s sad for two people to be so in love with one another but not act on it.
Having the possibility of love seems further away than ever. After Sloane is finished with me—if I’m still alive—the only warlock who’ll want me is one from her coven, one who’s Dark. We’ll bond in a union of black magick and be one ol’, happy Dark family.
Lost in depressing thoughts, I miss Ryder stopping in the mouth of another cave, indicating for me to enter first. A strange look fills his eyes. Apprehension? Fear?
This one is larger than the others, both in height and width. The dip in the floor consumes much of the far right corner and inside is a pile of furs ready to be slept in, like the one in his cabin.
He didn’t take me inside any of the other caves. He also didn’t watch me explore likeIwas the predator. Which makes this cave…
“Yours?”
“Yeah.”
Unlike most of the others, Ryder’s sleeping area seems almost complete, and knowing exactly what furs feels like against my skin, I can’t help but test this pile out either. Without a thought as to the tentative friendship between us—are we even considered that?—I kick off my shoes and slide into theconcavity, groaning as I flop to my back. My hair fans around me, my eyes on the cave roof, all of it decorated with shiny white gems which create their own light.
“Man, I could pass out here.”
Silence is heavy, a prickling sense of something not being quite right.
Ryder hasn’t moved from the entranceway. His eyes grip into a darkness never seen before, but flash silver with my attention. His tongue dabs at his bottom lip, the motion sweeping my mind into a different place—somewhere dangerous. For the first time since meeting him, I’m reminded he’s a wolf. An animal. A hunter.
