His confession hovers in the silent night air between us. So electrifying silent, the bird’s chirps in the forest can be heard alongside our deep breaths.
His, ragged.
Mine, shallow.
“What does that mean?”
“What do you think it means?” he bites harshly. “You’re pack property, which makes you mine.”
For only a few more days.
“Still…he was only curious.”
Ryder laughs harshly, twisting to stalk a few steps away. Dead leaves crunch underfoot. “The fact you believe that. No, he was trying to get close to you—tofuckyou. You became that asshole’s prey, and how do I know? Because it’s how shifters work.” He whirls, pacing my way. “We’re hunters, and you,kamahki, would be the sweetest conquest.” His hands snap out and grasp my hips, yanking me against his chest. If air was still running through my lungs, I may have gasped. “The forbiddenfruit. The enemy. You were doomed the moment I walked you into that place and basically offered you up on a fucking platter.”
He growls beneath his breath, the warm exhale blowing over my face. We’re ridiculously close. As close as we were earlier when he was marking me. Exempt this time, there doesn’t seem to be an endgame to his actions.
“Thank you,” I whisper after another moment. No matter what I feel, in his opinion, the fight was warranted.
With a deep sigh, he releases all of me except my arm. That he keeps a hold of, a hand wrapping my wrist as he tugs me closer. “Come, we can’t leave yet. Don’t even fuckin’ think of leaving my side.”
Twenty-Nine
RYDER
The edgemy sanity barely clings to is so ridiculously sharp, all it’d take is the gentlest breeze to knock me off.
Having my mate—no matter how unwanted or unplanned, and regardless that she’s a different species—unclaimed in a place where so many threats exist has me ready to snap into a billion fucking pieces and rebuild us both into a cage to keep her safe.
How the fuck am I supposed to let her go in a few short days, knowing she’s walking into danger?
Regardless that informing Carina about our fate-chosen bond will be the literal last thing I’ll ever do, I’m not doing a good job at hiding it. Not with how I haven’t let her wrist go, keeping her no further than an arm’s length away. Nor how I’m growling at every person who looks our way.
Most are frightened of her—or of what she’s making me capable of. Some are curious, but they’re still irritating. Others desire her.
Witch or not, male shifters adore sex. Mating. Like Jace’s attempt, she’d be the forbidden and untouchable conquest for any one of them. Putting aside the fact that my little priestessis sexy as fuck, and the oversized hoodie hiding her frame only makes them more curious about what’s underneath—even though that it’smyclothing she’s in. Many, I now realize, don’t care. She’s a witch, therefore not a chosen mate, so no matter my claim on her, they all think it’s merely a threat and not a fact.
How little do they know.
Holly and Conan, sensing my agitation, have taken up sentry on either side of us, and Xander’s doing my job of mingling with the others, while still remaining close. The rest of the pack is spread out.
Carina leans into my arm, pushing her chin into my shoulder. “Who’s that shifter who continues to stare at me like I’m something to be dissected?”
It’s like she’s testing my resolve; wanting to see me go off on another one of my kind.
“Who?” I turn my head, passing over the numerous people looking at her. The better question would have been which oneisn’t.
She bends into my arm, appearing like she’s snuggling me. She puts an arm across my stomach and pokes a finger out to point in a direction I follow, genuinely surprised.
“Callum. He’s the Alpha of Hightooth Pack outside Vancouver.”
He’s been Alpha since he challenged his way to the win fifteen years ago. There have been no murmurings of discontent from the pack since. He’s unmated but has never shown an interest in taking a woman.
A snarl parts my lips, but he doesn’t take the warning. His eyes never move from her, but unlike the others, it’s not lust or death in his gaze.
Either way, sick of his attention on her, I turn her to face another direction. “Don’t worry about him.”
Her responding nod is quickly taken by a large yawn that ends on a small chuckle. “I’m exhausted. It’s late, isn’t it?”
