“Thank you for saving me,” I whispered to her, suddenly overwhelmed with the emotion I’d done my best to repress from our Alpha and the others. “If you hadn’t arrived when you did, I don’t know what—” My voice caught, and I shook my head, seeing the tears blur my vision.
Placing a kiss over the mark on my eye, Isis wrapped her arms around me again, but this time, all the love she held inside engulfed me, making me hold her even tighter. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier, Tasha. I’m so, so sorry.”
It wasn’t her fault. It never was.
“I’m so lucky to have you.”
“No, baby girl. I’m the lucky one…”
In the safety of her embrace, I released the pain I kept buried, feeling the searing tears effortlessly fall down my face and onto her shoulder. The rips of my heart hurt far more than the ones my body had ever suffered, but Isis held me in silence through it all…
Like only a mother could.
3
“I’m jumping into the shower and then we can have breakfast, okay?” Isis’ voice pulled my attention away from the colorful rising sun over the mountain peaks, and back into the room.
She was pulling her towel from the closet, and the basic linen top and pants we were all given to wear—since shifters “didn’t need clothes”. Ugh. I hated those things. They were itchy and provided no support forthe girls.
“Okay, I’ll get dressed and wait for you here.”
I’d showered in the middle of the night so no one from the village would see my swollen eyes. Thankfully, everyone was sleeping. Still, I was grateful that Isis was with me because although the potion and salve healed my injuries on the surface, the trauma my body suffered with the effort to shift was still present. I’d truly needed her help to get there and back.
Nodding, she threw me a wink and left.
With a sigh, I closed the blinds once more and limped to the closet, changing into my linen top and pants. Folding the top to make it shorter, I tied it in the back with a knot just like Isis hadshown me, then lowered the pants to my hips. If I had to wear this fashion no-no, at least I could try to make it cuter.
A knock on the door startled me, and I glanced around the room, wondering if Isis had forgotten something. Then again, why would she knock when she could just walk back in?
“It’s me!” Ryker’s voice floated into the room, and I glanced at the door, hesitantly.
I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about everything that happened, including his part in it.He has to listen to the Alpha, there was nothing he could do…my conscience reminded me.
Unfortunately for me, another voice rang in my head…“If he were really your mate, he would have protected you from your uncle.”Was she right? Isis’ statement only emboldened my indecision.
Moot point though, because he took the choice away from me, as usual, by opening the door and entering.
Stupid doors without locks.
“What are you doing, Ryker? You know Isis doesn’t like you inside her house when she isn’t here.”
He snorted, as though it was ridiculous that I expected him to respect any boundaries she placed. “She is only here to protect you; she has no influence over me.”
“She’s an Alpha, she has influence overeveryonehere. And you sure moved out of her way fast enough after she told you to.” I crossed my arms over my chest, irked at him for talking that way about Isis. I hated it when others disrespected her. It pissed me off.
Ryker’s nostrils flared at my response, a hint of dark yellow glimmering in his raven-black eyes.
My wolf shuddered inside me at the sight, her emotions engulfing me whole. Frankly, she was kind of right. I wasn’t sure what the hell got into me, making me talk back totheBeta of the pack and my future mate that way after what happenedyesterday. Annoyed by my wolf’s overwhelming reaction to my behavior, I dropped my arms and forced my gaze to the ground, though I refused to apologize.
“She is notmyAlpha,” he growled, clearly offended by my previous statement.
“No, she’s not,” I replied, keeping my voice grounded. “But she is the only person here who dared stand up for me and save me from my uncle.”
An insulted scoff left him. “Arnoldt wasn’t doing anything to you. He was just asking you to try harder so you could shift without magic as I did before my fire ceremony. And I did try to help, but he is our Alpha, and I can’t go against him, even if I wanted to… In the end, those were the consequences ofyour actions.”He pointed a single finger at me with the words, reigniting my attitude. “You only brought that on yourself, Natasha. Don’t forget that.”
My hands fisted with his words, but I bit my tongue, not saying a single word. I did wonder though, if this was meant to be my life, why did Ryker’s actions, or lack thereof, bother me so much? We weren’t human. We were Wolf Shifters, and I was a simple Omega… Why couldn’t I just be like the other females, modest and submissive? Grateful that the Beta of the pack was my future mate.
Why did I want more?
