My eyes widened. “One faction?” I whispered.
Li shared a pitiful glance with her partner. The wrinkles that appeared between her perfectly arched eyebrows looked out of place, but she remained silent, as if she knew I needed this moment for myself.
Like I’d feared, all we’d won was a battle.
We were still facing the fuckingwar.
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.
Ineededto 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?
