“I believe it,” Daegan responds immediately. “Alpha Meryn is many things, but a liar is not one of them.”
“QueenMeryn,” I correct him tersely.
Elinor’s lips are a tight line as the older woman surveys the arena. “Alpha Stark, I believe you—and Queen Meryn—but…” She cuts herself off, sighing, and then looks at me with trepidation. “I mean no disrespect, buthowdo you expect us to keep our packs in line?”
“She’s worried. She’s only a Gamma, and even you and I could not control Daemos,” Cratos chimes in. He bares his teeth, and Elinor recoils a bit, but I know he’s not directing it toward her.
He’s livid at the pack members who dared to disobey us. In the past, even if a human and I have not seen eye to eye, Cratos has always been able to bring their wolf to heel. That’s part of the power we have as an Alpha pair.
It’s supposed to be, at least.
“Whatwasthat, Cratos?” I ask him, vengeful rage burning in my veins.“When we hunt those fuckers down—and we will—I’m going to let you eat the riders slowly.”
Cratos shakes his large, lupine head.“I do not know. No one should be able to resist their Alpha. Perhaps it’s because of the corruption in the communication bonds from the Siphon, or perhaps it had something to do with the Dire Blade…”
That was certainly troubling, watching that powerful weapon shatter like glass.
But even before I was made Alpha, Cratos never had wolves disobey him;they knew to follow his orders. He was too powerful—always the largest, the most vicious. That some wolves wouldwantto defy him is disturbing.
“Do your best,” I tell Elinor. “Make it known that if they do not follow your orders, they will have to answer to me.”
Cratos howls out a growling bark, and the wolves of the other three instructors skitter backward. From all around the arena, the fearful gazes of the recent graduates dart toward us.
Good.They clearly did not have enough terror beat into them over the past four months.
As the three instructors turn to go oversee their packs, Cratos stills underneath me, his ears pulling back.
“Meryn is not okay,” he says.“Anassa took her to your office.”
Shit.
“Show me.”
I’ve asked Cratos to keep a wall present ever since Anassa bonded to her. It never bothered me before, Cratos having a mate. His longing and lust for her would come through, but it felt entirely his own.
But then Anassa took Meryn.
Before, I could appreciate the ferocious glint in her hazel eyes from a distance. I could admire the swell of her hips while also keeping in mind that I fucking loathed her. It helped dull the aching attraction, reminding myself that my life was tied to hers and she was acting like an idiot.
That first day was torturous.
Cratos had no shield up. We crested the top of the summit, and the moment I saw Meryn standing next to Anassa, her hair turned that shining silver-white, something animalistic unleashed inside me.
I wanted to throw her over my shoulder and carry her back down the mountain myself.
No—I wanted to find a nearby cave and rip her clothes off with my teeth, teaching her how warm skin can keep you in the cold.
Cratos had to turn back around so I could throw myself into the snow,freezing out the pulsing, unreasonable desire that had taken over my every thought. It waspainful, and it was a pain that could have no end.
She had a lover. She hated me. And I hated her, too—her undisciplined, chaotic lack of control drove me insane, even still. Cratos took sympathy on me and tossed up a wall on his mate connection to Anassa.
It’s stayed up. Her strongest emotions still burst through on occasion, but I’ve mostly kept my mind entirely my own.
Still, I carry the knowledge that this…feeling… is just a slim barrier away.
It’s helped that I’ve wanted to kill her half the time.
Now, heartache floods me, so intense that I almost double over on Cratos—a deep twisting in my stomach and chest.
