My wolf whimpered when I left our mate alone with other men.
I return and drop the dead pheasant I caught in front of her abruptly.
She jumps, startled, then glances at it and up at me.
That’s when I fear my wolf was right to have been worried. I notice a red crescent-shaped mark around her eye. Something thatwasn’tthere when I left.
I snatch her chin and lift her face to get a closer look.
“Name,” I growl.
“Jay,” she says.
Jay.That isn’t the name I was referring to.
“Not yours.His.” Control over my wolf is wavering. He surfaces to get a closer look. That fierce glow of my wolf’s eyes reflect off her freckled face. “I want the name of the man who did this to you.”
She tries to jerk her chin out of my hand, but I tighten my hold.
I won’t let this go.
“I don’t know his name. But he’s, he’s over there,” she sighs and gestures toward Tyler, who looks up to me while also towering over me.
His height and strong build, mixed with the pale blue eyes and dark hair easily made him the most sought-after male.
I’ll never forget fooling around with Alaina before she was crowned queen of two kingdoms, when Tyler tried to persuade her to jump into his bed. Afterward, she called it the weirdest encounter ever and grilled me about what we’d done sexually and how he could be better. His behavior has become so predictable I’ve had to warn any other girl I got involved with to be careful of him.
Some of the women I had seen casually had fallen for Tyler’s agenda. Sometimes, I’m sure it was in hopes it would make me jealous, but it had the opposite effect. I wasn’t interested in anyone disloyal, who could jump ship. I don’t like games, but Tyler does. If he could take them, he could have them.
Some days, I can’t stand him, but he comes in handy. His family used to have the ancestral power of military strategy: a heightened natural understanding of battlefield logistics, strategies and operations. Tyler doesn’t possess this strength, but his parents taught him a wealth of transferable skills and knowledge.
The power died with his older sister in the attack five months ago. She would’ve been my beta. I was close with his family givenhis late sister’s future role under my inherited leadership. Now that will be Tyler’s job.
His charm, when properly directed, is helpful. Though, despite Tyler’s attempts, he never could persuade Alaina. A prize to anyone with eyes, she was her own hero and refused to be anyone’s victory. I liked that. She would rather die by suicide than allow someone to claim they killed her.
And judging by the red mark on her face, Jay wasn’t fazed by Tyler’s persuasion either.
His attempts at conquest never bothered me before. I saw it as pathetic. But this one, if he tried...
“Tyler.” My tone is stern enough to cause Jay to jump. “Get over here.”
Not a second later, Tyler is by my side.
I point to Jay’s eye. “What’s this?”
Tyler’s face contorts. “What do you mean? It’s a mark.” He shrugs.
My patience is thinning.
“I’m well aware what it is. Why does she have it?”
“We found her bag, and when I went to look through it, I found this”—he pulls the photo out of his back pocket and hands it to me—“and she went ballistic on me.”
I find proof of his statement in red tiger-like scratch marks across his arms and neck.
Yikes.
I look back at her, and she’s not ashamed in the least.
