Instead of saying anything, she held his gaze as she slowly shook her head, her chin brushing against his hand in a way that had jolts of electricity zapping through him.
“Because I don’t have to,” he responded low. Silence reigned a moment before he informed, “And you don’t have to either. Not anymore. Not here. Not with me. You get that right?”
She just stared at him before he ordered, “Answer me. You know that, right?”
“Y-yes,” she stammered.
“Good,” he crooned. “Then answer me truthfully.” He waited a beat, debating whether he wanted to pose the next question, and then decided he was done avoiding it.
“Do you feel something between us?”
Her cheeks flared that mesmerizing shade of pink again as she tried to dip her head. His hand forced it back up. “The second I see you, or even sense you, I get this odd spike of adrenaline,” he admitted, then asked, “Is it happening to you too?”
Pinching her eyes closed, she breathed, “Yes.”
“What is it?” he asked.
Eyes still closed, Jury shook her head. “I… I don’t know.”
Finally, he asked, in a tone filled with anguish, the question that had been blaring in his head from the instant he laid eyes on her. “What are you doing to me?”
Eyes snapping open, Jury stared up at him, looking repentant. “I-I’m doing my best to stay out of your way.”
That had him barking out a laugh, his chest rumbling with amusement. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight, murmuring against her soft, perfumed hair, “It ain’t working, baby.” His humor tapered off as he realized just how screwed he was. When he’d battled for Alpha in the Allegiance pack, it’d been with a plan in mind. He’d spent years formulating how to have the fiercest, most feared pack in the northwest. The biggest part of that was his firm rule of no females. No female packmates, and no mates. It seemed simple. But now, with Jury’s body tucked up against his, he didn’t think he had the power to deny whatever in the hell it was that was building between them.
Jury whispered, “This is stupid.”
Her words had his brows furrowing. “What’s stupid?”
“This!” She looked right at him. “You make me feel seen, Koe. Even when you’re not looking at me. You and your wolf recognize me and mine in a way that can’t ever work.Wecan’t work.”
His lips thinned into a grim line.
“We can’t do this.” She shoved at his chest and tried to climb off him, but he tightened his hold. “Koe!” she pleaded. “Fuck! This is already too hard.” Tears welled in her eyes as she begged, “Don’t make this harder.”
“Make what harder?” he questioned roughly.
She ripped back from his hold, refusing to look at him as she stared at the wall and admitted, “I’m fighting hard to resist you. To stay off your radar.” More quietly, she mumbled almost as if she were afraid for him to know, “We’re enemies, Koe.” Finally, she blinked up at him from beneath dark lashes. “We’re from enemy packs. You can’t claim me any more than I could accept your claim. It’s not allowed.”
And that pissed him off. He’d built up his pack to be different from all the others, and not just in might and power but in their beliefs as well. He’d always believed that the shifter laws required tweaking, and he had built up his pack to be capable of taking on that task. It was fucking stupid to him that some long-dead ancestors determined who he could claim as his mate. Alpha battles were archaic too. He’d always believed that Alphas should be allowed to pass on their reign to their Betas when the time came, rather than Betas having to battle for the position. But he hadn’t challenged any of the laws; there wasn’t a reason to. Until now.
Reluctantly, he released her.
“We can’t work,” Jury reiterated as she huffed a laugh, then nodded and scrambled to her feet. She made a beeline for the door just as the scent of her anguish hit him.
“Stop!” he bellowed, with a lash of Alpha authority that had Jury slamming to a halt. Getting to his feet, he walked to her and slowly circled around before stopping to tower over her.“Look at me,” he commanded, and her eyes slowly tracked up as a lone tear slipped free from the corner of her eye.
“Ichoose who I take as a mate,” he growled low and deep, using his voice to remind her just how Alpha he was. “No rules, no authority, no expectations, no traditions, no elders, no enemies tell me otherwise. Do you understand?” The only response he got was another tear sliding down her cheek, and it fucking gutted him. She thought that they weren’t in control of their destiny. She believed there wasn’t a way for them. Which meant he’d have to show her there was, but first he’d have to make that way. Sucking in a steadying breath against the desperate need to lift her off her feet and shove her up against the wall while burying his teeth in her throat and his cock in her sweet heat, Koe dropped the weighty cloak of his authority and took a step back in silent permission for her to leave.
It only took a beat for Jury to rush for the door.
“This isn’t finished, and neither are we,” he threw at her retreating back. “And, Jury…” he paused when she stopped and turned to look at him. Using the full weight of his Alphaconviction, he informed, “You’re notonmy radar. Youaremy fucking radar.”
Her mouth parted, and she held his gaze just a moment before she turned and hurried away.
Alone, Koe snarled and fisted his hair with both hands. His chest felt tight, and his dick was so fucking hard he could barely stand it. He was dizzy with the lust pounding through him. His wolf wanted Jury even more now that she thought he couldn’t have her. Ears ringing with the need to race after Jury, carry her to his room, and make her his in every manner possible, Koe snarled a ferocious sound and exited the sitting room. He needed to fuck or fight, but he’d get the relief of neither because his top priority was contacting the Blackbird pack in Montana’s Glacier National Park. He needed rules changed, or exceptions made, and for that, he’d need the Blackbird pack on his side. Because if they weren’t, then Koe was taking his Allegiance pack to war because yeah, Jury fucking Warmont of the enemy Biters pack meant that much to him, and he’d have her come hell or high water.
He double-timed it up to his office, distracted with his mission.
