“Wait,” he calls out, stomping through the snow behind me. “I’m coming with you.”
My irritation quickly morphs into anger. “Back up, Dire.” Wolves howl in the distance, someone no doubt claiming first place in tonight’s race. “Your pack’s waiting for you.”
“They’re not my—” Alistair sighs, matching my pace with ease as we walk down the jagged mountain pass, the three of us stark naked. I curl Sienna’s body away from his. He already got enough of an eyeful at the bonfire.
“They’re not your pack, and she’s not your mate,” I finish for him, scowling. “Why are you even here? Go the fuck away.” We don’t need him, and we never will.
Even if he healed her. Fuck.
For a long moment, Alistair is silent. I don’t think he’s going to answer me, and then he takes a deep breath. “Why are you?” Our eyes meet over Sienna’s head, neither of us averting our gaze.
“She can be my reason. She can’t be yours.”
He scoffs. “Why not? Because she’syours?”
“Yes.” I look him dead in the eyes and stop in my tracks. Sienna isn’t in danger anymore, and although I don’t want to waste any time getting her inside, this bastard needs to understand something. “She’s mine. I don’t care what bond youthinkyou have with her. It ends here. Hell, it never even began. This—” I nod at Sienna’s mended ribs. “—never fucking happened. She hit her head, lost some of her memory, and I carried her to bed. You won your race, and we all go back to hating each other in time for sunrise.”
“Except I didn’t win.” Fire rages in the depths of his eyes. “If I go back, I’ll be in last place. Quitters don’t place, so you two won’t qualify.”
“Sounds like ayouproblem.”
“It’s aweproblem,” he snaps, staring at Sienna again. “When heat season starts?—”
Oh, no fucking way.
“You arenottouching her?—”
“Shewillgo into heat. It doesn’t matter that she’s never had one before. Things are different when you’re in a pack, and this student body behaves like one giant, fucked-up family. It’s brutal and unforgiving and doesn’t tolerate weakness.” He clenches and unclenches his fists.
If he touches her again, I’m ripping his hands off his goddamn body.
“Then I’ll handle her heat,” I vow, feeling an unquenchable need for Sienna in the marrow of my bones. It goes beyond desiring her body; I want every part of her, including her firstheat, if it comes. I’ve had all her other firsts; this one will be mine, too.
Alistair runs a hand through his hair and pulls at the blonde ends. “You don’t understand.” His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows. “I’m her?—”
“Don’t you fucking say it.”
To his credit, he keeps his mouth shut. We jog down a steep slope and make it to the ground before he speaks again. The bonfire is still raging high into the sky, its smoke forming a cloud in the distance. “I can’t bed alone during her heat.”
“You’re not touching her.”
“I don’t want to fuck her!” Stepping in front of me, he halts our progress as we come to a stop. “Mates can’t be separated during a heat or they’re vulnerable. If I’m alone, I’ll be targeted.”
“I doubt anyone would kill a Dire wolf.”
A vein in his neck pulses. “No, but they’ll mate with one.”
My blood runs cold.
True mates, even unbonded ones, are extremely aware of each other’s emotional and physical well-being. Besides the obvious issue of someone sexually assaulting Alistair while he’s weakened, there’s also the problem of Sienna not only knowing what’s happening to him, but potentially feeling every pounding heartbeat as her own. Whether he enjoys it or not, she’ll know.
Even if she and Alistair never complete their bond, that betrayal will break her heart.
I don’t care if Alistair is single for the rest of his life—nor do I care about shattering his fucking heart when I inevitably claim Sienna as my mate—but I will not put her through unnecessary suffering just so that I enjoy her heat hormones for myself.
If Alistair needs to be near her so that she doesn’t have to experience his dick game through some telepathic fated-mate bullshit, then fine. He can benearher.
But it doesn’t have to be pleasant for him.
