I quickly turn away before he can entice me to do something stupid—like shift back into anitand cause even more trouble. The scoff that falls past his lips sets my teeth on edge, and I lean onto the icy railing and mirror his stance. Back straight, arms crossed, narrowed gaze.
We glare at each other for so long that I’m able to memorize the angry scratch of burnt skin clinging to his neck. It’ssort ofhealed but looks irritated and raw, the discoloration visible even from a distance. His gaze burns into mine without an ounce of fear or regret. He’s just...pissed the hells off.
“As if it’smyfault,” I mutter, rolling my eyes and tearing my gaze away. If he hadn’t attacked me, none of this would have happened. Revyn and I could have knocked Alistair out repeatedly throughout the night without me having to shift at all. I already knew it was risky to participate, let alone shift. I hadn’t intended to wolf out.
Alistair is the reason everything went to shit.
Snow crunches behind me, and I continue ignoring him, determined for him not to get a rise out of me.
“You,” he seethes, “do not get to blame me.”
“I thought we weren’t on speaking terms,” I reply, keeping my voice as light as possible. I feel his anger like a whip against my back. “You’d clearly rather rat me out toDaddythan face me yourself.”
A stilted laugh rattles between us. “I can’t fix what you are.”
“Neither can he.” It’s not like shifters are known to change form as they age. Whatever happened to me tonight wasn’t because of the full moon or Alistair’s fated mate influence—it’s because whatever is inside of me is trying to get out. “I alwaysthought I was...” I search for the right words. “Smaller than your average wolf. But not...” I shake my head. “Whatever that was.”
“Hybrids are unpredictable,” Alistair murmurs, his body suddenly inches from mine. He ghosts his fingertips over my wrist then trails them up my arm. “There’s a reason they’re outlawed. You shouldn’t exist.”
Only according to an outdated shifter law. The other council members seem fascinated by my transformation. Their conversion isn’t exactly quiet.
I voice my suspicion aloud and enjoy the way Alistair flinches. “Someone will want me, Alistair, even if it isn’t you.”
His anger burns like a fire of its own, seeping through my clothes despite the distance between us. “They can’t have you, Sienna.”
It’s my turn to get angry. “You have no claim over me, Alistair Dire.”
“Being your fated mate says otherwise,” he hisses, suddenly curling his chest over my spine and gripping the railing beside me. “It’s an honor you don’t seem to understand.”
“It’s an honor I don’twant.”
A bitter laugh tumbles past his lips. “Then why are you here? Surely you didn’t come all this way to torture me?”
Right now, he’s the one torturing me. His scent is full of wild spice, a tangle of notes that smell fresh on the wind and as crisp as the day they were plucked from the earth. There’s heat wrapped in the layers of his distinct cologne, like sun-baked rocks or the warmth of hot coals. I hold my breath long enough that he keeps speaking.
“When you decided to enroll at Heartsflame, were you looking for me?”
The question confuses me, but so does his melancholic sigh against the burn curving from my neck to my shoulder. “I’m not sure what you mean,” I whisper, my voice scratching my throat.
“The reason,” he murmurs, his fingers grasping my wrist, “that you came here. Was it to find a mate, or did you come here to findme?”
I try to pull my arm free, but he doesn’t relent, his grip tightening until it aches. “You’re hurting me, Alistair.”
“You’ve been hurting me for years,” he snarls, pushing me into the railing. With his body at my back and his knees around mine, I have nowhere to go as he bends me at the waist and digs my abdomen into the harsh stone. The snow melts as my temperature rises, and Alistair’s cracking laugh is as unforgiving as the hard planes of his body.
So much for having a guard on standby.
“First, you kill my brother, and now you’ve come to kill me. Or, worse yet,mate withme.” I swallow a cry as he scrapes his teeth against the burn on my neck. My eyes sting as winter wind whips around us. The unforgiving pressure of his hard cock against my ass takes my breath away.
This can’t be happening.
“I don’t know your brother,” I gasp, fighting the urge to push back against him.Fuck, did it just twitch?
Pinning my hand to the railing, he interlocks our fingers and growls in my ear. “You killed him!”
My agitation grows alongside his. “I’m pretty sure I’d remember if I killed a Dire wolf!” Huffing, I buck against him and earn a satisfying shudder. His free hand latches onto my hip as he deepens the bend of my waist. One of his boots slots between my feet and pushes them further apart. When he rolls his hips, I swallow a needy groan as he grinds against my core.Shit, that shouldn’t feel as good as it does. “Your accusation isbaseless,” I gasp, trembling as he pulls the shoulder of my tunic down with his teeth.
Alistair presses his forehead to my flushed skin and exhales across my back. “Viserys Dire went looking for a wild wolf residing in Roane Valley. Allegedly, she was the last of her pack and living alone in dangerous territory.”
