“What I’m asking,” she said, smiling through gritted teeth, “is for you to spell out what you want from me. I assume it would be a one-night stand, and then I’d leave in the morning. And I swear to God, if you make some stupid joke about how, no, you’d cook me breakfast first, I will punch you in the face and to hell with the consequences.”
Miles’s jaw dropped.
“And then, after our no-strings-attached one-night stand, I assume I would be treated to the delightful sight of you parading your next conquest of the day past my doorstep to your cabin. On a regular basis.”
“Well, no, I…I wouldn’t do that to you.” Miles’s face flushed. “And I haven’t even been dating that much lately. It’s been months since I brought a woman back to my cabin.”
“So you want a monogamous relationship with me, then?”
He looked genuinely pained. She could feel conflicting emotions tangling inside him, desire mingled with fear and the ghosts of some past trauma that was hidden down deep.
“Jamie, I’m just not a relationship guy. I’m just not wired for it. And this…” He gestured at the pack lands, at the shifters in the stream, and the lands that could just be glimpsed through the trees. “This is all my responsibility. This whole territory. If I fail in my duties to this territory, it doesn’t just hurt me or my pack. The entire area descends into anarchy, and a lot of innocent shifters suffer.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s an excuse, and a pretty lame one. Plenty of Alpha Primes have mates and cubs. Here’s what I’m saying, Miles. Your constant come-ons make it very clear that you want to have sex with me, and then afterwards you’d like me to go away quietly, and I’m not interested in that, so knock it off.”
“Do you always say exactly what’s on your mind?” Miles spluttered.
She smiled and blinked her eyes at him. “Yes. All the time. Well, unless I’m asleep. But then again, I’ve been told that I talk in my sleep.”
“Of course you do.” He was standing there awkwardly now, not sure what to do next. She doubted he’d ever found himself in this position before. Finally he scowled and said, “The women I’ve dated in the past haven’t had any complaints.”
“That’s because you make it perfectly obvious what you’re looking for, and if they say yes, then they know what they’re in for,” she said coolly.
“I see.” He looked like he’d just bitten into something that tasted sour.
Dakota turned to go, then looked back at Miles. “I will work where you assign me to work. I will treat you with the respect due to your status. Other than that, please showmesome basic respect, and stay away from me. And if you ever decide that you’re looking for an actual mate rather than a bed-mate, I suggest you approach the woman accordingly.” And she marched off into the woods without looking back.
* * * * *
Miles stormed out of the woods, startling Anders and Baldwin.
“Anything we can do?” Anders asked him.
“She’s infuriating! She makes my head want to explode!”
“So…you want us to move her off pack property?” Baldwin asked hesitantly.
“Of course he doesn’t,” Anders said. “Come on, have you ever seen him affected by a woman like this before?”
Miles fixed Anders with a deadly glare. “Before you talk about your leader like that, remember that he’s standing right here, and he is pissed as hell right now.”
Anders respectfully deflected his gaze, then looked up again and briefly met Miles’s eyes. “Sir, may I offer you some advice?”
“If it has anything to do with this woman, no. Not unless you want your head handed to you.”
Miles stormed away, headed for the woodpile by his cabin.
As he walked, he couldn’t help but hear the echo of her words.You’ve created order out of chaos… You even show mercy where it’s warranted…He’d never really stopped to pat himself on the back for that. He’d just did the job that needed to be done. He didn’t like to see weak shifters abused, and he stepped in to make sure that didn’t happen.
For some reason, the fact that Jamie thought well of him – at least as a leader – loosened the knot of tension that was always coiled inside him. Just a little.
He hadn’t heard the words “well done” since…well, since his parents had died when he was twelve.
Miles’s father had been kind, and supportive, and well-loved…and not strong enough to keep his pack safe from a challenge. Most of them had been wiped out by a neighboring pack, and his mother had killed herself rather than be taken prisoner and shared among the victors. Miles and Anders had hidden in the woods for days until his uncle Jarrod had showed up.
Jarrod had come to seek revenge, and had wiped out every man, woman and cub in the challenger’s pack. When Miles had begged for mercy for their cubs, his uncle had beaten him unconscious and broken most of the bones in his body.
Still, no-one ever challenged Jarrod. Miles had gotten the message over the years. His uncle’s methods were brutal, but they worked.
