Page 13 of Claimed by the Wolf (Wild Fated Shifters #1)

NOX

C onnor and Brax avoid me for the rest of the guard duty, pairing off to finish our rounds of the territory. I can’t be sure if they mentioned their newfound discovery to anyone, but I doubt they will tonight while we’re working.

We race through the ranches and along the city streets, looking for trouble and keeping the peace, but my mind is on anything but pack business. Brax’s words keep ricocheting through my head, and Brynn’s scent lingers on my lips. The combination is daunting.

“How can you just give her to someone else? What’s wrong with you?”

We regroup at the packhouse, and I can already feel the energy is off as I enter, my neck stiffening as all eyes fall on me.

Brax isn’t back yet, but I’m not sure he’s going to return after what happened.

Connor smirks at me from his place in the living room. “I’m surprised you bothered coming back here.”

I glower at him. “I am the Alpha, and this is my packhouse.”

He snorts.

My eyes scan the mess around the room, strewn beer bottles and empty pizza boxes littering the floor.

“Clean up this mess,” I snap. “This isn’t a fraternity house.”

The other pack members get to work tidying up, despite their different points of tiredness, but Connor remains on the couch with his arms folded.

“Aren’t you going to tell them?” he asks as I head down the hall toward my office.

I freeze mid-step, the hairs on my neck raising.

He can’t be this stupid.

“Connor…” My tone warns him to keep quiet.

“They have a right to know before you drag us into a bloodbath.”

I backtrack toward the threshold of the sitting room where half a dozen of my enforcers sit, suddenly interested in what Connor has to say.

The front door opens, and more enforcers come inside. Dawn breaks over the countryside beyond the front door, a gray tinge painting the pinkish hue of the sky.

“What bloodbath? What is he talking about?” Ryland demands, standing upright from the coffee table.

“There will be no bloodbath,” I begin, but Connor worked them into a well-planned panic.

“Does he mean the party tonight?” one of the other shifters growls. “I knew it was a trap. We can’t trust those Willow Grove shifters.”

“I knew it!”

“We should come up with a plan!”

I hold up a hand. “Stop this bullshit!” I snap. “It’s not a trap. Emeric is hosting a party to make his status with Brynn official.”

Connor snorts loudly, and someone clears their throat from behind me. I glance back and see Brax on my heels.

Great. Just fucking great.

I eye him warningly. “Did you have something you wanted to add?”

“You can’t go,” Brax tells me flatly.

“I’m the fucking Alpha. I have to go,” I bark, outraged at this intervention.

“I’ll go in your place,” my Beta tells me.

Anger clouds my vision, and I wonder if he’s been conspiring with Connor during guard duty to confront me in front of the pack.

“What is going on?” Ryland calls out.

The pack shuffles awkwardly as I glower at Connor, who meets my stare defiantly.

“Are you going to tell them?” he hisses.

This ends right now.

Furiously, I advance on the wolf, and he cowers as my hand curls around the cuff of his shirt.

Dancing him back against the wall, I pin him up, baring my fangs. “You should remember your place,” I snarl. “I’m still the Alpha, and if you want to remain in this pack, I suggest you try to remember that.”

“Nox!” Brax cries, his hand on my arm. “Don’t.”

Snarling, I release Connor’s quivering form into a heap on the floor and glare at Brax before turning to confront the rest of my pack. Like it or not, they need to know the truth about Brynn and me.

Connor scrambles to his feet and scurries out of the way, glowering hatefully at me, but I ignore him. I’m not prepared to tell them about this, but it needs to be said.

“Everything will proceed as planned. Brynn…” To my horror, my voice falters when I speak her name, and the pack instantly notices.

“Did she back out? Is she not going with Emeric?” Ryland calls out.

“It’s still happening. The party is tonight. You’ll go. We’re all going.”

“You can’t go!” Brax explodes. “There’s no way!”

“Why not?” someone calls. “He’s the Alpha. Emeric won’t like that!”

“Because he and my sister are fated mates,” Brax explains when I don’t.

Dead silence follows Brax’s explanation, but every set of eyes is on me. The front door opens again, and the last of the pack’s enforcers on duty filters inside, laughing and oblivious to the chaos that was just unleashed.

The newcomers grin at us, but their smiles fade when they read the tension. “What’s going on?”

“Is that some kind of joke?” Ryland challenges, ignoring the question from his packmate. “That’s impossible! They’ve known each other for their entire lives.”

“Is it true, Alpha?”

“Is this some kind of smear campaign?” someone else asks, and I almost smile at her loyalty.

“It’s true,” Connor hisses. “I saw it myself. And if those two are anywhere near each other, Emeric and his pack will sense it, too. We’ll be fucked.”

A din erupts in the room like nothing I’ve ever heard, full chaos emerging.

I jump onto the coffee table, knocking over the remaining beer bottles with a smash, and the group falls silent as I growl at them.

“You will keep it together,” I order them.

“All we need to do is get through tonight, and everything will be fine.”

Skeptical looks follow my proclamation.

“How?” Ryland questions. “If Emeric finds out you’re giving him your mate, he’ll think you’re sending a spy! You need to send him someone else.”

“He already suspects I might be sending him a spy, which is why he’s being so cautious,” I explain.

“He’ll reject anyone else I send, because I have already convinced him that mating with my Beta’s sister will be the best road to peace for both of our packs.

And if he learns that Brynn is my mate, things could go wrong for whoever I do send.

Tonight, we’ll attend the party, and there’s a chance she’ll stay on at the ranch.

If she’s away from me, no one will ever know we’re mates. ”

“What if he finds out she’s your mate while she’s there?” Brax barks. “Did you think about what’s going to happen to Brynn then?”

I give him a wary look. “That won’t happen. We’ll work on a way to… to break the bond.”

It fucking kills me to say that when her pheromones still overpower me. I want nothing more than to escape this room and run back to her right now. But that’s impossible.

I storm out of the room, but not before I give Connor a murderous look. I’ll deal with him later.

Alone in my office, I text Brynn, my concern for her paramount.

Me: Are you okay?

She must have been waiting by the phone.

Brynn: No. Are you?

I sink back in my chair and look at the closed office door, grimacing. Instead of responding by message, I call her, needing to hear her voice.

“Hi,” she mumbles into the phone. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“I doubt I will either.” After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, I add, “I’m sorry.”

“Why? You didn’t do anything I didn’t want to do.”

“I am the Alpha. I should have been stronger.”

“Stop with that,” she begs me, her voice cracking slightly, and I close my eyes, rubbing the space between my eyebrows.

“I needed to feel you once,” I rasp. “I don’t regret it. At least we’ll have the memory of that…”

She draws in a shaky breath, and it takes everything in me not to fly out of the packhouse to be with her.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispers. “I don’t know?—”

“Stop!” I command, and she falls quiet, her uneven breathing the only sound I hear for a long minute. “Please don’t make this harder than it already is.”

“You’re right. I should get some sleep before tonight.”

“Brynn…”

“Goodbye, Nox.”

The words are so final, and they crack my heart as we hang up.