Page 6 of Claimed by the Wolf (Wild Fated Shifters #1)

brYNN

“ H ave you spoken to Nox?” I ask Brax casually as soon as he walks in the door.

He barely closes it behind him, and I wince inwardly, but I’ve been pacing the little space of our home all day, suppressing the urge to run to the packhouse and throw myself at the Alpha.

A dozen times throughout the morning and afternoon, I considered shifting to go for a run, but I worried I wouldn’t be able to resist looking for the Alpha on my own. It was just safer to remain in the house, out of temptation’s path.

Nox hasn’t even tried to contact me.

How can he be so damned cold when every part of my body is aching? I feel like I’m getting the flu, my muscles are sore, and my body is weak. But unlike the flu, there is an easy cure for this agony…

Well, maybe “easy” isn’t the right word. There’s nothing easy about any of this. And Nox has to be experiencing at least some of what I am.

“Of course I’ve spoken to Nox,” my brother responds, dropping his keys on the shelf at the entrance. “I was with him all day. Why?”

I quickly back off, realizing how desperate I sound. “No reason,” I mumble, spinning away.

“There must be a reason if you’re asking the second I walk in the door,” Brax counters. “What’s going on?”

“No, nothing. Never mind.”

“Don’t tell me you changed your mind about Emeric now!” Brax says. “That’s why you’re trying to track Nox down. Is he avoiding you?”

Oh, I’d changed my mind all right, but there is nothing I can do about it now. And Nox sure is avoiding me.

“No, I…” I trail off, looking for an excuse as to why I might be searching for the Alpha. “I just wanted to talk to him about what’s going on exactly. I’m still not clear.”

“Well… I don’t know if any of us really are clear on what’s happening next, if that makes you feel any better.”

It really does not.

Brax’s eyes brighten. “I almost forgot!” He hurries toward his jacket, hanging in the front closet. “Nox stopped by the party on Saturday.”

No kidding.

“Really?” I retreat to the living room to curl up on the couch. “That was nice of him.”

“He brought you a present.”

Startled, I whip my head toward him and stare at my brother as he ambles toward me, a small gold-wrapped box in his hands. Biting on my lower lip, I reach for it, my hands shaking slightly.

“He didn’t…” I clear my throat hastily. “He didn’t have to do that.”

Brax flops down unceremoniously, half-shifting into his panther form to lick his paws in front of me, but I ignore his grooming as I open the present. Inside, I pull out the delicate, gold chain with the small emerald stone on a cube prong setting.

My birthstone. He not only remembered my birthday, but he also knew my birthstone.

Has he always known? Somewhere, deep down?

Another swell of that uncomfortable desire overtakes me, and I sit forward, like a new position is going to help matters at all.

Brax strains his sleek, black head toward the gift and transforms back to nod appreciatively with his human head.

“You see? He does care about you. He didn’t have to do that. ”

I groan loudly and bury my face in my hands. As my eyes close, Nox’s gorgeous, angular face pops into my mind’s eye, and I moan again.

“Stop being dramatic,” Brax urges me. “Here, call him and thank him for his present, or else he’s going to think you’re ungrateful.”

He grabs my phone from the coffee table, and I accept it. I want to talk to Nox, even though I know I shouldn’t. I’ve been wrestling with texting him all day, but I was waiting for him to message back. I’ve already sent three over the past two days.

Surely he has to be feeling what I am, this pull, this need to be with me, too. Why isn’t he storming through the door to claim what’s his?

I’d be a very, very willing participant.

I know why, though. He’s the Alpha. He’s strong. He’s composed. He’s doing what’s best for the pack, and I need to start thinking about that, too.

“Call him!” Brax orders me.

I can’t talk to him in front of Brax either. No one can find out, not even my brother. He might be my blood, but he has an oath and duty to Ember Hollow, our pack.

“I’ll call him later,” I mumble, and he eyes me skeptically.

“Weren’t you just asking me about him?” he protests.

Every word I’m speaking makes him more suspicious, and I’m grateful when the phone chimes in my hand, saving me from having to answer, but to my amazement, it’s Nox.

Nox: We need to talk.

I waste no time responding. The notion of making him wait after he left me hanging doesn’t even cross my mind.

Me: I’m here .

Nox: Not like this. Meet me at Flores Creek at midnight. Make sure Brax doesn’t know about it.

Responding with a thumbs-up emoji, I tuck the phone away and steady my breath. My hand closes back around the little gold box, and I take the necklace from the center, unfastening it to hook around my neck.

Did he know when he bought this necklace that we were bonded? He must have had some suspicion.

This isn’t the first gift he’s ever gotten me, but it’s more personal than the books or journals from years past. Maybe he had always had an inkling. Why didn’t he share it with me?

I cast my brother another sideways look.

Brax might be the reason for that. He wouldn’t want to get between us.

But he couldn’t have known. Would Nox have promised his potential mate to another Alpha, even if he wasn’t going to claim me for himself?

It’s all so confusing, and I don’t want to think about it. It’s only giving me a headache, and I can’t afford any more pain than I’m already enduring. I just want to be with Nox.

“What do you want for dinner?” I ask my brother, jumping up from the couch, rejuvenated.

The prospect of seeing Nox has filled me with a whole new sense of purpose. At least I’ll be near him in a few hours and free of this nagging yearning.

I feel Brax watching me as I dig through the fridge, but I don’t look at him. I barely see the food staples in front of me, and grab the items blindly, hoping they make something edible.

“You’re acting weird,” my brother accuses me.

“No, I’m not,” I deny.

“You are. Did someone tell you about what’s happening this weekend? The twins? Did their cousins tell them?”

“No. What’s happening?” I ask in confusion.

Brax joins me in the kitchen. “The party at Emeric’s ranch.”

Frowning, I glance at him and shake my head, setting the salad fixings on the counter. “I haven’t heard about any party,” I answer honestly.

Then I pause, my eyes narrowing. “I’m not planning on sneaking off to another party,” I add defensively. “Trust me. I learned my lesson.”

“No… I didn’t say that.” My brother fidgets and turns his back away.

“What are you talking about, then?” I press.

“Never mind.”

“Well, you brought it up, Brax, so spill it,” I grumble.

He grimaces. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to tell you or if Nox wants to, but I guess you’re going to find out about it, anyway, because you have to go.”

Opening the pantry, I half-listen as he explains, as I pull out a can of chickpeas. “Emeric is having a party this weekend to introduce everyone.”

“How formal.” If my brother hears the sarcasm, he doesn’t mention it.

“Nox described it as an informal get-together, but it’s really to…” he clears his throat. “…to make your status official.”

The can in my hands falls and lands squarely on my foot. Yelping, I hop around the kitchen, cursing. At least the throbbing in my toe overrides the need for Nox.

Collecting myself, I grit my teeth. “The ceremony is this weekend?” I gasp, reaching down to recover the can I dropped.

“No, no,” he reassures me. “It’s just a party, like a pre-ceremony party.”

I imagine myself being swept off into Emeric’s bedroom in the aftermath of that party as my fated mate stands by, approving it. My stomach twists, and I think I’m going to be sick.

How is this going to work? It’s too much!

“It’s just a party, Brynn.” Brax misinterprets my expression. “But you might want to be prepared to stay over permanently. If that’s the case, I will bring your stuff to your new home, of course.”

“Who says?” I choke. “Emeric?”

Brax shrugs. “I’m just telling you what Nox said.”

No wonder Nox hasn’t tried calling me. He was too busy trying to get rid of me, so he doesn’t have to deal with me at all.

I barely realize when my brother takes the can out of my hands and sits me down at the kitchen table. “Why don’t we just order a pizza?” he suggests.

I agree dully, my head spinning as the new reality piles on me.

I realize that I have been hoping, in some ridiculous way, that our mate bond would override whatever agreement Emeric and Nox had made. In the afterglow of our connection, I’d been caught up in the fantasy that Nox and I would live happily ever after.

But how could we? He already made it clear from the start that we will never work. And inherently, I understand that, too. But these feelings, these thick, sluggish emotions, they won’t ever pass, no matter how far away I get from Nox. They’ll burden me forever.

Nox can pass me on to another mate, but my feelings for him will always remain.

Everything Brax just said is what I agreed to, for the good of the pack.

Eventually, I will go to live with Emeric in Willow Grove territory.

The plan is still the same, bond or no bond.

Brax heads out for the night, saving me from having to explain where I’m going, and I’m relieved for that, at least. I don’t want to lie to my brother, and I know he’s keeping an extra close eye on me lately under Nox’s orders.

But I haven’t given him reason to believe I’ll be a problem, and he leaves without incident.

At eleven-thirty, I shift into my lioness form, stealing through the half-sleeping city shadows toward the creek on the outskirts of town. It’s a popular place for shifters on the weekend, but tonight, it won’t be busy.