Page 109 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)

CYRUS

Bishop growled at Finn’s words and power slipped from Deacon’s control.

“Audrey isn’t dangerous,” I said, fighting to keep my voice even, while the urge to tear into Finn for making such an accusation squeezed my insides. “And just because she’s mated into the alpha unit doesn’t make her an alpha.”

Audrey flinched and my stomach churned, threatening to expel what little I’d eaten of dinner. I hadn’t meant to remind her about what I’d yelled at her in the arena, but I needed to stop my betas’ worry and accusations before it got out of hand.

I didn’t know how the conversation had twisted into them thinking Audrey was dangerous, and while I could understand my watch commander being suspicious, I hadn’t expected Velora to be so outwardly hostile.

I’d always encouraged our betas to question decisions with logical arguments so Bishop and I could get different perspectives on a situation, but it was driving both me and my wolf crazy that they were questioning my judgment when it came to Audrey.

Out of the corner of my eye — my glare still on Finn — I watched Audrey raise a trembling fork to her mouth as if she were trying to hide her discomfort by eating. But the fluttering piece of lettuce at the end of the utensil only made her shaking more obvious and she quickly set her fork aside and clasped her hands on the table.

Sisters, I needed to protect her, hold her, reassure her.

But I couldn’t. I had to keep my distance.

“She’s not an alpha,” Finn agreed, “you’re right. But that doesn’t mean she can’t influence you. I mean look at Bishop. He’s obviously taken with her and we all know how he feels about women in distress.” Finn drained his wine and set the glass on the table to punctuate his words. “She won’t tell us where she’s from or anything else about herself. You found her in Darkweald after that wave of power and then our hunt team found that strange magic in Anakar. How do we know she’s not connected to that? How do we know she’s not a spy or whether she intends to hurt the pack? She’s already made all three of you leave for a month.”

My wolf heaved at Finn’s accusations and how Velora was nodding in agreement and Thane was looking thoughtful, actually considering Finn’s words.

Come on, Audrey, I mentally begged, struggling to keep my thoughts to myself. Tell him to fuck off. That it’s none of his business. Prove you can stand your ground.

Sisters, I wanted to tell them all to fuck off, but that wouldn’t help the situation. Everything would get worse if they started thinking I was interested in Audrey, too. She needed to speak up and prove that she might be powerless but she was still a person and deserved respect. But gods, my wolf was on the verge of taking over. How dare they question her and talk about her as if she wasn’t even in the room!

“She didn’t make us leave for a month, Knox did,” Bishop said, his posture growing tense. “We all know how he felt about mating. He didn’t want a bond and Whil had found a spell that might have helped.”

“But it didn’t,” Finn pressed.

“Maybe Audrey found a way to force the bond on him,” Velora said, catching Deacon mid-sip.

He sprayed wine across his salad and roll, his expression shocked, while Bishop’s eyes narrowed, and my wolf howled and heaved inside me.

“If she was going to force a bond on anyone, why the hell would she pick Knox?” Deacon sputtered.

“Because she’s too stupid to know Knox isn’t really a pack alpha,” Velora shot back.

Her words hit like one of Knox’s punches to my chest, shattering what little hold I had on my emotions and my wolf. No one called my mate stupid because she sure as hell wasn’t stupid.

“Enough!” I roared, a blast of my power snapping through the room.

My betas sat up straighter and stared at me with wide eyes, while Audrey shook even harder and paled to the point I was afraid she was going to pass out.

She wasn’t even bothering to keep up her meek, bland mask, and she probably thought I was angry with her even though this conversation and my loss of control was my betas’ fault.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

“Audrey is a member of my family,” I growled, my wolf rising to the surface but not taking over.

Somehow, he understood that if he took over, my betas would accuse me of desiring her and not thinking straight, but he still wanted to show my betas— hell, show everyone, that he agreed with me. Audrey was family. Audrey was mine. This wasn’t just something my human half felt strongly about. All of me felt this.

“You will respect her.” I glared at Velora, making her tense.

Then I slid my gaze over everyone else to let them know it wasn’t just Velora I was pissed at. Finn swallowed hard while Thane bobbed his head in agreement and Deacon and Nova looked concerned. Lucius on the other hand tipped his head in acknowledgment, pride lighting his eyes. He agreed with me defending Audrey. Hell, he could probably tell what everyone was thinking — which was why we’d made him our diplomat — and knew Audrey was exactly what she seemed: a lost scared young woman with too many scars on her body and soul.

“I’d still like to know more about her,” Thane insisted, his curiosity undeterred by my growl and power slip, because of course, he didn’t see hounding Audrey with questions as disrespectful. “We could learn more about what lies beyond our territory and that of our neighbors.”

“Thane,” Deacon hissed, loud enough for the whole table to hear, including Audrey with her practically human hearing. “Stop while you’re ahead.”

Thane frowned. “But I’m not ahead. I still don’t know anything new.”

My huntmaster groaned and looked skyward. “Sisters, help me!”

Thane looked even more confused and Deacon burst out laughing.

If I hadn’t been so angry about my betas interrogating Audrey, I might have laughed at Thane being Thane, too.

“This isn’t funny,” Finn insisted. “We don’t know her intentions. She just shows up one day and is fated for Knox? I find that suspicious.”

“Pup,” Deacon groaned. “Just because you dated out of the pack and she turned out to be a lying manipulative bitch, doesn’t mean Audrey is.”

“But—” Finn protested.

“Whil already confirmed when Audrey first arrived that she has no ill intent and that everything she told us is the truth,” Bishop said, while Audrey continued to tremble and stare at her plate.

Please. I tried to will her to look up and challenge my betas. Say something. Stand up for yourself. Show them what you showed me and my brothers while we were traveling. Show them what I see in you.

But she didn’t move, just took it like she’d been taught, which only made me angrier.

A growl rumbled in my chest again and more power slipped my control. “This conversation ended a minute ago. It will not continue and will not be heard again.”

But that only made my three suspicious betas frown.

“She’s from another realm,” Bishop said with a huff of frustration. None of us had wanted to reveal that until Audrey was ready because we knew she’d be inundated with questions.

And sure enough, Finn and Thane opened their mouths, but Bishop raised a hand and glared, silencing them.

“Whil has confirmed this is also true. Which means Audrey has no ulterior motives towards our pack. She didn’t even know we existed until we found her.”

“Then she knows—” Thane started.

“No,” Bishop snapped.

He wrapped a protective arm across Audrey’s shoulders and drew her to his side, doing what I wanted to do but couldn’t without creating a mutiny among my betas or without sending Audrey the wrong signals… or maybe the right ones that I couldn’t accept.

The thought twisted around my heart and made my wolf claw at my insides, and I struggled to remind myself that it was best if Audrey didn’t like me.

“If or when Audrey feels comfortable talking to you about it, she will,” Bishop added. “Until then, leave her alone.”

He pushed out his chair, helped Audrey stand, and led her out of the dining room.

Well, that went well, Nova said, her mental voice dry as Velora and Finn shoved back their chairs and left and Thane looked confused.

“You understand why Cyrus told you to back off, don’t you?” Lucius asked him.

“Because I can be overwhelming when I get excited?” our chief of finance replied, making it sound like a question instead of a statement.

Nova nodded. “We’re all curious. We just need to remember that Audrey doesn’t know us and we might make her nervous.”

As if that hadn’t been obvious from the beginning. But Thane was worse than Knox when it came to reading body language and hadn’t clued in on her distress.

Thane nodded. I’m not sure if he understood exactly what Nova meant — I wasn’t sure if he ever did — but he knew enough that if we told him someone was upset or scared, he’d wait until we’d told him they were better.

We ate our main course discussing what went on with the pack while we’d been gone, Lucius’s observations about the members of the Mountain and Sea Alliance, and the upcoming summer festival until Thane left.

Then Deacon poured himself another glass of wine and sagged back in his chair. “What the fuck, Cyrus? I leave you alone with her in the arena for ten minutes after you assured me she’d be fine and somehow the woman who walked with us to patrol shed twelve a month ago is completely gone. Did you do that after she saved Knox from going feral, or was that a build up from your entire journey north? She’s clearly afraid of you.”

“She was afraid of everyone here except Bishop,” Lucius stated. “She was even wary of Eloise and Kira.”

“Which she wasn’t before,” Nova added, grabbing the wine bottle in front of Deacon.

I ran my hands down my face, wanting to scream with frustration while also wanting to find her, grab hold, and never let her go.

This was all my fault. If I’d just talked to her instead of yelled, everything would be fine and she might not have nearly killed herself, but?—

“She almost died in the arena,” I insisted as if that was a good excuse for me losing my temper.

“So you decided to put the fear of the alpha in her to stop her from doing something else?” Nova rolled her eyes at me. “Well it worked. She was even nervous around me this afternoon when I checked in on her. I think she’s more afraid of everyone than when she first arrived.”

“I know that,” I growled. “I can’t fix that.”

“Sure you can. You go up to her and apologize.” Deacon took a long sip of his wine, waiting for me to agree. “I know you can do it. I’ve seen you apologize before. I’ve even seen you do it after you became primary alpha.”

“It’s not that simple,” I shot back, even though I knew it was exactly that simple.

“Audrey, I’m sorry.” Deacon glanced at Lucius and Nova. “I believe that was three words?”

Nova nodded in agreement. “I believe so.”

“I concur,” Lucius added.

I groaned and glared at Lucius. “Not you, too?”

“But if we need someone to count,” Nova continued, “we should ask Thane. He’s the genius when it comes to numbers.”

“Come on, guys,” I begged. “You know it’s not that simple. The pack can’t think I have any interest in her. They’ll be worse to her than Thane, Finn, and Velora were.”

Nova quirked her eyebrow again. “That would suggest you’re interested in her.”

“It doesn’t matter if I am. You know how the pack gossips.” And it would be worse if they knew that I really did want her, too hell with her being too weak to shift or anything else. “The only people who can fix this are you and Bishop. I don’t want to confuse her.”

“Why would she be confused?” Deacon asked as realization flashed across Nova’s expression.

“Her heat. You said it turned into a fever that went on for nine days. You had to have sex with her.”

“And sex means something to her, even if she doesn’t remember,” I said, mumbling the last part. “I crossed that line and now I have to put that line back.”

“I’m pretty sure you have.” Deacon downed the rest of his wine and shook his head at me. “You’ve built a whole chasm between you and she’ll never look you in the eyes again.”

Which was exactly what I’d wanted and made my chest so tight I could barely breathe.