Page 39 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)
CYRUS
I stood in the courtyard outside the Residence with Deacon and his all-female hunt team, glaring at the brightening eastern horizon and trying to keep my power under control.
Yesterday, Bishop had told me he’d overheard Nova tell Audrey to spend her heat with Wilder, and my wolf had lost his shit. It had been a struggle to get through the rest of the day without flattening everyone around me with my power and even more of a struggle last night to keep my wolf under control and not march us to Audrey’s bedroom and give her what she needed.
My wolf snarled at me, still pissed that I hadn’t given in to that desire.
Nova had told Audrey to go to Wilder. Wilder of all people!
It didn’t matter that he was experienced and sensitive and the best man for the job. My wolf refused to accept that Audrey had to go to some other man to satisfy her blatantly obvious needs and was furious that I wouldn’t give him a chance to take care of her.
Fuck! It was ridiculous.
My wolf had never cared what the women in our lives did, even the handful of women we’d had somewhat serious relationships with. We weren’t jealous. So long as everyone talked about it and agreed, multiple partners weren’t a problem. My brothers and I had grown up with two dads and there were a number of multi-partner matings in town so it wasn’t unheard of.
It also wasn’t like Wilder was going to mate with her. He or one of his guys — or all of them if she so desired — we’re going to help her get through the overwhelming need of her heat. He’d treated tons of women before and he’d continue to treat them until he decided to retire. Audrey would just be another patient.
But I couldn’t convince my wolf of that, and I couldn’t even convince myself that my reaction was because it was obvious Bishop was falling for her or that she might have to become Knox’s mate if we couldn’t break the mating bond.
She was suffering and I needed to take care of her.
I gritted my teeth and mentally clenched harder at my power. I had to stay in control and not let myself be distracted by a woman I couldn’t have, even if I actually wanted her… which I didn’t, damn it.
As much as I didn’t want Nova to be right about who I could take as a mate, she was. I’d already heard whispers about how weak Audrey was while making my rounds and informing our betas that the three of us were leaving to take Audrey north. I’d also gotten a number of concerned looks and outright objections, particularly from Velora and Finn.
It seemed the rumor mill was determined to believe I wanted Audrey even though I knew mating with her would cause problems.
Which was ridiculous. Hadn’t they seen how Bishop couldn’t stop staring at her at dinner or that she’d been shopping with Bishop the other day, not me? How had they jumped to the conclusion I wanted her as my mate and not Bishop?
But the bigger problem was that my wolf didn’t give a fuck that they thought she wouldn’t make a good mate. She’d been willing to risk everything to save pups. It didn’t matter if she had power or not, that made her perfect.
Except that didn’t necessarily make an ideal alpha, and if I took Audrey as my mate, she’d become the pack alpha with me, and without power, it would be a constant battle to have people respect her and not challenge us for leadership.
Whil hurried around the side of the Residence, her small travel pack hanging at her hip, the strap slung across her chest. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t decide which book I might need more.”
“We’re still waiting on Bishop and Audrey,” I replied.
Whil’s gaze swept over the group. “Knox?”
“He’s waiting just outside the Residence’s walls.” Before Audrey, he would have been in the courtyard, close to the hunt team, although still not a part of the group. But now, he couldn’t even be near that many people, even if half of the people were wolves.
Bishop had mentioned yesterday that Knox was becoming more withdrawn and he was worried. His twin had a stranglehold on their twin bond and the most Bishop was getting from Knox was his desire for Audrey. He wasn’t even getting anger or fear anymore and those were usually the emotions Knox couldn’t hide from Bishop.
Do you want me to send Lyra to get them, Deacon asked in my head.
But the front door opened before I could respond, and Bishop and Audrey hurried out dressed to travel and carrying their packs.
“My fault,” Audrey murmured, her cheeks flushing and her gaze dropping to her feet making it obvious her heat had been what had delayed her. “I’m trying to get it under control.”
I glanced at Bishop. His expression was pinched and he gave a slight shake of his head in response to my silent question. She hadn’t turned to him for help. She was still trying to deal with it alone.
My wolf heaved under my skin at that thought and a whisper of my power slip my mental grasp.
“I’ll control it,” she insisted, mistaking my released power as anger at her inability to control a bodily function that could be hard to control at the best of times.
And is impossible right now because she’s touch starved, my wolf snarled at me.
Which was information Nova had snapped at me when I’d gone to her for extra elixirs and medical supplies and told her we were taking Audrey north.
But it wasn’t something I could wait out or do anything about. We had to get to the death god’s altar before Knox and Audrey lost their minds or had sex and sealed a bond neither of them wanted. The best we could do would be to try to find time to hold her without succumbing to her scent… because I had a horrible feeling once my wolf got a taste of her, he was never letting her go.
The image of my face buried between her thighs jumped into my mind.
Fuck me.
“Stay downwind,” I said, clamping down on those thoughts.
With a snarl, I swung my travel pack onto my shoulder. It was stuffed with my supplies and Knox’s — since he’d probably spend most of this trip in his wolf form — and wasn’t heavy enough to weigh me down, but that meant it wasn’t a distraction from my wolf’s thoughts about what it wanted me to do with Audrey.
“Eyes open for grimalkins,” I barked, striding toward the front gate. “Deacon, you and your team lead the way.”
Deacon, a large gray wolf, bounded in front of me, and the rest of his team, four sleek brown wolves, followed. Ahead of them, a large black shadow slipped down the road, keeping to the shadows and as far away from Audrey as his unwanted bond would let him.
Thankfully we were up early enough that there weren’t a lot of people around to see our group marching down the sloping twisted streets and heading out on the main road toward the last patrol shed. Unfortunately, I knew we hadn’t left unnoticed and the rumors that Bishop and I had left with Whil, a hunt team, and Audrey, would spread through town before sunset.
I hadn’t thought taking care of Audrey in our residence and introducing her to our betas would be enough to start rumors, but it had been, and I could only imagine what the rumors were going to be by the time we got back.
Which really, was so low on my list of things to worry about it was ridiculous that I was even thinking about them now.
But there were only two things I could do on the long walk to patrol shed twelve: keep my eyes open from trouble, something Deacon’s team was already doing, and think. And because the walk was slower than I wanted — because Whil and Audrey didn’t have the stamina of a wolf — we needed to watch our pace. And that gave me far too much time to think.
Really, I should be thinking about the grimalkins and how they’d slipped past our hunt teams and territory patrol teams as well as the town’s watch or why Jundar had called an emergency meeting of the Mountain and Sea Alliance because of increased beast activity in neighboring areas. Except my thoughts kept jumping back to Audrey.
Audrey who needed someone to protect her and nurture her confidence. She’d faced off against a grimalkin, she’d survived the horrible ordeal that had brought her to our realm, she had the soul of a fighter, but it was buried deep within her, just like her wolf… just like my wolf wanted to be.
And now I was thinking about sex again. Wonderful.