Page 16 of Fated to the Alpha Warrior (The Wolf’s Forbidden Mate #1)
Aurora
He looked at me with such disdain.
And just moments before, I was thinking about kissing him.
Stupid man. Stupid, handsome face, chiseled jawline, perfect hair. Even that damned scar across his face just makes him that much more alluring.
I can’t believe that he actually pulled a full-on romance novel move by catching me as I fell, and I swooned in response instead of slapping him in his stupid handsome face.
“I’m up,” I declare at the ass crack of dawn, kicking open Kieran’s bedroom door and standing in the doorway, seething. “And no, I didn’t stumble on any cracks in the floorboards and fall and break all my teeth, if that’s what you were about to insinuate, because?—”
I fall silent as I realize that Kieran isn’t up yet. He’s still in bed, his legs tangled in the comforter, his hair mussed with sleep.
And he’s bare naked, ass out, the warm glow of the hallway lights caressing his tanned skin over well-rounded planes of muscle.
Swallowing, I quickly turn around and mentally fan myself. I run through a list of all the things I hate about Kieran, from the way he looks at me, to how self-righteous he is, to the fact that he treats me like dirt under his shoe.
Still, I commit the image of his exquisitely toned ass and thick thighs to memory. If nothing else, to get myself through those cold winter nights.
Even though I can practically hear Dana screaming at me to stop admiring the naked body of the man who made my life a living hell.
“I thought you said we were getting up early,” I yell over my shoulder, enjoying the grunt I get in response. “Did I just catch you sleeping in?”
“Yes, and you also caught me naked.” The smooth, annoyed tone of Kieran’s voice is very different from the last time he spoke to me, all snappish anger and stupid insults. “I don’t suppose that was the point, though? To walk in on me and get a good look?”
I bristle at the insinuation. “So what if it was? You were supposed to be my mate once, after all. Doesn’t that mean I can look at you naked whenever I want?”
“I think there’s something to be said about consent, although you have a point there,” he says in a warm tone.
Maybe I wouldn’t hate Kieran so much if I always caught him after a good night’s sleep on a quality mattress.
“In any case, you’re right. I slept in. Rectifying that mistake right now by getting out of bed, so if you want a shot of full-frontal, now’s your chance, Aurora Blackburn. ”
Pointedly, I don’t turn around, although I can hear him get out of bed and walk around the bedroom, opening his bag and grabbing clothes. My heart is beating embarrassingly fast, and I can feel the heat in my cheeks spread down to my neck and chest.
Fuck, I hate him so much for how he makes me feel. Especially in moments like this one.
“For the record, I wasn’t trying to get a look.” I clear my throat, shaking off the heat of embarrassment. Get it together, Aurora. “It just… happened.”
“Mmhmm.”
“Although of course I’m relieved to see that you’ve kept up that squats routine Coach Leroy showed us. Sixth grade you would be impressed.”
Kieran snorts audibly. “Sixth grade me thought that cold slices of pepperoni pizza were the pinnacle of taste and Maura McKinney was the love of his life. I don’t think his opinion counts for much. And you can turn around now.”
I do, relieved to see him fully dressed, although his hair is still mussed from sleep. He runs his fingers through it, somehow making it seem deliberately tousled and not accidentally slept in.
“Maura McKinney wasn’t a fan of yours, as I recall,” I muse aloud. “She had different taste.”
Kieran shoots me a wry look. “If only I’d been the alpha’s daughter and not the alpha’s son.”
“That would’ve spared us both some heartache,” I comment wryly, suddenly sobering. “Or at least it would’ve spared me, I guess. I was never into girls, no matter how much I tried… with Maura, mostly.”
“Guess that explains those matching headbands the two of you wore for a total of two weeks, and never again.” Kieran’s eyes flick toward me, then away again, and he grabs his backpack. In an introspective tone, he says, “Maybe if I’d been the alpha’s daughter, we could’ve been friends.”
I don’t say, maybe if you’d accepted our mate bond, we could’ve been best friends, and life partners.
The part of me that dreamed of that future has long since died.
Kieran made sure of that, and so did the rejected bond that throbs within me every time I take a deep breath and inhale his scent. Pine and cedarwood with a hint of fresh snow this morning, made much more alluring by the scent of sleep and sweat on his skin.
I swallow the knot in my throat.
“Let’s go,” I tell him, turning away from his gaze just as he turned from mine last night. “We’ve got a long way to travel this time to get to the next pack.”
Pack Ruby. That’s where we’re headed next. It’s not a straight line from Pack Amethyst to Pack Ruby, then Pack Onyx—our ultimate destination—but the info we got from Pack Amethyst indicated that it’s possible the fae threat migrated east, looking for easy prey.
Apparently the small packs like Amethyst and Ruby have shown to be more susceptible to the madness—maybe the fae find it easier to split them up into pieces and spread their foul magic. To what end, and how can we stop them, is the question now.
My motorcycle’s engine hums beneath me as I follow Kieran’s wolf down winding dirt paths and barely paved roads. I’m grateful for the work I did on the bike right before we left. The off-road tires grip the uneven terrain, and with the mileage I’m getting, we’ll barely have to stop for gas.
It almost makes not having a wolf worth it. Almost.
We stop to investigate a few times on the way.
Kieran doesn’t bother to shift to his human form.
He just flags me down as a wolf, running back and forth near small exits and dirt roads.
I follow him on foot and find the signs we’re looking for, mostly of bargains struck and fae camps left in a hurry.
No faerie rings again. At least, not yet. But I feel a strange pull inside my chest.
At first I think it’s the broken bond, but it isn’t painful or inconsistent like the bond. Instead it’s small, and constant, growing stronger by the second. Almost like something here knows me and is calling out to me.
What a disturbing thought.
The further into affected territory we get, the darker the landscape grows.
Overhead, thick gray clouds gather, dropping a constant, misting rain that makes my hair stick to the back of my neck.
An ominous mist clings to the ground near the fae signs we find.
Kieran seems quiet, even as a wolf, his tail dragging low and his ears twitching around constantly for signs of pursuit.
When we reach a fork in the road, he stops, and this time when I get off my bike he steps behind a tree to shift. I turn my head too late, catching a glimpse of bronzed thigh and muscular arms. If I had a wolf she would be whining like a bitch in heat.
If I had a wolf she wouldn’t have to whine because Kieran would be my mate.
That thought is bitter in my mouth as he steps out from behind the tree, mist wetting his dark hair, the white T-shirt he’s just pulled over his chest already curving damply against his well-defined muscles. Hatred and desire alike roll in my stomach and rise bitterly to the back of my throat.
Kieran glances up at the darkening sky with a frown, and just says, “It’s getting dark.”
I raise my brows at him, cocking my head to the side.
“You don’t say? I hadn’t noticed. It’s only been misting on us constantly for, oh, three or four hours.
And I can hardly see the road in front of me, even with my brights on, plus we’re both damp.
Not wet, which would almost be a relief, but damp. ”
Is that a smirk curving up Kieran’s plush, full lips? Damn him again. It vanishes in an instant, replaced by his usual irritated scowl, which pulls his scar down slightly.
“I think we should go by foot from here on as much as possible. I scouted out ahead and there’s deep mud. Don’t want your bike to get stuck.”
It goes unsaid that I’m slowing him down, since I don’t have a wolf form like him. No doubt he could just leap nimbly over the puddles of mud and get there in no time.
Stubbornly, I point out, “My bike can make it through a little mud. I just need you to show me the way through the shallow parts so my tires don’t get stuck.”
He eyes me skeptically. “Are you sure about that?”
I bristle at his tone, hating the way he constantly underestimates me. “How about this: if I get stuck, I’ll get myself out. Satisfied?”
Grumbling, he mutters, “I’ll shift back.”
I turn around for this shift, not wanting to see another tantalizing inch of his bare skin. It’s easy enough—no matter how mouthwateringly hot Kieran is, he’s still, well, Kieran.
The man who broke me, refused to put me back together, and now looks at me with disdain for being broken in the first place. As if he had nothing to do with it.
I could never have feelings for him beyond the shallow and the physical. Not again. Burn me once, well… I’ll be too burned to let you close a second time.
We move on, and Kieran goes slower, picking his way carefully through the mud.
He wasn’t kidding; the near-constant mist has rendered much of the dirt pathway impassable.
But I make it through, and soon we’re pulling into Pack Ruby, its quaint residential houses rising around us, most of them small and one story.
Except they’re all empty.
Every single one.
I park the bike, Kieran shifts back, and we mutely wander through the town—really a village, if we’re being honest, or what they might call a truck stop by modern standards. No trucks stop here though, and nothing seems to have stuck around for whatever else happened.