Page 5 of Primal (The Prey Drive #1)

Chapter 4

Rennick

I realize my mistake before the final syllable of her surname passes my lips. The female—no, not female, Noa . Sweet Noa—stumbles back a step and accidentally collides with Canaan’s chest in the process. My wolf snaps at me, demanding I separate her from the other male, but I’m too fixated on the way I’ve startled the poor girl to act on his wishes. The nervous scent in the air transforms into something acrid, almost metallic. Fear. Noa is scared. Of me .

Fix this! my wolf demands with a swipe of his claws.

In a move that is incredibly atypical of a pack Alpha, I lift my hands in a show of placation and take another tentative step toward the skittish female. My animal half isn’t thrilled when I make no move to bring myself closer. I don’t know if it’s because we now know Noa is in fact a fellow wolf and as an Alpha, he wants to sooth her, or if it’s something else entirely, but he relentlessly urges me to bring her closer. To take her into my arms where she’ll be safer.

Protect, he insists.

“I’m not angry at you,” I reassure her, but the skeptical flat line of her mouth tells me she doesn’t believe me as far as she can throw me. Which wouldn’t be very far. I have about a foot and half on her and I’m well over double her body weight. “I promise, I’m angry on your behalf.”

An unhappy grumble comes from Talis’s direction, something I purposely ignore, at the same time Noa murmurs, “I don’t understand.”

Canaan, clearly over the redhead’s shitty attitude, whips his attention in her direction and matches her objection with a warning snarl that is all wolf. “Your beta and I are going to give you some space, Nick,” he continues when Talis attempts to speak over him. “Stay out here and talk with Noa. I’ll come tap on the window when the council starts to arrive for their meeting with you.”

My second gives Noa’s upper arm a brief squeeze of what I assume is reassurance, something she shrinks away from, before he turns. Talis, who stands in the open doorway, has no choice but to back up and go inside as Canaan pushes through. She starts to whine at him, but it’s quickly muffled by the sliding glass door closing behind them.

Fingers pressing into my right temple, I close my eyes as my head shakes. I have a headache brewing and I don’t know which female to blame for its arrival. My guess is it’s the same culprit as it has been for months. “Now, I understand why I couldn’t sense that you were one of us, that you are a wolf.”

Noa’s arms twist and tighten over her chest as the scent of burning rubber hits my nostrils. What? Now I’ve made her mad? I can’t keep up with this girl’s emotions.

“Yep, mystery solved, I guess.” Her shoulders lift half-heartedly.

“I didn’t mean to offend you, I only meant I remember what happened back then. How your wolf…” I trail off, unable to speak aloud the horrifying crime that was committed against this sweet female, and the fact that it was done by someone she trusted most. What really boggles my mind is that I’d forgotten about the whole dramatic ordeal until now—hadn’t given it a single thought in years, I’m realizing.

“I imagine everyone in this pack knows what happened to me. It was probably the hot gossip around family dinner tables for months.” Despite the way she shifts uneasily on her feet, her tone holds a hint of bite in it, and my wolf hums his approval at her brief show of fire. But the flame in her vanishes just as fast as it appeared. “I’m sorry, Alpha Fallamhain. That wasn’t polite. Can we…” She shoves a frustrated hand through her cascading locks. With the way the ends just about touch the waistband of her dark-gray plaid pants, I have to wonder if she ever accidentally sits on her hair. “Can we just move on to the reason I’m here? I have people waiting for me at home. I need to get this show on the road so I can get back to them.”

The incredibly displeased sound that emanates from my wolf confuses me. Why does he care who she associates with, and more importantly, why are the words, “Do you have a new pack?” flying out of my mouth before I can stop them?

The way Noa jerks, it’s as if I’ve physically slapped her. To her credit, she recovers quickly, but every one of her muscles remains stiff. “No.” Her response is simple but holds a weight to it that I can’t quite figure out. Can I figure anything out right now?

“All right.” I clear my throat before gesturing to the patio furniture situated on the other side of the deck. “We can sit over there and discuss why you’ve requested this meeting.”

Noa, not needing to be told twice, turns gracefully on the balls of her booted feet and walks to where the outdoor loveseat and two matching chairs sit. The predator inside of me perks up at the fact she’s just willingly turned her back to us, making herself vulnerable to an attack. She really must not have an inner wolf to guide her, because if she did, she never would have shown her back to a highly dominant alpha male. The thrill my wolf feels about this greatly diminishes when he realizes that with the way she so easily did this in my presence, she’s more than likely done it to another male before. Or she will make this mistake in the future.

Not safe. Protect.

Consumed by his thoughts, I stalk over to the furniture in a haze and am moving toward the chair closest to the deck’s railing out of pure habit when I stop abruptly. Seems the little female has already claimed my usual seat as her own.

That is where I sit nearly every morning to drink my coffee and answer the shit ton of emails I receive. Rhosyn handles a mass majority of the pack’s correspondence but forwards the ones needing my personal attention over to my inbox. My second’s chosen mate doesn’t take care of my company’s emails, though. No, those inquiries are left to me or my business partner, Rook Draven, to handle. The more our private equity firm, Apex Equity Group, grows, the more emails I receive. And all our company’s been doing the past four years is grow, which means I’m drowning in goddamn emails. Rook has it easier since he’s the man on the ground back in Seattle, the face of our endeavor. He gets to attend these weekly meetings—who am I kidding, daily meetings—with our people and clients in person. I have to read about every single one of them in painful detail after the fact.

When I was forced to return to pack territory full-time earlier this year after splitting my days between Seattle and here since college, my role in our company changed but Rook knows my dedication to our business hasn’t wavered. He, more than anyone, understands the position I’m in because one day when his dad is retired or dead like mine, Rook will also become a pack Alpha. My close friend and old college roommate’s days of independence and lack of soul-consuming responsibilities are numbered.

Lowering myself into the low slung black-and-cream loveseat across from Noa, I take in the view from this angle. Usually when I sit out here, I stare out at the lake below and the distant mountain peaks, but from this seat, my view is her and my wolf is pleased as fucking punch about it.

“So, I take it Rhosyn didn’t mention why I requested a meeting with you?” Noa swipes her palms down her thighs and her nails, coated in chipped dark plum polish, scrape against the fabric on the way back up. “She didn’t give you any details?”

“Did she need to?” I question, head slightly cocking.

Noa bites her lip after a short bark of humorless laughter escapes her. If she doesn’t leave that goddamn lip alone… “I suppose it wasn’t a requirement and I’m just lucky she squeezed me in today, but it sure as hell would have made my life easier if she had given you a heads-up.”

That familiar bitter tinge of anxiety floats through the air again. Trying to make myself as approachable as possible— since fucking when do I do that? —I relax farther into my seat and casually cross my ankle over my knee.

“Well, I’m sorry to report I’m completely in the dark here and don’t have the slightest clue what’s going on, but I trust Rhosyn, so I know there’s a good reason for your last-minute and surprise return to your pack.”

Just like before, she starts at something I’ve said and, also like before, my wolf chastises me from within for it.

I study Noa, silently cursing those damn dark sunglasses and wishing she’d take them off as I try to figure out what I said to upset her—again. My pondering comes to an abrupt end when she finally starts explaining herself.

“My mom died.”

My brows pull together. “Today?”

Noa’s head shakes. “What? No. It was months ago, but she left instructions in her will for me to follow in the event of her death. Full disclosure, I still don’t fully understand why she’d ask me to come back here of all places to do anything . Not after everything that happened…” Her voice fades, getting painfully soft. “None of it makes any sense to me, but how could I refuse when this was her final wish, you know?”

This has me equal parts confused and agitated. She didn’t want to come back here—to her pack—but she was willing to stay with her mother? Not only that, but she’s here today on behalf of that bitch—I mean witch.

“You don’t want to be here?”

I might not be able to make out her eyes, but the dumbstruck expression on her delicate face is clear as day. “Why, in the name of the Goddess, would I have wanted to return to this territory, Alpha Fallamhain?” That’s twice now she’s called me by my title. Forget proper procedure and pack etiquette, I think I much prefer it when she called me Rennick. “We didn’t exactly part ways on a good note.”

That’s putting it mildly, but I have this heavy sneaking suspicion we are not upset about the same thing here, that our versions of the past are vastly different. Which wouldn’t surprise me considering what an absolute snake her mother was.

Swallowing my questions and resisting the urge to unleash them on her is almost as difficult to do as battling for dominance over my pestering beast today has been. I force myself to continue with my facade of ignorance so I can learn what version of our history she believes to be true. Or more accurately, so I can discover what lies she’s been told over these past seven years, because if Noa Alderwood knew the truth, she would have returned home a lot sooner than today.

“I suppose we didn’t,” I concede with a somber smile. “If returning was this difficult for you, then whatever Thalassa asked of you must be incredibly important if you’re here anyway.”

“It got marginally easier when I found out you’re the Alpha these days. Facing your father…” She shakes her head like she’s trying to dispel a bad memory. “Frankly, he scared the shit out of me. The idea of coming here and asking him for a favor while knowing how he felt about me…Well, if I didn’t know any better, I would think my mother was punishing me for something.”

I don’t think you know better, Noa, and it’s going to break your heart when I tell you the truth.

Stowing her remark about my father feeling a certain way about her for later, I press for more information. “What is it that she asked of you, Noa?”

This is the first time I’ve spoken her name aloud. As it rumbles out of my throat, my wolf all but purrs—mind you, I haven’t purred a day in my fucking life—and Noa’s body seems to sway forward. Just as I clamp down on my wolf’s behavior, she gets a grip on herself and returns to sitting rigidly in her chair.

She sighs, conveying how emotionally exhausted she is by this whole ordeal. “My father is buried here in your pack’s cemetery.” The way she says “your pack” isn’t lost on me. “Mom’s wishes were to be cremated, and, in her will, she requested I bring her remains here and spread them over her mate’s grave so they can finally be reunited on this earthly plane.”

Earthly plane… words that would only be used by a witch or a powerful charmer like Thalassa Alderwood. Seems Noa’s picked up on the jargon. Not entirely surprising if she truly hasn’t been living amongst another wolf pack and has just been with her mother. Then again, she has the scent of a female wolf on her, so she’s been spending time around at least one other shifter.

I went into this unexpected meeting without a single hint about its purpose, but never in a million years did I think it would pertain to Thalassa.

Part of me wishes Noa came here asking for something else, anything else, because it would have been easier. She could have showed up and asked to rejoin the Fallamhain Pack, and I would have said yes in a heartbeat. She might not technically have access to her wolf, but at her core, Noa is a shifter, and shifters need a community to thrive. But this ? Imploring me to allow her to return Thalassa to our land? Well, that isn’t as easy. A pack’s territory is sacred, and permitting a traitor like Thalassa entry—in one form or another—would be considered a disgrace. A desecration to our very soil.

“I know it’s a lot to ask, especially since it’s coming from me, but I beg of you to let me finally put my mother to rest.” The way Noa’s voice cracks has my wolf rushing forward once more, testing my resolve. His complete devotion to supporting her turbulent emotions is baffling. “I’ll do it as fast as possible. You can have a guard, or guards, if you insist on more than one, escort me to the grave site—I really don’t care. After, they can follow me to the front gates, and I’ll willingly leave. I promise I won’t come back, so your pack will never have to be insulted by the presence of a latent wolf again.”

A latent wolf? That’s what she thinks…

That does it.

The cracking of my control is earsplitting, I’m almost certain anyone within a hundred feet can hear it. The raw fury and dominance of my animal half rushes through my veins, driving me to my feet as he fights against me, shoving against the now fragile veil barely holding him back.

A surge of panic crashes over me, entwining with the wrath already burning within. The panic is for two reasons. The first, and some could argue the most important, is that the council is due to arrive any minute and if they see me losing control of my beast, the fragile faith they have in me will shatter. I’ll be back to square one with those self-important bastards. The second reason, the reason I find more imperative than the former, is the fear that losing this battle for dominance will result in somehow hurting her in the process. Sweet Noa.

That can’t happen.

What is she doing to me? She has the bloodline of powerful witches in her veins, maybe she’s weaved some kind of magic over me? Don’t be fucking ridiculous, Rennick, if she had magic you’d be able to smell it on her.

My skin ripples, black fur sprouting with a wave of goosebumps, and my claws replace my blunt fingernails, the eight sharp points slicing into my palms as I turn my hands into fists. The howls of fury and the wrathful growling coming from my barely contained beast are deafening, effectively rendering everything else around me silent.

Everything inside me is chaos, a storm on the verge of consuming the parts of me that remain human. Then there’s the gentle brush of her palms against my chest and in an instant, the world stills, shrinking to a single point where nothing exists but her—her touch, her presence, her quiet command over my storm.

Eyes flying open, my hands snap up and wrap around her wrists—to push her away or bring her closer, I can’t say. She recoils from the sudden contact, her lips parting in a breathless gasp that lingers between us, but she doesn’t pull away. Though unsure and rightfully wary, Noa stays rooted where she stands, her dainty face lifting as she examines the predator still lurking within my irises.

“Hi,” she whispers. The sound is so soft, so sweet, it has my wolf howling with a desperation I’ve never felt within myself. It’s his eager, echoing response that clues me in on what’s happening. Noa’s gentle greeting isn’t for me, it’s for him, and he is delighted to be acknowledged by her.

By the skin of my teeth, I’m still wearing my human form, but it’s my wolf who leads this exchange and that is why I’m powerless to stop him when he commands my head lower. Noa goes utterly still, her breath trapping in her chest as my nose brushes along her temple before sliding down to skim across the warm flesh of her throat. Her sugary and warm scent invades my senses. I thought I had already memorized all the varying notes that make up her enchanting perfume, but my wolf was right earlier. Taking her scent in this close, right from the very source, is unparalleled.

What happens next is completely out of my control.

I’m nothing but an observer as my life changes before me.

Her scent deepens, the intensity of it borderline overwhelming, and it consumes me until it’s all I can focus on. Taking in those greedy gulps has the sweet nectar all but engraving itself into my bones and the pleasure my beast takes from that is what sets off the rumble in my chest. Never in my life have I made this sound before because never have I met a person my wolf deemed worthy of it. The purr climbs from behind my ribs into the base of my throat. Noa’s body, which is still locked frozen in my grasp, forces her lungs to expand once more. The shuddering, uneasy air she expels has my wolf amping up his placating rumbling.

And the final nail in my preverbal coffin is the way my name slips from her mouth on her next exhale. I already knew I adored the sound of it on her lips, but this is my undoing.

“ Rennick… ”

Like a dusty door being unlocked within my brain, a single thought—a single word—is released and pushed to the surface, silencing everything else. It’s a thought that nearly brings me to my knees in both denial and bewilderment before this female.

“Mate. Mate. Mate. Mate. Mate!”

It comes from my wolf and his unrelenting howling demands that I hear him, that I acknowledge what he’s been trying to tell me since he first caught her scent.

The lone word is all that exists, echoing through me, until Noa’s pink lips part, her voice laced with the same disbelief that grips me , “Mate.”

The gravity of her mirrored, very audible, declaration is like a punch to my sternum, causing me to physically flinch from the blow.

Still reeling, I’ve barely had a second to comprehend what’s just conspired when the little female—the one my wolf believes to be his destiny—collapses, her legs giving out completely. A rush of protective instinct rattles my bones, and I have her scooped up and in my arms before she can hit the wood decking. By the time she’s firmly tucked against my chest, she’s fully unconscious. The way her boneless neck snaps back, causing her dark sunglasses to tumble from her face, has my heart skipping a beat and wolf snarling. It’s as I’m shifting her weight to better support her when an all-too-familiar shrill voice slices through the haze I’m in. A deeply displeased low growl follows it.

“What did she just say?”

Reluctantly turning my attention away from the woman who’s all but thrown a bomb at my feet, altering my life in ways I haven’t fully grasped, I find Talis and her father standing across the deck wearing matching expressions of fury.

And behind them stands Canaan, who has been joined by Rhosyn, and the entirety of my pack council. Varying levels of concern twist their features, confirming my fear that they’ve heard too much.

Noa Alderwood doesn’t know it, but she just verbally claimed me as her mate—right in front of my betrothed.

Fuck. Me.