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Naomi

W yatt’s joy shines through his eyes as he beams in my direction. We stand close together, his heat touching my skin as we stare out at the cheering crowd who’s enjoyed our little display of teamwork.

Women swoon at the hulking hero who helped me make it instead of powering ahead and worrying solely about himself.

Some might still think of him as nothing more than a brutish rogue, but I can feel a shift in the air. There’s still some support for him from the spectators, even if the same can’t be said for the competitors who glare up at us. Only ten are assured a spot in the next stage. They don’t see us as worthy and consider our success as two wasted places.

But right now, I couldn’t care less what they think.

My wolf rolls over as I glance up at Wyatt. She’s practically drooling, already enamoured by this seriously impressive male. With his broad shoulders, stacked muscles, and giant frame, Wyatt towers over me in a way few men do.

I can feel him, not just his physical presence beside me, but something deeper, like whispers of his emotions brushing against my consciousness. My wolf knows exactly what he is to us and recognised him instantly as ours.

It's easy to see why others find him so intimidating, but as he stands there grinning, rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand in soothing circles, his fingers squeezing mine, he just looks like mine.

"Wow," is all I can say, completely shell-shocked. Adrenaline pumps through my veins. Combined with the power of the mate bond and the endorphins being dumped into my bloodstream from his touch, it’s a heady mix.

"Wow," is all he says right back as we stare at each other.

We're still there, frozen to our spots, until one official waves us off the platform to make way for other competitors coming through behind us. I’d completely forgotten where we are, but as we move to the side, the noise and activity around us slowly comes back into focus.

Shaking my head, I slip my hand from his as we make our way down the steps, a feeling of icy dread sliding down my spine at my faux pas.

How stupid could I be?

I can’t act like a lovesick teenager in public like that, no matter how smitten I am with my fated mate.

Not while he’s watching my every move. He’ll ruin it. He’ll twist it. There’s no way he’ll let me be happy.

Brad's cruel eyes track me from across the field, his stance rigid with barely contained fury. He's my alpha, but only in title. I haven’t officially joined his pack. When I travelled to his pack six months ago, I never imagined I'd still be trapped under his thumb. The way he looks at me makes my skin crawl. He’s made his intentions clear, but with each rebuttal I make of his affections, he seems more and more determined to change my mind.

By any means necessary, ethical or not, including refusing to allow my widowed sister to leave his pack and move home with me.

Brad said he wasn’t coming, and that it was ridiculous that I even thought I had a chance of winning. That I should accept his generous offer to become his luna and be happy with that.

Why the hell is he suddenly shouting for me to win now?

My nerves are frayed as I blink against the bright sunlight, and guilt gnaws at me. That was close. I knew I’d struggle with the physical tasks as the competition progressed, but these are harder than I’d expected. I’m used to being one of the strongest wolves around, but not here.

What on earth are the latter stages going to be like?

I always feared I’d have to use my charms to get help from the male competitors, but Wyatt is my mate. It feels wrong to use his considerable talents to get across the line. And relying on the mate I just found to win and solve all my problems, problems he doesn’t deserve to have landed at his door, feels just as wrong.

It feels sneaky and manipulative, and I don’t like it.

And cheating, I think glumly, knowing that without Wyatt’s help, I might have already been knocked out. If I wasn’t in such a sticky situation, that would probably be a good thing. I don’t deserve to win, but someone in my predicament doesn’t have the luxury of sticking to their morals.

It's not just about winning a pack, it's about escaping Brad and freeing my sister from his control. I can’t go back empty-handed and break my sister’s heart. I’m her only way out.

For the rest of today’s competition, we'll move from challenge to challenge, with only the top finishers making it through to the next round. By tomorrow, the field will have thinned considerably.

Looking at Wyatt and how he performed, even with his slow start, he's a shoo-in to make it through, and I'm thrilled for him. Not just because he’s my mate, but because I can already tell he’ll be a wonderful alpha.

“Hey,” he says, genuine concern lacing his voice. With surprising gentleness, he tips my chin up and frowns when he sees my glum expression. “You okay? Did that guy shouting from the sidelines bother you?”

I shake my head, wrapping my hands around his wrist and pulling his hand down, forcing a weak smile onto my face.

"Thank you," I say quietly, knowing it could have taken me multiple embarrassing and painful falls to climb up that wall. “I’d be out if it wasn’t for you.”

He waves away my gratitude. "You would have gotten there on your own, but there's nothing wrong with accepting a helping hand."

Once more, he offers me his, like a proper gentleman, to help me down from the platform. My heart leaps as my skin touches his, and electricity sparks between us. I study his side profile as we jump and land in unison on the grass below, Wyatt immediately standing to make sure I’m okay.

He might be scary on the outside with his scars, and his nose has definitely been broken, but his face lights up when he smiles at me, and he makes me feel safe already. That’s all I need.

“You okay?” he asks again, sensing my overwhelming emotions flipping back and forth from joy and gratitude to guilt and despair.

I know he’s trying to calm my swirling emotions when he runs his palm down my arm. But he’s not helping. In fact, he’s making it worse. When he lowers his face closer to mine, scanning for a hint of what’s wrong, it’s nothing but pure lust surging through me.

My eyes drift to the wavy brown hair I’d love to tangle my fingers in. The ends are damp from sweat, curling against his thick neck. I want to touch the dark strands, to taste his salty skin, to see his bronzed skin against mine, muscles moving as he...

Libido kicking into overdrive, I'm about to suggest going somewhere quiet to talk when a loud female voice slices through the building tension between us, shattering the intimate moment.

"If you want to stay here with me so badly, you just have to ask. Drop out of the competition, put your feet up. You don’t have to pretend to try just for appearance’s sake."

My hackles go up for a second, but then I recognize the woman giving him an exasperated glare as his sister, Jamie.

Though she started the competition, now that she's mated to the notorious Alpha, Dean Reynolds, she has a pack of her own. She doesn't need to win, and she’s not relying on Wyatt to secure a home for them, either. Even so, she doesn't look one bit happy that her brother put his chances in jeopardy by freezing on the start line.

"What the hell was that?" she demands as she marches up to him, standing straight in front of my mate and pointing a finger at his broad chest. She's not tiny by any means, but she still looks ridiculous, squaring up to the giant beside me, neck angled back so she can look him in the eye.

If Wyatt didn’t seem so amused, my wolf would be ripping that finger right off.

Wyatt sighs wearily, smothering a chuckle, before dragging a muddied hand down his face, not caring about making himself dirtier than he already is. He leaves a smudge of brown across his cheek that my fingers itch to reach out and wipe away.

“It worked out okay, didn’t it? Don’t worry, sis. I know what I’m doing.”

Jamie huffs, but Wyatt doesn’t take any offense, just pulls her in for a side hug and laughs when she complains about him getting her outfit covered in muck.

“It doesn’t look like it.”

As they talk, I scan the crowd around us and lock eyes with the man who's been shadowing my every move. Brad's expression is thunderous, his jaw tight as he stares at me with Wyatt. Even from this distance, I can see his knuckles turning white, his hands clenched in fury. He considers me his and has made it clear he won't let me go easily. The possessiveness in his gaze makes me feel physically ill.

My instinct is to move closer to Wyatt, but then I think better of it, instead stepping to the side to keep a respectful distance. And to keep Brad’s focus off Wyatt.

"I'm not trying to throw the competition, Jamie. I just had a false start."

He’s rightly confident that he can go all the way, sounding relaxed about what turned out to be a close call. Far too relaxed about it for Jamie’s liking, she blinks at him in disbelief.

"A false start? You looked like you’d fallen asleep on your feet, like you didn't even know where you were. Are you okay? I mean, you lost seconds there. Valuable seconds." She pauses then and slowly turns to face me, a curious expression on her face as she looks at me for support. "If this kind lady hadn't snapped you out of it, you'd still be standing there. Thank you, by the way, he owes you one."

I keep my head up and meet her eyes, nodding politely to acknowledge her gratitude.

“He’s already made up for it,” I say, thinking this man most definitely doesn’t owe me anything after helping me up that wall. If anything, chances are I’m the one who’s going to owe him everything by the end of this competition. If I make it that far.

"Jamie, this is Naomi," Wyatt says, one side of his mouth cracking up into a proud smile.

Jamie looks from her brother to me and back again, suspicious and assessing. “Why are you being weird? And why is your face doing that?” Jamie tilts her head and studies him while Wyatt simply smirks.

“Am I not allowed to be happy after getting through to the next stage?”

When Wyatt doesn’t tell her who I am to him, I let out a sigh of relief. I'm glad that he’s keeping our connection quiet for now. It's going to make things much easier if we can keep our bond on the down-low until I get some time to think about what the hell I'm going to do.

But it also stings a little that he’s not shouting it from the rooftops like I’d love to do, even if that’s completely hypocritical.

Why doesn’t he want anyone to know I’m his?

"Oh, I remember you from the sign-in." Jamie sticks out a hand for me to shake. “You’re one of the last girls standing now. Make us proud.”

She turns back to Wyatt and hits him on the arm, hard.

"Get your head out of your ass. I know Naomi's hot, but if you want your own pack to lead, you’ve got to screw your head back on and think with your brain, not your… other brain."

When I look at Wyatt, not sure what to do or say, he winks at me, sending liquid heat straight between my thighs. “She’s more than hot.”

Blushing, I stare at the ground, stunned by how this man has rattled me to my very core. I came here with a plan, a strategy, to do what needed to be done. But now… why the hell is he here?

"Oh god. Is that you flirting? Spare me.” With an exaggerated shudder, Jamie moves the conversation on, hopefully not suspecting the strength of our connection.

“How long have you got until the next competition?" Jamie asks, looking between the two of us as I step back, reestablishing the distance between us that Wyatt keeps stealing, and he immediately sneaks nearer again, closing the gap.

"I don't know, maybe twenty minutes. Half an hour?" Wyatt looks at me. “We should probably get some water and food on board while we have the chance.”

His use of the word we doesn’t go unnoticed by his sister, who glances at me once more, this time, taking a much closer look.

My heart pounds under her scrutiny, like she can see my deepest, darkest secrets if she looks hard enough.

Can she tell this is more than flirting?

“We’ll catch up with you later,” Wyatt says, giving his Luna sister a mock salute before stepping away, extending a hand behind my back to usher me toward the refueling stations that are positioned around the edges of the field.

My gut twists. He’s taking care of me. Including me in his plans for later on. I should be happy, but I feel like the scum of the earth. He has no idea about the baggage that follows me…

Like an alpha who won’t take no for an answer, and a sister who’s trapped in his pack.

A dead wolf, and secrets we need to take to the grave.

What a catch.

“Maybe we can find somewhere quiet for a few minutes,” I say, suddenly feeling like I need to sit down. This is all a lot, and the last thing I imagined when I was walking across that bridge. My mind was entirely on the Games and finding a way out of my current predicament. Not love.

Wyatt nods, expression serious as he gives me a once over, making me feel cherished and protected, and all warm and fuzzy inside.

My mind spins, going to all sorts of sexy places, but somehow, I have a feeling if we started any of that, we'd never make it back for the next challenge. Forfeiting the competition, while tempting, isn’t something that either of us is prepared to do. I can tell by the look in Wyatt's eyes that he really wants this. Apparently, being the brother of a pack Luna isn't a senior enough rank for him, and with how dominant his wolf is, I can understand why.

This is a man who bows down to nobody.

Jamie gives Wyatt another warning glare as we walk away. "Pull it together," she teases before hitting him with a mischievous grin. "Or you're going to have to stay here and report to me."

Wyatt pretends to be horrified, walking backward and putting a hand to his chest.

Jamie laughs before giving me a small wave. "Really nice to see you again, Naomi. Hopefully, I'll catch up with you tonight. Good luck."

As people move from the various competitions, they remain oblivious to the lightning strike that's just occurred amongst them. A fated pair. A partnership chosen by the moon goddess herself. True love.

"They can't stay away from each other," Wyatt comments as Dean emerges from the crowd, snags Jamie by the waist, and then pulls her in for a passionate kiss. Her arms wrap around the back of his shirt just as his hands slide up to cup her face. It's hard not to swoon seeing how in love they are.

I want that.

As I glance to the side at Wyatt, I see the tantalising possibility of having it for myself, but then I hear Brad’s voice in my head.

He’d cornered me right before I left, reminding me not to think about running.

"Have your fun. You'll be mine, one way or another," he’d promised, his fingers digging into my arm hard enough to bruise. "Either willingly, or I'll make sure your sister pays the price for what she did. I won’t protect her anymore."

I can’t make him any angrier. I need to get through this competition and keep him off my back. Then, if Wyatt still wants me, maybe we could be together and enjoy all of this.

"Want to be challenge buddies?" I ask, and Wyatt looks at me, his gaze finally settling on my lips as his wolf blazes in his eyes.

“Whose else’s would I be?”

The heat between us ratchets up, tingles spreading over every inch of my body, my core coiling tight in anticipation of what's to come.

Soon, I hope, but not yet.

“I’m not as strong as you, but I’m quick… and…” I trail off, not sure what I can add to Wyatt's already impressive chances of winning.

"You couldn't stop me from being your challenge buddy," he says, and from the determination in his eyes, I don’t doubt that’s true. “It would be harder to stay away.”

Which is going to be a problem.

When Wyatt picks me up with stunning ease and carries me inside the food tent, a girly giggle falls from my lips, and my belly swoops with desire for him. My wolf pushes forward, eager for his wolf to see her looking right back, but panic bubbles up inside me.

Oh, I'm in trouble.

BIG TROUBLE.