Page 209 of The Queen’s Shadow

“Fine.” I grunted. “This is Kasha. Kasha, this is Aiden McGregor. He runs the wolf pack in the Scottish Highlands.”

Aiden gave her one of his notoriously charming smiles. I had seen countless females drop their damn panties for that smile over the years and seeing him use it on Kasha made me grind my teeth together. He gave her an exaggerated bow.

“At your service, mi lady.” He smirked, and I tried not to snarl at him for being such a fucking ham. “Sorry for scaring you.”

She glowered at him. “I wasn’t scared.”

Aiden and I exchanged a look and he grinned, taking a long drag of his smoke, before shooting me a ‘she’s funny,’ look.

“Sure, you weren’t, sweetheart.” He humored her and I shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. Aiden was probably the closest thing I had to a best friend growing up, but he was still a giant pain in my ass.

“I wasn’t.” Kasha protested. I tried, and failed, to hold back my snarl.

“Don’t lie Kasha, it’s a waste of time. I could smell your damn fear from the training ring. What the fuck happened to staying close to Koda?”

“That was my fault, Little Cub.” Koda boomed as he strolled into the clearing, holding a basket of food, followed by Rhyalla, whose face lit up when she saw the wolf shifter.

“Oh boy, here’s trouble.” She grinned. Aiden ashed his smoke on the trunk of a Kapok tree and put the butt in his pocket before bounding over to her and nearly sweeping her off her feet in an enthusiastic hug.

“Rhi Rhi!” He yipped, giving her a big sloppy smooch on the cheek. She laughed and pushed him off her, rubbing her hand on his buzzed head.

“What happened to all your hair?” She asked.

Aiden shrugged. “I got tired of getting chunks of hair ripped out by all the damn hair-pulling Hibs supporters. Was just easier to shave it off.” He explained. Aiden was a die hard soccer hooligan. He was a Hearts fan and was always getting into scraps with Hibs fans.

“You look like Mr. Clean.” Rhyalla snickered and he flipped her the bird.

“Whatever, Rhi Rhi, the females love it.” He smirked.

“You’re just in time for lunch, Aiden.” Koda said, setting his basket of food down on the animal pelt he had laid out on the ground.

“Nice. What are we having? The food on the plane was absolute shite.” Aiden complained, flopping down on the ground. Kasha moved to sit back down next to him, but I grabbed her arm and yanked her away. She glared at me, but I ignored her. I was still pissed she hadn’t listened to me and stayed close to Koda.

“You’re sitting next to me.” I growled, making it clear that this was a hill I would fucking die on if she chose to push me. She met my eyes and seemed to understand that I wasn’t going to let it go. She nodded finally, and I sat down across from Aiden, far enough away that we were out of reach. I tugged Kasha down and settled her next to me, fighting every single impulse that was screaming at me to put her directly in my lap.

His scent was all over her and I hated it.

Aiden was watching us closely, as Rhyalla and Koda settled down on either side of us, unpacking the food and putting together a nice spread of cured meats, cheeses, and fruit.

“So, how’d you two meet?” Aiden asked, clearly amused. “When you invited me to go to war against the daemon’s I wasn’t expecting to find you shacking up with one.”

Kasha cut him a furious glare.

“We are not shacking up.” She snapped and he grinned at her.

“Oh, no? Where are you staying then?”

Kasha looked at me, and I could see her trying to work out a way to get out of this. If she thought I was going to help her convince Aiden we weren’t together, she was barking up the wrong tree. We were together. She just didn’t know it yet.

“Rhoan House.” She finally muttered. “But we’re not sleeping together.” She added, and I could tell even she knew it sounded like a weak excuse.

“You’re not?” He asked, cocking his head to the side. “Does that mean you’re single?” Her mouth dropped open right at the same time I snarled at him.

“Watch it, Aiden,” I hissed, my blood turning red hot in my veins. He gave me an amused look, leaning back on his hands. I knew he was toying with me. This wasn’t about him wanting to get with Kasha, it was him trying to figure out how much I wanted to get with her.

Neither of us had ever been seriously involved with a female, and I knew he could tell there was something different about my dynamic with Kasha. He was pushing my buttons, trying to see how far gone I was for her.

The answer was so far fucking gone I couldn’t even remember the way back.