Page 20 of Wishes in the Moonlight (Rocky Mountain Wolves #4)

~Troy~

If I ever had a chance of winning Amanda over, gagging her and shoving her into a trailer certainly didn’t help my cause.

Though it shouldn’t be possible, I could almost feel her fury radiating through our unconsummated mate bond as I drove the ATV away from the pack house and into the forest. A few members of the pack lifted their hands in greeting as I drove by, unaware that their Alpha was bound and gagged just a few feet behind me.

I had a good reason for doing it. Whether or not I could convince her of that remained to be seen.

At the end of a dirt road, out of sight and earshot of any other building, Jasper’s house appeared through the trees.

He and Savannah lived in the pack house, not far from Amanda’s suite, but this house still belonged to him as well.

Unknown to all but a few people within the pack, the basement contained a ‘safe room’ originally constructed by Jasper’s grandfather to withstand an attack or natural disaster.

When Jasper was framed for kidnapping, the children were found in the room, where the thick metal walls not only offered protection but muted any attempts at communication by mind-link.

It sounded like exactly what I needed.

Slowing to a crawl, I steered the ATV behind the house where it wouldn’t be immediately visible to anyone passing through the area and took a deep breath before cutting the engine and opening the trailer lid again.

Although I’d done my best to prepare for the look of anger and betrayal in Amanda’s eyes when we came face-to-face again, it still cut deep.

“We’re here,” I told her as calmly as possible, reaching in to lift her out of the narrow box.

It wouldn’t have been comfortable in there for her, but it didn’t appear to have harmed her either.

The silver weakened her so much that she could barely stand on her own, so I slung an arm around her waist to hold her steady while I let us into the empty house.

An area rug in the hallway covered the trap door entrance to the basement, so I propped Amanda against the wall while I opened it up.

She knew making a run for it would be impossible so she didn’t even try, and the fear that filtered into her expression when she saw the dingy staircase leading down into the ground hit my heart like a thousand pin pricks all at once.

“You’re safe here,” I promised again, though I could tell my words held little comfort for her.

Actions spoke louder, and I’d have to do my best to prove to her that I had her best interests at heart in bringing her there.

Wrapping my arms around her and ignoring the way she stiffened at my touch, I carried her down the cement stairs and to the door at the bottom.

A keypad gave us entry, and once inside, I fumbled around for the light for a long moment before realizing I couldn’t find it while still holding onto Amanda.

In the darkness, I stumbled forward until my shins hit what had to be the bed frame, and I placed her down as gently as possible before returning to the door, finding the light switch, and swinging the heavy metal door closed behind us.

The lock clicked into place, the sound stark and cold in the silence.

The light was dim to conserve power, and even with my enhanced wolf night-vision, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust.

Not that there was a lot to see. Besides the single bed that Amanda sat on, a small pantry area with canned food and some basic cooking utensils took up one side of the room, a small stack of books and writing paper on a small table sat on the other side, and a tiny bathroom lay beyond a secondary door at the opposite end from where we’d entered.

‘Primitive’ might describe the space best, designed for survival and not much more.

And for that night, at least, our temporary shelter.

“Whmm shh ihhm sh?”

Behind her gag, I couldn’t make out a word Amanda said, but now that we were safely cut off from the world, we no longer needed it.

From my pocket, I withdrew the key to the silver cuffs and removed them from her wrists.

Her posture straightened as soon as they were gone, and she reached behind her head to untie the gag over her mouth herself, her eyes blazing in indignation.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded in a tone so sharp, it could cut glass. “Do you want to be exiled?”

Without waiting for an answer, she pushed past me and strode to the door we’d just entered through. When she attempted to pull the handle, though, it didn’t budge an inch. Her fingers ran over the cold metal, looking for a keyhole, before her eyes fell on the keypad on the wall next to it.

Huffing in frustration, she spun back around. “Give me the code.”

“I can’t. Not yet.”

“Give me the code now .”

With no silver muting her power, the Alpha power in her tone hit me hard. I staggered back, my head bowing beneath the weight of my inherent desire to obey her, and my mouth pulled into a twisted grimace as I fought the nearly unbearable urge to give in.

“Not yet,” I managed to grit out again.

Amanda prowled towards me, her eyes glinting black as her wolf hovered just beneath the surface. “If you don’t let me out right now, you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison.”

The power emanating off her, power fed not only by her natural abilities but also by her anger, was the most intense I’d ever experienced, perhaps even stronger than that morning in her father’s office all those years ago.

I gave in to it then, but not because of the force of his will.

His threats secured my agreement instead, and strangely, remembering the last time an Alpha had turned his full strength on me gave me the push I needed to resist Amanda now despite every drop of my blood begging me to submit.

“If it keeps you safe, I’ll gladly give up my freedom. You can lock me up as soon as we know you’re out of danger.”

She stared at me for a long moment, eyes boring so deep into me, it felt like she could see straight to my soul.

When I still didn’t give in, she turned away with an angry sigh. The Alpha authority that had been assaulting me dropped too and I gasped in relief, sinking down onto the bed when my knees trembled too much to hold me upright.

“Where are we?” she demanded, her tone still cold and hard even without the display of power.

That much, I could tell her. “Jasper’s house.”

Her head twisted back towards me. “How do you have the code?”

She wouldn’t like the answer, but I wouldn’t lie to her either. “He gave it to me. He knows we’re here.”

Betrayal filtered into her expression, dislodging a little of the fury that had been dominating it. “Does Savannah know too?”

“No. At least she didn’t when I left. How long Jasper can keep it from her, I’m not sure.”

That news mollified her a little, but only a little. Anger still radiated from every inch of her posture, from her broad stance to the arms folded tight across her chest.

“I can’t reach anyone by mind-link.”

“No, and neither can I,” I acknowledged. “The room dampens communication. No one will look for you here.”

Curiosity fought with mistrust across her beautiful face, but eventually, the curiosity won out. “Who would be looking for me?”

That was the main thing I needed to tell her, and now that she finally seemed willing to listen, I didn’t hesitate.

“Whoever’s collaborating with that pack outside our border.

We don’t know who’s behind it yet but one of Jasper’s men overheard a call placed from one of the satellite phones in their office.

It went to a cell phone just outside our territory and the person told their contact on the other side that they would ‘secure’ you and force you to lower whatever protection had been put in place.

They said they knew exactly where to find you in the pack house, that you would be staying there all night and they had contacts among the staff to get to you.

Jasper apprehended the man, an unranked wolf who’s obviously just following orders, and his team will be questioning him right now to find out who he’s working for.

In the meantime, I had to get you out before whoever’s in charge made their move. ”

Amanda took a moment to absorb all of that, turning the information over in her head in her usual methodical way. “Why didn’t you just tell me that instead of abducting me like a lunatic?”

“I didn’t know how much time we had or if anyone might be listening in.

If they were, our departure needed to feel calm and unhurried.

Jasper called the security staff away from the door just long enough for us to leave.

No one saw you go, so they may still make their move and Jasper will have people on hand at your office and your rooms in case anyone tries to break in. ”

When she didn’t argue with any of that, I added one more thing.

“Besides, making the wish with Kalo seemed to affect you. I saw the change in you, and I didn’t know for sure if you were even still in your right mind.”

As I might have expected, she took that in the worst possible way. “Now you think I’m crazy? Is that why you felt entitled to manhandle me? Or is it simply because I’m a woman? You wouldn’t have done the same thing to my father, I bet.”

“No. I would have let him get captured.”

That unexpected response took a little of the wind from her sails, but only for a second before she changed course. “I don’t even know whether any of this is true or if you simply brought me here because you’re jealous.”

“Jealous of what?”

“Of Kalo. He’s an attractive man.” I bristled at her acknowledgement of it, even as I tried not to react.

She could read it on my face though, just as well as I could read her. Emboldened by my reaction, she went on.

“He’s charming. Powerful. You’ve been on edge around him since he arrived, more than anyone else, all because you’re afraid I might be interested in him.”

She wasn’t entirely wrong, but if she thought I would kidnap her over a man, she truly didn’t understand me at all. “I’ve never stopped you from pursuing another man before, no matter how much it hurt. You’re free to make your own decisions, always, unless your safety is at stake, as it is now.”

“How much it hurt?” She scoffed as she repeated the words back to me. “You don’t strike me as the emotionally fragile type, Troy. Inappropriately possessive, sure, but hurt? That’s a stretch.”

My jaw clenched hard as I fought to bring myself under control before answering her. “I’m speaking of the physical pain, actually, but if you think it doesn’t affect me emotionally, you’re wrong.”

For the first time since we arrived, Amanda faltered, confusion flickering across her pretty face. “What physical pain?”

“The pain I feel through our mate bond whenever you’re with another man.”

Her arms slackened and her lips parted in surprise as she stared at me in a mix of disbelief and horror. “You… you feel that?”

Did she really not know? Her confusion seemed genuine. “Every time.”

For a long moment, neither of us said anything, our eyes locked across the small distance that separated us.

Since she didn’t seem to know what to say, I explained it a little further, as much as I understood it.

“Our bond still exists even if we haven’t accepted it.

Physical contact with someone else is a betrayal of that bond, that’s just the way it works.

And yeah, it hurts. Physically, emotionally, you name it. ”

Her mouth opened as if to make a reply before closing again. A long blink, and another, her lips opening and closing twice more before sound finally came out. “But… but I’ve never felt anything like that.”

“No. You haven’t.”

I let those words hang in the air between us, knowing that they didn’t need any elaboration.

She would figure it out on her own that she’d never felt that pain because there had never been any betrayal.

Since the moment I first saw her in that moonlit forest and she said she wanted to be with me, I had never even thought of any other woman.

Amanda swallowed hard, her eyes never leaving me. “I didn’t know,” she whispered after another minute of silence. “I didn’t know you would feel it. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse.

I’d always imagined in those moments that she would have thought of me, relishing the pain she caused.

At least she hadn’t been that malicious, but instead, it meant she hadn’t thought of me at all, and that was one more blow I didn’t need.

My mouth had gone dry, making it difficult to swallow. “I didn’t know either, not until the first time it happened. I don’t know anyone else who’s kept their bond so long without accepting or rejecting it. I had no one to ask.”

“Fuck.” She dropped her head, rubbing her hands over her face as if she could scrub the idea from her mind. “I’m sorry, Troy.”

I hadn’t expected an apology, hadn’t ever felt she owed me one, but now that it had been said, it meant more to me than I thought it would. “I’m sorry too. For all of it.”

That didn’t require any further explanation either, and when Amanda’s hands fell back to her sides and she looked back up at me, she looked younger than before. Sadder, perhaps, but a little less guarded too.

“Is there something we can eat here? I’m a little hungry.”

The words were a peace offering, and I accepted them in that spirit, putting the conversation we just had behind us. “Let me see what I can put together.”