She chuckled. “I understand. You don’thave to do that, though. I promise I’m not going to run awayagain.”
The alpha in him—hell, the male inhim—wanted to demand she vow right then and there that she’d matewith him and bind them together in the old ways, so they could rulethe Blood Wolves as a mated pair. She’d be alpha female and haveauthority over their people. He already knew she’d balance out hisrough edges. Just being with her, he could feel that his beast wascalming; the threat of him going crazy in two years was dissipatingwith each moment that passed in her presence.
He leaned down, slowly in case shewanted to pull away from him. Her eyes darkened, and she rose ontoher toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. Their lips met. Hisworld narrowed to her—he could hear her heart pounding, scent theblooming of her arousal, taste the sweetness of her lips. Hewrapped his arms around her and drew her close, straightening soshe was flush against him. She was a foot shorter than him, andwhen he drew her close, her feet left the ground.
She swiped her tongue along the seamof his lips, and he opened them, greedily accepting the decadent,deep kiss that she granted. Their tongues slid and danced together.They’d probably kissed a thousand times in their dreams over theyears, but this kiss was far superior to any of those they’d sharedbefore. The reality of her in his arms made his wolf howl joyfullyin his head. He kneaded her back, sliding his hands under the silkytop and finding her skin soft and warm. She made a purring sound inher throat and drew herself a little closer to him.
He didn’t want to stop the kiss, buthe was aware they were out in broad daylight with only one malestanding guard along with Mytan, who sat next to them, his tailswishing and his ears twitching.
She whimpered at the end of the kiss,and he nipped her bottom lip, enjoying the way her eyes were alittle glazed over and unfocused when she opened them.
“We need to get to thesafety of the caves,” he said.
“If you insist,” she said.“I was digging that kiss.”
“Me, too. But you know aswell as I do that it’s not safe out in the forest.”
“Isn’t that usually becauseof Mytan?” She scratched at her beast’s chest and neck, and heclosed his icy blue eyes with a happy hum.
“Yes and no. If what yousaid is true and the packs are gathering for a battle against mypeople, then there will be packs traveling through the forest toreach Veltris’s territory.” He was suddenly plagued with guilt overwhat he’d allowed to happen to the alpha’s mate. Veltris’sterritory was one filled with game, huge bucks and deer, fatrabbits, and even larger predators like mountain lions. The animalsmigrated to Veltris’s territory during the cold months, and Wrathand his males had decided it would be a good idea to drive the packout of the territory and claim it for themselves. To do that,they’d abducted Veltris’s mate and chained her up in one of thecaverns. She’d put up a fight and escaped a few times, and while hehadn’t caused her injuries, he’d denied her food and water for theduration of her captivity. Knowing that Trinity actually saw whathappened made him feel like a terrible male.
She touched his face. “I can seeyou’re troubled. What are you thinking about?”
“Veltris.”
She tilted her head. “And maybe hismate, Gemma?”
“I never should’ve takenher. A male of worth doesn’t go after a female.” He sighed. “I wishyou hadn’t seen that.”
“I know why you did it. Theterritory’s valuable. Gemma wasn’t treated well, but it’s not likeyou beat her up or abused her. She was injured because she kepttrying to escape, which is what any good alpha female would do. Shedidn’t take her abduction like a damsel in distress waiting to berescued, she attempted to rescue herself.” She gave him a long lookand he felt like she could see all the way through him. “Veltrisbelieves all her injuries were at your hands.”
“Technically theywere.”
She shrugged. “Even though Gemma toldhim that you didn’t actually harm her, she was pretty banged up,and Veltris believes she has memory loss or is confused about whathappened. He wants you gone. You and the pack. Do you knowwhy?”
“Because he’spurebred.”
“It’s not that simple,” shesaid. “His father—Alpha Renoir—is a cousin of your father’s.Distant, I think you’re fourth or fifth cousins, but being relatedto a Blood Wolf isn’t looked favorably upon.”
“My father was killed byhis pack saving my mother and me,” he said, his voice lowering.“You’re saying that it was his own family who killedhim?”
She nodded. “Sometimes I didn’t justsee you or the Blood Wolves during the dreams, I saw what was goingon around you. And sometimes, the stuff I saw seemed to havehappened a long time ago. I didn’t realize that it was Veltris’sfather who killed your father at first. You two are almost the sameage, so he was a baby when your father was killed. But Veltris grewup being told that Blood Wolves—particularly you—were a diseasethat needed to be wiped off the face of the earth.”
Wrath had no idea. His mother nevertold him that his father was killed by his own family. “It doesn’treally matter, though.”
“But it does. He’s beentold his whole life that you’re a terrible person, evil and in needof destruction. He doesn’t know you’re related. The problem is thatpurebreds hate hybrids as much as the vampires do. Neither grouplikes things that are different. And it doesn’t help that you’vespent your adult years trying to destroy the packs.”
“Good point. Butagain—irrelevant.”
“It’s not, Wrath. He’s yourfamily. He should know you’re related to him. Maybe he’d change histune and stop the coming war.”
Narrowing his gaze, he said, “He’s notgoing to find out. You’re certainly not going to go traipsing intopurebred territory to tell him.”
She put her hands up. “I won’t. I’mjust saying that you two are blood related. And that should meansomething. Perhaps you can
