Page 54 of Enemy Wolf

“It’s not safe for you there.”

I could feel the heat of him at my back. The bank of warmth that held me against the cold mountain air now felt volatile. An entity of human emotion mixed with animal instinct.

“You’re not the arbiter of my safety, Orson.”

I pulled open the door only for his hand to brace against the wood right next to my head and slam it closed.

“Yes, I am.” He was standing so close behind me, caging me in, that his breath ruffled my hair. “I am your mate, and it is my sole duty to keep you safe.” Orson pushed away from the door, giving me a few feet of space, but it wasn’t to let me leave. “And fine. You want me to talk honestly? You’re right. I’m not sorry I set up the tree cameras.”

I turned around slowly, my back pressed to the door, to find a seething, cornered werewolf staring me down from across the room.

“You really want the truth, Shiloh?” he demanded gruffly, like a challenge. Like I was nowhere near ready for what he was about to tell me.

“That’s all I want,” I admitted as my heart braced itself for an impact it might never recover from.

“Fine, here it is. My wolf was protective of you from the first moment we scented you. He probably knew you were our mate from the beginning. After you told me to leave, I never would’ve come back if it wasn’t for him. He insisted we protect you. So I put cameras in the trees to appease my wolf. And you know what else?”

“What?”

“I smelled your fear the next morning. And your tears. I knew something had happened. When you came to the lodge to return my money, I smelled it again. I knew you were hiding something, something you were painfully afraid of. So I felt justified in setting those cameras up because you were clearly in need of protecting. But you know what?” He barked out a mirthless laugh. “I still tried to fight it. I tried to explain it away and shove down this pull you had on me. You didn’t want me, so what was the point? I didn’t remove the cameras, but I stopped watching the footage. Tried to keep you out of sight, out of mind, and all that.”

He stopped smiling and returned to staring at me intently. “But now I know. After the time we just spent together, I know you’re my mate. And yes, I’m sorry that you’re unhappy right now. But I will never be sorry for following my instincts, which have always been to protect you. Even before I knew what you were to me.”

“Mate or not, you can’t keep me here against my will,” I said. “And if we’re going to keep being mates, you can’t hide things like this from me.”

“I will never keep another secret from you again.” Orson’s head cocked to the side, his gaze menacing. “But if my choice is to barricade you inside this room or risk a deranged dragon finding you, I will absolutely keep you here if I must.”

“What if I don’t want to be your mate anymore?” The words left me in a rush of anger before I could stop them. And once the question was out there, there was no taking it back. “If what I want doesn’t matter, and being your mate is the same thing as being a prisoner, what’s the fucking point?”

Orson said nothing for the longest time, his jaw clamping tight with a swallow. “Fate chooses our mates for us. We are meant to be together, driven by forces outside of our control.”

“Fate can kiss my ass,” I shot back. “I don’t want a lying, deceptive prison guard for a mate.”

“Shiloh, please.” Orson hissed in a breath through his teeth. “I know I’m fucking up and handling this badly. I’ve never had a mate before, never believed I ever would have one, much less someone as amazing as you.” He let out a sigh that deflated his whole chest. “I’m bad when it comes to people, so it stands to reason that I’m a bad mate. But I’m learning, and I’m trying. The only thing on my mind right now is that you’re in danger. Your safety is my first priority. Your happiness is second, I’m sorry. But I’d rather you be alive and angry at me than—” He stopped abruptly, lips thinning as they pressed together. “Than the alternative,” he finished off, as though he couldn’t even bring himself to say the word dead if it pertained to me.

A little bit of my anger faded, though not all of it. Just enough that I moved away from the door. I saw Orson’s fists clench, like he was stopping himself from reacting.

“I can understand where you’re coming from, although I’m still not happy right now,” I said.

“Okay. That’s fair,” he said with a sharp nod.

“Is there anything else you’re keeping from me? Not like your personal stuff, but anything that would piss me off if I knew you weren’t telling me.”

Orson’s jaw clenched, but he ground out the word, “No.”

I nodded, shoving the anger away. It wouldn’t help if we were both trying to make this work. “After all this is over, you know, assuming Vargmore doesn’t become a burning hellscape,” I laced my fingers together in front of me, “I think we should take things slow. See how compatible we are as individual people and use that to determine if we’re a good match. Instead of just assuming we’ll work out because we’re fated mates.”

“Also fair.” He looked at me with a pained expression. “I truly don’t want to keep you anywhere against your will, or in any situation you don’t want to be in. So if this,” he gestured between us, “turns out to be something you don’t want, I’ll respect that.”

Something deep inside me immediately rejected that notion. Despite how pissed off I was at the moment, everything about Orson felt right. He was not the best at expressing himself in human words and gestures, and that was frustrating. But he was trying, like he said. And he did care about me, that much was clear.

Even so, none of that meant he was the right one for me. I wanted to be chosen by who wanted me because I was me. Not because some arbitrary force like fate decided we should be together.

So I forced myself to say, “Thank you, Orson. I appreciate you saying that.”

He nodded stiffly just as his computer made a pinging sound. “One of the cameras detected motion,” he said, heading toward an impressive display of four monitors.

Orson wiggled the mouse and began clicking things. I didn’t pay much attention until he said, “Shit,” and pulled his phone from his pocket.

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