Page 12 of Forsaken By Fate

“So, do you feel like telling me any more about yourself?” I ask pleasantly. “How you got here, or why you left Oklahoma?”

She balks slightly and sits back, pondering my questions. “And if I don’t?” she fires back, setting the book down on the stone coffee table and folding her arms under her chest. “Are you going to starve me?”

Something rumbles in the bedroom, and I immediately change my tone. Forcing a chuckle, I shift my position, fallinggracefully onto the couch beside her. “Of course not. I told you—you’re a guest here. I wouldn’t withhold food from you.”

Her sweet aroma trickles through me, sending a pleasant shiver through my nose, and I inhale deeper, holding onto it. Warily, she reaches for the silver platter, and I slide it across the coffee table willingly. The rumbling stops, and I exhale with relief. She’s not going to bring the house down this time.

Aurora lifts the bowl, and a genuine smile touches her lips as she takes in the butternut squash soup with those wide doe eyes. Her pleasure gives me an unexpected twinge of happiness—and a distinct stirring inside me, the sensation surprising and troubling me in unison.

“I love butternut squash!” she exclaims, her wonderment tangible. She offers me a shy smile. “Thank you, Alpha.”

“Zane,” I correct her automatically.

“Zane.”

Who are you, Aurora? Why are you here?

I pose the question aloud again as she eagerly spoons her first mouthful through those dainty lips. They’re so sweet and kissable, drawing me closer irresistibly.

“It would be so much easier if you would just tell us what we needed to know,” I sigh.

She smiles through her mouthful of soup but makes no comment.

“I suppose we could just reach out to the Apex Alphas in Oklahoma and see if they will claim you,” I say conversationally.

Blood drains from Aurora’s face, her hand trembling slightly as the spoon lowers.

She avoids my eyes as she swallows. “Have you done that already?” she whispers.

“Should we?” I ask, willing her to look at me. “What will they tell us?”

Her verdant irises dart sideways, and she places the spoon in the bowl, sitting back against the sofa heavily. “I’m not sure,” she answers. There’s a ring of truth in her words.

Wouldn’t it occur to her that it only makes sense for us to contact the Alphas from her territory?

I don’t understand her at all. I want to believe her, but I can’t help but think she’s holding something back.

“Or you could tell me yourself,” I coax her, sliding closer, cajolingly. “Spare us the trouble of having to reach out to them. Alphas do hate to be bothered over regular pack matters.”

Her spine stiffens defiantly. “There’s nothing to tell that I haven’t already said,” she insists. “I came to Texas to start over. That’s all there is to it.”

I can’t help but tuck her wayward waves behind her ear again. “Why do I feel like there’s so much more to it than that?” I muse lightly. “I can help you if you let me.”

Aurora’s head swivels, and she stares at me imploringly, her mouth inches from mine. Every pore of my body feels heightened, the ache of my wings pulling at my shoulder blades, threatening to break free in that moment.

I’m lost in the mossy pools of her eyes as she stares at me. “I didn’t mean to come here,” she insists.

“I believe you,” I murmur, unsure if that’s true or not, but her lips are calling out to me, urging me to take them, to take her, right there in the sitting room of the guest suite.

My hand curls around her neck, pulling her toward me, and she doesn’t resist, even as her eyes grow wider before closing as our lips mesh together. The temptation is overwhelming—her scent and beauty are more than I can handle.

My mouth locks on hers, the spicy soup and sweetness of her lips sending sparks of heat through me as my tongue nudges through her perfect teeth. But as my other hand snakes around her neck, the door to the suite opens, and Aurora yanks back indismay, whipping her head away in shock and embarrassment. Her fair complexion stains crimson.

I sit back noncommittally as Victor glowers at me from the doorway.

“You should leave Aurora to eat, don’t you think, Zane?” my older brother growls. “No need to breathe down her neck every minute.”

Casually, I rise, flashing Aurora a grin, but she doesn’t look at me, her blonde tresses hiding her face as I amble toward the door.

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