Page 10 of Primal

Fingers pressing into my right temple, I close my eyes as my head shakes. I have a headache brewing and I don’t know which female to blame for its arrival. My guess is it’s the same culprit as it has been for months. “Now, I understand why I couldn’t sense that you were one of us, that you are a wolf.”

Noa’s arms twist and tighten over her chest as the scent of burning rubber hits my nostrils.What? Now I’ve made her mad? I can’t keep up with this girl’s emotions.

“Yep, mystery solved, I guess.” Her shoulders lift half-heartedly.

“I didn’t mean to offend you, I only meant I remember what happened back then. How your wolf…” I trail off, unable to speak aloud the horrifying crime that was committed against this sweet female, and the fact that it was done by someone shetrusted most. What really boggles my mind is that I’d forgotten about the whole dramatic ordeal until now—hadn’t given it a single thought in years, I’m realizing.

“I imagine everyone in this pack knows what happened to me. It was probably the hot gossip around family dinner tables for months.” Despite the way she shifts uneasily on her feet, her tone holds a hint of bite in it, and my wolf hums his approval at her brief show of fire. But the flame in her vanishes just as fast as it appeared. “I’m sorry, Alpha Fallamhain. That wasn’t polite. Can we…” She shoves a frustrated hand through her cascading locks. With the way the ends just about touch the waistband of her dark-gray plaid pants, I have to wonder if she ever accidentally sits on her hair. “Can we just move on to the reason I’m here? I have people waiting for me at home. I need to get this show on the road so I can get back to them.”

The incredibly displeased sound that emanates from my wolf confuses me. Why does he care who she associates with, and more importantly, why are the words, “Do you have a new pack?” flying out of my mouth before I can stop them?

The way Noa jerks, it’s as if I’ve physically slapped her. To her credit, she recovers quickly, but every one of her muscles remains stiff. “No.” Her response is simple but holds a weight to it that I can’t quite figure out.Can I figureanythingout right now?

“All right.” I clear my throat before gesturing to the patio furniture situated on the other side of the deck. “We can sit over there and discuss why you’ve requested this meeting.”

Noa, not needing to be told twice, turns gracefully on the balls of her booted feet and walks to where the outdoor loveseat and two matching chairs sit. The predator inside of me perks up at the fact she’s just willingly turned her back to us, making herself vulnerable to an attack. She really must not have an inner wolf to guide her, because if she did, she never would haveshown her back to a highly dominant alpha male. The thrill my wolf feels about this greatly diminishes when he realizes that with the way she so easily did this in my presence, she’s more than likely done it to another male before. Or she will make this mistake in the future.

Not safe. Protect.

Consumed by his thoughts, I stalk over to the furniture in a haze and am moving toward the chair closest to the deck’s railing out of pure habit when I stop abruptly. Seems the little female has already claimed my usual seat as her own.

That is where I sit nearly every morning to drink my coffee and answer the shit ton of emails I receive. Rhosyn handles a mass majority of the pack’s correspondence but forwards the ones needing my personal attention over to my inbox. My second’s chosen mate doesn’t take care of my company’s emails, though. No, those inquiries are left to me or my business partner, Rook Draven, to handle. The more our private equity firm, Apex Equity Group, grows, the more emails I receive. And all our company’s been doing the past four years is grow, which means I’m drowning in goddamn emails. Rook has it easier since he’s the man on the ground back in Seattle, the face of our endeavor. He gets to attend these weekly meetings—who am I kidding,dailymeetings—with our people and clients in person. I have to read about every single one of them in painful detail after the fact.

When I was forced to return to pack territory full-time earlier this year after splitting my days between Seattle and here since college, my role in our company changed but Rook knows my dedication to our business hasn’t wavered. He, more than anyone, understands the position I’m in because one day when his dad is retired or dead like mine, Rook will also become a pack Alpha. My close friend and old college roommate’s daysof independence and lack of soul-consuming responsibilities are numbered.

Lowering myself into the low slung black-and-cream loveseat across from Noa, I take in the view from this angle. Usually when I sit out here, I stare out at the lake below and the distant mountain peaks, but from this seat, my view isherand my wolf is pleased as fucking punch about it.

“So, I take it Rhosyn didn’t mention why I requested a meeting with you?” Noa swipes her palms down her thighs and her nails, coated in chipped dark plum polish, scrape against the fabric on the way back up. “She didn’t give you any details?”

“Did she need to?” I question, head slightly cocking.

Noa bites her lip after a short bark of humorless laughter escapes her.If she doesn’t leave that goddamn lip alone…“I suppose it wasn’t a requirement and I’m just lucky she squeezed me in today, but it sure as hell would have made my life easier if she had given you a heads-up.”

That familiar bitter tinge of anxiety floats through the air again. Trying to make myself as approachable as possible—since fucking when do I do that?—I relax farther into my seat and casually cross my ankle over my knee.

“Well, I’m sorry to report I’m completely in the dark here and don’t have the slightest clue what’s going on, but I trust Rhosyn, so I know there’s a good reason for your last-minute and surprise return to your pack.”

Just like before, she starts at something I’ve said and, also like before, my wolf chastises me from within for it.

I study Noa, silently cursing those damn dark sunglasses and wishing she’d take them off as I try to figure out what I said to upset her—again. My pondering comes to an abrupt end when she finally starts explaining herself.

“My mom died.”

My brows pull together. “Today?”

Noa’s head shakes. “What? No. It was months ago, but she left instructions in her will for me to follow in the event of her death. Full disclosure, I still don’t fully understand why she’d ask me to come back here of all places to doanything. Not after everything that happened…” Her voice fades, getting painfully soft. “None of it makes any sense to me, but how could I refuse when this was her final wish, you know?”

This has me equal parts confused and agitated.She didn’t want to come back here—toherpack—but she was willing to stay with her mother? Not only that, but she’s here today on behalf of that bitch—I mean witch.

“You don’t want to be here?”

I might not be able to make out her eyes, but the dumbstruck expression on her delicate face is clear as day. “Why, in the name of the Goddess, would I have wanted to return to this territory, Alpha Fallamhain?” That’s twice now she’s called me by my title. Forget proper procedure and pack etiquette, I think I much prefer it when she called me Rennick. “We didn’t exactly part ways on a good note.”

That’s putting it mildly, but I have this heavy sneaking suspicion we are not upset about the same thing here, that our versions of the past are vastly different. Which wouldn’t surprise me considering what an absolute snake her mother was.

Swallowing my questions and resisting the urge to unleash them on her is almost as difficult to do as battling for dominance over my pestering beast today has been. I force myself to continue with my façade of ignorance so I can learn what version of our history she believes to be true. Or more accurately, so I can discover what lies she’s been told over these past seven years, because if Noa Alderwood knew the truth, she would have returned home a lot sooner than today.

“I suppose we didn’t,” I concede with a somber smile. “If returning was this difficult for you, then whatever Thalassaasked of you must be incredibly important if you’re here anyway.”

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