Page 15 of Claimed

Still staring.

I rephrase, “Virgin?”

She shakes her head just slightly.

And before I’m able to guard it, I know I’m showing disappointment. She sees it; she looks embarrassed.

“Once you’re mine, that won’t matter to me, because you’re never gonna be touched by anybody but me going forward. I know you’re terrified right now so I thought it was because you haven’t–” I grind my teeth and haul in a big breath and let it out slowly in an attempt to shove off the possessive anger I feel right now at the idea of someone else touching her. “Never mind that. Let’s talk for a minute.”

She doesn’t speak.

“Okay?” I prompt.

She looks baffled as she nods just slightly, those huge brandy eyes full of fear and confusion.

“Right. So, the rutting urgeisclosin’ in on me, just being honest, but the nurture urge is stronger, luckily, so we’re gonna talk this out before we proceed. And Stacy… I promise I’ll make it good for you.”

She frowns.

“You’re afraid of me,” I state. “You shouldn’t be. Okay?”

“I… I shot your pack member,” she whispers.

“And why’d you do that?” I ask.

She blinks a few times.

“He’s gonna be fine,” I advise.

The relief is evident. She didn’t want to do it.

“And I hurt some of the other alphas,” she adds.

“And you think you’re in trouble.”

“Aren’t I?” she asks.

“We’re not in the habit of harming women. We want to know why you tried to take out Ty, of course. We make it a priority to protect our people, yeah. We have a right to be able to eat at a restaurant without being poisoned.”

Her expression drops even further.

“I’m thinkin’ you didn’t wanna do any of that. I’m guessin’ you were doing someone else’s bidding. Am I right?”

She flinches.

“All right, we’ll get to that later. You in a relationship with the guy who put you up to all this?”

She shakes her head.

“No?”

She shakes her head again, but there’s something strange in her expression.

“No relationship?” I prompt.

“Not exactly…”

“Well, you’re in one now. One that’ll last the rest of our lives.”

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