Page 17 of Claimed

“And you’ve never done anything like that before.”

She shakes her head.

“Ty’s fine. You didn’t hurt him. He recovered quickly and he’s a hundred per cent already.”

She nods, a huge, relieved breath gushing from her.

“The men you poisoned are fine. They recovered. It was a pain in the ass for our pack. We were concerned about it, but now we know. You’ll tell me why you did it, you’ll tell our healer what you gave them, and we’ll figure it all out. Nobody’s permanently hurt.”

She sniffles, still trembling.

“It’s okay, Stacy, I promise. We’ll sort it all out. Whoever made you do it can’t make you do anything else. They won’t force you to do what’s notyou. You’re safe. I’ll see to that. I’ll see to all of it.”

She glances up and stares at me with wonder blended with pain before her expression shifts, changing to something different, something shrewd as she looks at me like she’s trying to figure me out.

“I’m not a liar,” I inform. “Not a game-player. What you see is what you get with me. You’ll soon trust in that. I’m not shitting you here.”

I cup the back of her head and bring her face into my throat again.

“I’m getting your skin all wet,” she says, voice muffled.

“Don’t care. But I’ll get us something to drink. We’ll talk some more. One sec, wait here.” I reluctantly let go of her and slip out of the room.

My wolf is practically howling inside me, wanting me to mount and mark her.

Mating her will forge a bond that’ll help her settle, feel safe, and I’ll finally be able to purr, which will put her at ease. This little female is timid. Traumatized. Someone made her do shit she didn’t want to do today. And at that diner.

I’ll find out who, find out why. I’ll show her she’s safe. And I’ll deal with whoever and whatever this is threatening the pack. One step at a time. She’s mine. I’m hers. One foot or paw in front of the other, all this is meant to be, and it’s all going to work out.

***

She accepts the glass of water, but instead of drinking it, she smells it.

“I wouldn’t poison you,” I assure.

She gives me a sad smile. “I wanted to poison you.”

“Did you actually want to?”

She shakes her head. “No.”

“Thought you had to is more like it. Drink it. I promise it’s okay.”

She shakily puts the glass to her lips and drinks from it. She keeps drinking until she finishes it, so I take the glass from her and I’m about to settle in and hold her again when she timidly asks to use the bathroom. I gesture to the door in the corner of the bedroom and watch her tiptoe there as if she’s afraid to wake a sleeping monster.

When she comes back, I’m pacing. Torn. Because I have questions and she’s afraid to talk. I have urges, too, though I sense that handling this less than delicately will risk inflicting damage that might not be easy to undo.

I had a front-row seat to the damage the rut caused Ivy Savage, and while my mate is shifter instead of human, I already know she’s not like the shifters I’ve grown up with.

I’ve met plenty of she-shifters from other packs between college years back along with working with many other packs in consultancy or mediation situations and I learned long ago that while most packs operate with a similar set of laws and structures, there are packs that are dysfunctional.

Some of the packs I’ve encountered have fucked-up alphas who treat their pack members, particularly women, as lower-class citizens. I need to know where she’s from so I can figure out what the deal is. Why we’re being targeted and how we’ll cut this shit off.

This isn’t the first time another pack alpha has set his sights on us for one reason or another. But it’s the first time in a long while. First time for me and my council.

At the sight of her timid body language as she sees me pacing, I stop in front of her, put my hands on her shoulders and give them a gentle squeeze.

“I need your fear scent gone,” I tell her, leaning in to look deep into her eyes. “It’s fucking with me. With my wolf.”

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