Page 18 of The Alpha's Temptation

“We’re just going to knock on someone’s door and–”

Before I could finish my sentence, he was doing exactly that–knocking on their door with me right by his side. His hand was wrapped tightly around my wrist, not even my hand, and his skin… it was feeling so warm against mine.

The door opened after the third knock, and a woman with gray coiled hair appeared behind it, a red mole on her cheek. Another woman peered over her shoulder, staring at us curiously. “Can we help you?”

“We’re travelers and need a place to sleep tonight,” he said. “Would you happen to have an extra room?”

Instead of eyeing down Caelan, the women were scanning me. They shared a glance, then peered back at me, scrunching their brows as if they were having a silent conversation.Couldthey converse without speaking? They did look like they had some kind of power.

“We do have one extra room,” the woman with the red mole said.

I scrunched my nose and looked over at Caelan. “I don’t wanna share with you.”

“Well, that’s too bad,” he said between his teeth, voice low enough so only I could hear it. He flashed them a smile. “That would be so great. Thank you.”

The women stared at me again, then shared another look.

While they let us into their cabin, I couldn’t help but notice the sideway glances they threw me the entire time that they led us to the spare room. Something was up, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Is there something I can help you with?” I asked.

“What’s your mother’s name?” one of them asked.

“My mom? I don’t think you’d know her. She’s dead.”

“What’s her name?” the red mole woman asked.

“Her name was Luna.”

They both shared another look, eyes widening.

“It is her,” one said to the other.

“Did you know her?” I asked, brows furrowing.

They both grinned at me, then the one with the mole said, “Oh yes, yes. We’ve known her for a long, long, long time. Since she was a child.”

My eyes widened. “You knew my mom? How?”

“Oh dear, that’s a story for another time.” They scurried to the door. “It’s getting quite late. You both should rest. We’ll keep an eye out and ensure that nobody finds our cabin for the night,especially the wolves from the Whispering Pines Pack. If you need anything, I’m Esma, and this is Circe.”

“Thank you,” Caelan said, shutting the door behind them.

But neither of us had said a word to them about the Whispering Pines Pack.

CHAPTER 13

LIVIA

“You’re so fucking annoying,”I whisper-yelled at Caelan the next morning.

We had shared that stupid bed all night with his body pressed up against mine, his breath on my neck, hiscockon my ass. And then he had to make some stupid, smart-ass comment about how this was all my fault.

And hewasn’ttalking about how turned on he was in the morning because of me.

No, he justhadto bring up the games.Again.

“I’mannoying?” he asked, pants hanging low enough on his hips for me to see his carved v-line. “I’m the one that’s annoying? Every single fucking day you do something that I tell you not to do. You?—”

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