Page 37 of Claimed By the Wolf
I clamp my mouth closed to stop my incessant rambling. I’m making an awful impression.
“What do you know about me?” he asks, dropping his arm to his side.
I exhale, realizing he’s not going to kiss me, after all. Not yet.
“Not much,” I confess. “You’ve been Alpha of Willow Grove for five years, and your pack seems to like you.” I offer him a tentative smile. “Other than that, I’m afraid I don’t know much else, but I’m hoping to change that.”
It’s so hard to sound coy and convincing when all I can think about is Nox and where he is tonight.
To my amazement, he chuckles. “Depends on who you ask regarding my pack.” His face relaxes.
I don’t know what to make of that.
“You’ll stay tonight,” he tells me, turning back down the hall. “I’ll have your belongings sent for.”
“What?”
Oh. He does like me.
Emeric stops and glances back at me. “What?”
I collect myself quickly and hurry toward him. “I just meant… I mean, we haven’t really spent any time together. I’m a little surprised you want me to stay.”
His eyes narrow slightly. “The point of you staying here is so that we can get to know each other. Right?”
Blood drains out of my face, and I swallow thickly. “Yep—yes,” I stammer. “Uh, I’m looking forward to it, Alpha.”
“Are you?”
I nod quickly, but I can’t look him in the eye and lie. My heart screams out for Nox, begging him to put a stop to this.
“Thank you, Alpha.”
“Just call me Emeric,” he growls. “We’re basically mates, aren’t we?”
He doesn’t bother waiting for a reply as he saunters down the hall toward the main foyer to rejoin the party.
So that’s it now. It’s official.
The wrong Alpha will be my future mate.
CHAPTER 11
NOX
Furiously, I throw open the bunkroom door, where several pack members napped after the guard duty.
“Get the hell up,” I rage, kicking over the garbage can to force them out of their respective beds.
Yelping and ready for battle, they half-morph into their respective animal forms, except Connor and Ryland, who remain lazily in bed, blinking at me.
“What’s up?” Connor asks.
Brax relaxes as he realizes the matter isn’t life or death, and he settles back against his mattress. I’m fuming, but that’s par for the course this past week. I haven’t been able to relax since Brynn left the territory.
“This place is a fucking mess!” I snap. “How many times do I have to tell you this isn’t a fucking fraternity house. Get up and clean it—top to bottom. I want every crevice cleaned, every shelf scrubbed.”
They stare at me with the same baleful looks I’ve been getting all week, their bitterness mounting every day. It’s evident in everything they do, their lateness, their half-assed watches, and now, the filth lying around the packhouse.
