Page 40 of Claimed By the Wolf
“Come in, boy. Stop standing there like a creep.” Her whip-sharp tone startles me, and I venture across the threshold as her nurse places a cool compress on her forehead. “Stop fussing,Nadia. I’m not that far gone! I can still see you moving around like a headless chicken. You’re making me nauseous.”
She slaps at the young female, and Nadia backs away from the bed as I approach, peering down at the elder’s gaunt face. She looks up at me, her moss-green irises focused and curious.
I reconcile the voice on the phone with the female before me.
“I don’t know you,” she declares.
Never mind.
Disappointment swells inside me. “I spoke with you on the phone, Circe?—”
“I know that, boy,” she interjects, blowing a raspberry. “I mean, I haven’t met you before.”
I exhale, relieved. She isn’t losing her mind, after all. “Right. You haven’t.”
“Then why are you bothering an old lady on her deathbed?” she demands. “Nadia, get the boy a chair and something to drink. You’re a terrible hostess.”
The live-in nurse, or at least I assume that is what she is, rushes out of the shadows, but I wave her away. “Would you mind giving us a minute?” I ask. “I’m good. I don’t need anything.”
“Don’t ask her, ask me,” Circe snaps. “I’m the one in charge here. For all I know, you could have been sent here to kill me.”
I can’t help but smirk at her authoritative tone, despite her frailty. “Do you fend off a lot of potential assassins, Circe?”
She quirks a grin at me. “Not as many as I did in my youth,” she retorts slyly. “Off you go, Nadia. Give the Alpha and me a minute.”
I catch the gleam in her wise eyes.
Shedoesknow who I am. I didn’t tell her I was an Alpha when we spoke on the phone. I made the right choice coming to her, for more reasons than one.
Nadia shuffles out of the room, and I perch on the chair next to Circe’s bed, leaning over to examine her translucent skin. I wonder what’s wrong with her, but I don’t ask. It’s not my place, and I’m not here for that.
“So?” She presses. “Why would you want to break your mate bond?”
“I never said it was for me!”
She cackles, rolling her eyes. “Boy, I have limited resources. Let’s not waste them with lies, shall we?”
Her straightforward nature amuses me, but I had always known I would need to come clean about my bond with Brynn for this to work.
“We can’t be together,” I tell her simply. “She’s… she’s mated to another, already.”
Circe grimaces and signals toward the side table. Raising her hand, she snaps her fingers, and I realize she’s asking for water. I turn to get her a cup and place the straw in her mouth, allowing her to drink as I wait for her to respond.
“Well, she’s not mated to another if she’s mated to you,” she corrects me.
“You’re being pedantic,” I complain. “She’s promised to another.”
“That’s different.”
I arch an exasperated eyebrow. “It’s still a pact.”
“So?” Circe ultimately sputters, finishing. “Go claim what’s yours. You are an Alpha, aren’t you?”
“How did you know that?” I demand, sitting back to place the cup on the table.
She grins mischievously at me. “I was once very invested in a powerful pack myself,” she informs me. “I know an Alpha when I see one.”
I don’t tell her I already know her history with Willow Grove, too, that she and her daughter had chosen to leave their packafter generations of loyalty following Emeric’s ascension. I don’t understand why they chose to live out here in the middle of nowhere instead of joining another pack, but again, I don’t ask. I don’t care enough to know the history.
