Page 47 of Claimed By the Wolf
She rolls her eyes and folds her arms over her chest. “Look, we can play games with each other, or I can work with you to get back to your rightful mate.”
I gasp aloud as reality hits me full force. Why didn’t I foresee this in all the other scenarios I played out in my mind? No, I’d been too fixated on the idea that it might be Nox waiting for me…
“Oh… shit,” I moan. “I don’t have any money.”
Alessa stares at me like I’ve sprouted another head. “What are you talking about?”
“How much do you want? Maybe Nox will pay…”
Alessa gawks at me. Then she bursts into a bout of hysterical laughter, doubling over to slap her upper thigh as if I’d cracked the most hilarious joke she’d ever heard.
“You think I’m blackmailing you?” she gasps between snorts. “You? Me?”
Tears trickle down her cheeks, and I can only gape back at her.
“No!” she finally concludes, sucking in a deep breath and righting herself. “I’m not trying to extort you, Brynn.”
She wipes her face of the tears and pats my shoulder reassuringly. “Honestly.”
“But then why are you trying to help me?”
She sniffles and grins. “Because you obviously don’t belong here. And Emeric clearly doesn’t want you here, or else he would have brought you on from the moment he agreed to this alliance.”
Does Emeric want Alessa? If he did, he would have mated with her already, right?
“Do you want my help or not?” she huffs.
“I don’t know,” I reply slowly. “What are you going to do?”
She titters. “Absolutely nothing untoward,” she promises.
And despite the bizarre circumstances and not knowing her at all, I believe her. She doesn’t set off my danger radar.
Could her help really be the solution Nox hadn’t been able to find before?
I won’t get my hopes up.
“My life and the future of my pack depend on your discretion,” I tell her quietly. “I don’t want to antagonize Emeric.”
She quirks a mirthless smile at me. “Oh no. You don’t ever want to antagonize Emeric,” she agrees sarcastically. “Nothing good ever comes from that.”
She spins around to leave and vanishes into thin air.
Startled, I look around. “Alessa?”
A gentle meow calls my attention downward, and a sleek gray cat rubs against my legs.
“Oh!” I laugh, realizing now how she had managed to sneak onto the ranch without being detected.
She shoots off into the night, and I exhale, feeling slightly more confident, now that I have an ally on my side for the first time since arriving in Willow Grove territory.
CHAPTER 13
NOX
One of my house staff members delivers the package to my bedroom as I’m getting ready for the day. I hadn’t even heard the doorbell ring.
“This came special order, Alpha,” he announces from the doorway.
