Page 5 of Claimed By the Wolf
Now I snort at her innocence. “Love him? Your mate?” I echo, rolling my eyes. She’s grasping at straws in her desperation. “You know fated mates are extremely rare.”
“Is love rare, too?” she spits back.
I’m losing my patience with her. “Brynn, you have the chance to save lives here—literally. You know how bad things get when packs go to war with one another. If you agree to mating him, you will ensure peace between the packs.”
Tears of frustration flood her eyes, and she turns her full attention to her brother. “You would really ship me off like this?” she whispers. “Just like that? What do you know about this guy? He sounds like a real jerk!”
“You make it sound like you’re going to another planet,” Brax groans. “Willow Grove territory isn’t that far away. Emeric has a beautiful ranch, and you’ll be a Luna. Stop with the melodrama.”
I start to reassure her that Emeric’s not that bad, but she whirls toward me, baring her fangs as she shifts out of her human form in front of us.
“Brynn!” Brax moans. “Don’t!”
I rise in annoyance. “What are you doing?” I grunt, exasperated by her display of petulance as her body transforms.
Her t-shirt tears apart as she drops to all fours, her sleek lioness form emerging from the shredded fabric.
“Brynn!” her brother pleads again, but her tail whips him in his face as she growls.
He bats away at it, but she slaps him again, just for good measure, even as she glowers at me.
“Are you going to attack me?” I ask her lazily, not bothering to shift into my wolf form as I meet her furious gaze, our eyes locking.
Her massive, feline tongue lolls out, and for a moment, I wonder if she’s not considering it, but instead, she turns and sprints from the office, almost taking the door from the hinges as she passes through.
Sighing heavily, Brax stands to chase after her.
“That went well,” he grumbles, heading toward the front of the packhouse. “You should have let me talk to her first. I knew it was going to end like this.”
“Like that would have made a difference.” I sink back behind the desk. “Find her and get her ready for the meeting tomorrow. I’ll let Emeric know we’re coming.”
Brax leaves to locate his irate sibling, and I’m left wondering if I’m doing the right thing.
Again, I envision Brynn when she was young and in her lioness form, frolicking with me and her brother through Flores Creek as we tried to beat the Texan heat over the long, lazy summers.
Of course, I’m doing the right thing for the future pack members to enjoy their childhood without the threat of war. If it’s for the good of the pack, it’s always the right thing.
CHAPTER 2
BRYNN
How can they do this to me? They’re supposed to protect me.
It’s a song I’ve been playing in my head, one that kept me up all night. And now the refrain continues as I get ready to meet Emeric on his territory. How can anyone prepare for something like this? How does someone even get ready, mentally, let alone choose an outfit, for the occasion of being accepted or rejected as a mate one doesn’t even want?
The thought of it brings a fresh bout of tears to my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. I won’t give my brother the satisfaction of seeing me cry, even though I want to scream in his face and hurl accusations at him.
But what would be the point? He’s under orders, too. Just like me.
It hurts me to think that Nox could give me away like this. Deep down, somewhere in the bottom of my heart, I’d always secretly hoped he might learn to see me as something other than Brax’s kid sister.
What an idiot I am.
“So, you’re not going to talk to me?” Brax asks as I throw a stack of pancakes in the middle of the breakfast table and turn back toward the stove.
“I’ve been talking to you,” I snap. “Even though you don’t deserve it.”
My brother doesn’t respond, but I see my brusque response hurt his feelings, and a pang of guilt shoots through me.
