Page 51 of Claimed By the Wolf
My gaze darts toward Alessa, but she lowers her dark irises, and dread resurfaces in my soul.
She sold me out to him! I shouldn’t have trusted her!
“You tell me,” Emeric drawls, angling toward us. “Is it?”
Chills shoot through me as I prepare to shift, to run and flee as danger bells ring in the back of my mind.
“What are you talking about, Emeric?”
Brax stands between us as he comes to a stop in front of me, his full lips curling into a sneer.
“I’ve been hearing some unsettling rumors, Brynn,” he tells me. “About you and the Ember Hollow Alpha.”
It takes everything in me not to whimper as Brax casts me a sidelong look. I feel all the blood drain out of my face and into my boots, but I don’t speak as I stare at him.
“What about Nox?” I squeak.
“Are you his fated mate?”
The point-blank question is impossible to avoid, and I look desperately at my brother, hoping for an escape, a solution. If I lie and I’m caught, Emeric won’t be merciful. But the truth’s outcome is just as bad.
“Did your Alpha send his mate here as a plant, to spy on us? Would he be that callous and underhanded?”
“I-I…” I sputter weakly. “No! He wouldn’t do that!”
I want the ground to open up beneath my feet and swallow me whole.
“Alpha,” Brax tries to interject, but he’s livid, his eyes gleaming with malice at the suspected betrayal.
“I’m not asking you,” Emeric hisses, advancing on me. “But I will deal with you later. Your entire pack will be dealt with.”
Protectiveness for my brother shoots through me. “He doesn’t?—”
“Alpha!” One of his pack members yells across the property from the house, and Emeric turns with a scowl.
“Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something right now, Heath?” Emeric barks.
His second-in-command ignores his protest.
“Alpha Nox is here.”
My knees buckle at the declaration, and Brax puts up a hand to steady me, but I still feel like my world is crashing around me.
“Well,” Emeric drawls, stepping back with a sardonic laugh. “We can put this matter to rest right here and now, can’t we? Heath! Bring him this way!”
“Run,” Brax whispers in my ear. “You have to run, Brynn!”
“Don’t even think about it,” Emeric snarls, dropping a hand on my shoulder. “Or I’ll kill you.”
CHAPTER 15
NOX
So much for the element of surprise.
I’m surrounded as soon as I enter the property, a handful of Emeric’s men encircling me when I step out of my SUV.
“Good afternoon,” I drawl coldly. “I’m here for Brynn.”
