Page 9 of Claimed By the Wolf
I study them side by side, comparing them physically. If Emeric is taller than Nox, I can’t tell. Their dark hair is almost the same shade of chestnut brown. From here, someone might mistake them for kin, not mortal enemies.
But are they mortal enemies? Isn’t that what I’m here to prevent?
A small shudder passes through me. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. My body is glued to the interior, and I wish the floor of the car would open up and swallow me.
The door opens, and one of my pack members summons me out.
I didn’t realize that Emeric had approached the car, but Nox is nowhere to be seen, and his absence makes me panic.
Swallowing, I take Connor’s palm and allow him to half-pull me out.
The heel of my boot touches the interlocking brick, and Emeric’s green eyes trail over me with muted interest. Through my peripheral vision, I see Nox reappear on the driveway, and his eyes gleam as he takes in my outfit from where he stands by the front door.
I exhale when I see him again.
Does he still think I look very nice?I think, gulping back the stone of nervousness in my throat.
Or is that my heart, threatening to leap out and onto the driveway?
My gaze darts around like a trapped animal, looking for one friendly face, but the rest of my pack is behind Nox’s vehicle as if keeping Willow Grove at bay.
“This is Brynn,” Connor introduces me. “Brynn, this is Alpha Emeric of the Willow Grove Pack.”
My eyes flicker back, and I rest on Emeric’s cold, green irises. His eyes rake over me slowly, taking in every inch of my body, and I begin to feel like a slab of meat in a butcher’s market.
A gleam of interest flickers in his eyes, and I offer him a taut, polite smile and extend my hand. “Pleased to meet you, Alpha.”
His gaze moves upward, his eyes locking with mine for a moment, but he doesn’t take my hand. For half a second, I think he’s going to say something, his full lips parting into a half-smile, but instead, he flips his attention back toward Nox without a word. He strides back across the driveway, leaving me where I stand. Shame floods through me in hot and cold waves.
“Let’s talk inside,” Emeric tells Nox, leading the way into the huge house.
Rebuked and insulted, I look at Nox, but he doesn’t meet my eyes as he stalks after the other Alpha, our pack following.
For a minute, I don’t know what to do. Am I supposed to stay by the car or follow? I want to crawl into the backseat and hide, but Connor reads my confusion and takes my arm gently, propelling me along the driveway after the two Alphas.
I find myself swept up in the group, but for the first time in my life, I don’t feel comfortable among my pack, not in this territory.
“What’s going on?” I whisper to Connor as I hurry to keep stride with the others.
Connor presses his finger to his lips as the Alphas retreat into the house, and we find ourselves in a massive foyer, two long hallways branching northeast and northwest.
Emeric and Nox are long gone, leaving me baffled. I look around the lovely house, wondering what comes next.
Is this where I’m going to live now? Or is Emeric rejecting me?
I wish I knew what Nox and Emeric were talking about. Awkwardly, our pack stands in the entranceway, facing off with the other group, no one speaking a word.
Why did I even bother coming? Just so he could take one look at me and turn his nose up? Nox could have just as easily sent him a photo. This is just to insult me in person. Emeric doesn’t even want to negotiate an alliance. This was a complete disappointment, a total letdown.
My pack members stand on either side of me, but their presence offers no comfort. This is all posturing, superficial.
It’s getting hard to breathe. My hand flies up to the lace of my scoop-neck dress, but the gesture does nothing to calm me.
“The hospitality in this place is seriously lacking,” one of our shifters quips under his breath. “They must not be from around here. They don’t even offer us iced tea?”
I purse my lips together as the Willow Grove pack scowls deepen, but before anyone responds, a door opens in the distance, forcing everyone to stand upright respectfully. Nox reappears without Emeric, stalking back out the front door, not meeting any of our gazes.
I eye Connor, but he’s already following our Alpha.
