Page 41 of Wild Wolf
The Lupine nodded, gulped, and wheeled the bike away as if it were Nolan’s ancientgrandmother.
Lacing his fingers around Jordan’s upper arm, Nolan led her away to the gazebo overlooking the grapevines. “We need totalk.”
When they reached the structure, he pointed. “Sit.”
“I’m not a dog. You can’t teach mecommands.”
“Pleasesit.”
To his relief, shesat.
“Jordan, you’re in my pack now. From now on, wherever you go, someone will be withyou.”
She folded her arms. “I thought this marriage was to keep me out of prison. Now you’re telling me I need ababysitter?”
He ignoredthat.
“You took my $46,000 bike joy riding. A bike that I never let anyone touch. Noone.”
“If it’s so important to you, you should have locked it up. Or you should have marriedit.”
Taking a deep breath, he pressed on. “The Ninja is not a toy. It’s for experiencedriders.”
“You care more about that bike than anythingelse.”
“The hell with the bike,” he burst out, breaking his rules about swearing. “I was worried you might have broken your neck. You don’t know the roads around here anymore. You could have hit a pothole, taken a curve too fast, run into a Skin driver who wastexting…”
Nolan took a deep breath. “I could have lost you,” he said in a quietertone.
Jordan stared. “This isn’t about the bike. You reallycare?”
The slight hesitation in her voice twisted his heart. She sounded like that long ago girl who’d arrived, uncertain and scared, wondering how Lupines in her new pack would treather.
Trouble was he did care. And if he laid open his heart, like he did long ago, would it feed her power over him? Nolan seized her chin and stared down ather.
“You’re mine now, Jordan. I hold on to and protect what ismine.”
He released her and Jordan braced her hands on the wooden seat, stared into thedistance.
As if she longed to run awayagain.
“It’s a nice bike. When did you get it?” sheasked.
Nolan didn’t answer, but sat beside her. Didn’t take her hand, though he was tempted. He wanted to throttle her for sending him into a tailspin and at the same time, kiss hersenseless.
“Didn’t know you still had it in you, Mitchell. I thought you’d turned into a responsible, dull alpha with nothing on your mind butgrapes.”
“That’s what adults do, Jordan. We haveresponsibilities.”
“Boring. I like to have fun.” Her blue eyes sparkled. “Hey, you’re off duty. It’s after five. Let’s grab a bottle of wine, have a picnic by the pond and do things that scare the fish. And then we can go into town for dinner, maybe find a nice bar to go dancing and I’ll teach you tosmoke…”
He stared. All those things sounded tempting, except the last. “You smokenow?”
“Not tobacco. Tried a hookah at a bar in Phoenix. I like the mint flavor. Just as alark.”
She was out ofcontrol.
Next thing he’d know she’d be smoking a hookah in the living room, teaching the young Lupines how to play beer pong with his mother’s cut crystalglasses.
