Page 7 of Wild Wolf
They sat outside Aiden Mitchell’s lodge in Montana, her temporary quarters after Tristan had snatched her away from the crime scene in Wyoming. For three days she’d lived on the Mitchell Ranch under close supervision while Tristan decided upon herpunishment.
Shifter prison was bad. But marriage?Worse.
From the time she ran from her pack at age 17, Jordan had vowed to never bind herself to a male. Not even prison would break that vow. “Can’t be worse than mating with a male, having him order mearound.”
Tristan snapped his fingers and a translucent ball floated in the air, showing a scene of a Lupine trudging around a dirt yard, chains dragging on his feet. “One hour of fresh air and sunshinepermitted.”
She shrugged. “A day? I can takeit.”
“Per week for crimes such as yours. Per month for those who have committed worse crimes.” Tristan closed his fist and the imagevanished.
Her stomach somersaulted. Without her beloved outdoors and the chance to release her wolf, she might as well be dead. She tried to keep the horror from her face, and the fear from her eyes. “So? I’ve hadworse.”
“Which is why I’ve gone to the enormous trouble of trying to find a mate for you instead of sending you to prison.” Tristan narrowed his eyes. “You’re only 23, Jordan. Much too young to rot away in darkness. But your transgression warrantsit.”
Guilt flickered through her. “I didn’t mean to hurtanyone.”
“You set fire to the wood pillars of that Skin house and showed your wolf form running away. The boy saw you, Jordan. If I hadn’t been watching you closely, the fire would have burned the house down and the Skins would have known yoursecret.”
Never let humans, or Skins as Others called them, know of the existence of shifters and Others. But the humans who lived in the house werecruel.
“I had good reason. It was only to smoke them out, so I could snatch the boy and take him to the Skinauthorities.”
“Regardless, you will suffer punishment.” Tristan’s voice softened. “I know you meant well, but arson is a serious crime and there were alternatives to saving him. You should have calledme.”
And there was the problem. For six years she’d been self-sufficient, surviving on her own, refusing help from anyone. Always on the road, never settling. When she’d passed by in the woods and glimpsed through the window the Skins beating the young boy with a leather belt as he screamed and begged for mercy, her entire soul cried out forjustice.
She walked over to the hummingbird feeder suspended from a bracket on a railing. “What happened to theboy?”
Jordan had been magically transported away by Tristan directly after her crime, held here at the MitchellRanch.
“The boy is with the police, awaiting arrival of his real parents. He had been kidnapped a year ago. If not for you finding him, he would have remained with his abusers.” Tristan sighed. “I erased any memory of you shifting into a wolf. The Skins who abducted him are now inprison.”
That made her feel better. At least the child had been saved. “Who’s the lucky male who wantsme?”
“Nolan Mitchell, Aiden’scousin.”
Now she actually felt nauseated, her stomach curling in dread. “You’re joking. Nolan would never agree tothat.”
Tristan glanced at the door. “He just did. The wedding will be tonight, if you give yourconsent.”
Her heart fluttered. “Nolan hatesme.”
After leaving his pack, she’d made certain ofit.
She’d needed to vanish into the shadows, never seen by anyone who knewher.
The Silver Wizard traced a symbol into the air, and the symbol sparked, a sign of powerful, pure magick. “He needs a strong female for a mate, one who knows about the vineyard and wine, and he has verballyagreed.”
Nolan. Six years ago, she had told him to go to hell and laughed when he confessed he loved her. Oh, she had her reasons. Good ones. Drive him far enough away so he’d never look for her, never would want to see her again, never guess the real reason she’d left his father’spack…
The door opened and Aiden Mitchell strode outside. Tall and muscled, with a short black beard and inky hair to match, the pack alpha looked as intimidating as Tristan. Yet last night she’d seen him coo to his baby girl as he rocked her tosleep.
The scene had turned her heart over, though she’d been careful not to show it. Never show your softside.
That’s when assholes seized theadvantage.
Aiden nodded at Tristan, and braced his hands on the porch railing. He resembled his cousin Nolan with the strong chin and well-defined cheekbones, but Nolan had caramel-colored eyes where Aiden’s wereonyx.
