Page 57 of A Wolf's Treasure
Duncan came back inside, saw her standing there with a couple of cans of soup in her hand and stopped short before he seemed to catch himself. Continuing forward, he placed the last two bags on the table. As he began to unpack the packages of meat from one and bags of frozen stuff from another, he said, “Dinna ye want tae ken why we’re here? Or do ye trust me that much?”
The last was said in jest, she knew, but she answered him honestly all the same. “I do trust you.”
He eyed her as he pulled what looked to be large steaks out of the last bag. “And what if yer wrong?”
“I’m not.”
“How do ye ken?”
“I’m not,” she insisted. “And I wish you would stop and just talk to me. You’re upset. And I know why. But if you would just talk to me—”
The door to the refrigerator slammed shut, and Ryanne jumped in spite of her herself.
“Ye want tae ken why I’m upset?” he asked through clenched teeth. “Ye want me tae spell it out for ye?”
“Please,” she told him. Pulling out a chair, she sat down at the table, crossed her legs, folded her hands on the tabletop, and waited. Ryanne couldn’t stand the tension between them anymore. She wasn’t used to it, being that she’d spent most of her time alone ever since her father had tried to kill her. She didn’t know how to process it.
And it hurt.
Duncan eyed her sitting there with narrowed eyes but didn’t join her. Instead, he paced the small space of the kitchen, much like Cedric had earlier in his apartment. Only unlike Cedric, who had done it out of habit while he was thinking, Duncan seemed to be doing it to work out the aggression rolling under his skin. She knew this because she could feel it thickening the air. And by the way he rolled the tension from his shoulders and cracked his neck from side to side.
“Do you want me to start?” she asked.
He stopped pacing and stared at her. A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Ye used me.”
“Duncan—”
With a quick shake of his head, he cut her off before she could try to explain. “No. Ye dinna get tae give me yer excuses. Ye used me for information about my pack and yer father’s place within it.”
“You’re right,” she told him. “I did.”
“Aye, ye did. But I’m done being used. For information or…anything else.”
Anything else? What did that mean?
His chest rose and fell on a deep inhale. “I’m going tae bed,” he announced. And he did, indeed, sound tired. “I suggest ye do the same. Yer safe here. The house and grounds are monitored twenty-four hours. I’ve set th’ alarm on th’ house and there’s an invisible fence around th’ property. Dinna try tae sneak out or th’ alarms will sound.”
“What if I want to go outside and get some air?”
“Ye can go outside tomorrow,” was his short response.
Ryanne watched him walk away, a heaviness in her chest she didn’t know how to deal with. She wanted to fix things between them, but she didn’t know how.
He was absolutely right. She had used him for information. In the beginning, at least. And her need to get to know him had been for purely selfish reasons. But she wasn’t sorry she’d done so.
For a long time now, there was only one person Ryanne could depend on, and that was herself. The only one she could trust was herself. Not friends. And certainly not family. Her very life depended on it. And she wouldn’t apologize for it.
She just wished he would understand why she’d done what she had and not take it so personally. It had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with her own survival.
The life she had as good as sacrificed when she started to care more about being with a shifter then watching her own back.
A huge sigh escaped her. Perhaps he was right to cut off whatever this was between them now, before it completely ruined everything.
Yes, she decided as she rummaged around for a teabag, Duncan was right. And she needed to stop…whatever this was she was feeling for him and concentrate on the reason she was here. Perhaps Cedric could send out another of his pack to stay with her, though. Because she didn’t know how strong her resolve would be after days or weeks in such close proximity with Duncan.
Finally, she found a box of tea bags and she smiled. She hadn’t had a hot cup of tea in months. A tea pot sat on the stovetop, and she filled it with water and turned on a burner to heat it. Soon, she was turning off the light and walking down the hall, a steaming cup of tea in her hand.
She listened for something to tell her which room Duncan had taken, and finally heard him moving around in the room to her left. Turning on her heel, she entered the one across the hall. In the darkness, she saw the outline of a large bed with a little table next to it. The table contained a lamp. The room was otherwise empty.
