Page 21 of A Wolf's Treasure
“No, I did no’.”
“Why no’?”
He took a deep breath. He honestly didn’t know why he hadn’t tried to follow her. “I dinna ken.”
Cedric sat back, and Duncan felt a little of the weight lift from his back. Not all of it, but enough that he could breathe deep again. Those white-blue eyes caught his. “And ye saw her again last night at th’ club.”
“Aye,” he told him, hoping against hope he wouldn’t pry any further.
But it was not to be. Cedric’s gaze narrowed in on him, the oppression returning even heavier than before. “Tha’ is no’ th’ only other time, is it?”
Duncan ground his teeth together so hard they began to ache. “No, Cedric.”
“Dammit, Duncan!” Cedric exploded off the chair. “Do I have tae beat it out o’ ye?”
Duncan jumped up also, and a low growl reverberated through the room. The response was automatic, and not one he’d ever had before toward his alpha.
Cedric stepped toward him, flashing his canines as his own growl rumbled from his chest. “Are ye challenging me, Duncan?”
He stared at his alpha. They were near the same size. Perhaps he could take him…
Duncan gave himself an internal shake. What in the holy hell was he doing? Over a lass he barely knew? He lowered his gaze and assumed a submissive stance. “No, Cedric. I apologize. I dinna ken what came over me.”
As wolves ran hot, and so did their tempers, Cedric was quick to forgive him. However, Duncan knew he would not forget this. He had never come this close to challenging his alpha before. Not in all their years together.
Hands on his hips, Cedric sighed deep and long. “Duncan, ye need tae tell me what’s going on. If Thomas’s wolves are here and they’re after that lass, and she has some need tae be near ye, she could verra well be endangering our pack. As could ye, by no’ telling me th’ truth.”
Running a hand through his hair, Duncan nodded. Then he told him of the other times he’d seen her. Always miles from here or when he went into the city. No, he’d never seen her near their home. But that’s not to say she didn’t know where they lived.
“What did this ‘lass’ look like?” the prince asked, having finally decided to join the conversation.
“She has dark hair and eyes. Fair skin. Aboot this tall. Maybe a wee bit taller.” He held his hand level just below his own shoulder.
“Did she tell you her name?”
Duncan glanced at Cedric. Something was telling him this was one thing he needed to hold firm about. Not to Cedric, but he did not want the prince to know any more than he already did.
He could not even tell himself the why of it.
With a look at his alpha he hoped he would understand, he answered the prince. “No. She did no’.”
Ryanne.Her name came to him anyway. Sweet as the flowers she smelled like. At the thought of her, his entire body came to life, muscles hardening and his skin so sensitive he could feel the slightest change in the air around him. Emotions rolled through him as he repeated her name…
Ryanne.
But he was right not to tell the prince. It was nothing he could put his finger on, just a sense of truth that flowed through him sure as a river. Aye. Her name was one thing they would keep to themselves until they knew more about who she was and why she was there, and why Thomas’s wolves had traveled so far to hunt her.
The prince tilted his head, eyes boring through Duncan’s skull as though he could glean the truth from his brain that way. But everyone knew the Fae couldn’t read minds.
Prince Nada’s face suddenly went ashen. “Ryanne is ALIVE?”
Duncan had never seen the prince truly surprised about anything, until this very moment.
As a matter of fact, he looked nearly as surprised as Duncan himself was.
Chapter 7
“Idid no’ say her name,” Duncan told him. Or had he? He glanced a Cedric in question.
