Page 18 of Rituals & Runes

She swallowed around my hand while nodding. “Kaden, one last question. Is it safe to leave your house? Your pack doesn’t seem too happy that I’m here.”

“I will protect you with my life.”

Without looking back, I strode from the room and waited for her. Leaning against the cool wall, I scrubbed my hand over my face. Damn if this woman wasn’t going to make me lose it. At this rate, I wouldn’t make it to the ritual, not with her saturated scent lingering in my nostrils and her lithe body displayed, nude and ripe before me.

In the time I asked, Aila popped out of my room in a black parka jacket that hugged her tiny waist, a pair of jeans that seemed painted on her curvy legs, and a black pair of boots that brought her petite height almost to my chin.

I almost whistled out loud but my face dropped to serious when I heard whining outside. Aila jerked her head in that direction. We raced down and burst outside the double doors. Bently lay on the ground, frothing at the mouth and whining.

Aila knelt beside him, cupping his furry forehead. “Kaden, someone poisoned him. Unless we get him to a vet, he’s going to die.”

My heart jack-knifed in my chest. Someone wanted to destroy me. For the past or the future with Aila, I didn’t know, but I sure as fuck wouldn’t let them stop me. I scooped him into my arms. “The only vet is an hour away. The only thing we have is our pack hospital for us.”

“Let's get him there. There may be a remedy to save him.”

I led her out of the main compound and then helped her into my Jeep, placing Bently in her lap to drive the five minutes around the curve. She caressed his head, unconcerned at the drool he left on her jeans. I met Dr. Peyton in the front foyer with Bently in my arms. We’d already agreed to this meeting but I didn’t expect to be carrying my dog.

Aila stopped next to Dr. Peyton. “Do you have any activated carbon? We need it stat. Bently is dying."

His tongue hung from his mouth and his eyes stared ahead, glassy. His breath came slower.

Dr. Peyton rushed us down a hall into a small room. He pulled a hospital lunch tray from a fridge, tore open the plastic film, and took a sandwich apart, grabbing the meat and cheese from the middle.

I glared at him. “What are you doing? She said he’s dying, not hungry.”

Dr. Peyton darted to a counter and grabbed a bottle from a cabinet. “I only have carbon in pellet form. I need this for him to eat the medicine.”

Aila and he did quick work of shredding the food, then wrapping the pellets inside the meat. My mate took them to Bently who could barely lift his head to sniff what she held in her palm. His tongue snaked around the packets, brought them into his mouth, and he weakly chewed them up.

I placed him on a gurney then we watched him. Bently stared at me, his head resting in his paws, his eyebrows wiggling. Aila stroked his head in a gentle, slow manner while she intently gazed at him, waiting for the carbon to take effect.

That strange twinge hit my chest again as I watched how Aila stroked Bently, her touch light and tender. She whispered to him, encouraging him to fight the poison. Her knowledge and quick-thinking impressed me, brought me closer to her than ever before. Aila was growing on me in a dangerous way. A way that when I lost her, would destroy me.

The frothing subsided and he rested his head on his paws but pushed it against Aila’s hand and then licked her hand.

I gathered her in my arms and pressed her against me then dipped my tongue between her lips, kissing her languidly and deeply, as my arms looped around her waist. Her hands took hold of the back of my arms. She tilted her head to give me further access. I finished it with a nip to her lip. She sighed then took hold of my hands and I looked her in the eyes.

“Thank you for saving my best friend, Wolfling. You’re half-human, an outcast from my enemies, but I trust you. You’re everything I want in a woman and I want you with everything I am. You’ve more than shown you’re beyond worthy as my mate, my queen of the pack. ”

She looped her arms around my middle. I dipped my tongue into her mouth, kissing her languidly and deeply, as my arms looped around her waist. Her hands took hold of the back of my arms. She tilted her head to give me further access, and I lingered, ravaging and tasting her until I left her breathless. I finished it with a nip to her lip.

She sighed and tightened her hold on me. “Just doing my job. I would do it again in an instant.”

Dr. Peyton clapped her on the shoulder. “I heard you were a vet tech, but your quick thinking saved our favorite pack pet. I regret the circumstances, Aila, because our pack could use such a noble woman as their pack leader at Alpha Kaden's side.”

My wolf growled at Dr. Peyton, both at him touching her, and him insinuating Aila would die.

I placed my hand between Aila's shoulder blades and led her toward the hall. “Dr. Peyton, have a nurse watch over Bently while we show Aila what we agreed on.”

Time to face the hard truth.

Aila peered up at me.

I cupped her cheek. “I need to make a phone call then we’ll go see one of the most important people in my life.”

My arms slipped around her, pulling her snug against my body while I dialed Ethan. One hand caressed her hair while I chatted with him. I explained how Aila and Bently had been attacked and ordered him to secure the territory perimeter. When I hung up, Aila’s eyes had been filled with concern, her brow furrowed. Her palm drew circles on her thigh.

By the expression on Aila’s face, and the whispers of her tense feelings that I sensed through our budding connection, I knew she anticipated where I was leading her. And though she was willing, a cold sadness made her shoulders droop.

---