Which meant I couldn’t protect Anna from Darius.
Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he wouldn’t cave to his instincts and want to take Anna as his mate. She had killed a feral Dire, so it might be enough to back him off.
But I had a sinking feeling that I was dreaming. I didn’t know the schedule of these moons, but back home, we’d be two weeks to full. Until the virus in our blood enabled us to bite a human or human hybrid, and turn them into a Dire.
I would watch, and wait. If I thought that the alpha was setting his sights on Anna, I’d do whatever it took to save her. Even if it meant shattering her dreams and making her hate me.
Better that than for her to be forever mated to a bloody monster.
I asked myself why it mattered. Perhaps my dreams were wrong. I hardly knew this woman. How could her possible fate be my worry?
The answer roared from within me, flooding every fibre. So powerful that my heart twisted and my breath seized.
MINE, my beast howled.
Perhaps Darius wasn’t the one she needed protection from...
14
Anna
I must say that when Cara entered the cafeteria, my relief was nearly overwhelming. Even Trix, lounging beneath me, sat up and wagged her tail.
The woman’s calm gaze drifted over those assembled, and as I watched her, I remembered what Matt had told me about her kind. It made sense, somehow. That aura of pure, yet gentle, power that she carried with her. It fit the Unicorn mythology perfectly.
Much better than what galloped through my dreams, of that I was sure. Why that entity seemed so filled with anger, I had no idea. It had been distinctly male—did the male beasts differ from the female?
I gave myself a mental shake. It had been adream. Although the power of it—thoughts of Matt’s kiss had me flushing and deliberately avoiding his eye.
Cara’s aura radiated out over the room, and the conversations became more muted. When her gaze fastened on me, her face lit up, and she came over.
Darius stiffened as she approached, while Trix jumped all over her.
“Hello,” Cara greeted him as she petted my rude dog. “We haven’t met. You weren’t part of my recruitment drive. I am Cara.”
“Darius,” he offered, but he didn’t smile. “And this is Aaron.”
Cara nodded to them both, her blue eyes assessing, before she turned to me. “I thought you might like to go for a walk. We have a few things to discuss.”
I stifled a laugh at the way Darius’s eyes ignited. “That sounds lovely,” I said. Not that I was a person who often used the word lovely, but Cara must be bringing out my softer side.
“You are welcome to join us, Mari,” Cara offered.
“Matt could also use a walk,” I suggested. No way I was leaving him here with Darius.
The look Matt shot me was unreadable, his eyes so dark they appeared black. He rose and followed us, though. Darius’s smoldering gaze bored into my back as we walked away.
Matt slunk along in the rear, hands in his pockets. When we reached the hall, he said, “Think I’ll do a run rather than a walk. I’ll catch you sheilas later.”
He barely looked at me as he moved off. Almost as though he were embarrassed. I glanced at Cara and caught her staring.
She flashed me a smile in which I was sure I saw sympathy. “He’s a good guy.”
“Yeah, he is,” I agreed, wondering why she felt the need to point that out. “Hard to understand at times.”
She raised a brow at me.
“He speaks in Aussie slang, but only variably,” I explained. Then wondered why I’d done so. What would a Unicorn know about such things?
