“I will always answer to my Alpha’s calls. Especially after Enola betrayed us.” Erin spoke with an edge that made Rem think of immense loyalty, like Erin would slap Rem if she dared say something bad about Ronan.
“Have they found her—Enola?”
“No, they haven’t. She must be long gone by now.”
Rem nodded, taking another step up. “Well, have good rest.”
“You, too, Alpha’s little pet.”
The warmth in Rem’s navel returned at such a statement, but then cooled when she faced Erin, whose dark, hooded eyes carefully watched Rem. Was Erin judging Rem as a potential Luna?
Goosebumps spread on her skin, placing a hand on the cold wood railing, nodding to Erin as she passed her.
She climbed the grand staircase with thoughts of pillows, furs, and blankets moving her forward. She passed by Nia's room along the way and nearly stopped to check on her.It's late. She needs her rest, too.Rem decided in the morning,she'd see how Nia was and how her day with Halvar went.
While she lied in bed that night, she wished she had Ronan to lie next to.
R O N A N
The waters eased his aches,his joints throbbing like they used to in his youth when fresh shifters were pushed to their breaking point for training.
Nothing, however, slowed his racing mind.
A more disciplined part of him would have sent Rem up to her room without touching her; fresh out of the field of battle was no state to properly do what they just did. Exhaustion only allowed so much room for passion, and she was a Silver. Those females deserved proper courtship.
But hewasa shifter wolf. His kind were primal, and seeing her take such charge of herself, to act so unlike other human females he had seen and more likehiskind, her scent permeating with a smell that only belonged to a shifter… And then seeing her lithe, curvy figure right in that very water, alone and naked… Well, the primal side took over.
He had already established that bond and seeing her inner wolf awaken made himveryterritorial.
And he did not like her without his scent.
Why not let things unravel as they did? She was a good distraction from all the mayhem, and he liked being able to talk to her now. Her playful side also surprised him, and she had a challenging streak to her that reminded him greatly of Jemma, but a gentler version.
One he could see liking more—much more.
The other males would notice those qualities. There were only eleven Silvers now and only two unmated Alphas.
Many would fight for the rest.
And he wanted his scent on her. In her. He even thought of her barren neck, the ultimate display that no one had claimed her yet…
If their bodies weren’t so beaten, he’d have told her to stay. But his mind drifted off too easily in this state, and she needed sleep more than he did.
He wondered if she would be annoyed with how they parted for the night. He swiped a warm, wet hand over his face and sighed. Ronan would have to remind himself how to treat a human-turned-shifter—it was just so easy to forget when everything else was so wrong. Not only was Enola missing, but he was certain that Marcus took the other two Silvers. The alliance was also shattered, and he doubted the storm they had just endured was over. He felt it had just begun.
A part of him regretted he’d have to enter anything akin to courting someone through a mess like this.
But the other part, the one that made sure to lay his claim, looked forward to distractions of soft, warm skin, to someone new and different, a she-wolf capable of handling herself, someone that teased him in just the right way to remind him that she wasn’t afraid of pushing even an Alpha.
Someone whose scent beckoned him.
He moved slightly in the water, his body aching in every fiber, and he groaned. As much as his mind wandered, he accepted defeat and knew he had to begin the long trek back to his den.
To his surprise, a significant part of him was immediately disappointed at thinking that Rem wouldn’t be there.
31
THE JOURNEY HOME
