"Yes," she said, surprised to hear him using English, even if it was broken.
"He..." he flippantly waved his hand to the shifter next to him. "Um, you... You have... Good... Will." His brow furrowed. "No...Strongwill?"
His English was better than she expected. It dawned on her that he may be calling her strong-willed. "Me?" she asked, pointing to herself, still incredibly nervous.
"Yes," he said, his eyes brightening at the communication.
"Am I strong willed?" she asked.
"Yes!" he said, pleased. His expression conveyed just how handsome he was, his face encased in a dark scruff.
She blinked and didn't know what to say. "I mean, I try to be.”
"You... Um." He mumbled in Icelandic, running a hand over his black hair that was pulled back. He clicked his tongue. "You fight hunter?" he asked, clearly giving up on his struggle. "That good.Verygood."
She connected the fragmented language and realized that he was approving of her fighting the hunters, and that made sense once she considered it. She hadn't realized that others would hear of her deeds, let alone make opinions on them. "Yes, I fought him. The hunters want me dead, so they are not an ally to me."
He nodded, the other next to him watching carefully. "Yes, fight. Good. One of us." He sighed, gregariously motioning his cup of mead toward her. "Welcome to Scarlet, Rem."
"Thank you," she said genuinely, a smile creeping to her face. "Thank you for welcoming me."
"I, of Scarlet, Beta Caden."
"Pleasure, Beta Caden."
Caution quickly replaced the approval in Caden’s eyes when he looked over her shoulder. A rough, deep voice spoke in Icelandic behind her, and goosebumps rose all along the nape of her neck and arms.
She turned around to see Ronan within arm's reach of her, taking a step closer while he bore a hostile glare at Caden.Ronan spoke with the same brashness used on Marcus, his clean-shaven face stern, his twisted rows of hair neatly coiled, straitlaced for the day.
Rem seemed to forget that she wasn’t going to think of him in any other light than what was required of her. She liked the clean look, and forgot how magnetic his pale eyes were when this close.As he spoke, her name fell somewhere on his tongue and a tingling burst behind her ears. She even eyed his nicely shaped lips more than once, having to look away when she clearly had little self-control.
Rem looked back at Caden when Ronan was done speaking. Caden nodded politely and spoke softly. A firm, warm hand on her shoulder guided her away as Ronan moved her back to her original table, his body engulfing her right side.
There was nothing holding her back aside from her curse, and that made Ronan dangerously tempting to her—no responsibilities, no rules, no witches that had to approve of it. Everyone was pushing her to embrace this potential union, and it was damn near impossible to ignore how badly she ached to indulge in him. The men in Ashmire were gentle flickers of a candle compared to the blaze that was Ronan.
The Alpha took his hand off of Rem when they reached Nia, and she immediately regretted he had to move it at all. Ronan spoke quickly to her, Nia's eyes obedient. The conversation was brief, and Rem looked up at the leader of Warden Pack. He met her gaze with controlled, shrewd eyes.
Even then, she could see that he was concealing many expressions, his eyes wandering over her shoulders as he spoke in his foreign tongue. Nia said, "He says you are more of a curiosity to others than he anticipated, although he should have seen that coming. Do not wander by yourself. Lothar doesn’t count, even if he lurks in the background. He says that someone like me, a translator, should be with you at all times right now… which is my fault, Rem."
That flared a part in her heart that seemed distant and familiar, all at once. He could have females around him, but she had to sit and wait on him? Somewhere in her mind, she heard her gran laugh and tell her to challenge him. "Well, ask him if I cannot ever be by myself, then?" Rem asked with furrowed brows, looking at Ronan as Nia translated. “What if I want to meet others, on my own? I should have a right to that.”
He considered her. It seemed Rem had opened a new door when she put that skewer in her mouth, his stoicism relaxing to reveal a new consideration. Then, their eyes connected, and she knew she completely failed to hide her desire.
"He reiterates that you should not trust these shifters, at least not yet. They see you, and they see opportunity."
“And what about him? What does he see in me?” Fiona entered her mind, like a reminder that she had to do more than fight for her honor.Be bold.“Is it just opportunity, too? Or would he mind if next time he flirts with others, I come over to move them away myself?”
Nia sighed like she both enjoyed this front row seat to a little drama, and also like she was too nervous to challenge the Alpha in such a way.
His entire faced hardened when Nia translated, before he gave the faintest smirk as he looked at Nia, speaking to her. The Alpha then looked Rem over one more time, that approval crossing his eyes once more before he turned to walk away.
Rem stared at the Alpha’s back. “Well, what was that?” She faced Nia. “Did I ruin it? He always walks away!”
Nia placed her hands on the table, stifling a smile. “First, he laughed because he said he likes that fire in you, and next time, feel free to come over… but oh, that was good. Much better, Rem.”
Rem swiftly moved around the table to sit back down next to Nia, keeping her gaze on Ronan. “He really said I should just come over next time?”
“Yeah, he’s definitely interested.”
