Shaking my head, I continue to the dresser. “I’m Wolf King, Fin. This is what I am, and it’s what I do.”
I wish I could go after Kat. Iwantto go after her, but my responsibilities have to come first. Right now, that means dealing with a feral.
“How many dead?” I ask him as I pull a pair of black jeans and a T-shirt from my dresser.
“Just one so far. A jogger. It was in a park a few hours south. I could…”
“No.” I step into my jeans. “I need to go.”
This is my job.Thisis the reason I fought in the Wolf King Trials.
And unless I can figure out another way to deal with ferals, this will forever and always be a bone of contention between Kat and me.
“I can try talking to her,” Finan offers.
“She won’t listen.”
“Then you could try taking her. Showing her that?—”
“I’m not putting my mate in danger, Fin.” Stuffing my shirt over my head, I walk past him, and he trails me. “Is everyone in my office?”
He nods.
“Then let’s go deal with this. I’ll speak to Kat when I come home.”
11
KAT
“I’m surprised you would sleep with the guy.” Carlie drops onto the grass next to me. “I’d have stabbed him in the neck if he caged me.”
It’s been a couple of hours since Aren left with some of his enforcers to hunt and kill a feral.
I watched him from the forest, where I had run after he found me in the shower.
And when he had left, I slunk back up to the room, shifted back to my human form, then I dressed and skipped out on breakfast to sit by the creek instead.
I hadn’t wanted to come to the creek. Part of me itched to find Mom and ask her what I should do about Aren, but I know what she would say. He’s hurt you once; he’ll hurt you again. Let's pack up and go home.
Or maybe that’s what Dad would say.
So I’m here. I’m hungry, but food is going to involve a conversation with someone in the dining room. One sniff and they’ll know exactly what I got up to with Aren last night.
Sometimes, being a shifter is a curse because sharp noses mean sex will never stay secret for long, which is how my sister knew I’d slept with Aren before she settled onto the grass besideme. I didn’t think she’d judge me for it, but maybe that’s what I need. A nice bit of judgment to snap me out of this growing obsession I have for my mate’s hot body.
“Even if he were your mate?” I ask my sister. “Because I have to tell you, the whole mate thing complicates things.”
Those feelings are so intense. I’m not sure I could kill Aren even if he did something to deserve it. It’s why I’m still alive. Back when he thought I was a feral, he couldn’t kill me because I’m his mate.
She shrugs, flipping her dagger between her fingers. “You could get Dad to do it. Or me. I wouldn’t mind stabbing him. And he’s not my mate, so it wouldn’t be hard.”
I smile reluctantly at her. “I’m good, thanks.”
She’s dressed in all black—jeans, a T-shirt, and combat boots. Her long, chestnut-brown hair is tightly braided and wrapped around her head like a crown.
She looks like she’s ready to go to battle, and I’ve noticed that Aren’s enforcers are into the all-black, looking fierce thing as well. I’m not sure I would want to be an enforcer. I’m used to being on my own too much to be part of a tight-knit group like that.
“Are you an enforcer yet?” I ask.
