A Wolf's Duty (16 page)

Her gaze
wandered to the door opposite the bed and she sat up, trying to
gather her thoughts.
Maria said that
Tobias’ room is on the other side of that door.
Her eyes wandered to the door handle and she inhaled swiftly,
panic flooding her.
There’s no lock! What
the hell is wrong with these people? No-one bats an eyelid when I
tell them that he’s basically kidnapped me and then they give him
free access to what’s meant to be my space.
Eying the door cautiously she stood and eased her way over to
it, the handle turned easily in her hand.
Should I go in?
she contemplated,
turning the handle further
. I’m not
speaking to him,
her mind quickly reminded
her and she released the handle, backing away from the door.
But he’s the only one I actually know in this
place and before he took it upon himself to take away my freedom to
choose, he was my favourite person.
She
flushed remembering the feel of his lips upon hers and her stomach
was instantly filled with butterflies, her body flushed with
heat.

“Stop it!” she snapped,
chastising herself.

He’s the only
one that’s going to give me answers. I don’t have to really talk to
him for him to give me the information I need,
she reasoned. Taking a deep and steadying breath she grasped
the door handle, pulling firmly and opening the door. Stepping
inside she closed the door behind herself, gathering her courage
and forcing herself to walk further into Tobias’ personal space. A
quick glance around the room told her that it was essentially the
same as her own, differing only in regards to the colour of the
walls which were a deep green rather than the light purple of her
room. Her eyes landed on Tobias’ still form and a frown formed on
her face at the sad figure he made. Sitting at the edge of his bed,
his head lay heavily in his hands, his dark hair formed a curtain
around his face and hid his features from her. A deep sigh escaped
his lips and Alex felt her heart contract at the dejected sound,
sorrow welling deep within her.

“Tobias?” she whispered,
almost afraid to break the silence that permeated the large
space.

His head shot up at the
sound of her voice, his eyes quickly landing upon her. A smile came
over his features and he stood up, striding towards her. “I knew
you couldn’t stay mad at me forever.”

Stretching out an arm she
prevented him from coming any closer, sure that her hard earned
anger would melt away the instant she fell into his embrace. “Don’t
get the wrong idea Tobias, I’m still mad at you and I’ll probably
stay mad for quite a while.” His bright smile fell and she felt her
stomach sink in response. “I just came here to talk to you. I think
that’s the only way I’m going to get any answers. Everyone else
here seems to have mastered the art of avoidance and half answers.”
She scowled, eliciting a small smile from Tobias at her flustered
expression.

Perfect,
his inner wolf growled
content.

His smile
widened and Tobias found himself in firm agreement.
Perfect,
he
concurred.
She’ll forgive me eventually;
she doesn’t have it in her to stay mad at me forever.
“What do you want to talk to me about
Xandria?”

Rushing past him, she once
again threw herself backward onto a bed. “This whole wolf mate
thing Tobias, I don’t understand it. And if you even mention the
fact that I’m human, I swear…well I don’t know exactly what I’ll do
but you won’t like whatever it is I think up. Everyone today has
said that to me as though I’m stupid just because I’m not like you
guys and I’m sick of it. Just because I’m human doesn’t make me any
less than you.” Her hands balled into fists and she pounded at the
firm mattress in agitation.

“Of course honey.” He
grinned, laughing inside at her small outburst of anger. Walking
forward he lay down beside her, his grin widening when she didn’t
attempt to move away from him. Inhaling deeply, he allowed her
fragrant scent to overcome his senses, pacifying the actions of his
inner wolf, who was struggling against his bonds trying to bring
her body closer to his.

“So speak, tell me
everything about this wolf thing.”

“Wolf thing?” he
questioned, his tone incredulous.

“Yeah, you and the wolf
people. I want to know everything. I’m fed up with people giving me
that ‘you’re human’ spiel, it got very old very
quickly.”

“I suppose it would,” he
agreed.

“It’s good to know someone
is on my side,” she sighed in relief.

Turning his head to face
her, he reached out to grasp her hand within his own. “I’ll always
be on your side Xandria, always.” She removed her hand from his and
Tobias felt the seeds of hope shrivel within him.

Avoiding talk of their
brief skin contact, she repressed the urge to slip her hand back
into his grasp, ploughing on with the reason for her visit. “Tell
me Tobias, tell me everything.”

Realising that she
wouldn’t be offering him forgiveness today, Tobias began intent on
telling her all that she wanted to know. “Well let’s get one thing
straight right from the start, we’re not the mindless animals that
human media has portrayed us to be. I hope that you’ll have seen
that today, we live in houses just like everyone else. And no, we
don’t go around killing people for no reason; if a wolf kills then
you know that the one that died deserved it.”

“So what, no howling at
the moon then?” she inserted, her teasing tone differing vastly to
the serious timbre of his voice.

“That’s one of the
stupidest myths about wolves I’ve ever heard. I don’t know which
idiot sat down and thought it up but they really need to be shot.
Normal wolves don’t go around howling at the moon, so why should
we? They howl to communicate with each other just like we do. The
moon doesn’t do half the things people think it does to us. I don’t
feel compelled to change into my wolf form when the moon is full,
why should I? We have the ability to transform whenever we like,
why people would think we restrict ourselves to doing it only when
the moon is full really baffles me.”

“So the moon does nothing
to you then?”

“Well that’s not exactly
true. It does something, just not what people think it
does.”

“So what exactly does it
do then?”

“Let me explain something
about us wolves and then everything will be much easier for you to
understand.” She nodded, silently urging him to continue. “Each of
us has a wolf within us and that’s what we change into when we
choose to transform, but it’s a large part of us. It’s so much a
part of us that we can hear its thoughts, its desires, everything.
The thing is that what a wolf wants is all led by instinct; it
doesn’t understand the idea of consequences. What it wants, it
wants and it will do anything to get it. So we have to keep them
locked up in our heads, making sure that it doesn’t spill over too
much. When the moon is full the bars on its cage are weakened and
it gets out, its instincts rule us and we have very little control.
The moon has different effects on us you see. If you’re not mated
or female then you become quick to anger and you become preoccupied
with the desire to satiate your senses. We usually have a feast
every full moon because it satisfies most of them, taste, sound,
smell and sight. Things are different when you have a mate
though…”

He trailed off causing
Alex to edge closer to him in her eagerness for an answer. “What
happens when you have a mate?”

Staring into her bright
green eyes he smiled, reaching up to cup her face, “You’re driven
to do exactly that.”

“Do what?”

“To satisfy
your sense of touch. When you have a mate and the moon is full,
you’re driven to mate, even more so than usual. That’s why I left
to go to Russia. The moon was full Alex and you didn’t know what I
was or what my wolf wanted to do to you. I spent every night
running to get back to you, my wolf wanted to claim you, to mate
you. It still does.”
And I’m in full
agreement with him.
His wolf rumbled its
approval of his sentiment. “If you could feel the urges I
have…They’re possessive and wild and I can’t seem to control them
anymore,” he groaned. “I’ve been waiting for you for longer than
you could imagine Xandria and now that I’ve found you, my wolf and
I only want to make you happy. We just want to make sure that
you’re safe and cared for. You’ve got to understand that I didn’t
have a choice, I had to bring you here.”

Her eyes widened in shock
as she realised what he had just said. “You’re serious?” He nodded.
“That’s what everyone has been banging on about then? This claiming
thing?” He nodded again. “And you plan to do that to me at the next
full moon?” She gulped, unsure of whether she should be repulsed or
excited by the idea, her body apparently leaning towards the latter
if the electric sensation that flooded her was anything to go
by.

Sitting up, he
held her hands tightly within his own preventing her from escaping.
“Don’t get the wrong idea Xandria, that isn’t why I brought you
here. I only made you come here to protect you, not to claim
you.”
Much as I might like it to be,
that’s only the secondary reason for bringing you here.
“You’ll be safe from my instincts for as long as
you want. I have every intention of running again at the next full
moon if that’s what you want.”
Please
don’t want that, let me stay.

Snapping at the
bars that confined it within Tobias’s mind, his inner wolf chose to
make its protest known.
If you send us
away from her again, I’ll catch her. I’ll run faster than you can
even imagine Tobias. She’s ours, why are you hesitating? Next full
moon she’ll be claimed and I think you should get used to the
idea.

He groaned internally at
his wolf’s claim, but chose to ignore it and focus on Alex. “The
decision is completely up to you Xandria, I’m not going to force
you.”

“But from what Maria told
me it’s very important. You might not have a choice in the matter.”
She frowned, her head drooping at the realisation.

Applying pressure to her
chin, he forced her to face him. “I’m the Prince Xandria, I don’t
want you worrying about people not giving me a choice, especially
in this. If you don’t want this by the time the moon is full, then
I’ll run away again and you’ll be perfectly safe from me. I’m just
hoping you’re speaking to me by then,” he chuckled hoping to make
light of the situation.

Tugging frantically, she
managed to extract her hands from his grip before hopping off the
bed and backing away towards the door that led back to her room.
“Damn right it’s up to me, I’m glad that you’re finally realising
that I can make my own decisions, a little late seeing as you
dragged me here without asking me what I wanted, but I guess late
is better than never. It doesn’t mean that I’ve forgiven you
though.” Her back hit the door and the air rushed out of her lungs,
seeing Tobias begin to move towards her she waved him off. Reaching
behind her she gripped the door handle and turned, edging into her
room. “Oh and Tobias, don’t think that you can come into my room
whenever you like. I want a lock.” Slamming the door, she collapsed
onto the floor beside the door.

I must be the
biggest push over in the world, one conversation and I’m ready to
forgive the idiot.
She sighed.
Be strong Alex, you’ve got to make him earn
forgiveness otherwise there’ll be nothing stopping him doing it
again in the future.
Ignoring the fact that
she could see a future with Tobias, she tried to strengthen her
resolve against him.

Chapter
Fifteen

“Aargh!” The heart-rending
scream that flooded his bedroom pierced through Tobias’ veil of
sleep, causing him to bolt upright in his bed, his head turning
frantically in an attempt to locate the source of the sound. After
straining his ears for a few seconds and failing to hear the sound
again, he relaxed, beginning to settle himself back to
sleep.

“Aargh! Oh God dad stop,
please stop!” The screaming resumed, the loudness of her voice in
her state of agitation overcoming the thick walls between their
rooms.

“Alexandria,” he breathed;
rushing out of bed and throwing the dividing door open wide. His
eyes were now flicked with specks of amber and his muscles were
tensed in preparation for an attack. He quickly scanned the room,
easily finding Alex twisting frantically in the middle of her
bed.

Lying on the large bed,
Tobias quickly noted that her eyes were still closed while her face
was flushed in agitation, her brow beaded with sweat. Her limbs
thrashed wildly getting ensnared in the thick sheets as she
struggled against an unknown enemy. Her body was trembling and a
brief sniff of the air brought the scent of salt to his nose,
telling him silently of the tears she had obviously
shed.

A
nightmare?
he thought silently watching
her.

“Fred stop it, please
stop. I don’t understand, someone help me.” Her desperate plea
propelled him into action and he found himself striding across the
room, his long legs easily covering the distance. At the side of
the bed, he reached down to pull her from the sheets, receiving a
fist to the jaw for his troubles. Easily shaking off the punch, he
sat down, throwing her legs sideways over his own.