Authors: Quinn Loftis
Tags: #paranormal romance, #werewolves, #ya paranormal romance, #alpha males, #ya fantasy romance, #quinn loftis, #grey wolves series, #ya paranormal romance series, #grey wolves book 8, #ya historicalparanormal romance
He jogged back to her and
accepted it with the smile she was used to seeing. “I will see that
she gets it.”
“
Thank
you!” she called back as she turned back towards her
house.
“
S
isily?” Alina sat up abruptly as
her thoughts began to turn into ideas—ideas that she hoped were not
true.
“Hmm,” her friend
answered.
“
What
did you do with that blouse I let you borrow?”
“
What
blouse?” Sisily sat up beside her. “You never gave it to me. But it
was no bother. I figured you forgot about it. My mother had one
that was perfectly fine for the next time we go to
market.”
“
Gâscă!” Alina snarled.
Sisily gasped because
young women did not typically swear, especially Alina. “What is
wrong?”
Alina stood up and brushed
herself off and then grabbed Sisily’s hand and helped her up.
“
What is wrong
is
that I gave that blouse to your brother a couple of months ago and
told him to take it to you. If he did not give it to you, then what
do you think he has done with it?”
Sisily’s eyes went wide as
she realized what Alina was implying. “Surely he would not keep
it,” she reasoned. Her eyes darted from side to side as if at any
moment someone was going to jump out and yell ‘caught you’! “Oh, oh
no!” Sisily grabbed Alina’s arm to stop her from walking. “What if
it is in his room? He would not do something so improper, right?”
When Alina did not answer she shook her. “Right!”
“
He
kissed me,” Alina finally admitted. She had not told her friend out
of respect for Serghei. She knew that males could be touchy about
their egos, and she did not want his sister to think less of him,
not that she would.
“
HE
WHAT?” she shouted.
Okay, so maybe she would
think less of him. “It was just another attempt to see if maybe the
signs would appear,” Alina said quickly and then began walking
again. She was not sure where she was going until her feet were
moving in the direction of the meeting place, where she hoped the
males remained. If they were not, then that meant that Vasile was
probably making his rounds to homes to say hello and introduce
himself and his warriors.
“
Did you
kiss him back?”
Alina shook her head and
then huffed. “Of course not. I don’t feel anything for him other
than brotherly affection. He is simply infatuated with
me.”
“
Stealing your clothes and hiding them is not simple
infatuation,” Sisily argued. “You know why he took it. It is, I
mean, how,” she stumbled as her face grew redder and redder. “He
wanted your scent, Alina! Your scent is in his room, probably in
his bed because that is more than likely where the little pervert
stashed it.”
“
Do not
call him that. He is just confused.”
“
You had
better stop defending him, Alina. If Vasile catches your scent in
another male’s bed, the worst thing you could do is defend that
male to your mate. If you want my brother to die a painful death
than tell Vasile not to call him all the things that you know he is
going to.”
Alina was not worried
about Vasile yelling obscene names at Serghei; she was worried he
would not yell at all. She had seen in his eyes that his silence
was so much more deadly than any snarling could ever be. She
quickened her pace as she thought about poor, albeit stupid,
Serghei facing off with one such as Vasile. When they reached the
covered area where the larger gatherings were held her feet came to
a sudden halt. There was no one there.
“
Gâscă.”
It was Sisily who swore this time and Alina did not give it a
second thought. She was too busy pulling up her dress so she could
run. She called on her wolf’s power and felt her muscle move
inhumanly fast as Sisily stayed right on her heels.
They finally reached the
dusty track that would take them to Sisily’s house. Alina knew
immediately that they were too late.
“
Why is
it so quiet?” Sisily asked in a whisper as though talking any
louder would somehow cause all hell to break
loose.
“
Because
someone is about to die,” Alina answered soberly.
Orice pãcat poate fi
iertat.
There is mercy for
everything.
“
W
e can start at Sain’s home,” Petre
told Vasile as they left the gathering hall. Things had once again
gone well. There had been a great sense of relief when Vasile had
explained to them that he had been unaware of the state of many of
the villages, and that he would be remedying it immediately. He let
them know that he knew what his job was as Alpha and that he would
make sure that things would never get like that again. Many had
offered their condolences to him and welcomed him as their Alpha.
All of the males had submitted to him when the time came for him to
ask for any challengers. It was a good thing there had been none
because he was edgy. Being away from Alina, with no commitments
from her, was making his wolf very agitated. And knowing that she
was too young to claim was not doing a whole lot for his control
either. It was not completely unheard of for true mates to find one
another before they were mature, and in truth as long as the female
was able to bear children and the parents were amiable, then she
could be claimed. But Vasile knew it would not be fair to Alina to
ask her to become an Alpha and be mated to one as dominate as he at
the tender age of sixteen. Even he was not that selfish. At least
he hoped he was not.
“
Alpha,
I am Sain.” A man shorter than Vasile, though almost as wide held
out his hand. Vasile took it shaking it once. “We are honored to
have you in our home. My mate, Theris, has made some special treats
for the occasion.”
“
She
need not have gone out of her way,” Vasile said
congenially.
Sain chuckled. “Yes, well
Alpha, once you have a mate you will see that when they put their
mind to something there is not a whole lot you can do to sway
them.”
Vasile frowned at the
man’s words. He did not like to think that Alina would not listen
to his council. Surely, she would know that he would always have
her best interest at heart. As they reached a slightly larger
cottage, he noticed the road that ran alongside it wound back
around to Alina’s house. It took every bit of his will power not to
just keep walking until he was there with her, holding her,
smelling her. He stepped into the home, ducking beneath the
doorframe as he often had to do. For a moment he was surprised at
how keen his imagination had become because he swore he could smell
her, as if she were here in the house with him.
They ushered him to a
table in the kitchen. He noticed a door just to the right of the
kitchen that led to a bedroom, and then several feet to the right
of that, he saw another door. As he sat down a young man emerged
from the door closest to the kitchen.
“
Alpha,
this is my son, Serghei,” Sain said.
Serghei took a step
towards him holding out his hand. Vasile stood and the younger man
had to look up just a little to look at his face. Vasile was six
foot four inches tall, so he guessed Serghei to be around six foot
even. He took a step even closer so that the boy’s hand was nearly
touching his stomach. When Vasile took the hand he saw Serghei
flinch. He would have loosened his grip, had he cared that he was
hurting him.
“
Would
you please explain to me why you reek of my mate’s scent?” Vasile’s
words were slow and measured. Serghei tried to take a step back but
Vasile’s grip was too tight for him to move.
“
I uh, I
do not know who your mate is, Alpha,” he sputtered as he tried not
to look Vasile in the eyes.
Vasile closed his eyes and
tilted his head in the direction of the room Serghei had just
exited. He did not even have to breathe deep to catch it. He pushed
the boy into Ion’s hold. “Do not let go of him.”
Ion nodded and gripped his
charge by the arms.
“
Vasile,” Sain spoke up. “If you please, tell me what this is
about. There must be some misunderstanding.”
Vasile ignored the man as
he entered the room. It was not a large room and there was no
window for light. Only the flame of a gas lantern pierced the
darkness. The further he walked into the room, the stronger her
scent became. And when he was standing directly next to the bed, it
overwhelmed him. He reached down and tossed the pillow out of the
way and a low, deadly growl rumbled as he picked up a piece of
clothing that was obviously meant for a woman. He held it to his
face, and when he caught the other male’s scent mixed with Alina’s,
he nearly lost it. The carefully controlled rage that he kept under
tight reign pulled and pushed at the constraints. Vasile did not
allow himself to growl and snarl as many males did when they were
angry. He did not have that luxury. He knew that if he were to
release his wrath, many, many people would die. The wolves who knew
him had learned very quickly that the quieter he became, the more
deadly his fury would be.
Once he was sure that he
would not kill everyone in the other room, he allowed himself to
walk out. Several of the men from the meeting had followed them,
and so the living area and kitchen were full. All eyes were on him.
When he held up the blouse, the gasp was collective from the males
followed by growls. They knew the pup was not mated and, therefore,
had no excuse for having female belongings in his possession, let
alone his bed.
The only one not growling
was Theris, Sain’s wife. She walked right past Vasile and into her
son’s space. Her eyes were narrowed and her jaw was clenched so
tightly it was a wonder she did not break her teeth.
“
What
have you done?” she growled as only a female could. Like a whip
striking skin her words slapped the male and he recoiled.
“
I did
not do anything. I swear, I did not t-t-touch her,” he pleaded,
first looking at his mother and then at Vasile.
It was the stutter that
had given him away. “If you lie to me again, I will force your
phase and skin you.”
Serghei paled and
swallowed hard. “I kissed her. That is all.”
Vasile stepped back and
leaned against the wall behind him. The thought of Alina in the
pup’s arms, in that bed, kissing, touching, and doing other things,
was nearly too much. The shirt was gripped tightly in his hand, and
he struggled not to shove it down the young man’s throat. Maybe he
was overreacting.
I found my mate’s blouse
in another man’s bed
, he thought to
himself. No, I am definitely not overreacting. There was a part of
him that knew―knew that Alina had not been in Serghei’s bed. He
knew that she had not compromised her virtue, but the jealous beast
in him did not care. It wanted blood.
“
Vasile.” Her voice cut through the thick silence, penetrating
the haze of fury that had begun to consume his logical thinking
mind.
His eyes opened slowly and
he saw her standing in the open door. The group had parted making a
straight path for her. She did not move. She met his gaze and held
it. He growled. Now was not the time for her to challenge
him.
“
Alina,
please,” Serghei started but Vasile’s power rushed through the room
dropping everyone to their knees.
“
You are
not allowed to speak, especially not to her.” He did not have to
look at the male for him to know to whom he was speaking. His eyes
were still on Alina, who was the only one still on her feet. He
could tell the force of his authority was weighing on her, but she
was his equal and therefore the only one who would never have to
kneel before him.
He waited, waited to see
if she would come to him, waited to see if she would defend the
male as a lover, and waited to see if she would rip his heart from
his chest.