chapter 27

Tali's POV

He's staring down at me with eyes shifting from ice-blue to silver as if man and wolf are fighting for dominance. It should scare me, but I find the obvious presence of his wolf strangely comforting.

Maybe comforting isn't the right word.

But I'm not as afraid of the wolf as I am of the man, which no doubt is because of my Uncle.

The cruelest things my Uncle, and the rest of my pack did to me, were always when they were human, not wolves. It's not in their nature to torture you as a human would.

We stare at each other as the large rainfall showerhead continues to hit mostly Dayne's back. Bit by bit my fear recedes when he does nothing more than watch me.

But just like when I first caught sight of him before the moon-blessing ceremony, my eyes snag on his short dark beard. Even though it feels rough against my skin, I don't mind the roughness. In fact, I like it.

There's something about it that reminds me it's Dayne in front of me and not my Uncle. I know he still has the capacity to really hurt me if he wants to, but he hasn't yet, so I cling to that, no matter how pathetic it makes me.

But that isn't why I'm staring at his beard. I want to touch it. His beard, that is. I want to rub my cheek against it, or maybe it's my wolf who craves it. I don't know.

When Dayne edges forward a step and his erection nudges against my lower belly, my eyes shoot to his face. He still has that same watchful look in his eyes, and it makes me desperate to know what he's thinking.

Does he want me? Or is he just reacting the way any man would when sharing a shower with a woman?

But I'm learning that reading Dayne is impossible since he keeps all his emotions locked away where I can't see it. So much so, it's like he's standing behind this big impenetrable wall so tall, and so wide, I can't catch the smallest peek of who he is.

I recognize there must be a man with human emotions somewhere back there. I've heard him laughing with his pack. I saw him smiling at Savannah.

Since his pack doesn't run screaming from him whenever he enters a room, and the house doesn't stink with fear, he must be a decent alpha. At least one who doesn't rule his pack with fear as Uncle ruled mine.

Dayne's eyes dip into my mouth, and I know he's going to do it again.

Kiss me.

And my heart pounds again, but this time for a completely different reason.

I find I'm not horrified by the idea of him doing it. Even though I know he's a killer, my body doesn't seem to care about that. No, it's softening as Dayne leans even more of his hard body against me.

Once again, I feel his beard against my jaw as my eyes flicker closed and I go tense with anticipation. And then his lips touch mine at the same time his hand curves around my hip. To pull me closer or hold me still, I don't know. And I never find out, because that's when I hear her.

Savannah is laughing in the kitchen.

Kissing Dayne is suddenly the absolute last thing I want to do. Not when my mind is being overtaken by visions of Dayne and Savannah outside the farmhouse, looking poised to kiss each other. I'm imagining all the times they kissed before. Maybe even in this same shower, just as he's about to kiss me.

For a second, I think it's the water going cold, but it's not. It's me.

Slowly, Dayne raises his head to stare down at me. He must have guessed my thoughts as well. It wouldn't have been hard to guess why my body's gone from soft and welcoming to tense as quickly as it has.

But he surprises me by saying nothing.

Instead, after a moment that drags on and on, his hand falls away from my hip, and he turns to face the showerhead. "There's a run tonight. Don't be late."

Taking this as a sign he's letting me leave, I edge around him, and when he doesn't stop me, I slip out of the shower, grab my towel and make my escape.

The pack run is nothing like the last one.

This is more of a competition, according to Regan.

In the brief time we had to talk when she arrived at the farmhouse from working in town all day, she filled me in on other things as well. Things like what Savannah had to talk to Dayne about.

I came close to asking her about Savannah, and who she was to Dayne, but instead I chickened out. It would sound too much like me being jealous. From what little she said before Dayne growled at her to go shift, Savannah, who lives in a cabin in the woods near the farmhouse, got back from a modeling job in Paris and found a strange shifter prowling around outside her cabin. Because she's the real deal apparently, an actual model with an agency and everything.

Which is the reason she came to the farmhouse and interrupted Dayne and me in the basement, and has been living in the house ever since. So, everyone's been busy comforting her, I guess.

God, that makes me sound like such a bitch.

But who wouldn't be if they had to listen to everyone around them having so much fun in the forests chasing each other and rolling around in the fall leaves and fresh sweet-smelling earth, while you sit on a dying tree trunk waiting until it's over so you're allowed to go back to the house?

I'm bored, cold, and I'm getting a headache from my wolf snapping at me to do something about Savannah, an unsurprisingly gorgeous blonde wolf who ends up nearly winning the pack race from the top of the mountain down to where I'm sitting near the lake, when she's tackled by Dayne who's in hot pursuit.

And then they're rolling around together, not even trying to hide how much fun they're having. This blonde model and Dayne.

My mate.

My wolf claws me so hard to get out, I grab at my stomach and glance down, expecting to find myself bleeding. But of course, there's nothing there. My wolf would never hurt me. No. She wants out so she can hurt her. Savannah.

I force her back.

My wolf isn't having any of it and is filling my head with snarls and growls loud enough to drown out everything around me.

"Stop it," I finally snapped.

She settles down surprisingly quickly, and lifting my head I find Luka in wolf form, sitting on his haunches, staring at me from the edge of the forest.

Shit.

All I can do is hope he didn't notice I was on the cusp of shifting, and that he thinks I'm just crazily talking to myself, or I'd have some explaining to do.

Glancing over at Dayne and Savannah, I sigh in relief when I see them disentangling themselves from each other and make the mistake of lowering my guard, which is what my wolf was waiting for.

In that moment of inattention, she charges at the cage I've trapped her in so hard, the force of her attempt to break free catches me unaware.

I’m so terrified she's going to break free, I lose my balance and tumble off the tree stump with a scream. I cut off too late and fell heavily to the ground.

At the sound of Dayne's low growl, I panic, which ramps up even more when I hear him charging over to me.

I need to do something about this.

Now.

I can't let him get to me with my wolf in my eyes. Desperately, I use brute force, ignoring my wolf snapping at me for manhandling her.

"Talis?" Being an alpha, his changes are much faster than the rest of the pack, and he can change on the move.

I don't answer since I'm still not confident I've won this battle with my wolf.

"Talis?" Dayne's hand on my shoulder warns me I've run out of time, especially when he helps me to my feet.

Taking a deep breath in, hoping my eyes are no longer wolf, I release it and raise my head to meet his eyes.

"I think I must have tripped over something. But I'm okay now," I say with false cheer.

As far as lies go, this is about as bad as any I've ever told, and from the twist of Dayne's lips, it's obvious he knows I'm lying.

I don't know if my scent changed enough for him to pick up the beginning of my change, but all I can do is hope he didn't, since the last thing I need are questions I can't answer about why I've locked my wolf in a cage which is crumbling down around her.