Sighing, I try to choose my words carefully. “I can’t promise I won’t, Sage, and you can’t ask that of me when you don’t understand what is going on. I have no choice, I need answers from them, but I promise I have a reason for it.”
Although I am being as honest as one could be before their Gods, I can’t tell her more. I hate to see that look on her face, the one that she can’t trust me until I come completely clean. For now, she gets as much as I can give. She doesn’t need to know more monsters lurk outside my borders than necessary. She has already had so many other monsters darken her days, I don’t want to introduce her to more.
“Do you enjoy it, causing them pain, I mean?” she frowns.
“I won’t lie to you, so yes, it helps me sleep,” I announce, nothing but the truth. And yes, I am aware of how fucked up that all sounds. And so does Sage, apparently. She looks appalled, but says nothing as her eyes dart to and focus on my mark.
Her eyes flicker. Once again, I can’t tell if she is angry about marking me, or if she blames me for it.
I must be the biggest asshole that has ever walked this planet, because if I dared to claim I wasn’t happy, I would be lying. Even if she did it by accident, I’m still stupidly happy by the thought alone that my neck is adorned by my mate’s mark.
“Are you going to mark me now because I marked you?” She whimpers, her eyes still set on my neck.
Her fear perfumes the room. She is more scared of me marking her than hearing my admission that I like killing the rogues. Is this what she is worried about?
“Only when you ask me to, and not before,” I answer, meaning every word that leaves me.
Sage lets out a heavy breath and her body relaxes. She’s relieved.
“You should shower. You have grass and mud in your hair,” I point out with a smile at her and walk over to the kitchen sink.
I want to wash my hands, so I can start preparing lunch, but as I glance over my shoulder, Sage stands next to the chair and shifts her weight from one leg to the other. She looks a little nervous, unsure of something.
“What’s wrong, Sage?”
“Nothing, never mind,” she says, shaking her head as if she just gave up on whatever idea that was holding her back from heading to the bathroom.
The blush returns and creeps up her neck as she looks away, looking like she is ready to take off and get away from me.
My lips tug up, whatever she wants, she is too embarrassed to ask.
I walk to her before she realizes how close I am getting. “Sage?” I ask quickly and wrap my fingers around her wrist to hold her back from running. “What’s wrong?” I ask again, and her cheeks burn hotter as she stares up at me.
For some reason, she refuses to look into my eyes, and once our gazes meet for a split second, she instantly looks away.
“She wants you to shower with her. She is too embarrassed to ask,” Donnie helpfully supplies the answer, surprising me.
“She wants us to?” I ask him while Sage still refuses to meet my gaze.
“Yes, Sierra told me,” he announces. At least she has stopped blocking him.
Sage’s mood shifts are giving me whiplash, one second she is petrified of me, and the next, she needs me near.
“The bond is confusing her. She doesn’t know what she wants. I think she is more curious than anything.” Donnie explains.
“Come on, let’s shower,” I offer with a smile at Sage, waiting for a moment to see if she will refuse me.
Her eyes light up. Sage happily nods at me and steps closer, allowing me to drape my arm across her shoulders, and pull her closer to my body.
Her hands settle on my chest as I inhale her scent and press my face into her neck.
“You don’t have to be embarrassed about wanting me near, or wanting to touch me, Sage. I am yours. I wouldn’t have said no,” I tell her as a slight smile tugs at the corners of my lips.
I can see how the need for physical contact might scare Sage, especially since I know little things about her past. Seeking out contact might feel weird for her, for the only thing she ever got from it before was pain and fear.
So yes, I understand her hesitance to ask now that Donnie has pointed it out. I tug her out of the kitchen and head upstairs to the bathroom with Sage keeping close by. I love how it feels to be this close to her, and to have her scent invade my senses.
Andrei
A voice in my head wakes me up from a decent night’s sleep. The voice belongs to my Beta, Zane.
A growl escapes me as my eyes fly open. He is yelling through the mindlink for me to wake up. I do my best to suppress the aggressive sound once I look out the window and realize it’s still too dark outside to be morning.
I glance over my shoulder, at least Sage is still sleeping soundly, and I didn’t wake her. I rub my eyes, trying to wake up before replying to his constant calling.
“What?” I almost bark at him. This won’t be one of those moments when I try to hide how fucking irritated I am at his antics.
More so because I haven’t had such a great rest and this deep of a sleep since Angie died, yet Zane and his big mouth have to ruin everything.
“Nine. Nine rogues were just spotted scouting along the border,” Zane announces, sounding breathless. He’s probably already heading toward the place in question.
I force myself to my feet and exit the bedroom. I rush down the hall toward my surveillance room, but the issue is that after I check all the screens and even some recordings, I don’t see any trespassers near the borderline.
Surely, I can’t still be asleep and overlooking such a serious issue. I would never ignore details, either. That’s very unlikely of me. After what happened, I haven’t missed a single damn thing on those screens.
Just to ensure, I click through the screens, and scan each one, but still see nothing. I change the camera angles to source the images of every inch of the borders, and yet, it’s another dead-end.
“I see nothing,” I tell Zane. Truth be told, I have to hold back the anger that is boiling inside me.
It’s not anything about Zane anymore, it’s the suspicious appearance and disappearance of those rogues. How can nine, goddamn nine wolves, hide like this?
My wild guess is that, somehow, they might know about the cameras and traps around our borders. So, it’s either they are led by someone who left the pack, or we have a mole amongst us.