Because I don’t know how she’ll actually react.
She’s not a pure blood.
What will that do to our potential mating bond?
I reach the water’s edge, my gaze narrowing.
“Playing hide and seek won’t lessen your punishment, little one,” I murmur, aware that she’s close.
My beast is growling in excitement, loving that she not only gave us chase, but hid. He wants to sniff her out and drag her beneath him, then bite her throat. Not hard. Just enough to claim for the world to see.
But three Alphas join us in wolf form, none of them Caius or Volt. I can sense them up on the hill, battling the others.
The daring little Omega has sent the entire island into a lust-driven battle.
There will be hell to pay once this is resolved and not just because I’ll have to dole out punishment to my men, but because they’re going to be furious I kept her from them.
Our pack is built on trust.
I defied that trust when I didn’t allow her to meet the men. It was in her best interest, not theirs. It’s almost fortunate that she ran because I can say they were all given an equal opportunity to claim her.
Assuming I survive this battle.
Because two more wolves have entered the beach, their focus on me as the prime predator on this island.
I’m their main competition when it comes to claiming this Omega.
Therefore, they want to rip me to shreds.
“You are all going to regret this when your senses come back,” I say conversationally as I unfasten my pants.
I could beat them in human form.
But I’ll be faster in wolf form.
Of course, shifting is going to give my animal the upper hand in this battle of wills between us. Clove may suffer the consequences.
However, it’s better than letting these five wolves find her and take her. They won’t give her a chance to choose.
And I don’t have to make her choose.
Her wolf picked me when she selected my bed.
The rest has just been a testament of patience and me not wanting to hurt her by forcing her transition.
Had I known she would go into heat, I may have chosen a different place to coax her back into human form.
Or I may have done it exactly like this.
Because this is how I’ll win her.
She’s nearby.
She’s watching.
I can feel her eyes on me, her wolf waiting to see her chosen mate in action.
She wanted to challenge me for a reason.
I not only accept that challenge, I intend to win it.
“You can’t say I didn’t warn you,” I say, the words not just for the five males circling me, but for the errant little Omega who ran when I told her not to. “Let’s play.”
12
CLOVE
I’m panting.
Wet.
Freezing.
And utterly captivated by Tieran casually removing his jeans.
He kicks them off from his ankles, his body already morphing into a giant white wolf. It takes him milliseconds, his shift akin to taking a breath.
The five wolves growl in response, lunging at him as one.
I hold my breath, my heart beating chaotically in my ribs.
But Tieran’s snarl comes out above the rest, his body moving with a power that makes my knees weak.
He knows I’m here. Because those words were for me, not the other wolves.
You can’t say I didn’t warn you.
He did.
He told me not to run.
That he would not be happy when he caught me.
And for some sick and twisted reason, that sends a shiver of excitement down my spine.
I tried to throw him off my path by moving through the stream to distort my scent. I even rolled in some mud. But he found me far faster than I ever could have anticipated.
A fact that pleases my wolf to no end. She’s practically doing flips inside me, telling me to fall from this tree and lay prone on the ground for him to take us. She’s not worried about him at all, even with the furious sounds coming from the fight below.
Two of the wolves are already unconscious, their throats ripped out from Tieran’s teeth.
It’s a gory sight, one that should make me queasy.
Yet my legs clench with unhindered need.
I’m on fire despite my frozen skin. Every part of me burns for him.
No, not just him.
Them.
Because I can hear Volt and Caius, too, their howls piercing my senses and calling to my inner wolf. She knows them. I don’t understand how, and I’m beyond questioning why.
My instincts are leading me now, just as they have from the moment I turned.
I’m embracing my animal and allowing her needs to become my own.
No more suppression. No more fighting the urge to shift or to run or to indulge in my more savage inclinations.