Chapter 314
AXEL
I come across Emily just as she tosses the rabbit carcass aside.
A few times when she’s run off on me, I’ve scented traces of blood and assumed she’d been hunting.
The hunting instincts vary from wolf to wolf.
Some have very strong compulsions and regularly shift into wolf form to hunt. Some will even hunt in human form. I’d heard
Tobin was one such wolf.
Others, the compulsion isn’t as strong, so maybe they only hunt under a full moon.
As I watch Emily step over to the river to wash the blood from her hands and mouth, I wonder if she’s always had a high hunter drive, or if this is a new development since her captivity.
I can’t say whether she hunted in human form just now, or whether she had done so in wolf form like usual and had just shifted back when I came upon her.
It probably doesn’t matter in the scheme of things, but if it starts looking like it might be causing issues or getting out of hand,
then I might have to consider talking to Aaron about it.
one more thing about Emily I’ll have to monitor closely.
I can also pick up the quickly dispersing scent of some kind of male.
It’s weak, so I can’t tell if it was another wolf or human.
We’re not far from the public hiking trails the humans use around these parts, so there’s every possibility it was just someone passing by, and they had no interaction with Emily whatsoever.
Still the part of me that wants to claim Emily as my mate- mostly my wolf–feels a twinge of jealousy at the stray thought she might have met up with someone else.
Eventually, however, that is a thought–a reality–I will have to get used to.
I rejected Emily as my mate.
That means she’s free to go find another mate, should the Moon Goddess decide to bestow her a second mate, or anyone else she finds attractive enough to be with.
I have no idea how I’m going to handle that.
Hopefully I won’t be around to see it.
Even just the vague notion of it is enough to set my blood boiling.
Now, I’m fuming.
It’s not helped by the fact that Aaron and I emerged from our frank talk to realize Emily had run off again.
Aaron hadn’t even said anything, but his narrow–eyed look had spoken volumes.
I needed to find her right away.
I left to track her, barely thinking about the fact that Aaron had told me I couldn’t change my mind about rejecting Emily as my male–not that I ever would–and if I did so, he would kill me.
I don’t take his words lightly.
Aaron probably really could kill me. Well, he could try.
I’d put up one hell of a fight. But there’s every chance with the power of three Alphas at his beck and call, he’d quickly be able to put me down in a way no one else had managed in several centuries.
So the line has been drawn in the sand.
Emily is off limits for good, and that’s the way it should be.
I move away from watching her and figure out which direction she’ll need to go in order to get back to Rathborn lands.
Then I lean against a tree with a bored expression on my face, even though inside I’m an inferno of conflicted tensions.
Eventually Emily comes strolling along like she doesn’t have a care in the world.
I straighten as I realize I don’t think I’ve seen her looking this at ease and carefree since I met her.
What could have happened in the short amount of time she’s been gone to improve her mood so drastically?
She pulls up short when she sees me and my insides clench at the way the light immediately dims in her eyes, being replaced by something too close to fear for my comfort.
Is it possible she is actually afraid of me, and I didn’t even realize?
“What have you been doing out here?” I demand, the accusatory words slipping out before I can control them.
She crosses her arms defiantly. “Aaron may have appointed you as my minder, but I don’t have to tell you everything I do.”
Her insolent words only inflame my already hot temper.
“When you sneak out and run away again, yes, you do have to tell me what you’ve been doing,” I tell her heatedly in return.
This woman drives me crazy in a way no one else ever has in my
entire life.
She scoffs dismissively at me.
I don’t owe you anything, Axel. I thought we already established that.”
For some reason, her stubborn refusal to tell me–even though I already know she was hunting again–makes me more suspicious of her.
If she’s got nothing to hide, then why not tell me?
“Maybe you don’t owe me, but you owe Aaron if you want to keep a roof over your head,” I snap in reply.
It’s the wrong thing to say, I know as soon as her eyes narrow willfully.
I can see she’s about to shift and run off on me again.
I step forward and grab her arm to stop her from going anywhere, but as soon as I do, that faint scent of the other male gets slightly stronger, and I realize it’s on Emily.
“Who have you been meeting with?” I demand angrily.
“No one!” she protests, tugging on her arm, trying to free herself. “Let me go, you brute!”
Instead of letting her go, I pull her in closer and then lean down to scent her neck.
The lingering traces aren’t strong. I still can’t tell if he was a wolf, human or otherwise. And they probably did not much
more than sland near each other, but the idea of her out here alone with another man is driving me–and especially my inner wolf–crazy.
“Who is he?” I demand in a snarl.
