Winter Wolf

Chapter 11

"What is wrong with you? What were you thinking!?" Dena snarled at him. The moment Lo was out of earshot, she turned on him.

And she was furious. He knew she would be.

Tristan just stared at where Lo had disappeared within the trees. He could still vaguely hear her footsteps. The three enforcers her mother assigned to her trailed behind her.

He was going to replace them the moment he was able. Why the fuck would they let Rafe approach her? He glanced at Dena. Rafe was like an old friend of theirs, despite some minor conflicts in the past, the Cana pack was the closest they had to an ally outside of his grandfather. He suspected it was Dena that allowed him through. Rafe was ten years older than him, and had only recently taken Alpha.

Tristan again looked to the woods. He could still feel her, even with this damn claim mark on him.

And he hated what he felt from her.

He didn't intend for this...

Tristan couldn't control his wolf. After Arthur's threat he had to check on her. He barely managed to hold off shifting long enough to get Emma's scent off him to try and cool the anger of his wolf.

He had only intended to make sure Lo wasn't anywhere near Arthur's enforcers and that she was safely away from all their incoming visitors...

His trust was now shaken, he wanted her far away from everyone.

And he certainly didn't expect to find her way out there, relatively unprotected, with Rafe all over her. Tristan grit his teeth hard.

What the hell?

His mind kept going over and over their interaction. The expression on her face when she saw that damn mark.

He felt disgusted with himself on so many levels.

Dammit... why did everything have to be so complicated? And why the hell had he said that to her? He knew he had no right, but his damn wolf was becoming unstable.

He'd nearly attacked Rafe.

"Arthur threatened her." Tristan said. He had no intention of keeping it a secret. He needed to find Noah and Sawyer. They needed to come up with a plan on what to do about it...

"He played you. You marked a chosen after meeting your gifted. You realize what will happen now if she herself takes a chosen? And if any of those Alphas find out about her heritage? You've put a giant target on her back at the worst possible time. They will want her. You've just made her a damn breedable. You may just get your wish now about not keeping her. I hope you're happy." Dena growled. Tristan stared at her hard.

He knew he made a rash decision to mark Emma... he was unaware of that. Even with his inner conflict, it did spike a sense of fear through him, and not just his fur side.

"You think we can go to war right now? He threatened that too." Tristan growled. He watched her as her tension slackened a bit, clearly the realization of it dawned on her too. They were unorganized, they were split up, and their Alpha was compromised.

"He wants me to give it a year, I took the offer. I'm not stupid enough to trust him... but right now, I have no choice, not until we can figure something out with dad and get our territories sorted. I had hoped she'd stay the fuck away from all of them so they wouldn't even suspect, but now, obviously that's out the window." Tristan said as he shot a glare in the direction Rafe went. Dena took a heavy breath.

"So what do we do?" Dena said.

"Keep Lo away from them, I don't care where you take her just don't let them approach, not for any reason, and don't let her fucking roam out here." Tristan growled. He still couldn't wrap his brain around how she thought this was okay.