Page 9 of Auctioned Wolf Bride

Chapter 4 - Tannen

Lying on my couch, I couldn’t figure out why my mind kept drifting to Thea and the way she had stormed out.

I wasn’t sure exactly what I’d done, though maybe I shouldn’t have said those things about her being an absent back when she first came to town. Granted, I hadn’t really known her back then. Now, the expression on her face as she hurried out the door had burned itself into my brain.

She hadn’t been wrong when she said I slept around, but that had never seemed like a big deal to me. I just liked my freedom. Nothing wrong with that. No, the real problem was what I had said about absents when she first came to town. The memory of her reminding me of what I’d said at the party made my insides squirm.

I wanted to clear the air on that bit. I couldn’t explain why, but the memory made my wolf snarl and growl as if he didn’t like seeing Thea that upset, especially if I had something to do with it. At the very least, I needed to talk to her. I didn’t want to leave things the way they had ended.

With a frustrated sigh, I pushed myself off the couch and made my way slowly to the door to head over to Rand and Astrid’s.

As I walked, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I braced myself for another fight. I doubted Thea had told Astrid about what had happened—she didn’t strike me as the type of person who would let her sister fight her battles for her, not that Astrid would give her much of a say in the matter if she found out. Either way, however, I wasn’t expecting a tearful apology or anything along those lines.

And why the hell did I care? It didn’t matter. She was my friend’s sister-in-law, that’s all. Why did it bother me what she thought of me? But there was something about her that made me want her to like me.

My mind continued dwelling on Thea as I meandered toward their house. She might not normally be my type, but I couldn’t deny there was something appealing about her. The soft curves, large breasts, the bright sparkle in her eyes. She really was gorgeous.

I pushed those thoughts from my head. What did it matter? I was going to apologize to her, see if we could start over so we could get along, and we’d go from there. That was it. I wasn’t here to court her. Just make amends, or at least figure out what the hell happened that had resulted in her storming off.

Lights twinkled in the windows as I approached, and shadows shifted as people moved inside. But even as I approached, something felt off. Thea’s scent was stale, several hours old, as if she hadn’t come back from wherever she’d wandered to. But that was hours ago. Surely she wasn’t still out there, was she?

I knocked on the door and waited. A moment later, a blond woman, one with almost identical features to Thea, opened the door.

“Oh, hey, Tannen,” Astrid said. She leaned back and called into the house, “Rand, Tannen’s here!” She turned back to look at me. “I didn’t know you were coming by.”

“I’m not here for Rand, actually,” I said.

Astrid’s brow furrowed. “You’re not? Did you forget something?”

“No, no.” I took a deep breath. “I was hoping I could talk to Thea.”

By this time, Rand’s massive figure had emerged behind Astrid.

“Thea?” Astrid’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

I could practically read the suspicion on her face. It wasn’t as though it was a secret I slept around a bit. I could see in the way her fingers tightened around the door and the way she scrutinized me that she was worried I had put my sights on her sister.

“I just wanted to clear something up with her,” I said. “We had a bit of a misunderstanding this morning, and I wanted to clear the air.”

Astrid remained unconvinced. Her jaw twitched, a gesture identical to Thea’s. Rand’s hand went to her shoulder, as if trying to placate his mate. She glanced back at him, her features softening, shoulders relaxing. She turned back to me.

“She’s not here,” Astrid said. “I haven’t actually seen her since around lunch.”

I tried not to wince. That meant she had probably been out in the woods this whole time, ever since she had stormed out hours earlier.

Astrid’s suspicion morphed into unease and concern. “Is everything all right? What happened to her?”

“Nothing,” I said hurriedly. “Nothing. I’ll go look for her and bring her back, though, all right?”

Astrid exhaled but didn’t question it. She nodded. “All right. Thanks.”

After Astrid closed the door, I moved toward the woods where Thea had vanished earlier. Her scent, that pleasant honey and lemon that seemed to appeal to my wolf more than I would have expected, was stale. Present, but overlayed with scents of the forest.

Still, the Silver Wolves had experience following faded or difficult trails. I followed her scent, hurrying through the woods and tracing the fading smell of honey and lemon.

After a little while, I came to a small clearing. My wolf snarled as if sensing something was wrong. The longer I stood, the more I came to agree with him. Her scent was now mixed with those of unfamiliar shifters. I smelled the air again, and my sense of unease deepened when I smelled blood. Suddenly, more things in the clearing struck me as off. I could see drag marks in the dirt and scuffed patches of grass as if there had been a struggle.

Something glinted in the corner of my eye, and I froze. Walking over, I nudged a patch of dry leaves out of the way to reveal a long knife, its blade flecked with dried blood.