Page 63 of Half Wolf Mate
“One can never be too careful,” he returned. “I am in my enemy’s house, after all.”
Glaring at him, I handed him my glass and took his. “There. Happy?”
He smirked, tipped his glass in salute, and drank.
“You are in your enemy’s house,” I said. “Not typical werewolf behavior. You’re here because of Sydney. Why?”
Adam chuckled. “Ah, now I know why you wanted me to stay. You want to scope out your perceived competition for the lady’s hand.”
It was a wonder my glass didn’t shatter in my hold. I struggled to keep my wolf beneath the surface. “You’re my competition?” I asked softly. My eyes were fixed on him. If he thought he could sweep my mate out from under me, I’d rip his heart out through his mouth.
Adam slowly sipped from his glass, eyes dancing with amusement. The fucker taunted me. I was tempted to forget about the promise I’d made to Sydney. Finally, he put his glass down. “I have no romantic interest in Sydney.”
“Then what is your interest?”
He sighed and glanced at the door leading to the living room where Sydney was. “That’s something you should discuss with her.”
“No, I want to hear from you, Adam. Why would an Alpha save the mate of an Alpha who leads his rival pack? It just isn’t done.”
“Yeah, well, maybe we need to change things. Most of the archaic rules are a bunch of nonsense if you ask me.”
I sat back in the chair at his unexpected response. “Why? Because they go against you and your pack’s need to cause chaos everywhere you go? The rules are in place for a reason.”
“The rules got my mother killed,” he spat vehemently.
I blinked, once again caught off guard by his reply. Obviously, I was missing something…a lot. “What does any of this have to do with Sydney? Why help her? You hate me.”
“Now, that’s something we can agree on,” he said.
I quirked an eyebrow. His passionate hatred for me was something I could never figure out. I couldn’t remember ever doing anything to him. Rumors about him plotting to take me down had swirled for a while—even before I met him. The man had a personal vendetta against me, and I had no idea why.
“They why help Sydney?” I reiterated.
Adam seemed to let go of his anger with an exhale. “Well, Grayson, it’s a long story. But to cut it short, I just don’t want to see any harm come to her. Okay? Can you accept that?”
I slammed my glass down. “No.”
“Jesus,” He muttered. “I’m not interested in your mate like that. She’s my family.”
The room got quiet. I gawked. Shit. I really couldn’t kill him now. I already had a long list of things to make up for to get into Sydney’s good graces. Killing her family would just make that list longer. Rubbing my chin, I ordered, “Explain.”
“I said it’s a long story.”
“We’ve got time.”
Adam glowered. “You know, if it weren’t for your mate, I would have killed you by now.”
I smirked. “Same here.”
Adam tapped on the desk and swirled his glass with his other hand as he stared into it. “What the hell, being here with you beats being at that crappy warehouse with my pack, pretending to give a shit about their needs.”
My eyebrows elevated. Adam just continued to surprise me. “What Alpha doesn’t care about his pack?”
“One who accepted the role solely to gain the resources to carry out his task of revenge. After that, I’m gone. They can continue their foolishness without me.”
“What the fuck?” I muttered. Intrigued, I leaned forward. “What are you talking about?”
He scowled. “You know, Grayson, thinking about it, I never really hated you. I certainly don’t oppose your view that we should remain hidden from the majority of the human world. The less they know about us, the better for everyone. I just hated what your father did to my mother.”