Page 6 of Alpha Claimed

"You all right, Highness?"

River rolled her eyes. "Lachlan-"

"I've tried. I swear I have, but I just can't."

"Okay, well then, Bodyguard, until you can call me by my first name, you shall henceforth and forward be known to me as Bodyguard."

Lachlan groaned. "Fine. R-"

"If you say her name, I'll rip your tongue out and eat it," said Apollo.

Lachlan blanched.

"Ares lets him call me River," she lied.

"Well, I am not my little brother. And my mate's name is reserved for my lips only. He may call you Highness, Princess, or Prince Apollo's intended, but neither he nor my men will call you by your birth name."

She held his gaze steadily for a moment, and her hands balled into fists. For a second, he imagined her trying to pummel him with those tiny little things. Instead, she turned and stomped toward the cabin, making his wolf chuff with each slight sway of her hips. As she went, Apollo swallowed hard and could practically see her tail swishing with anger. Man, he couldn't wait to meet her wolf.

Apollo openedthe front door as Bennett and Silas put the bikes in the barn. He stepped aside while she entered and allowed her to take in the ample open space while he took her in. He'd been unable to get a good look at her up to that point, so he took the opportunity while it lasted. She was petite and thin, but her walk told him she possessed a confidence that a shifter of her size rarely exuded. Instead, the small female shifters he'd known were more than content pretending to be weak to appeal to a male's protective mating instincts. But not River. No. If anything, she pretended to be stronger. He wondered what in her past made her that way.

She walked to the oversize fireplace and plucked a photograph from the mantel. She studied it for a moment and then put it back.

"So this is where you and Ares were born."

He wondered how she knew that from just looking at an old photo.

"It's where our ancestors first settled when they arrived in Montreal. Most young couples in our family spend time here in the beginning to connect with their roots."

She looked at him and nodded. "So now what? It's not like I have bags to unpack or anything."

"I hadn't thought that far ahead."

Her eyebrows scrunched together. "You don't know what we are doing?"

He shrugged. "What did you and Ares do?"

She swallowed hard and averted her eyes.

Interesting.

"We uh… went dancing. And to a museum and the theater. And I packed up my stuff. And he came to my show-"

"Your show?"

"I'm a sculptor."

"Clay?"

"Metal."

"That's hot."

She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Get it. Because you have to melt the metal to bend it, and it gets hot?"

She shook her head, but he caught the hint of a smile on her lips, which made his wolf beg for more.