Page 9 of The Blood Wolf

Behind her, Thor didn't even tense a muscle at the profound statement.

"Which is Kaleb!" Alex shouted.

"I accepted no bond with Kaleb no matter how much he tried to force one," Nicola hissed, her temper flaring. It had always gotten her into trouble, but she had thrown all caution into the wind. "My wolf helped me escape from that basement you've been keeping me in and brought me to where I belong. To my true mate."

Thor's grip on her tightened, but he didn't object. If anything, he was keeping her grounded to him. His fingers moved in a reassuring caress against her hip.

"You can't be serious," Stephen said. His face had turned gray, and he looked older than she had ever seen him.

"Seriouswere the wounds my mate was suffering from when she collapsed at my feet," Thor growled, the base of his voice sending a vibration through Nicola's back. Her heart was beating so fast that there would be no way to hide it from him or the shifters in the hall. "Seriousis what I could bring down on the Pateras Pack if you don't leave me and mine in peace. Get it through your thick heads—Nicola ismine."

Thor's alpha power whipped out, and all three of the wolves winced and stepped back. Nicola's hands gripped the arms of the chair to hold herself steady.

Thor's anger seared every word. "Since you are so keen to spout Pack Law, please don't forget that mate bonds will always trump pack ones. If not Pack Law, take into consideration I am a Blood Lord, and you have caused harm to one of mine. I would be within my rights to tear those responsible apart with my fangs, and no one would stop me. Now get the fuck out of my sight and out of Blood Pack territory before I send you back to your Alpha in pieces. If he has an issue, tell him to take it up with the dragons."

Nicola watched the three of them leave, escorted by the large man who had been sitting at the table. Stephen shot her a confused look but wasn't foolish enough to try and stay when he had been dismissed.

The breath whooshed out of her as soon as the heavy wooden doors of the hall shut behind them. She covered her face with her trembling hands as she tried to get her anger and lingering terror of the wolves under control. "Oh, gods."

"I could smell your fear when you came into the hall. Which one of them hurt you?" Thor asked, his voice was soft but no less deadly.

Nicola dropped her hands from her face. Thor's eyes were scarlet, and she knew there was no point in lying to him. "Both Matthew and Alex had turns in beating me."

Thor's nostrils flared. "And the old one? He didn't seem to know that the alpha had locked you up."

"I doubt Kaleb would have told him. Stephen was a friend of my father," she replied. She opened her mouth to explain the mating bond. If he really was her mate, she had to protect him from Kaleb. "You should probably give me back to them. Save yourself the hassle with both the wolves and the vampires."

"No." Absolute finality.

Nicola couldn't look him in the eye, so she stared at her still shaking hands in her lap. "You don't understand. I'm a disgraced dead alpha's daughter. Lowest of the low. You don't deserve the fight over me that's about to come to your door."

Warm fingers brushed against her chin and forced her to look at him. His eyes were back to their pale blue. "I will decide what is worth fighting for. If you were the lowest of the low, they wouldn't be trying to get you back so badly."

"It's because I know what they are planning," Nicola replied, trying to hold his gaze. "It won't matter that Kaleb wanted to mate me anymore. As soon as I leave your territory, I will be dead."

Thor leaned down so they were almost nose to nose. "Do I look like the kind of male that is going to let his mate go now that he has found her?"

"Y-You knew?" she whispered, heat burning her cheeks.

"I knew as soon as I got a good hit of your scent. I'm glad you know it too. It saves me from having to explain to you why if those wolves that hurt you come back here, I'm going to blood eagle them," he replied.

Nicola didn't know what to do with that information. It probably shouldn't have made her smile, and it still did. "You don't seem too upset that some half-crazed woman who threw herself at your feet is your mate. And that mate is a wolf."

"Do I seem sane to you, little wolf? You are only half-crazed. That means you are half sane, which is more than the rest of my people."

Nicola choked on her surprised laughter. "That is one way to look at it. You really don't seem bothered by any of this. You are a vampire, too, and a Blood Lord, no less. Us being mates should be impossible. It's certainly forbidden by all of our peoples."

That only made Thor smile wider. "I'd love any of them to try and stop me from claiming you. Believe me, I have had much more fearsome enemies than Kaleb and the current Blood Lords, Nicola." He stroked her cheek with his thumb. "As for the mate issue? We will figure out that between us. I've never forced myself on a woman, and I'm not going to force myself on you either. You can rest easy there."

The big man returned and interrupted them. "They are gone, but they aren't going to stay that way."

"Prepare a watch, Bjorn, and bring us some food and mead. My mate needs to eat," Thor said before carrying her over and sitting her down at one of the large tables before the fire. "And then she's going to tell me everything I want to know."

8

Thor needed to stop staring at his mate. Nicola sat opposite him at the table and looked positively edible. He was a strong man; he had to be to live the life he had and remainjarl. He didn't think his self-control had ever been tested the way it had been that night.

It wasn't only dealing with the fucking wolves that had hurt her. It was the way she had claimed him in front of them all. She hadn't hesitated a moment. Hadn't been afraid to let him cradle her in his lap. She fit so neatly, her soft ass against his thighs, sending all kinds of wicked thoughts into his mind. She had declared him her mate, and he had become hard enough he had worried his knot would swell up. She was perfect. The fire in her had been battered but not beaten. She had been scared of the wolves who had hurt her, but she had still fought with them.