Page 27 of The Wolf's Captive
His laugh rumbled slowly up his chest, cutting off when Malone shoved his fingers deep into his right side. Bending over, the werewolf wheezed as he clutched himself.
A smile lit my face. The physical wound left a slight ache near my ribs, but I didn’t care. Malone didn’t understand how a familiar worked, so he had no idea that Kieran’s pain would radiate into me. He would hate himself if he knew that he’d caused me harm.
“Why would you do that?” Kieran grunted.
The council member had recovered and gestured for his men. They surrounded Kieran, knocking Malone out of the way.
“You’ll heal,” Malone grumbled. “Unfortunately.”
As Kieran was hauled away, he fought to glance over his shoulder to look at me. “Della! Della, tell them we have a connection. I need your help navigating this, I want you to train me. I can help you!”
He disappeared into a door marked Private, being shoved and dragged by the three security guards.
My hands shook as I placed one on my chest, trying to prevent the bile that rose up my throat. I had tried to avoid thinking about Kieran and certainly hadn’t expected to see him as soon as I had arrived back in England.
“Good job you turned up,” a female said, giving me a small smile as she approached Malone. “Thank you for saving Nigel.”
The alpha stood with his claws still out, dripping blood on the plush carpet. His chest heaved as he breathed heavily, barely controlling his temper. His eyes were sparking, the amber almost flashing as his snout retracted into his face. The fierce controlled expression on his face was quite frankly, hot as hell. The man wanted to kill for me. I liked it. A lot.
“He didn’t save me for my own sake.” Nigel, the older man, rubbed his jaw. “But I thank you, anyway.”
Indicating that we should follow him, he wandered through the dining room and into a small office. There was a dark oak desk in the middle of the room. A carved wolf’s head stood in the corner of the room on a small plinth.
“I see you’ve got another carpenter,” Malone muttered, wiping Kieran’s blood on the tea towel that Nigel threw him.
Malone glanced at me as the councilman sat at his desk. When our gaze met, a spark of fizzling excitement shot through me. His eyebrows pulled low as his eyes widened slightly. He’d felt it, too. There was something about being protected that awakened my desire for him.
“That’s a portrait done by a famous wood carver fifty years ago. You weren’t even alive, my boy.” Looking at me, Nigel tilted his head to the side. “And how are you getting on with Mr Blakesley? Is he keeping his ego in check?”
The unexpected question threw me, and I swallowed, trying to get my mind clear. When we’d arranged to come and see the council, we’d planned everything we would say. We’d only been back in the country for a couple of hours, not even bothering to visit the pack before coming to try and set things right.
“He’s… one of the sweetest men I know.”
Malone blinked, the dumbfounded look almost funny. What? I didn’t know what else I could’ve said. A powerful wolf – like the most powerful wolf in the country – had caught me off guard.
“I can’t say I’ve noticed that side of your mate,” Nigel said, the corner of his lip twitching, “however, he is a passionate one, that much is true. He’s lucky I’ve not stripped him of his alphaship.”
“He is,” I said, my mouth moving when Malone glared at me. “Yes! He is. And that’s why we’re here. He shouldn’t have left to come to Paris. He defied you in order to come and retrieve me.”
Raising his eyebrows, Nigel narrowed his gaze on Malone. “You broke one of our guard’s hands in order to escape.”
“Looking at what just happened with Kieran, I’d say you need to hire better security.” Shrugging, Malone clicked his neck from side to side, evidently happy to defy the council, despite the risk that they’d lock him up. They had authority over every wolf, including the alphas.
He either lied to me about his friend letting him out or he didn’t want Nigel to know. Either way, Nigel didn’t look overly bothered.
“Della,” Nigel said, indicating that I sit in front of him, “I’ll speak to you, shall I? Your mate is not quite himself right now. How are you coping with the forced connection to Kieran?”
His question made me blink rapidly as the air expelled from my lungs. No one had asked me the simple question, and yet, my heart ached as I lowered myself into a chair.
“I’ve tried to disconnect myself, but it’s not been possible. I’m not powerful enough on my own.”
Leaning forward on his elbows, Nigel ignored Malone. “But how are you coping?”
A lump formed in my throat and tears popped into my eyes. “I’m trying to stay numb to it. I had to leave England in order to deal with it myself, but…” A hiccup forced my sentence to pause. “…it’s killing me inside, knowing I have no control over it.”
“I understand that breaking the bond is like trying to unlink a mated pair of werewolves, am I correct?”
Nodding, I rubbed my moist palms on my jeans. “Yes. We… I do know someone – a warlock – who claims to have disconnected werewolves from one another.”