“Say it. ”
“Yes, I understand. ”
“Good. Next time you’ll come to me. Come to my room tomorrow night, baby. Don’t make me come looking for you. ”
Casey stood up and walked out of the room as silently as he’d come, leaving Rory sitting on the bed looking stunned.
Chapter Two
Casey trudged back to the compound wearily after a long day. They’d begun their combat training with hand to hand fighting, and shifting back and forth into their wolves. He was bruised all over. Rory never showed up, and Casey was dying to get his hands on him. He knew Rory was hiding from him.
When he passed the common room, he was surprised to see decorations adorning the walls and tables, with fresh flowers everywhere. He stopped one of the pretty young pets passing by with her arms full of streamers to ask the occasion.
“It’s the first anniversary party of our alpha and his mate, Nicky. We’re having a big party tonight, with dinner and dancing. Nicky said it would get our minds off all this war talk. It should be fun!” She batted her eyelashes at him. “Maybe you can save a dance for me, sir. ”
Casey smiled and nodded, but his interests didn’t lie in pretty little dark-haired girls. The object of his desire happened to be a stubborn, beautiful, murdering little wolf. Maybe he’d make him dance with him tonight. He smiled at the thought of the look on Rory’s face if he approached him for a dance. He was so afraid of losing his status, of having to submit to another wolf. Submitting to your alpha was one thing—all the wolves in Marco’s pack had to yield to him. But to be submissive to another wolf, one who was his mate and would dominate him, was giving him terrible trouble. It was why he kept denying Casey, despite the evidence of his body and mind.
For Casey, it was a good thing, the one thin
g that might salvage this situation for him. It was painfully obvious he couldn’t kill him as he’d planned. Rory was his bloodmate, and he would rip out the throat of anyone else who dared even threaten him. He could, however, take him over and make him submit, make him, in effect, his prisoner. He could, and he would. Before another day went by, Rory would be his mate and his captive. Rory would be in his custody for life. For a wolf shapeshifter, being owned body and soul by another wolf would be torture. He would make it an exquisite torture for his beloved mate, but torture it would be. He’d pay for what he’d done, one way or the other.
Marco called to him from across the room, and he turned to face him with a respectful tilt of his head. The alpha walked over to him.
“Casey, I hope you’ve had a chance to talk things over with Rory. ”
Casey was noncommittal, spreading his hands. “I’ve tried, Alpha, but he refuses to talk to me. I don’t think he’s interested in having a mate right now. ”
Marco frowned. “We’ve never had a situation like this before. Unfortunately, you know as well as I do neither of you has much choice. Do I understand correctly you’re not opposed to so uncertain a mating if he changes his mind?”
“I am not. ”
“I’ll speak with him again. Nothing good can come of his denial. He simply has to face whatever is going to come of this. Give him a little time to come around. Don’t try to force it on him. Maybe you can talk to him tonight at the party?”
“Oh, I plan to. ”
Marco looked at him sharply.
Casey tried to look as non-threatening as he could, not wanting to arouse Marco’s suspicions. He wasn’t ready yet for them to know who he really was and his reason for being there.
“Good,” Marco said. “Thanks for being understanding about this. He’s a good boy, Casey. I wouldn’t want to see him hurt. ”
“Neither would I,” Casey replied. It was true, he didn’t want to physically hurt him and would kill anyone who tried. He just wanted to own him, body and soul, stripping him of every ounce of pride.
“By the way, Casey, I spoke to Shawna about you. She said you joined their rogue pack only a few days before they rejoined us. Is that correct?”
“Yes. ”
“Where had you been before that?”
“I suppose you could say I was unaffiliated. ” Casey grinned at the alpha, mixing truth with insinuation. “My parents were rogues, and after they died, it was just me and my brother. He passed away too, and I sort of drifted around until I met up with Shawna’s group. They took me in. End of story, I guess. ” The story was fairly true, as far as it went.
“How have you been identified as far as rank? Did Shawna or anyone in her pack submit you to a challenge?”
A challenge was traditionally a way for a wolf pack to determine what rank their wolves belonged to. Once a wolf reached puberty, he would go into the ancestral ring to wrestle with other wolves of his age. In this way, potential alphas were picked out of the pack for further training. Alphas and betas were both rare and highly prized, although in Casey’s own pack, the old ways were not practiced with any diligence.
Casey shook his head, and by answering only the second part of Marco’s question, he as much as lied again. He knew his rank very well. He was alpha. “No, there wasn’t time for that— when I got to the pack, things were sort of in flux, and they were trying to reconnect with the Dark Hollow Wolves. ”
Marco studied him silently. “I think we should put you in the ring very soon, then. Something tells me you’re an alpha. Has anyone ever told you that before?”